USS Escape (ARS-6)

Evidence

8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).

1. [1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Escape (ARS-6)' [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry body text, retrieved via Internet Archive Wayback Machine capture 2024-02-28 (web.archive.org/web/20240228191512/...) - live NHHC URL returns HTTP 404 to automated fetch, consistent with the NHHC link-rot standing issue logged in BATCH-01-REPORT.md

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS entry for Escape (ARS-6): stat block 'dp. 1,441; l. 213'6"; b. 39'; dr. 14'8"; s. 15 k.; cpl. 120; a. 2 40 mm.; cl. Diver'. Launched 1942-11-22 by Basalt Rock Co., Napa, Calif., sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Brenner; commissioned 1943-11-20, LT W. T. Williams in command. Sailed San Diego 1943-12-31 for Norfolk; based there from 4 Feb for general salvage and towing; similar duties out of Bermuda 10 Jul-9 Sep 1944; put to sea 12 Sep 1944 to rescue hurricane-disabled SS George Ade, reached her 15th and brought her to port through another violent storm in which Escape herself was damaged. Operated out of Bermuda 1944-12-31 to 1945-06-04, aiding three large ships damaged by heavy seas; departed for the Pacific 11 Aug 1945, orders changed at war's end; towed scows Coco Solo to Tampa; laid mooring buoys at Jacksonville from Davisville in October. Sailed Key West 8 Nov 1945 to escort and later tow the Italian submarine Mameli to Taranto; returned Norfolk 1946-01-22; decommissioned 1946-07-20 and placed in reserve at Orange, Texas. Recommissioned 1951-07-12; Norfolk homeport for east-coast salvage and towing; from 1954 alternate years in the Caribbean based on San Juan, P.R. 1960-01-26 underway for Operation Sky Hook, diverted to Culebra Island to assist grounded USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938 - DANFS prints 'Jones Ingram', an apparent transcription defect); 1960-01-30 underway to assist Project Mercury; continued fleet support through remainder of 1960 (narrative ends there).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1942-1960

   Limitations

   Establishes identity, construction, and 1943-1960 operational history only; DANFS's narrative ends in 1960 and does not cover 1961-1978 Navy service, the 1978 decommissioning, Coast Guard service, striking, or disposal. DANFS gives the wartime decommissioning as 1946-07-20, which conflicts with NavSource/NVR-derived listings of 1947-01-14 - both carried, see ev-08 and gaps. DANFS prints the grounded destroyer as 'Jones Ingram' once; the vessel was USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938), confirmed by the MARAD NR assessment - source transcription defect, logged not corrected. Contains no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material statement.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-01

2. [2]U.S. Maritime Administration, National Register Eligibility Assessment, 'USS Escape (ARS-6) USCGC Escape (WMEC-6)' (Escape_NHPA_History.pdf), determination 2008-12-04 [marad_nrc]

   Locator

   Full document, pp. 2-8: Vessel History, Historic Context, Description/Characteristics of Vessel Type, Statement of Significance, Integrity of Characteristics/Features, National Register Eligibility Statement, Sources

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   MARAD National Register Eligibility Assessment for USS Escape (ARS-6)/USCGC Escape (WMEC-6) (NHPA Section 106 review; determination dated 2008-12-04, NOT ELIGIBLE): Diver-class rescue and salvage ship, sixth of 16 class vessels, all built by Basalt Rock Company, Napa, CA (a former rock quarry that entered shipbuilding in 1938). Specification block: length 213.6', beam 39', draft 14.8', displacement 1,530 tons standard/1,970 full load, diesel-electric twin screw 3,000 hp, 15 knots, complement 69. Postwar history beyond DANFS: Nov 1952 rendezvous with USS Sea Dog (SS-401) off Jacksonville to pick up 11 survivors of the K-119 blimp crash; Dec 1952 among vessels removing the wreck of USS Erie (PG-50) from Willemstad inner harbor, Curacao; 1958-07-17 recovery of a full-scale Jupiter IRBM nose cone near Antigua; Operation Sky Hook and NASA recovery-force duty (Project Mercury 1960-01-30 and Nov-Dec 1960; Apollo-Saturn 12, 1969-11-14 to 24; Skylab-2, 1973-05-25 to 06-22; Skylab-3, 1973-07-28 to 09-25); Cuban Missile Crisis blockade 1962-10-24 to 12-05 (Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal); Suez Canal wreck clearance May-Dec 1974. Decommissioned 1978-09-01 and transferred to U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Escape (WMEC-6), based at Charleston, SC, for SAR and law enforcement; 1982-1988 seized eight vessels carrying a total of 61 tons of marijuana; decommissioned 1995-06-29 and transferred to MARAD NDRF James River (Fort Eustis). Alterations: blisters/sponsons removed 1984 (deteriorated, impairing stability); recompression chamber later removed to the Navy diving school at Little Creek, VA; towing machine removed by the Navy 1987 (inoperable). Condition 2008: 'in poor condition' after ~13 years in the NDRF.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1942-2008

   Limitations

   The single most detailed ship-specific government document located (8 pages including construction specs, full career narrative, and post-USCG alterations). It contains NO asbestos, insulation-material, or hazardous-material statement anywhere despite describing machinery spaces, salvage equipment, and material-removal events (sponsons, recompression chamber, towing machine) - the silence does not establish absence, only that this NHPA review did not address hazmat. Its narrative compresses the Navy-to-Coast-Guard transfer ('commissioned the USCGC Escape (WMEC-6)' under the 1978-09-01 decommissioning date), which conflicts with MARAD's own custody milestones (ev-03: transfer to USCG 1980-12-04) and the USCG Historian's '1980' entry year - see ev-08 and gaps. Its complement figure (69) conflicts with DANFS (120). Its source list documents NARA-held deck logs and USCG records - see ev-07 archival leads.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-02

3. [3]U.S. Maritime Administration, Vessel History Database, 'ESCAPE (ARS-6/WMEC-6)', Ship History Detail 1476 (characteristics + milestone table); U.S. DOT/MARAD ship-recycling announcement 2009-08-24 (republished: MarineLink, 'U.S. DOT Recycles Two More JRRF Ships') [marad_nrc]

   Locator

   ShipHistory Detail 1476 milestone table, characteristics block, Documents section; MarineLink republication https://www.marinelink.com/news/recycles-ships-more331676

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   MARAD Vessel History Database (ShipHistory Detail 1476) record for ESCAPE (ARS-6/WMEC-6): year built 1943, shipyard Basalt Rock Company, type 'Naval Auxiliary / ARS Salvage Ship', fate 'Sold - Scrap'. Custody milestones: NDRF entry 1979-10-17; withdrawal 1980-12-04 'Transferred to USCG'; NDRF re-entry 2000-09-26; MARAD accepted title 2001-07-28; 'Cleared Historic Review' 2008-12-09 (vessel found not qualified for mitigation under NHPA); vessel departed under scrap-services contract with Bay Bridge Enterprises of Chesapeake, VA, 2009-09-15; withdrawal 2010-02-26 'Vessel dismantlement complete.' A U.S. DOT/MARAD recycling announcement (2009-08-24, republished by MarineLink) states the contract awarded to Bay Bridge Enterprises LLC of Chesapeake, VA at a cost to the government of $115,200, and that Escape was built 1942 as a Navy rescue ship by Basalt Rock Co., Napa, Calif.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1979-2010

   Limitations

   Authoritative for government custody and disposal milestones. The 1980-12-04 withdrawal-to-USCG milestone is the custody record showing the Coast Guard transfer occurred in 1980, not 1978 as NavSource and the NR assessment narrative imply - the discrepancy is logged (ev-08, gaps). The database's second attached document ('ESCAPE.pdf') is a Maritime Commission status card for a different vessel - 'ESCAPE (Small Boat)', delivered at Port Washington, L.I., 1941 - a name-collision artifact in the same record, logged in the batch report; no hull-specific hazmat, survey, or asbestos document is attached. Does not state whether asbestos abatement occurred during the 2009-10 dismantling.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-03

4. [4]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]

   Locator

   Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II - the era and program under which this vessel was built (laid down August 1942, commissioned November 1943) - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization fleet-wide, including aboard naval auxiliary hulls built at emergency and converted-industrial yards such as Basalt Rock Company (a Napa rock quarry that entered shipbuilding in 1938). For a diesel-electric salvage ship of this era, era-typical asbestos applications would be machinery and exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, electrical cable insulation, deck/bulkhead fireproofing, and winch/windlass brake linings - inference from era and type, not a hull record.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1940s era documented; article published 1987

   Population

   WWII shipyard workers and Navy crews (class/era context)

   Limitations

   Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, this builder, or this ship type specifically, and does not establish that asbestos was or was not aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. Basalt Rock Company does not appear in the article. The listed applications are era-typical inference, not documented installations on ARS-6.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-04

5. [5]U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-05-264, 'Maritime Administration: Improved Program Management Needed to Address Timely Disposal of Obsolete Ships' (2005); corroborated by DOT OIG 'MARAD's Ship Disposal Program' chapter (2001) and OSHA directive CPL 02-00-136 (National Emphasis Program on Shipbreaking) [gao]

   Locator

   GAO-05-264 report body, ship-condition and hazardous-materials sections (govinfo ASCII full text); DOT OIG chap9.pdf; OSHA directive https://www.osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-00-136 (covered-operation list naming Bay Bridge Enterprises, 4300 Buell Road, Chesapeake, VA)

   Finding type

   environmental_record

   Finding

   GAO report on MARAD's National Defense Reserve Fleet disposal program states that many NDRF ships 'contain hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and residual oils and fuels that are typically found on older ships,' and that 'remediation of hazardous materials, such as asbestos, PCBs, lead, mercury, and cadmium, takes place before, as well as during, the dismantling process' under MARAD disposal contracts. A DOT Office of Inspector General program chapter similarly states that the 116 obsolete NDRF vessels then awaiting disposal 'contain hazardous substances such as fuel oil, asbestos, solid and liquid polychlorinated biphenyls, lead, radium, and chromates.' This vessel was a James River Reserve Fleet hull in MARAD custody from 2000-09-26 until scrapping in 2009-10 under a MARAD scrap-services contract at Bay Bridge Enterprises LLC, Chesapeake, VA - a yard named in OSHA's shipbreaking National Emphasis Program (CPL 02-00-136) as a covered MARAD/Navy shipbreaking operation.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   2001-2010 (program reports 2001/2005; vessel custody 2000-2010)

   Population

   NDRF reserve-fleet hulls under MARAD disposal contracts; shipbreaking workers at Bay Bridge Enterprises (program context)

   Limitations

   Program-level findings about NDRF obsolete vessels and MARAD dismantling contracts generally; none of these sources names Escape or states whether this hull in particular contained asbestos or received asbestos abatement during the 2009-10 dismantling. They establish that the disposal pathway this vessel passed through (NDRF lay-up then MARAD-contract domestic scrapping) was a documented asbestos-hazard regime, not that this hull carried asbestos. No OSHA/EPA enforcement record specific to this hull's dismantling was located.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-05

6. [6]Batch-2684 search ledger (this record): DANFS (NHHC, via Wayback); MARAD NR Eligibility Assessment; MARAD ShipHistory Detail 1476; USCG Historian webcutters (archived); nvr.navy.mil; GAO-05-264; DOT OIG; OSHA CPL 02-00-136; CourtListener helper script (two queries completed, remainder fleet-paced) [other_primary]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-escape-ars6-01 through sl-uss-escape-ars6-10

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming Escape (by name, hull number ARS-6, or USCG designation WMEC-6) was found in the public official sources searched (DANFS; MARAD National Register Eligibility Assessment - 8 pages including alteration history, containing no hazmat statement; MARAD Vessel History Database and its attached status card; U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office cutter materials; Naval Vessel Register; GAO/OSHA/EPA/DOT-OIG program materials). CourtListener opinion searches completed for '"USS Escape" ARS-6' and '"USS Escape" asbestos' - both returned zero hits; remaining name/hull/builder variants and docket-type searches were blocked by fleet-wide pacing and remain an open item - see gaps and search_ledger.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   2026-09-26

   Limitations

   Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1942-43-built Navy auxiliary retained in service through 1995 (with a USCG-era 'extensive repairs and rehabilitation' per the NR assessment) and scrapped in 2009-10 under a MARAD contract regime that (per GAO, ev-05) requires hazmat remediation is consistent with era materials having existed at some point in her service life. Does not establish that asbestos is or is not present, was or was not removed, or establish/defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The litigation sweep is only partially complete - two CourtListener queries returned zero hits; companion queries are an open gap, not a completed negative finding.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-06

7. [7]MARAD NR Eligibility Assessment Sources list (NARA College Park deck log citation; 1987 CG memo; command pamphlet; Brouwer history); NavSource photo credits citing US National Archives RG 19-LCM [other_primary]

   Locator

   NR assessment p. 8 'Sources' section; NavSource photo-caption credits (via Wayback 2024-11-11 capture)

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction orders; no spend authorized): the MARAD NR assessment's own source list documents ship-specific records held outside the public web, including 'Deck Log USS Escape, July 1958, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD' (RG 24-lineage Navy deck logs); a Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard memo to the CNO, 'CGC Escape (WMEC-6) TOWING/SALVAGE EQUIPMENT,' 1987-06-10; a USS Escape change-of-command pamphlet (Naval Station Mayport, 1975-05-29); an undated USS Escape 'Welcome Aboard' booklet; and a short vessel history by Norman Brouwer (2007). Bureau of Ships construction photographs of this hull exist in NARA RG 19-LCM (photo nos. 19-N-57115, 19-N-57116, Napa River, November 1943 - referenced on NavSource). USCG records for the 1980-1995 cutter period would follow RG 26. No digitized deck logs or construction files for this hull were located in the public NARA catalog this session.

   Verification

   unverified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1942-1995 records

   Limitations

   Record-group and finding-aid mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; whether any of these records contains asbestos-relevant information (construction specs, outfitting lists, deck-log maintenance entries, the 1980-84 rehabilitation scope) is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-07

8. [8]DANFS 'Escape (ARS-6)' vs NavSource ARS-6 chronology/commanding-officer list (archived capture); USCG Historian's Office cutter list 'ESCAPE (1980-USCG)' and WMEC Photo Index (archived uscg.mil); MARAD ShipHistory Detail 1476 milestone table vs NR assessment narrative; MARAD NR assessment specification block [other_primary]

   Locator

   USCG Historian WMEC Photo Index and cutter list (Wayback captures); NavSource 09/37/3706 chronology (Wayback 2024-11-11); MARAD milestones; NR assessment narrative

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Source discrepancies resolved/flagged: (a) First decommissioning - DANFS and the MARAD NR assessment give 1946-07-20 ('decommissioned and placed in reserve at Orange, Tex.'); NavSource's service chronology and its commanding-officer list (LCDR J. L. Hill's tenure ending 1947-01-14, followed by 'Decommissioned') imply 1947-01-14, consistent with NVR-derived data; DANFS is adopted for the record field and the conflict is preserved here. (b) Coast Guard entry - USCG Historian's official cutter list gives 'ESCAPE (1980-USCG)' and the WMEC photo index states she 'entered Coast Guard service in 1980'; MARAD custody milestones show NDRF entry 1979-10-17 and withdrawal 'Transferred to USCG' 1980-12-04; NavSource's chronology and the NR assessment's compressed narrative instead place USCG commissioning on 1978-09-01, the Navy decommissioning date. The custody record is adopted: Navy decommissioning 1978-09-01, NDRF 1979-80, USCG service from 1980 (commissioning ~1980-12-04). (c) Complement - DANFS stat block 120 vs NR assessment specification block 69; the DANFS wartime figure is carried and the variant preserved. (d) DANFS prints 'Jones Ingram' for the grounded destroyer assisted in Jan 1960; the vessel was USS Jonas Ingram (DD-938), as the NR assessment states.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   correction

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1946-1995

   Limitations

   Resolves publication-level discrepancies between official custody records and secondary compilations; does not affect identity or the disposal timeline materially. None of the conflicting sources contains asbestos content. The 1946/1947 and 1978/1980 date pairs and the 120/69 complement pair are all preserved in gaps rather than silently discarded.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-escape-ars6-08