Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet fb-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-farenholt-dd491-pkt-fb-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Farenholt II (DD-491) (builder, launch, commissioning, WWII service narrative, reserve disposition; verbatim transcription hosted by the Destroyer History Foundation - live NHHC DANFS page serves 404 on all URL variants) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry text, destroyerhistory.org/benson-gleavesclass/ussfarenholt/ (DANFS History tab)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 19 November 1941 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, N.Y.; sponsored by Miss N. L. Garland, great-grand-niece of Admiral Farenholt; commissioned 2 April 1942, Lt. Comdr. E. T. Seaward in command. Service: flagship Destroyer Squadron 12 from 4 August 1942; screened Wasp (CV-7) in the Guadalcanal invasion (7 Aug); rescued 143 Wasp survivors 15 September 1942; Battle of Cape Esperance 11-12 October - hit at the action's outset, 3 killed and 43 wounded, saved by counter-listing 9 degrees to starboard, reached Espiritu Santo 13 October; battle-damage repairs at Pearl Harbor, returned to Espiritu Santo 3 March 1943; New Georgia/Rendova support June-July 1943 (dud torpedo hit port bow 30 June); Bougainville operations November 1943-February 1944; Green Island 14 February 1944; St. George's Channel raid on Rabaul 17-18 February; holed at the waterline by Kavieng shore batteries 25 February 1944; temporary repairs at Purvis Bay then west coast overhaul; back in action 16 June 1944 - Guam 21 July-10 August, Palaus and Philippines carrier strikes, Cape San Augustine bombardment 14 September (first ships to bombard a target in the Philippines), Morotai and Angaur, Manus replenishment 28 September-13 October; screened damaged cruisers Canberra and Houston to Ulithi (arrived 27 October); station ship Ulithi and Kossol Passage to 5 May 1945; Okinawa screening from 8 May; San Pedro Bay logistics group 19 June; Okinawa 28 July-22 September; accepted surrender of southern Ryukyus and Sakishima Gunto islands; Buckner Bay-Sasebo escort 20-31 October; arrived Charleston, S.C., 8 December 1945; placed out of commission in reserve at Charleston 26 April 1946. 'Farenholt received 11 [sic] battle stars for World War II service.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1946 (entry coverage)
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel Staten Island construction trades 1940-42; wartime crew (spec-block complement 276); New York Navy Yard fitting-out workers 1942; Pearl Harbor Navy Yard repair workers 1942-43
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The entry ends at the 1946 decommissioning - it does not cover the June 1971 striking or November 1972 sale (those rest on the NHHC Online Library caption page, ev-02). Hit count at Cape Esperance reads 'three hits' here vs four projectiles in the ship's activity brief and the BuShips war-damage summary - carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because live NHHC DANFS pages return 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-01
-
[3]NHHC Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS Farenholt (DD-491), 1942-1972' (Naval Historical Center photo-caption page; verbatim transcription via ibiblio/HyperWar - live NHHC page not located) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-f/dd491.htm - page text + captions for NH 54078, NH 54073, 80-G-12264, 19-N-45993
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NHHC photo-caption page for this hull: 'a 1620-ton Benson class destroyer, was built at Staten Island, New York. Commissioned in April 1942...' - service summary consistent with DANFS - '...Returning to the U.S. in late 1945, she steamed to the east coast, where she decommissioned in April 1946. After more than twenty-five years in the Reserve Fleet, USS Farenholt was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in June 1971 and sold for scrapping in November 1972.' Photo captions corroborate specifics: NH 54078 (christened by Miss N. L. Garland at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Staten Island, 19 November 1941); NH 54073 (launching, same date/place); 80-G-12264 (alongside USS Wasp receiving supplies, south Pacific, 24 August 1942, NARA-held); 19-N-45993 (underway off Pearl Harbor circa May 1943, Bureau of Ships collection).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1972
- Population
- Wartime crew; Atlantic Reserve Fleet custodial personnel 1946-1971
- Limitations
- Photo-caption page gives month-level disposal dates (June 1971 striking; November 1972 sale) - the precise days (1 June 1971; 22 November 1972) rest on secondary compilations. Documents disposition, not materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-02
-
[4]Ship's activity brief, 'Brief of Ship's Activities 2 April 1942 to 1 March 1945' (contemporaneous ship document, verbatim transcription hosted by the Destroyer History Foundation) + BuShips 'Summary of War Damage - U.S. Battleships, Carriers, Cruisers and Destroyers, Oct 17 1941-Dec 7 1942' entry FARENHOLT (DD491) (ibiblio/HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org Farenholt War Diary and main pages; ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/WarDamageReports SummWarDamageSurface-17OCT41-7DEC42 entry FARENHOLT (DD491)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Contemporaneous records document this hull's yard availabilities and battle damage: fitting out at Brooklyn Navy Yard after commissioning; engineering repairs at Brooklyn Navy Yard late April 1942 and at Navy Yard New York 25 May-2 June 1942; four shell hits at Cape Esperance (11-12 October 1942) with 3 killed, 4 seriously injured and 39 wounded - the BuShips summary records 'Gunfire - 4': three projectiles into the port side at frames 61, 65 and 85 above the first platform with extensive internal structural damage, a fourth to the foremast; temporary hull patches welded alongside Curtis (AV-4) at Espiritu Santo, wounded transferred to Solace, further damage survey/repairs alongside Whitney (AD-4) at Noumea 17-21 October; then 'the ship was being repaired by the Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor' 1 November 1942-5 February 1943. Destroyer History Foundation's companion narrative (citing the ship's historian and Morison) places the post-Kavieng two-month overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard (spring 1944) and 'complete boiler repairs' at Ulithi in February 1945.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Crew (3 KIA, 43 WIA at Cape Esperance); New York Navy Yard repair workers Apr-Jun 1942; Pearl Harbor Navy Yard repair workers Nov 1942-Feb 1943; tender/repair-ship crews (Manley, Curtis, Whitney); Mare Island Navy Yard workers spring 1944
- Limitations
- Activity brief and BuShips summary are transcribed primary records hosted on non-official sites (Destroyer History Foundation; ibiblio/HyperWar) - content unverified against the NARA originals. The 4-projectile damage count conflicts with DANFS's 'three hits' - carried in gaps. Mare Island assignment for the spring-1944 overhaul rests on the Foundation's compiled narrative (DANFS says only 'west coast overhaul'); a typed war-damage report for the Kavieng hit is indexed in 12th Naval District (Mare Island) records - consistent, see ev-07. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-03
-
[5]DANFS-type spec block + Benson-class machinery spec (class profile benson-gleaves-class.class.json: navypedia + BuShips Ships' Data 1945) + Atlas shipyard dataset record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' (tier 3; documented products incl. 85% magnesia block insulation, Marinite board, Transite pipe covering, Unibestos, Raybestos cloth, asbestos lagging, gaskets and packing) + GAO HRD-80-2 program documentation [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS-type spec block (ibiblio DD-491 page); shipyards.json record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding'; benson-gleaves-class.class.json propulsion spec; GAO HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Benson-class destroyer (1941 repeat 'Laffey' group) built 1940-42 at Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, with a four-boiler superheated-steam plant (class spec: 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers at 575 psi/700F per BuShips Ships' Data 1945; 2 geared steam-turbine sets; ~50,000 shp; 2 shafts) would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation - boiler and turbine lagging, steam-line insulation, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing - as documented for WWII-era naval construction generally; GAO HRD-80-2 records that the Navy did not begin substituting alternative insulation until the early 1970s, placing this hull's entire 1942-1971 life inside the documented asbestos-use era. The builder yard's corporate record is tier 3 in the Atlas dataset with a documented asbestos product list - though that record is the Bethlehem Shipbuilding entry keyed to Quincy, Mass., and does not separately enumerate the Staten Island division. Documented availabilities for this hull - New York Navy Yard fitting-out/repairs (1942), Navy Yard Pearl Harbor battle-damage repairs (1 Nov 1942-5 Feb 1943), Mare Island Navy Yard overhaul (spring 1944), forward-base boiler work (Manus Sep-Oct 1944; complete boiler repairs at Ulithi Feb 1945), Charleston inactivation (1945-46) - are era-consistent insulation-disturbance events at tier 1-3 yards, documented as service events only.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940-1971
- Population
- Bethlehem Staten Island construction trades 1940-42; crew 1942-46; yard workers at documented availabilities (New York Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Mare Island Navy Yard, Charleston); forward-base repair personnel (Manus, Ulithi)
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No retrieved source names an asbestos product installed aboard DD-491; yard tier records document the yards, not work performed on this hull; battle-damage and boiler repairs are documented events whose materials scope is unstated. Does not establish presence, absence, exposure, or causation for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-04
-
[6]Batch-3473 search ledger (this record): DANFS verbatim transcription; NHHC Online Library caption page; BuShips war-damage summary transcription; ship activity-brief transcription; NARA asbestos research guide + SL-44 ship-number index; Atlas shipyard dataset; CourtListener API v4 sweep; Benson/Gleaves class profile; web-level litigation/material check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-farenholt-dd491-01 through sl-uss-farenholt-dd491-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-491: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat disclosure, no museum record (the hull was sold for scrapping in 1972 after 25 years in the Reserve Fleet), and no qualifying docketed asbestos case naming this hull at the checked surface (see ev-06 and search_ledger). Marketing ship-pages exist for this hull (e.g., mesothelioma.com destroyer list, simmonsfirm.com ship list, mesotheliomahelp.org, asbestos-ships.com) making unsourced equipment/exposure claims - excluded under the batch's source rules and logged in the report.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull's 1940-42 construction inside the documented peak naval-asbestos era, her wartime damage repairs (Pearl Harbor 1942-43; Mare Island 1944) and boiler work (Manus 1944; Ulithi 1945) are consistent with era-standard insulation and insulation-disturbance events, but that is inference, not a ship-specific documentation finding. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 sweep via cl-auth-search.py (authenticated; fleet-paced), 2026-09-27: "USS Farenholt" opinion index; "USS Farenholt" RECAP docket index; "DD-491" and "Farenholt" queries [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-farenholt-dd491-07 and sl-uss-farenholt-dd491-08 (query strings and result classification)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation sweep for this hull: "USS Farenholt" exact-phrase opinion-index search returns 0 hits. "USS Farenholt" RECAP docket-index search returns 3 hits, all NAME COLLISIONS - United States v. Schroth (S.D. Cal. 3:12-cr-00977, criminal): 'Farenholt' appears in an OCR'd Navy enlisted evaluation exhibit (defendant an HM1 hospital corpsman - matches the Navy medical eponym RADM Ammen Farenholt / Farenholt Avenue, Naval Medical Center San Diego, not this hull); Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 15-01145) and Sears Holdings Corp. (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 18-23538): 'Farenholt' appears inside scanned bankruptcy service-list exhibits (address/name-list artifacts). "DD-491" hull-number opinion query returns 765 hits - the term tokenizes to 'DD' + '491' and the top-20 ranked results reviewed are all noise (anonymized initials like 'Shamoi DD.', docket-number fragments); none reference a vessel. The "DD-491" docket-index and bare "Farenholt" queries could not be completed before commit - the fleet-wide CourtListener pacing budget was spent across repeated attempts; logged as blocked in the search ledger and flagged for re-run. No qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS Farenholt (DD-491) was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27 (search date)
- Limitations
- Absence of indexed hits does not prove no litigation exists - RECAP coverage is incomplete for state-court filings and unindexed text. The "DD-491" opinion query is noise-dominated by design (765 hits; top-20 reviewed, all initials/docket fragments) so it functions as a weak negative check, not a probative sweep. The blocked docket-index and bare-name queries are a residual gap, not a negative result; the completed exact-name sweeps returned zero qualifying hits. A known name-collision class exists: 'Farenholt' matches the Navy medical eponym (RADM Ammen Farenholt, MC - the 1907 Supreme Court pay case United States v. Farenholt, 206 U.S. 226, and San Diego naval-medical facilities) and appears in scanned exhibit/address lists.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-06
-
[8]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (research guide: VA-claims context; RG 19 Bureau of Ships correspondence path; RG 24 logbooks) + NARA SL-44 ship-number index + NARA cartographic ship-plans guide + 12th Naval District war-damage-report index (usnavyresearch.com compilation of NARA holdings) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos; archives.gov/files/research/military/logbooks/sl-44-ship-number.pdf (grep-verified, no DD-491 row); archives.gov/research/cartographic/ship-plans; usnavyresearch.com 'WDR 12th F-J' index (FARENHOLT DD491, Kavieng 25 Feb 1944 report, typed at Mare Island)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's official research guide maps the record path for ship-level asbestos inquiry for this hull: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) correspondence series (1940-1961) filed by hull code DD491; Benson-class correspondence under DD421 Class (the guide's convention is class correspondence under the namesake hull - DD-421 USS Benson); type correspondence under DD as last resort; and private-yard correspondence under QM/Bethlehem Steel for the builder. This hull's construction (1940-42) and all commissioned service fall inside the guide's mapped window. The SL-44 ship-number index carries no DD-491 row (checked 2026-09-27; '491' hits are LCI(L)-491, LST-491, PC-491, PT-491, SC-1491, YP-491 only) - WWII destroyer deck logs live in RG 24 Entry 118. A typed BuShips war-damage report on this hull's 25 February 1944 Kavieng hit (7 photographs, produced at Mare Island) is indexed among 12th Naval District records per the usnavyresearch.com compilation - the same overhaul-period documentation chain a materials inquiry would follow.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- Records path for 1940-1961 construction/service
- Limitations
- Research-path guide only - establishes where ship-specific asbestos documentation would live, not that any exists for this hull. No NARA records were retrieved; all paths are leads. The 12th ND war-damage-report index entry is a researcher's compilation describing a NARA holding, not itself an official record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-farenholt-dd491-07