Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Fechteler II (DD-870), NHHC live page (published 2015-07-08), namesakes + specifications block + service narrative [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS page 'Fechteler II (DD-870)', specifications block + service narrative (fetched 2026-09-28; live 200)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull (live NHHC page): specifications block - displacement 2,425 t; length 390'6"; beam 41'1"; draft 18'6"; speed 35 kt; complement 367; armament 6 x 5-in, 5 x 21-in tt.; class Gearing. Named for RADM Augustus Francis Fechteler (1857-1921) and his son LT Frank Casper Fechteler (1897-1922). Launched 19 September 1945 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, N.Y.; sponsored by Miss Joan S. Fechteler; commissioned 2 March 1946, CDR A. A. Wellings in command; re-classified DDR-870 9 April 1953. Norfolk homeport; west coast 1947; Far East occupation tours 1947-48 and 1949; two Korean wartime deployments (13 Nov 1950-8 Aug 1951; 23 Feb-29 Sep 1952) screening TF 77, escort/patrol force, bombardment and close gunfire support; decommissioned/reserve 1 April 1953 for radar-picket conversion; recommissioned 1 December 1953; Atlantic Fleet Newport Oct 1954; Pacific Fleet Long Beach from June 1956; 7th Fleet Taiwan Patrol and radar-warning deployments 1956, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1960; five battle stars for Korean War service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945-1970
- Population
- Bethlehem Staten Island construction trades 1945-46; crews 1946-1970
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Entry text ends at the Korea-era narrative (published 2015) and does not cover the 1963 FRAM conversion, Vietnam service, or disposal - those rest on secondary sources. Does not name the 1953 DDR conversion yard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-01
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[2]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-870/DDR-870 building & operational data + navysite.de DD-870 characteristics/service text + Tin Can Sailors ship record carrying NVR-derived disposition line (USS Fechteler DD-870) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/05/870.htm building/operational data block; navysite.de/dd/dd870.htm characteristics + service text; destroyers.org/ships/dd-870 disposition line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Building, Vietnam-era service, and disposition record for this hull from secondary compilations: keel laid 12 April 1945 (navysite 'Keel laid: April 12, 1945'); Vietnam-era operations - Task Force 77 with Navy Unit Commendation for Gulf of Tonkin operations 2-5 August 1964, naval gunfire support and harbor defense DaNang (departed WestPac 13 January 1966), Operation Sea Dragon plus Northern Search and Rescue Station and gunline duty (returned Long Beach 25 August 1967), Yankee Station, Market Time coastal surveillance and gunline (1968) - per navysite.de service text; FRAM modernization completed December 1963 (Long Beach Naval Shipyard per navysite.de and Wikipedia); stricken 11 September 1970; sold 28 June 1972 to Zidell Explorations Inc., Portland, OR and broken up for scrap (NavSource/navysite). The NVR-derived disposition line carried by Tin Can Sailors reads 'Ex DDE. Fram II. Use as a target. Cancelled. Sold on 06/29/1972 to Zidell Explorations Inc., Portland, Oreg. for $82,689.99. Scrapped.' - one-day sale-date conflict (28 vs 29 June) and FRAM-type/'Ex DDE' conflicts are documented rather than resolved.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Population
- crews 1963-1970 (Vietnam-era); shipbreaking-yard workers, Zidell Portland 1972-73
- Limitations
- Secondary compilations transcribing NVR/disposal data - the Naval Vessel Register does not publish a live detail page for this pre-1987 disposal. Sale to Zidell and scrapping are consistent across NavSource, navysite.de, Tin Can Sailors, and Wikipedia; the 28-vs-29 June date and 'Fram II vs FRAM I'/'Ex DDE vs DDR' fields conflict across sources (carried in gaps). Establishes the hull's endpoint, not asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-02
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[3]Oregon DEQ Northwest Region Cleanup Program, 'Zidell Waterfront Property Cleanup' community presentation (Scott Manzano, DEQ, 2012), site ECSI No. 689 + U.S. Coast Guard Regulated Navigation Area, 77 FR 19544 (Apr 2, 2012) [other_primary]
- Locator
- oregon.gov DEQ CAG presentation PDF pp. on 'Background'/'Site Contaminants'/'Summer 2010 Upland Remedial Action' slides; federalregister.gov doc 2012-7784 (77 FR 19544)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Official cleanup record for this hull's documented breaking site: Oregon DEQ records that the Zidell South Waterfront property (3121 SW Moody Ave., Portland; 32 acres upland + 12 acres in-water sediment, on the Willamette River) was purchased by Zidell in 1946 and dismantled 336 ships over roughly 30 years, selling scrap and using shipbreaking waste as site fill; site contaminants include asbestos (listed with metals, PCBs, PAHs, butyltins in upland and bankline soil); the 2010 upland remedy included a certified-worker asbestos abatement project with air monitoring and bulk ACM disposal, and the 2011 remedy installed an engineered sediment cap protected by a Coast Guard regulated navigation area (77 FR 19544). USS Fechteler was sold to Zidell Explorations in June 1972 and broken up within that documented 1946-1976 dismantling window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1946-2018 (site operations through cleanup certification)
- Population
- Zidell shipbreaking/scrap workers 1946-1976; remediation workers 2010-2012
- Limitations
- Site-level environmental record: documents that 336 ships were dismantled at this yard and that shipbreaking-derived contamination including asbestos reached site soil and sediment; it does not attribute any specific contaminant quantity to DD-870 among the 336 hulls, does not document worker exposures to this specific ship, and does not establish crew-era conditions aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-03
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[4]DANFS specifications block (Gearing class; 2,425 t, 35 kt, cpl 367) + Gearing-class profile (gearing-class.class.json) + Goodrich v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp., Omnibus Opinion, ECF 171, E.D. Va. No. 4:17-cv-00009 (2018-09-28) class-material recitals + navysite.de FRAM I yard note (Long Beach Naval Shipyard 1963) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; gearing-class.class.json ev-04/ev-12 (background); navsource/navysite FRAM notes
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for this hull: a Gearing-class destroyer completed 1945-46 with 4 Babcock & Wilcox superheated boilers and 2 GE geared steam turbines (60,000 shp) falls inside the Navy's peak asbestos-insulation era; the class record's litigation recital (Goodrich omnibus, E.D. Va. 2018) quotes a Navy engineering drawing specifying amosite felts and asbestos cloths on the Sumner/Gearing family's forced-draft-blower turbines and a ~30.3-ton expert partial tally of asbestos thermal insulation/lagging in the fire and engine rooms of a ship of these classes. Documented insulation-disturbance events in this hull's own history: 1953 radar-picket conversion (yard unnamed in DANFS) and the 1963 FRAM I modernization at Long Beach Naval Shipyard - a major machinery-space availability of the type associated with insulation tear-out under era practice.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945-1970
- Population
- Bethlehem Staten Island construction trades 1945-46; crews 1946-1970; conversion (1953) and FRAM I (1963) yard workers
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding. The Goodrich material is a litigation recital of an expert report and a class-family drawing, not a hull-level survey; the 30.3-ton figure is a partial tally for fire/engine rooms, not a shipwide inventory and not an adjudicated quantity. No hull ACM survey or work-package document for DD-870 was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-04
-
[5]CourtListener API v4 sweeps 2026-09-28: opinion "Fechteler" (78 hits), opinion/docket "DD-870" (0 / 12), opinion/docket "DDR-870" (0/0), docket "Fechteler" (4 dockets), RECAP full-text type=rd "Fechteler" (17 documents) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger sl-uss-fechteler-dd870-02 through -06; /tmp/batch3835-cl-results*.log
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No asbestos opinion, adjudicated finding, or qualifying litigation beyond a single pleading-stage ship naming (ev-06) was located in CourtListener opinion or RECAP docket indexes. The 78 opinion hits for 'Fechteler' are person-name collisions (e.g., Fechteler v. Jordan, D.C. Cir. 1955 - Navy Mutual Aid Association; Palm, Fechteler & Co. customs/corporate cases) - top-20 ranked results reviewed, none referencing the ship. 'DD-870' opinions = 0; the 12 'DD-870' docket hits matched numeric strings only (PACer document IDs, claim-number lists) - no literal ship reference. 'DDR-870' = 0/0. The 4 'Fechteler' docket hits are person-name matches (Students for Fair Admissions v. USNA; Microsoft v. Motorola; NYT v. Microsoft) plus one MDL-875 tag-along notice whose 'Fechteler' text match resolved to a qualifying pleading-stage ship naming - the W.D. Wash. asbestos complaint in Dennis v. Todd Shipyards (2:11-cv-00455) lists 'FECHTELER (DD-870)' in the plaintiff's exposure table (see ev-06).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (index coverage through search date)
- Population
- n/a (negative finding)
- Limitations
- Sweep coverage is the CourtListener index (opinions + RECAP dockets/documents) only; state-court, PACER-only, bankruptcy-trust, and VA-claims records are outside it. The 58 unreviewed ranked-tail opinion hits are the residual uncertainty - logged. The one resolved hit (ev-06) is pleading-stage. A 'Fechteler' ship reference lacking a hull number could refer to either DD-870 or DE-157.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-05
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[6]Dennis v. Todd Shipyards Corp. et al., W.D. Wash. No. 2:11-cv-00455-RSM, complaint (filed 2011-03-16) attached to JPML MDL-875 Notice of Potential Tag-Along ECF 7272 att. 2 (In re: Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. VI), docket 1245688); RECAP doc 386414211 (40 pp.) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener docket 1245688, entry 7272 attachment 2 (RECAP doc id 386414211); PDF fetched via archive.org RECAP mirror, complaint exposure table p. ~4 (PDF text verified 2026-09-28)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull (pleading stage): the complaint in Dennis v. Todd Shipyards Corp. et al. (W.D. Wash. 2:11-cv-00455-RSM, Judge Ricardo S. Martinez; filed 16 March 2011 by Joanne Dennis as executor of the estate of William R. Dennis, Brayton Purcell; diversity asbestos suit v. Todd Shipyards, Todd Pacific, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, NASSCO, Kaiser Ventures, Bath Iron Works et al.; tagged to MDL-875 25 May 2011) contains an exposure table alleging the decedent worked as an insulator at Long Beach Naval Shipyard (9/1959-5/1966; 11/1969-7/1975) with exposure aboard listed vessels including 'FECHTELER (DD-870)' alongside COONTZ (DLG-9), HOEL (DDG-13), NORTON SOUND (AVM-1), YORKTOWN (CVS-10), ORISKANY (CVA-34), KEARSARGE (CV-33), FOX (DLG-33), BLACK (DD-666), INGERSOLL (DD-652). Exposure theory is shipyard repair/overhaul work aboard the hull - consistent with its 1956-1970 Long Beach homeport and 1963 LBNSY FRAM I availability.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1959-1975 (alleged exposure window); 2011 (filing)
- Population
- Long Beach Naval Shipyard insulator, 1959-1975 (estate claim)
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegation, unadjudicated - a complaint's vessel list is an allegation, not an exposure finding; case outcome (remand/disposition) not located in the index. Exposure alleged via LBNSY employment, not shipboard service; the table lists ten hulls without ship-specific dates for DD-870. Does not establish asbestos content, product identity, quantities, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-06
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[7]NARA digitized-deck-logs program page (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations series) + NARA RG 19 General Information Books archival series (hull-level material specifications) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov deck-logs program page; NARA RG 24/RG 19 series descriptions (general)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Open archival leads for hull-level material and exposure-relevant records: (1) this ship's deck logs (1946-1970) are held in NARA's Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations series (RG 24, College Park), under an ongoing digitization program - digitized availability for DD-870 unverified; (2) NARA RG 19 'General Information Books' hold per-vessel material/specification books that can carry insulation and machinery data - not retrieved for this hull; (3) conversion work packages for the 1953 DDR conversion and the 1963 LBNSY FRAM I availability would be the hull-level disturbance records.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1946-1970 (records)
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - none of these holdings was retrieved or confirmed digitized; their contents for this hull are unknown. Presence in a series is not evidence of asbestos content aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-07
-
[8]DANFS, Fechteler I (DE-157), via HyperWar/ibiblio transcription of the Naval History Division entry [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/DE/de157.html (full text fetched 2026-09-28)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disambiguation record for the first ship of the name: USS Fechteler (DE-157), Buckley-class destroyer escort, launched 22 April 1943 by Norfolk Navy Yard, sponsored by Miss Joan S. Fechteler - granddaughter of Rear Admiral Fechteler and niece of Lieutenant Fechteler - commissioned 1 July 1943; torpedoed by a homing torpedo from U-967 in the Western Mediterranean 5 May 1944, broke in two and sank (29 killed, 186 survivors rescued); one battle star for WWII service. The same sponsor christened both ships of the name.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Identity/disambiguation context only - DE-157 is a different hull; nothing in this row bears on DD-870 materials or asbestos. 'Off Oran' phrasing common in secondary retellings; DANFS itself says 'Western Mediterranean.' Transcription via HyperWar rather than the live NHHC page (NHHC DE-157 URL not located).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fechteler-dd870-08