Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'Grebe' entry - hazegray.org transcription, Wayback capture 2024-05-26 (live NHHC DANFS page returns 404 as of 2026-09-22) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Full entry text; DANFS Vol. 3 transcription at hazegray.org/danfs/mine/am43.htm
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Grebe was built by the Staten Island Steam Boat Co., launched 1918-12-17 (sponsor Miss Emma Youmans), and commissioned at Brooklyn Navy Yard 1919-05-01. She swept the North Sea mine barrage from Kirkwall, Orkneys, Jul-Oct 1919; served the Boston Navy Yard / New England coast on radio-compass calibration, towing, and rescue (including 139 passengers off the grounded Portuguese steamer Mormugao, 1921-04-29); decommissioned at Portsmouth 1922-05-12 and recommissioned 1922-11-15. She was station ship at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 1922-1931 with yearly 5-week repair periods at Charleston, S.C.; first relief ship into Santo Domingo after the 1930 hurricane; towing ship and tender for USS Constitution's national tour 1931-07-12 to 1934-05-12; Philadelphia Navy Yard overhaul 1934; San Pedro-based fleet utility 1934-1940; Pearl Harbor from 1940-06-17. In yard availability at Pearl Harbor on 1941-12-07; reclassified fleet tug AT-134 effective 1942-06-01; grounded at Vuanta Vatoa, Fiji, 1942-12-06 while attempting to float SS Thomas A. Edison; destroyed by hurricane 1943-01-01/02; struck from the Navy List 1943-07-28. One battle star for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1918-1943
- Population
- Crew (DANFS cpl. 59); yard workers during documented availabilities (Charleston, Philadelphia, Pearl Harbor)
- Limitations
- Official secondary history (DANFS) - contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or hazardous-material information of any kind; supports identity/history only. The transcription prints the AT-134 reclassification date as '1 June 1941 [Correction: 1942]' - the editor's bracketed correction to 1942 is corroborated by NavSource and NavalCoverMuseum (all surviving Lapwing-class ships were reclassified 1942-06-01).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-01
-
[2]NavSource Online Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, 'Grebe (AT 134) ex-AM-43' - Wayback capture 2025-05-27 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Specifications block and ship-history bullet list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource documents the designation chain (Minesweeper No. 43 -> AM-43 on 1920-07-17 -> fleet tug AT-134 on 1942-06-01), laid down 1918-05-25 by Staten Island Steam Boat Co., and the asbestos-relevant propulsion plant: two Babcock & Wilcox boilers, one triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine, single shaft; 950 t displacement; 14 kt; two 3-inch mounts. Loss at Vuanta Vatoa, Fiji corroborates DANFS.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1918-1943
- Population
- Crew (NavSource lists 78)
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled archive of official records and photos - not itself an official publication; dates/designations corroborated by DANFS. Complement listed as 78 conflicts with DANFS's 59 (carried in gaps). Documents the steam plant aboard this hull but contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement; the asbestos inference is era-level, not ship-proven.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-02
-
[3]Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P, 'A Health Survey of Pipe Covering Operations in Constructing Naval Vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol. 1946 Jan;28:9-16 (U.S. Public Health Service / Harvard School of Public Health survey; PMID 21016030) [other_primary]
- Locator
- J Ind Hyg Toxicol 1946;28:9-16, 'Pipe Covering Material' section; abstract indexed at PubMed PMID 21016030
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The USPHS survey of pipe coverers in two government Navy yards and two Navy contract yards documents that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - an asbestos mineral - and that asbestos cloth and asbestos cement were likewise used in naval vessel construction/overhaul. This establishes asbestos insulation as documented standard Navy material practice for steam-plant pipe covering in the era in which Grebe was built, overhauled, and repaired.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1944-1946 survey; documents steam-era Navy material practice
- Population
- Navy-yard and contract-yard pipe coverers (WWII-era construction and overhaul)
- Limitations
- Era/class documentation, not a hull record: the surveyed yards are anonymized (A-D) and the hulls are not named; the survey reflects 1940s wartime construction practice, ~27 years after Grebe's 1918 build. It documents that Navy steam vessels carried asbestos pipe covering as standard, not that this specific hull did - that remains era-consistent inference. The study's exculpatory conclusion ('not a dangerous occupation') is itself discredited in later literature.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-03
-
[4]DANFS 'Grebe' entry - Pearl Harbor attack paragraph (hazegray transcription, Wayback capture 2024-05-26) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, paragraph beginning 'Grebe was in yard availability at Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- On 1941-12-07 Grebe was in yard availability at Pearl Harbor with her 3-inch guns dismantled for the overhaul, fighting the attack with rifles and pistols only; DANFS credits her with downing one of three unidentified planes flying low over the Navy Yard. This documents a substantial in-yard overhaul period aboard this hull at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard at the outbreak of the war.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1942
- Population
- Ship's crew and Pearl Harbor Navy Yard workers during the availability
- Limitations
- Documents an overhaul availability - work scope, trades, and materials are not described; insulation disturbance during overhaul is inference, not documented. No asbestos content in the source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-04
-
[5]Batch-1343 search ledger (this record): DANFS/hazegray, NavSource, NavalCoverMuseum, NARA catalog, CourtListener API v4 and web UI, open-web litigation search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-grebe-am43-01 through sl-uss-grebe-am43-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Grebe (AM-43 / AT-134) was found in the sources searched (see search_ledger). No survey or abatement record can exist in the usual sense - the hull grounded at Vuanta Vatoa 1942-12-06 and was destroyed by hurricane 1943-01-01/02, never refloated or scrapped under modern hazmat regimes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Litigation sweep is INCOMPLETE: the authenticated CourtListener API quota (2,800/day, shared key) was exhausted before this batch ran (API returned 'Rate limit exceeded: 2800/day') and the CourtListener web UI returned 403; open-web search surfaced only law-firm marketing listicles (non-qualifying, excluded by batch rules) and name collisions (In re Grebe Shipping LLC / M/V Grebe Bulker, 448 F.Supp.3d 161 (D. Conn. 2020); Jack A. Grebe, Jr. prisoner litigation, E.D. Tex.). Absence of a located record does not prove absence of asbestos - a 1918 steam vessel's insulation was era-standard, but nothing here is ship-proven.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-05
-
[6]National Archives - Navy deck logs and logbooks: RG 24/45 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations' (pre-1941 logs, NAID 581208, partially digitized; 1941+ deck logs held at Archives II, College Park) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/logbooks; NAID 581208
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Grebe's logbooks (1919-1943) in NARA RG 24/45 are the primary repository where hull-specific operational and yard-period detail would survive; NARA's catalog did not confirm digitized logs for this hull at research time.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1919-1943 records
- Limitations
- NARA catalog search was non-responsive to programmatic queries at research time; digitization status for Grebe's specific logs unconfirmed. Deck logs record operations and availabilities, not material composition - they could corroborate yard periods but would not document asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-grebe-am43-06