Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]DANFS, George E. Davis (DE-357), Vol. 3 (1968) p.75, with bracketed Bauer & Roberts, Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy 1775-1990 disposition note (verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry DE-357, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 15 February 1944 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; launched 8 April 1944 (sponsored by Mrs. George E. Davis, Jr., the namesake's widow); commissioned 11 August 1944, Lt. Comdr. Frederick L. Lincoln in command. Shakedown off Bermuda; departed Norfolk for the Pacific 21 October 1944; convoy escort Hollandia-San Pedro Bay, Leyte (arrived 12 December); Philippine Sea Frontier convoy escort and antisubmarine patrols out of San Pedro Bay; March-June 1945 patrols west of Mindoro and Luzon and Subic Bay-Ulithi-Leyte Gulf escort; July 1945 convoys between the Philippines and Okinawa; postwar occupation-troop escort Philippines-Japan, then China coast reoccupation support (Tsingtao; East China and Yellow Seas) until April 1946; arrived San Pedro, Calif. 11 May 1946; decommissioned San Diego 26 August 1946 (Pacific Reserve Fleet). Recommissioned San Diego 11 July 1951; to Newport, R.I. (arrived 27 October 1951) as Naval Reserve training ship, Atlantic Fleet, along the eastern seaboard and Caribbean until June 1954; decommissioned 11 November 1954 at Green Cove Springs, Fla. (Atlantic Reserve Fleet); berthed with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange, Tex. Stricken from the Navy Register 1 December 1972; sold 2 January 1974 (Bauer & Roberts p.236).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1974
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades (Orange, Tex., 1944); wartime crew; Naval Reserve training-ship crew and reserve trainees 1951-54 (design complement 222)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents builder, dates, and service narrative - it contains no materials or asbestos information. The live NHHC page for this hull returned 404 on 2026-09-28, so a verbatim transcription mirror is cited. A second transcription (ibiblio/HyperWar de357.html) garbles the namesake paragraph (Houston CA-30 rendered as Boston; Maryland BB-46 as BB-8) - the hazegray/losthistory transcription cited here is textually correct; the ship's own service narrative is identical in both.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-01
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[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (15 April 1945), NAVSHIPS 250-010 - DE register row 78 for this hull + DE design-group-6 (WGT) table (shipscribe.com scan, OCR) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 register pp.242-243, DE row 78; design-group table pp.234-235 row 6 (WGT)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips register row 78 names this hull: 'DAVIS, GEORGE E. DE357', design group WGT; built by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; contract price $2,043,000 (footnoted price-basis marker); contract signed 7 August 1942; keel laid 15 February 1944; launched 8 April 1944; contract completion date 30 May 1944; preliminary acceptance 11 August 1944; first commissioning 11 August 1944. The design-group-6 (WGT) table on pp.234-235 fixes the type plant: 306 ft oa, 1,350 t standard (1,745 t full load), 24.3 kt trial, accommodations 15 officers / 207 enlisted, 2 shafts, geared turbines 12,000 shp, 2 'D' express boilers 435 psi / 750 deg F; group note: 'Turbines were built by G.E. or Westgh. and are interchangeable as units' - DE-357's register row carries no turbine-maker footnote, so hull-level turbine manufacturer is unverified.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Orange yard construction workforce, 1944
- Limitations
- Primary BuShips document; OCR transcription of a scanned table may contain digit-level errors (all dates cross-checked against DANFS and agree). Documents contract, construction, and design data - contains no materials or asbestos information. Contract 'completion date' of 30 May 1944 is the contract schedule, not actual delivery (commissioned 11 August 1944).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-02
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[3]Shipbuilding History (T. Colton), Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange TX yard ledger, DE-357 row [other_primary]
- Locator
- Consolidated Orange yard table, hull DE-357 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Builder-yard production ledger for this hull: Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex., contract dated 7 August 1942; keel laid 15 February 1944; launched 8 April 1944; delivered 11 August 1944; 53 days on the ways, 125 days in the water (fitting out), 178 days total; disposition 'scrapped 1974'. Consolidated's Orange yard was developed for the war effort adjacent to a pre-existing small shipyard (former Orange Car & Steel, successor to Southern Dry Dock & Shipbuilding); postwar the yard became a U.S. Steel division fabricator.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1974
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Orange yard construction workforce, 1942-1944
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation cross-checked against DANFS (all dates agree). Documents construction timeline and yard identity only - no materials, asbestos, or worker-exposure data. The scrapping buyer and scrapping site are not named in this source or in DANFS.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-03
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[4]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (15 Apr 1945), NAVSHIPS 250-010, design group 6 (WGT) row + Navypedia John C. Butler (WGT) class boiler-block map [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 design-group table row 6; navypedia us_de_tev_wgt.htm block map
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-357 is a John C. Butler-class (BuShips design group 6, 'WGT') destroyer escort built Feb-Aug 1944 with a full superheated-steam plant - 2 'D' express boilers at 435 psi/750 deg F, 2-shaft geared turbines, 12,000 shp, 24.3 kt. Per the Navypedia WGT boiler-block map, DE-339 through DE-372 (the block containing DE-357) carried Combustion Engineering boilers; per the BuShips group-6 note, turbines 'were built by G.E. or Westgh. and are interchangeable as units' (this hull's register row carries no maker footnote - hull-level maker unverified). A steam plant of this specification and construction era was built with period-standard asbestos insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing; destroyer-escort litigation materials (ev-05) identify the controlling era insulation specs as asbestos-era documents.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1954
- Population
- Construction trades, Consolidated Steel Orange (Feb-Aug 1944); crews 1944-46, 1951-54
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific record confirms asbestos products aboard this hull, their quantities, or any individual exposure. Boiler-vendor attribution (Combustion Engineering) is per the Navypedia block map, unverified against contract documents. This row adds era context; it is not a ship-specific finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-04
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[5]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - expert-witness exhibit list, ECF 738 att. 1 (classmate-hull litigation; document identifications) [court_record]
- Locator
- Jack v. Borg-Warner ECF 738 att. 1, exhibit items Honeywell-160 through -167
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- In the only located litigation involving a John C. Butler-class hull (USS Charles E. Brannon, DE-446, Federal Shipbuilding-built), the expert-witness exhibit list identifies the primary Navy insulation-document suite relied on in DE-era asbestos litigation: 'Bureau of Ships Manual, Chapter 39, Thermal Insulation, NAVSHIPS 250000(39), dated 24 August 1945'; 'Navy Department Specification, Felt, Insulating, Asbestos, 32F3a, dated 15 October 1945'; 'General Specifications for Machinery - Subsection S39-1, Bureau of Engineering, 3 Feb 1939'; 'Instructions Relative to Heat Insulation' (BuEng Manual ch.13, rev. 1933, repr. May 1939); BUMED Code-55 memo 'Occupational Health Issues for POM-80' (9 June 1977). These era-wide specs would govern insulation installed aboard DE-357 as built.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1933-1977 (documents); 2017-2019 (litigation)
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: exhibit-list identifications, not retrieved documents, from litigation about a different hull (DE-446). No ship-specific application of these specs to DE-357 is documented; the Jack materials themselves concede non-asbestos insulation was possible aboard that DE. Establishes the research target, not exposure aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-05
-
[6]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 to automated fetch, HTTP 403; content via product-page description)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program posture: standing policy from 1975 removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place for decades absent yard disturbance. Context for this hull's timeline: DE-357's last commissioned period ended November 1954 and she was stricken 1972, sold for scrapping January 1974 - the hull left Navy custody before the GAO-described program-era reviews.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program review population, not this hull)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not ship- or class-specific; fieldwork yards were elsewhere. DE-357 was scrapped before the period GAO surveyed, so this row frames why no modern Navy survey or abatement record for the hull should be expected.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-06
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[7]Batch-4261 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription mirrors; shipbuildinghistory yard ledger; NavSource photo archive; CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket sweeps; Atlas shipyard dataset [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-george-e-davis-de357-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract or disposal hazmat disclosure, and no docketed asbestos litigation naming USS George E. Davis or DE-357 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener opinion sweeps for the ship name and hull number returned only unrelated hits (reporter-page and name collisions). The only asbestos-bearing pages naming the hull are law-firm marketing pages (shepardlawfirm.com, freeasbestostesting.com, mesotheliomabook.com), which are excluded sources under batch rules and assert no documentable ship-specific fact.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull's 1944 construction with a superheated-steam plant is consistent with retained era materials through scrapping, and no scrapping-environmental record was located. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-07
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[8]CourtListener API v4 litigation sweep for USS George E. Davis / DE-357 (authenticated, 2026-09-28) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4 type=o and type=r queries; search_ledger rows 04-06
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweeps located no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull: opinion search 'USS George E. Davis' returned 57 loosely-matched results (first 20 reviewed - all unrelated name/text collisions, no vessel reference); opinion search '"DE-357"' returned 12 results (all reviewed - reporter-pagination and 'DE'-identifier collisions, no vessel reference); RECAP docket search '"George E. Davis"' returned 58 hits (first 20 reviewed - every one a personal bankruptcy docket for individuals named George E. Davis, i.e. name collisions, none a vessel or asbestos case). No complaint, opinion, or docket naming the hull was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Negative sweep covers CourtListener's indexed corpus only - unindexed state-court pleadings, settled asbestos trust claims, and non-digitized filings are outside its scope. A no-hit sweep does not prove no plaintiff ever alleged exposure aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-08
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[9]NARA Record Group 24 (deck logs) and RG 19 (BuShips General Information Books) holdings for DE-357 - not retrieved [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 24 deck-log series; RG 19 General Information Books
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Untapped primary repositories for this hull: NARA deck logs (RG 24) covering the 1944-46 commissioned period and the 1951-54 Naval Reserve training period; BuShips General Information Books (RG 19) which, where extant for DEs, carry per-vessel material specifications; and the Consolidated Steel Orange yard contract file (contract dated 7 August 1942). None retrieved this session.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1954 (records)
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Lead only - presence of a usable DE-357 entry in these holdings is unverified. GIB coverage of Consolidated-built DEs is incomplete.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-george-e-davis-de357-09