Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
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[1]CourtListener opinion search: 'USS Gambier Bay' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'USS Gambier Bay' returned 0 results (2026-10-07)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- zero-hit search; absence of hits is not proof of no litigation
- Evidence ID
- uss-gambier-bay-cve73-cl-name-opinion
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[2]CourtListener docket search: 'USS Gambier Bay' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'USS Gambier Bay' returned 15 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed; name query may match same-named vessels
- Evidence ID
- uss-gambier-bay-cve73-cl-name-docket
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[3]CourtListener opinion search: 'CVE-73' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'CVE-73' returned 137 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-gambier-bay-cve73-cl-hull-opinion
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[4]CourtListener docket search: 'CVE-73' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'CVE-73' returned 3492 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-gambier-bay-cve73-cl-hull-docket
-
[5]DANFS, Gambier Bay (CVE-73) entry (verbatim HyperWar transcription; live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 on 2026-09-19) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative and spec block (HyperWar/ibiblio transcription)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: Named for a bay on the coast of Alaska; originally AVG-73, reclassified ACV-73 20 Aug 1942 and CVE-73 15 Jul 1943; launched under Maritime Commission contract by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co., Vancouver, Wash., 22 Nov 1943 (sponsor Mrs. H.C. Zitzewitz of Oswego, Oreg.); commissioned at Astoria, Oreg., 28 Dec 1943, Capt. Hugh H. Goodwin in command. Spec block: dp 7,800; l. 512'3"; b. 65'; ew 108'1"; dr 22'6"; 19 k.; cpl. 860; 1 5-in., 16 40mm; cl. Casablanca. Shakedown out of San Diego; Feb 1944 troop run to Pearl Harbor and 84 replacement planes flown to Enterprise (CV-6); San Diego return ferrying aircraft for repairs and qualifying carrier pilots; departed 1 May for RAdm. Sallada's Carrier Support Group 2 (TG 52.11); Saipan close air support from 15 Jun 1944 and air defense 17-18 Jun (eight VC-10 pilots launched under the task group's own antiaircraft fire); Tinian 19-31 Jul; Guam to 11 Aug; Marshalls logistics; Peleliu-Angaur support 15-28 Sep; staged via Hollandia to Manus and escorted transports with Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) to Leyte Gulf, joining RAdm. C.A.F. Sprague's task unit. As 'Taffy 3' (TU 77.4.3) off Samar 25 Oct 1944 she faced the >20-ship Japanese Center Force; her lone 5-inch gun fired at an enemy cruiser shelling her; Heermann (DD-532) failed to save her; dead in the water as three cruisers closed to point-blank range, she capsized and sank at 0907, the majority of her nearly 800 survivors rescued by landing and patrol craft from Leyte Gulf. Four battle stars; shared the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to 'Taffy 3.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1943-1944 service
- Population
- Kaiser Vancouver construction trades (1943); Navy crew and VC-10 (1943-1944)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. Yard-period asbestos disturbance is era inference, not a per-hull record. Live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 this session; verbatim HyperWar transcription used.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-01
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[6]Navypedia Casablanca-class member table (yard no., milestones, disposition); NavSource CVE-73 photo-archive page (award/stricken/loss data, MC hull 1110, namesake note); uboat.net allied-warships page (milestones, loss position, command listing) - compiled secondary references for cross-checks where DANFS is silent [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia us_cv_casablanca.htm member table row; navsource.net/archives/03/073.htm data blocks and fate note; uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/2447.html
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Navypedia member table: Kaiser Vancouver yard no. 319; laid down 10 Jul 1943, launched 22 Nov 1943, commissioned 28 Dec 1943, sunk 25 Oct 1944 - consistent with DANFS. NavSource: awarded 18 Jun 1942; Maritime Commission hull 1110, type S4-S2-BB3; stricken 27 Nov 1944 (DANFS omits); 'capsized at 0907 and sank four minutes later'; nearly 800 survivors rescued by Task Group 78.12; 'more than 130 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on active duty'; namesake note for Gambier Bay, Admiralty Island; awards display adds Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and Philippine Liberation Medal. uboat.net: loss position 11°31'N 126°12'E; command listing T/Capt. Hugh Hilton Goodwin 28 Dec 1943-18 Aug 1944, T/Capt. Walter Victor Rudolph Vieweg 18 Aug 1944-25 Oct 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1943-1944 service; stricken 1944
- Population
- More than 130 crew lost with the ship (NavSource); nearly 800 survivors (DANFS/NavSource)
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary references used for milestone, stricken, command, and loss-detail cross-checks; conflicts among them and with DANFS are logged in gaps, not silently reconciled. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-02
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[7]Era inference built on: DANFS construction/service record (Kaiser Vancouver MC-contract build 1943; documented maintenance windows); BuShips Technical Manual NAVSHIPS 250-000 ch.39 insulation spec suite; Braaten v. Saberhagen (Wash. 2008) era practice [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative (construction and maintenance windows); BuShips TM ch.39 material sections (see ev-04); Braaten era holding (see ev-05)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Construction by Kaiser at Vancouver, Wash., under a Maritime Commission contract (type S4-S2-BB3, hull 1110) inside the Navy's peak asbestos-insulation era, plus this hull's documented maintenance windows - post-shakedown San Diego period Feb-May 1944 (no yard availability recorded in DANFS) and operational logistics stops; NO postwar yard events - hull lost ten months after commissioning with as-built material - are the ship-specific exposure-relevant facts. Asbestos applications standard to this steam plant's era and class: boiler and steam-drum insulation, magnesia and amosite pipe covering, asbestos felt, cloth/tape lagging, millboard, insulating and finishing cements, valve and flange gaskets, and machinery packing.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1943-1944 service era
- Population
- Kaiser Vancouver construction trades (1943); Navy crew and VC-10 (1943-1944)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or abatement record located for this vessel. Names era-standard applications and spec materials, not confirmed installed quantities; establishes no exposure for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-03
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[8]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960, page date 15 April 1959) - specification-level document for Navy shipboard insulation materials [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips TM ch.39, sections 39-11 through 39-13 (materials) - verbatim OCR text of retrieved PDF
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The 1960 BuShips Technical Manual's insulation chapter enumerates the asbestos material suite standard to Navy steam plants of this class's construction era: MIL-P-2781 pipe covering including 85% magnesia 'formed from a combination of 85 percent magnesium carbonate with about 15 percent asbestos fiber' and a class 'formed from a uniform mixture of amosite asbestos fibers'; roll asbestos felt MIL-I-15091; asbestos cloth/tape SS-C-466 (80-95% chrysotile) as lagging; asbestos millboard HH-M-351; asbestos finishing cement; molded asbestos block for high-temperature service. This hull's four B&W boilers, Skinner reciprocating engines, and steam piping are the equipment classes these specifications cover.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1960 (manual); describes era-standard specifications
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Specification-level documentation of the materials the Navy specified, not a ship-specific installation record - establishes what the era insulation suite contained, not what is or was aboard this hull. The retrieved PDF is a scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository; the document itself is the government manual. Directly applicable era - this hull's 1943 keel sits inside the asbestos-spec period.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-04
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[9]Braaten v. Saberhagen Holdings, 165 Wn.2d 373, 198 P.3d 1010 (Wash. 2008) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion factual background (Navy equipment asbestos use; PSNS exposure history)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Washington Supreme Court's factual summary states that Navy specifications called for asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, and packing aboard its vessels: 'the use of asbestos in and on Navy valves, pumps, and turbines was not by chance, but by design.' The opinion describes pipefitters/insulators disturbing asbestos insulation during shipyard maintenance at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard - the same Pacific Northwest naval-shipyard ecosystem in which this hull was built (Vancouver, Wash.) and commissioned (Astoria, Oreg.).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1960s-1970s exposure era recounted in 2008 opinion
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (PSNS), plaintiff pipefitter
- Limitations
- Documents Navy-wide era practice and PSNS yard exposure, not this class or hull specifically. Plaintiff worked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on multiple vessels; the opinion does not name this vessel or class. Era/context support only - affirmed-trial-level factual recital in a published opinion.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-05
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[10]Washington State Department of Ecology, cleanup site page 'Kaiser Shipyard Debris Pile' (csid 1831) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ecology site record - site history paragraph (Kaiser Vancouver yard role and fill debris)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Washington State Dept. of Ecology cleanup-site record for the 'Kaiser Shipyard Debris Pile': in 1942 the site was developed as part of the Kaiser Vancouver Shipyard, which 'was responsible for construction of liberty ships, escort carriers, and transport ships used during World War II'; shipyard debris (metal, pipes, firebrick, ceramics) was used as fill 1940-1946. This is the official environmental record of the yard that built this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1940-1946 yard operations
- Population
- Kaiser Vancouver shipyard workforce and site community (1940-1946 operations)
- Limitations
- Official state environmental record confirming the builder yard's escort-carrier program and industrial debris stream; the record does not itself list asbestos among documented debris constituents. Yard-level context only - not a hull record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-06
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[11]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 that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's 1943 construction and its entire ten-month service life.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-07
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[12]NHHC Director RADM Samuel J. Cox (ret.), H-gram 036B 'The Battle of Leyte Gulf' (Nov 2019, verbatim reproduction at Naval Intelligence Professionals; original history.navy.mil URL now 404) + EYOS Expeditions/Caladan Oceanic release on the June 2022 Samar search + BBC News report on the Samuel B. Roberts discovery (25 June 2022) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navintpro.org reproduction of NHHC H-gram 036B (Petrel capability paragraph); eyos-expeditions.com Caladan/EYOS release; bbc.com/news/science-environment-61925862 (Murray quote)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The wreck of this hull has never been located. NHHC Director Cox wrote (Nov 2019) that based on R/V Petrel's search off Samar, 'GAMBIER BAY (CVE-73,) SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE-413) and one of the two Fletcher's (JOHNSTON or HOEL) are in even deeper water that exceeds even PETREL's capability' - Petrel's ~20,400-ft wreck find was the Fletcher later confirmed as Johnston (Mar 2021, Caladan). In June 2022 Caladan Oceanic and EYOS Expeditions conducted six dives over 17-24 June searching for both Samuel B. Roberts and Gambier Bay; Samuel B. Roberts was located at 6,895 m, but two search dives for Gambier Bay below 7,000 m were inconclusive 'due to the scarcity and unreliability of data' on where she went down (EYOS release). EYOS's Kelvin Murray told BBC the same month that Gambier Bay and Hoel were the two American ships 'yet to be found.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2019-2022 search reporting; wreck since 1944
- Population
- More than 130 crew lost with the ship (NavSource); wreck-site protection
- Limitations
- Documents that the wreck is unlocated and unsurveyed as of the latest authoritative reporting (June 2022) - contains no asbestos or material-condition data. Establishes only that whatever as-built material went down with the hull remains untouched and unsurveyed; does not establish that asbestos remains aboard in any form. Reported loss positions conflict (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-08
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[13]Batch-260 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription via HyperWar; navypedia class table; NavSource; uboat.net; NHHC H-gram 036B reproduction; EYOS/Caladan release; BBC; WA Ecology; BuShips TM scan; Braaten opinion; GAO product page; CourtListener (blocked - see ledger); NARA (not digitized) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-01 through sl-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos case naming USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Web litigation-footprint check located marketing ship-list presence only (mesothelioma boilerplate pages naming the hull) - banned as citations; CourtListener sweeps were rate-limit blocked, not completed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2026-09-19
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-consistent inference remains. The CourtListener sweep gap means litigation coverage is incomplete this session, not clean. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gambier-bay-cve73-09