Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
-
[1]DANFS, Forster (DE-334) (namesake biography, spec block, service narrative, bracketed transfer note; live NHHC page returns 404 - verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake paragraph + specifications block + service narrative + bracketed note (HyperWar/ibiblio de334.html)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Machinist Edward William Forster (born 8 Oct 1884, Jersey City, N.J.; killed aboard Vincennes CA-44 at Savo Island, 9 Aug 1942). Spec block: dp. 1,200; l. 306'; b. 36'7"; dr. 8'7"; s. 21 k.; cpl. 186; cl. Edsall. Launched 13 Nov 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex., sponsored by Mrs. E. W. Forster, widow; commissioned 25 Jan 1944, Lt. Cmdr. I. E. Davis, USNR; reclassified DER-334 21 Oct 1955. Atlantic convoy escort from Norfolk 23 Mar 1944 (Bizerte); 11 Apr 1944 stood by torpedoed Holder (DE-401) under German bomber attack; six transatlantic escort voyages; school-ship duty; departed New York 20 Jun 1945 for Pacific, Pearl Harbor 25 Jul; occupation escort Marianas-Japan from 30 Aug 1945; Guam 9 Jan 1946 - Philadelphia 12 Feb; decommissioned in reserve Green Cove Springs 15 Jun 1946. In commission in the Coast Guard 20 Jun 1951-25 May 1954, weather-station duty out of Honolulu with one voyage to Japan; returned to reserve; recommissioned at Long Beach 23 Oct 1956; Escort Squadron 5, Seattle, radar-picket continental air defense; homeport Pearl Harbor from 20 Jun 1958 for Pacific Barrier (DEW) patrols with maintenance at Pearl Harbor through 1962. Bracketed note: transferred to South Vietnam 25 Sep 1971 as Tran Khanh Du. One battle star for WWII.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1971
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; wartime and postwar crew (DANFS design complement 186); USCG crew 1951-54; DER-era crew 1956-71
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The bracketed transfer line ends the USN record - post-1971 Vietnamese custody is outside DANFS. Coast Guard turnover date reads 20 Jun 1951 here vs. NavSource's 29 Jun 1951 (commissioning) - carried in gaps. Live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim mirror transcription cited instead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-01
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. I (1945), Destroyer-Escort Vessels roster row for FORSTER, DE-334 (shipscribe.com scan; OCR of book pp. 244-245) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 destroyer-escort roster, row 121 FORSTER DE-334 (book pp. 244-245; shipscribe scan PDF p. 132)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous official BuShips roster row for this hull (roster no. 121): FORSTER, official number DE-334, design group FMR; builder Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; contract price $1,539,000 (cost-plus-fixed-fee footnote marker on the figure); contract date 'do' (ditto) under the 7 Aug 1942 group - consistent with the 7 Aug 1942 order date on the class roster; keel laid 31 Aug 1943; launched 13 Nov 1943; first preliminary acceptance 22 Dec 1943; commissioned 25 Jan 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Corp. construction trades, Orange, Tex., 1943-44
- Limitations
- Official contemporaneous build roster - documents identity, builder, contract, and dates; contains no insulation or materials information and says nothing about asbestos. OCR'd from a scanned two-page table; the price cell reads 1,539,000 in the cleanest pass (a stray mark produced an '11,539,000' variant - the five-digit-million read is inconsistent with every Consolidated contract price on the page and treated as an OCR artifact). Contract-date cell is a ditto under the nearest explicit entry (Aug. 7, 1942).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-02
-
[3]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. I (1945), Destroyer-Escort Vessels design-group table, group 4 / FMR (shipscribe.com scan; OCR of book pp. 234-235) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 DE design-group table, group-4 row (book pp. 234-235; shipscribe scan PDF p. 127)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips design-group table: design group 4 (symbol FMR - Fairbanks-Morse diesel reverse-gear drive) - 306 ft oa, 300 ft wl, beam 36 ft 7 in; 1,200 t standard / 1,590 t full load; 21 kt; machinery 4 Fairbanks-Morse model 38D8-1/8 geared diesel engines, 6,000 shp, 2 shafts; boilers 'None'; 2 diesel ship's-service generators (100 kW, A.C.); accommodations 15 officers + 201 enlisted; armament 3 x 3 in/50 cal. D.P. Documents that the FMR design carried a diesel plant with no boilers or steam system.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945 (publication)
- Population
- FMR-design crews (design accommodations 15 officers + 201 enlisted)
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation for the whole FMR group (85 hulls), not a per-hull material schedule - establishes plant type and accommodations, not insulation content or asbestos. Table OCR'd from a scanned page; individual cell values may be partially garbled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-03
-
[4]NavSource Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Forster (DE/DER-334) page - specs, building/operational data, awards, photo captions with official photo numbers [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/06/334.htm - building-and-operational-data block, awards list, photo captions (Mare Island 1952, Tasmania 1963, Market Time 1966, Pearl Harbor 1960/1969)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource compiled record for this hull: keel laid 31 Aug 1943 at Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; launched/christened 13 Nov 1943 (sponsor Mrs. E. W. Forster); commissioned 25 Jan 1944 at the City Dock, Orange; decommissioned 15 Jun 1946 Green Cove Springs, Fla.; loaned to USCG and recommissioned as WDE-434 on 29 Jun 1951, weather-station duty homeported Honolulu (photo-documented overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard 10 Sep 1951-5 Feb 1952); returned USN and decommissioned 25 May 1954; reclassified DER-334 21 Oct 1955 and converted to a radar picket destroyer escort at Long Beach NSY; recommissioned Long Beach 23 Oct 1956, Escort Squadron 5 Seattle; homeport Pearl Harbor 20 Jun 1958; photo-documented Jan-Feb 1963 Hobart, Tasmania on Operation Deep Freeze (ocean navigation site for Antarctic flights; Antarctica Service Medal 21 Jan-4 Mar 1963) and Feb-Apr 1966 Operation Market Time patrols off South Vietnam (escorting USCG 82-footers Subic Bay-Vung Tau 20 Feb 1966; junk/sampan searches 15 Apr 1966); decommissioned and struck from the NVR 25 Sep 1971 after 20 years 2-2/3 months total service; loaned to South Vietnam same day as Tran Khanh Du (HQ-04); captured by North Vietnamese at Saigon 29 Apr 1975; written off 30 Apr 1975 'transferred to Vietnam', renamed Dai Ky (HQ-03), fitted with 2 quad SA-N-5 Grail launchers, in use as a training ship since 1993, operational as of 1997.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1997
- Population
- Wartime, USCG, and DER-era crews (NavSource complement 8 officers / 201 enlisted); Mare Island and Long Beach yard workers during documented availabilities
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary archive, not a contemporaneous record - building/operational dates concur with DANFS and BuShips SDB where they overlap. Contributed photo captions are the source for the Deep Freeze and Market Time detail (captions cite official USN/USCG photo numbers NH 55886, USN 1142219, CPI-022066-09). Post-1975 Vietnamese-service detail ends at 'operational as of 1997'; final disposition not documented. No asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-04
-
[5]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Cutters, Craft & Coast Guard-Manned Army & Navy Vessels' list (Wayback capture 2008-04-23: 'FORSTER (1951-USCG); WDE-434') + USCG Historian 'The Long Blue Line: Ocean Station' article (history.uscg.mil, indexed) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Wayback 2008-04-23 capture, uscg.mil/history/webcutters/cutterlist.asp, F-section; history.uscg.mil 'The Long Blue Line: Ocean Station' article text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official USCG sources confirm the Coast Guard period for this hull: the Historian's Office cutter list carries 'FORSTER (1951-USCG); WDE-434', and the Historian's Korean-War ocean-station article records that 'CGC Forster assisted the largest number of vessels while on patrol' and that on 16 Aug 1952 'Forster searched for and located the Japanese Motor Vessel Katori Maru and aided the disabled and burning ship.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1951-1954
- Population
- USCG crew 1951-1954; embarked 5-man meteorological detachments typical of ocean-station cutters
- Limitations
- Confirms Coast Guard identity (WDE-434) and ocean-station/SAR service - no materials or asbestos content. The live USCG history page returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches; cited via the 2008 Wayback capture of the official cutter list and the indexed text of the Historian's article. The current history.uscg.mil browse page lists the hull as 'WDE-334' while the Historian's cutter list and NavSource read 'WDE-434' - discrepancy carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-05
-
[6]Navypedia, 'FMR' destroyer escorts (EDSALL) (1943-1944) - class roster and technical-data table (compiled reference) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia FMR/Edsall-class page, roster table row DE334 + technical-data block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Class roster context: 85 Edsall-class (FMR) hulls completed by two builders - Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex. (DE-129 through DE-152 and DE-316 through DE-338) and Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, Tex. (DE-238 through DE-255 and DE-382 through DE-401). DE-334 Forster's roster line reads: Consolidated, Orange; laid 8.1943; launched 13.11.1943; commissioned 1.1944; designation chain '6.1951- WDE434, 5.1954- DE334, 10.1955- DER334'; fate 'to South Vietnam 9.1971 (Tran Khanh Du)'. Confirms the full designation and transfer chain for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1975
- Population
- Edsall-class construction and operating crews (85 hulls)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary reference (class-level): the builder block, dates, and designation chain corroborate the per-hull BuShips roster and DANFS. Not a materials or asbestos source - used for class enumeration and designation-chain corroboration only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-06
-
[7]Era/design inference - BuShips SDB 1945 design-group-4 machinery row (no boilers; F.M. diesel) + documented sister-hull abatement (Stewart DE-238) + Atlas class-pattern precedent for diesel-powered escorts [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 group-4 row (machinery, 'None' in boiler columns); cf. Edsall-class sibling records (uss-edsall-de129 ev-06; same diesel-DE application set)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: an Edsall-class (FMR) destroyer escort built 1943-44 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel-powered escort - exhaust-system insulation and lagging, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, brake linings on winches and windlass, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Because the FMR plant has no boilers or steam lines (SDB 1945 design-group-4 machinery row), the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line insulation) do not apply to this design.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1971
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; USN/USCG crew 1944-71; reserve-fleet maintenance 1946-51, 1954-56
- Limitations
- Class/era and design inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No insulation schedule or material list for DE-334 was located; this establishes era-consistent expectation for the type, not that any specific material went aboard this hull. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. Builder yard (Consolidated Steel, Orange, Tex.) is not in the Atlas shipyards dataset - no yard-level asbestos documentation is attached.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-07
-
[8]Yard-period events documented for this hull - NavSource operational data + photo captions (Mare Island overhaul 1951-52; Long Beach NSY DER conversion 1955-56) + DANFS (maintenance at Pearl Harbor) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-334 page, building/operational data + Mare Island photo captions (USN photos DE 344 11701-52, 11698-52); DANFS Pacific Barrier paragraph
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Documented yard periods aboard this hull: Mare Island Naval Shipyard overhaul 10 Sep 1951-5 Feb 1952 (in USCG commission as WDE-434, photographed alongside Newell WDE-422); radar-picket conversion at Long Beach Naval Shipyard after reclassification to DER-334 (21 Oct 1955), recommissioning there 23 Oct 1956; recurring maintenance at Pearl Harbor during Pacific Barrier duty through 1962 (DANFS). These are the hull's documented industrial work periods; any asbestos scope in them is inference, not record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1951-1962
- Population
- Mare Island and Long Beach NSY yard workers 1951-52 and 1955-56; Pearl Harbor maintenance workers; crew during availabilities
- Limitations
- Yard events are documented; asbestos content of the work is NOT. No work package, job order, or insulation record for any of these availabilities was located - NARA RG 19/RG 181 yard correspondence is the unsurveyed lead. Class/era inference (not a ship-specific materials finding) supplies only that 1950s naval shipyard work would have encountered and installed era-standard asbestos-containing materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-08
-
[9]Keri Heath, 'World War II-era vessels in Galveston to undergo asbestos abatement', Galveston Daily News, 27 July 2020 (citation re-verified in class-f gato-class profile, accessed 2026-09-16; carried in uss-edsall-de129 ev-07) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- galvnews.com article_c2c77857, 27 Jul 2020
- Finding type
- abatement_record
- Finding
- Documented asbestos aboard a preserved Edsall-class sister hull: the Galveston Daily News reported asbestos in public areas of USS Stewart (DE-238) and USS Cavalla (SS-244) at Seawolf Park, with contractor Separation Systems Consultants approved to proceed with abatement; the Galveston Park Board cited U.S. Navy inspection recommendations that an asbestos survey be conducted. USS Stewart is a Brown Shipbuilding-built Edsall-class hull (DE-238) - class-level corroboration that Edsall-class construction carried asbestos-containing material.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2020
- Population
- Museum staff/volunteers and Seawolf Park visitors; abatement crews
- Limitations
- Evidence about a sister hull (DE-238), NOT this hull: different builder (Brown Shipbuilding, Houston vs. Consolidated Steel, Orange) and a museum-hull lifecycle DE-334 never had (transferred to South Vietnam 1971, captured 1975). Documents asbestos aboard one Edsall-class ship as delivered/preserved; establishes nothing about DE-334's materials, quantity, or any individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-09
-
[10]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's extensive shipboard asbestos insulation use with substitution not beginning until the early 1970s - DE-334 (built 1943-44; DER conversion at Long Beach NSY 1955-56) falls inside the documented asbestos-use era for Navy ship construction and shipyard maintenance.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches); content via product-page description. Says nothing about this specific hull or any diesel-escort application specifically.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-10
-
[11]CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket sweeps for 'USS Forster' / 'DE-334' / 'DER-334' / 'Forster asbestos' (via fleet-paced authenticated helper cl-auth-search.py) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4 search results 2026-09-28: 'USS Forster' type=o count=0, type=r count=0; 'DER-334' type=o count=0; 'DE-334' type=o count=12 (all non-qualifying number collisions), type=r count=181 dockets/228 docs (all ECF 'DE 334' entry citations); 'Forster asbestos' type=o count=124 (all Crum & Forster insurance/surname collisions)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull. Name sweep '"USS Forster"': opinion index 0 hits, docket index 0 hits - a clean negative. Hull-number sweep '"DE-334"' (type=o): 12 hits, all non-qualifying collisions - unrelated civil and Puerto Rico opinions where 'DE-334'/'DE 334' matches page, exhibit, or filing numbers (e.g., In re Sixty Sixty Condominium Ass'n, Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2017; Leeds & Catlin v. Victor Talking Machine, 213 U.S. 325 (1909)); no vessel, Navy, or asbestos term appears in any returned text. Hull-number sweep '"DE-334"' (type=r): 181 dockets / 228 documents, every sampled hit an ECF 'DE #334' docket-entry cross-reference in unrelated cases (e.g., United States v. Stein S.D. Fla., Fuller v. Carollo S.D. Fla.); zero vessel or asbestos references.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Sweep coverage is the CourtListener opinion + RECAP docket indexes only; state-court dockets not mirrored, PACER-only filings, and settled/undocketed claims are outside it. 'No result' does not prove no claim was ever filed - it proves no indexed opinion or docket names the hull. 'DE-334' is a high-collision query because 'DE nnn' is ECF docket-entry notation; a 'DER-334' opinion sweep returned 0; a supplemental 'Forster asbestos' opinion sweep returned 124 hits, all Crum & Forster insurance-coverage and surname collisions with zero vessel references.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-11
-
[12]Batch-4237 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; NavSource archive page; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 (OCR, rows and design-group table); USCG Historian's Office sources; Navypedia class roster; NARA digitized deck-log catalog; VA/BVA web search; general web sweep; CourtListener sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-forster-de334-01 through sl-uss-forster-de334-14 (incl. -11b)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-334: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, material schedule, or museum documentation exists for this hull - it was transferred to South Vietnam in 1971 and captured at Saigon in 1975, pre-dating any U.S. museum-donation or hazmat-disclosure lifecycle (the Stewart DE-238 abatement record exists precisely because that hull stayed in U.S. museum custody). The only 'asbestos' hits naming USS Forster (DE-334) in general web search are law-firm marketing listicles that enumerate every WWII hull (elslaw.com, shepardlawfirm.com) - non-authoritative and excluded by batch rules.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record is not proof of absence aboard - 1943-44 escort construction falls inside the documented Navy asbestos-use era, and sister-hull DE-238 carried documented asbestos. Digitized deck logs (NARA, Oct 1956-Sep 1971) and RG 19 construction records/General Information Books are unsurveyed leads; Vietnamese-period records (RVN 1971-75, VPN 1975-c.1998) are essentially inaccessible. Does not establish that asbestos was or was not present aboard; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-forster-de334-12