Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]DANFS Vol. II, Finch I (AM-9) - verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returns 404 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Vol. II 'Finch' entry, spec block + full narrative (pp. 404-405); mirror URL cited
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 30 March 1918 by Standard Shipbuilding Co., New York, N.Y.; sponsored by Mrs. F. G. Peabody; commissioned 10 September 1918, Lt. J. C. Lindberg in command; named for the bird. After training and submarine-bell operations, sailed from New York 9 August 1919 for Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, and based there two months removing WWI North Sea mines. 'Returned to Charleston 29 November 1920, and on 3 January 1920 sailed for San Pedro' (internally inconsistent as printed - flagged in gaps); in reduced commission 1 March to 29 August at San Pedro; modernized; sailed San Francisco 20 August 1921 for the Asiatic Fleet; twenty years of Philippines-winter/Chefoo-summer service incl. towing, salvage, Yangtze River Patrol, fleet exercises. 1941: intensive exercises with submarine and mine groups; December patrol in Taiwan Straits. 9 April 1942, moored at the eastern point of Corregidor, damaged by near miss of a Japanese bomb - seams opened and fragments pierced hull; entire crew landed safely; abandoned to sink 10 April 1942. Spec block: 950 t (n.), 187'10", 35'6", 10'4", 14 k., cpl. 78, 2 3". One battle star WWII.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1942
- Population
- Standard Shipbuilding construction trades 1917-18; crews 1918-1942 (DANFS complement 78)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Printed date sequence (return Nov 1920, sail Jan 1920) is internally inconsistent and is flagged, not reconciled. Stricken date (8 May 1942) and IJN service ('IJN No. W103') appear only in the transcriber's bracketed note, not the DANFS narrative. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim text verified against archive.org scan of DANFS Vol. II (item dictionaryofamer02wash, pp. 404-405).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-01
-
[2]Robert J. Cressman, The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II (Naval Historical Center) - HyperWar/ibiblio transcription, 12 January 1945 Pacific entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- USN-Chron-1945.html, '12 January, Fri. -- Pacific' entry (TF 38 South China Sea raid)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy chronology documents this hull's final loss in Japanese service: on 12 January 1945, TF 38 (Vice Adm. John S. McCain) planes raiding southeastern French Indochina sank 'Patrol Boat No.103 [ex-U.S. minesweeper Finch (AM-9)]' off Cape Padaran at 11 deg 10 min N, 108 deg 55 min E, along with minesweeper W.101, submarine chaser Ch 31, Coast Defense Vessels No. 35 and No. 43, and tanker Ayayuki Maru.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1945-01-12
- Population
- IJN crew of PB-103 (unknown size)
- Limitations
- Confirms Japanese salvage/IJN service and the sinking date, location, and attacker; does not detail IJN employment between 1942 salvage and 1945 loss, does not address materials or asbestos, and does not establish the wreck's present condition.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-02
-
[3]DANFS Vol. VI, Rainbow (AS-7) entry - archive.org scan of the official Naval Historical Center volume [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Vol. VI 'Rainbow' entry, Asiatic Fleet service paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The DANFS entry for USS Rainbow (AS-7) names this hull in her Asiatic Fleet submarine-tender role: Rainbow 'sometimes assisted Finch in tending the boats of Submarine Division 18'; in April 1923 'the Submarine Divisions of the Asiatic Fleet and tender Finch' sailed for the China Coast (Shanghai, Chefoo, Chinwangtao, Woosung, Amoy); and on 24 June 1924 Rainbow sailed 'in company with tender Finch and the S-boats of Divisions 12 and 18 to serve at Tsingtao, Chefoo, and Amoy until 20 September.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1921-1924
- Population
- Finch crew as submarine tender 1921-1924
- Limitations
- Documents the SubDiv-18 tender episode absent from Finch's own DANFS entry; establishes employment history only - no materials, asbestos, or condition information. Retrieved from the archive.org scan of DANFS Vol. VI (dictionaryofamer06wash); page-level locator approximate (entry precedes the R-S section).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-03
-
[4]Hedley-Whyte J, Milamed DR, 'Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences,' Ulster Medical Journal 77(3):191-200 (2008), PMC2604477; + Rushworth D, 'The Navy and Asbestos Thermal Insulation,' Naval Engineers Journal 117(2):35-48 (2005), doi:10.1111/j.1559-3584.2005.tb00336.x [other_primary]
- Locator
- PMC2604477 'Logistics of Asbestos' section; Rushworth 2005 abstract/introduction
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference for this hull's 1917-18 two-boiler triple-expansion steam plant: peer-reviewed scholarship records that 'in 1922 the US Navy specified asbestos use in new submarines - South African chrysotile asbestos was specified for gaskets, insulation, packing and tape' (Hedley-Whyte & Milamed), and Rushworth's Navy-focused engineering history documents asbestos as the standard material for shipboard pipe and machinery thermal insulation in the WWII and post-WWII fleet. Period marine steam plants used lagged boilers, steam lines, flanges, and packed machinery - applications for which asbestos was the era's dominant insulating medium.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1942 (service era); 2005/2008 (scholarship)
- Population
- Construction trades 1917-18; engine-room and maintenance crews 1918-1942
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no source names this hull or describes her materials. The earliest documented Navy asbestos specification located (1922, submarines) post-dates this hull's 1918 construction, and she sank in 1942 before the Navy's heaviest asbestos-use era; whether asbestos-containing material was installed aboard is undocumented and may not be determinable from the wreck or records.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-04
-
[5]Batch-1441 search ledger (this record): DANFS vols. II and VI; USN Official Chronology (HyperWar); CourtListener API v4 (blocked - throttled); web-indexed litigation discovery; NavSource/NavalCoverMuseum/Dreadnought/combinedfleet corroboration; NARA catalog (pending) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-finch-am9-01 through sl-uss-finch-am9-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, government inventory, or docketed case naming USS Finch (AM-9) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The CourtListener API search itself could not be executed - authenticated quota exhausted (HTTP 429, logged as blocked); web-indexed discovery located no qualifying litigation reference to this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record does not prove absence of asbestos - a 1918 steam plant plausibly carried era insulation materials. The ship's loss in combat (1942), Japanese salvage, and second sinking (1945) leave no preserved structure to survey, and no hazmat record would be expected; crew-era exposure is undocumented rather than disproven. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The blocked CourtListener query means docket-level litigation discovery remains open.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-05
-
[6]DANFS Vol. II, Finch II (DE-328) - archive.org scan of the official Naval Historical Center volume [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Vol. II 'Finch' II (DE-328) entry; texashistory.unt.edu Nimitz Museum oral-history collection (DE-328 veteran interviews)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Name-collision control: DANFS documents a second USS Finch - DE-328, an Edsall-class destroyer escort launched 28 August 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex., commissioned 13 December 1943, named for Lt. (j.g.) Joseph W. Finch Jr. (killed aboard USS Laffey DD-459, Naval Battle of Guadalcanal). DE-328 served through 1973 including Coast Guard loan service as USCGC Finch (WDE-428, 1951-54) and radar-picket duty as DER-328. Every asbestos-era 'USS Finch' reference located in web-indexed discovery (law-firm ship lists; National Museum of the Pacific War veteran oral histories) resolves to DE-328, not this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1943-1973 (DE-328 service era); 2026-09-22 (discovery search)
- Population
- N/A (disambiguation)
- Limitations
- Disambiguation context only - establishes that a bare 'USS Finch' reference with a post-1943 exposure window is the destroyer escort, and that AM-9 (sunk April 1942) cannot be the exposure site in post-1942-era claims. Does not itself evidence asbestos aboard either hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-06
-
[7]Hackett, Kingsepp & Cundall, 'IJN Patrol Boat No. 103: Tabular Record of Movement' (combinedfleet.com, rev. 6) - specialist compilation from Japanese records [other_primary]
- Locator
- combinedfleet.com PB-103 TROM, entries 1917-1945
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Specialist TROM (secondary compilation from Japanese official records) supplying detail beyond DANFS: keel laid 22 August 1917 at Standard Shipbuilding; lightship duty with submarine-bell apparatus at New York approaches Dec 1918-Jul 1919; tender assignment to SubDiv 18 (S-2, S-14, S-15, S-16, S-17) December 1921; Rickover assumes command June 1937, reassigned within ~3 months; at Tsingtao January 1939; towed USS Pigeon (ASR-6) free 1 October 1939; flagship MineDiv 8 (Lt. T. W. Davison) November 1941; Formosa Straits episode 1-10 December 1941 (lost both anchors, towed damaged Pigeon); extinguished fires on Don Jose and Capillo 29 December 1941; 9 April 1942 anchored beside USS Quail under shore-battery and dive-bomber attack; grounded in shallow water 14-22N 120-35E 10 April 1942; Japanese salvage began 8 May 1942; registered IJN Patrol Boat No. 103 1 April 1943 (Maizuru), repaired at No. 103 Repair Facility Cavite, transferred to IJN 19 May 1943; convoy escort Philippines/Indochina/Hong Kong through 1945.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1945
- Population
- Crews in documented episodes (USN era; IJN era uncounted)
- Limitations
- Secondary scholarly compilation, not a U.S. official source - individual entries are uncorroborated by located primary records except where noted (SubDiv-18 tender duty corroborated by DANFS Rainbow entry; loss corroborated by USN Official Chronology). Rickover command date conflicts with NavSource's 13 April 1935 listing - carried in gaps. TROM's underlying sources (JACAR/IJN records) are the retrieval lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-07
-
[8]U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History magazine book review of Wortman, 'Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power' (Aug 2022); corroborating military.com biography 'Admiral Hyman G. Rickover: Taking the Atom Undersea' [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History Aug 2022 book reviews; military.com Rickover biography; combinedfleet PB-103 TROM June 1937 entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- This hull was Admiral Hyman G. Rickover's only ship command: reputable secondary sources agree he took command of 'the decrepit minesweeper USS Finch (AM-9)' in 1937 (military.com: 'He took command of the USS Finch in 1937, the last fleet command of his career'; TROM: June 1937, reassigned within ~3 months on Engineering Duty Officer designation). NavSource's commanding-officer list gives 13 April 1935 - the conflict is flagged in gaps rather than reconciled.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1935 or 1937 (command - sources conflict)
- Population
- Finch crew under Rickover command 1937
- Limitations
- Secondary biographical sources, not official personnel records - command date is 1937 per biographies/TROM vs 1935 per NavSource; exact dates unverified. Notable-command context only; no asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-finch-am9-08