USS GUAM (CB-2)

Evidence

7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).

1. [1]DANFS, Guam II (CB-2) (builder, dates, Pacific service narrative, flagship assignments, inactivation and disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; 2010-12-07 Wayback capture of the official page exists at web.archive.org/web/20101207173551/www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g9/guam-ii.htm; second verbatim mirror at losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/cruisers/cb2.txt) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative (ibiblio HyperWar transcription; hazegray mirror; Wayback capture of official NHHC page)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS record for this hull, second and last completed ship of the 'large cruiser' class: launched 12 November 1943 at Camden, N.J., by New York Shipbuilding Corp., sponsored by Mrs. George Johnson McMillan (wife of the former Governor of Guam, then a Japanese prisoner of war); commissioned 17 September 1944, Capt. Leland P. Lovette in command (commissioning site Philadelphia Navy Yard per official NHC photo captions NH 90734/90735). After shakedown off Trinidad, departed Philadelphia 17 January 1945 for the Pacific Fleet (Pearl Harbor 8 February; visited by SecNav Forrestal; Ulithi 13 March). Battle debut in TF 58's 18 March 1945 strikes on Kyushu/Shikoku - one enemy plane splashed; escorted the damaged Franklin (CV-13) from the combat area 19-22 March. Carried RAdm. F. S. Low's Cruiser Division 16 in the 27-28 March bombardment of Minami Daito; supported carrier operations off the Nansei Shoto to 11 May. TG 38.4 under Halsey's 3d Fleet; 9 June 90-minute bombardment of Okino Daito with Alaska and five destroyers; San Pedro Bay 13 June. Flagship of Cruiser Task Force 95 (Guam, Alaska, four light cruisers, nine destroyers) on the 16 July-7 August East China/Yellow Sea shipping raid; then flagship of RAdm. Low's North China Force (Tsingtao, Port Arthur, Darien); Jinsen, Korea, from 8 September 1945. Departed Jinsen 14 November; San Francisco 3 December; arrived Bayonne, N.J., 17 December 1945. Decommissioned 17 February 1947; berthed New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; stricken 1 June 1960; sold for scrapping 24 May 1961 to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Md. Two battle stars.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   1942-1961

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-44; Philadelphia NY trades 1944-45; crew 1944-47

   Limitations

   DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content; the entry records no insulation, abatement, or hazardous-material information and omits the laid-down line (keel FEB 1942 per NavSource). Mirror transcriptions cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; the 2010-12-07 Wayback capture of the official history.navy.mil page is the parallel official-source locator.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-01

2. [2]DANFS disposal line + Baltimore Museum of Industry, BG&E Print and Negative Collection, photo record BGE.65.E 'Boston Metals Scrap Yard' (1961) + NavSource disposal records and Tin Can Sailors/destroyers.org disposition lists documenting Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Md., as a prolific postwar Navy shipbreaker (e.g., USS Belmont AGTR-4 delivered 4 June 1970) + Wikipedia/secondary literature citing Garzke & Dulin p.187 for the 1958 BuShips missile-conversion studies covering Alaska and Guam [museum_official]

   Locator

   DANFS disposal line; Baltimore Museum of Industry pastperfectonline photo BGE.65.E; navsource.net disposal records; destroyers.org dispositions list; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Guam_(CB-2) citing Garzke & Dulin p.187

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Postwar disposition for this hull: arrived Bayonne, N.J., 17 December 1945 and lay with the New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet through 1960 (DANFS; corroborated by NHHC and private photo records of Guam and Alaska moored at the Bayonne naval supply depot, 1946-1953); never modernized - the 1958 Bureau of Ships feasibility studies for conversion of Alaska and Guam to guided-missile cruisers were rejected as too costly (secondary literature); stricken 1 June 1960 and sold for scrapping 24 May 1961 to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Md. - a prolific Baltimore shipbreaker documented by the Baltimore Museum of Industry's 1961 yard photographs and repeated Navy disposal sales.

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   1945-1961

   Population

   Bayonne reserve-fleet caretakers 1945-60; Boston Metals shipbreaking trades, Baltimore 1961

   Limitations

   The sale is DANFS-verified and the Baltimore breaking site is consistent with the documented Boston Metals yard there, but the actual breaking location rests on secondary corroboration (no primary scrapping record located); the BuShips conversion-study figures come from published secondary literature (Garzke & Dulin, p.187) - the underlying studies are archival (NARA RG-19). Nothing in this row documents asbestos; that the hull carried her unmodified WWII-era fit to the breakers is consistent with, but does not itself prove, retained era materials. No scrapping hazmat or materials disclosure was located - 1961 shipbreaking predates ACM survey practice.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-02

3. [3]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960) + NavSource CB-2 spec block (150,000 SHP; G.E. geared turbines; 4 screws) + Wikipedia/Friedman-derived boiler count (8 Babcock & Wilcox) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NAVSHIPS 250-000 ch. 39 (scan via Garlock bankruptcy repository); navsource.net/archives/04/1202/040202.htm spec block; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Guam_(CB-2) citing Friedman 1984

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Era inference: Alaska-class construction (8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 General Electric geared steam turbines, 150,000 shp, 4 screws, 33 kt - the largest cruiser propulsion plant of its era) in 1942-44 at New York Shipbuilding, Camden falls squarely in the documented Navy asbestos-insulation era; the 1960 BuShips Technical Manual insulation chapter enumerates the era-standard suite - 85%-magnesia and amosite pipe covering, asbestos felt, chrysotile cloth/tape lagging, asbestos millboard, finishing cement, molded block. Documented disturbance periods for this hull are thin: the Philadelphia Navy Yard commissioning/post-shakedown window (September 1944-January 1945, repair period secondary-corroborated) and at-sea repairs and replenishment at Ulithi (May 1945); no stateside overhaul or inactivation availability is recorded before reserve lay-up at Bayonne.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   1942-1947

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-44; Philadelphia NY trades 1944-45; crew 1944-47

   Limitations

   Class/era specification and yard-period inference only - no ship-specific asbestos record exists for this hull (ev-06, ev-07); this row must not be read as establishing that asbestos products were or remained aboard. Does not quantify material; removed- vs. retained-material scope at each documented period is undocumented.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-03

4. [4]Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P, 'A Health Survey of Pipe Covering Operations in Constructing Naval Vessels,' J. Ind. Hyg. Toxicol. 28:9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]

   Locator

   PubMed record PMID 21016030 (metadata verified 2026-09-18); abstract via Occup. Environ. Med. 3(3):196; full-text scan circulating in litigation repositories

   Finding type

   gov_survey

   Finding

   Contemporaneous federal-era industrial-hygiene survey (fieldwork inside this hull's 1942-44 build window): X-ray examination of 1,074 pipe coverers at two Government navy yards and two Navy contract yards, with dust counts and chemical analysis; the study records that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' asbestos, and that 'much asbestos cloth and asbestos cement were likewise used.' It documents pipe-covering operations aboard vessels under construction as among the dustiest work - establishing that asbestos insulation work was standard Navy-vessel construction practice in both government and contract yards at the time this hull was built.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   survey fieldwork ~1944-45; published January 1946

   Population

   Navy-yard and contract-yard pipe coverers, WWII construction era

   Limitations

   Era documentation only - the surveyed yards are anonymized (A-D) and neither New York Shipbuilding nor this hull is named; the study does not establish materials aboard CB-2. The study's 'not a dangerous occupation' conclusion is itself documented as deeply flawed in later literature - the row is cited for its materials observations, not its risk conclusion. PubMed record carries no abstract; materials findings per the full-text scan circulating in litigation repositories and the 1946 Occupational Medicine review summary.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-04

5. [5]Atlas shipyard dataset, 'new-york-shipbuilding' record (Camden, N.J.; documented asbestos products: Pabco Six-Ply Super Caltemp block ~15% chrysotile, Ehret 85% magnesia insulation, Johns-Manville Transite panels 10-30% asbestos, asbestos gaskets and packing, asbestos-coated welding rods 5-15% chrysotile, ebonized asbestos lumber, wire insulation 75-85% chrysotile, felt insulation 5-50%) - the builder yard of this hull [other_primary]

   Locator

   shipyards.json 'new-york-shipbuilding' record - asbestos_products_documented field and evidence array (verified against dataset 2026-09-18)

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Builder-yard documentation: the yard that built this hull (New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., 1942-44) is documented in the Atlas shipyard dataset with an enumerated wartime-era asbestos product suite - block and magnesia pipe/boiler insulation, Transite cement panels, gaskets and packing, asbestos-coated welding rods, ebonized asbestos lumber, wire insulation, and felt insulation - plus worker-cohort asbestos-disease study entries. Wartime contract-yard construction of Navy combatants is the documented context of this hull's build.

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   1942-1944

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1942-44

   Limitations

   Yard-level documentation, not a hull record - the dataset's product entries describe materials documented at the yard across its operating era, not the bill of materials for CB-2, and the dataset's own rows carry 'verify against original study' limitations; this row must not be read as a ship-specific finding. Does not establish what was installed aboard this hull or in what quantity.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-05

6. [6]Batch-117 litigation sweep (this record): authenticated CourtListener API v4 sweep completed 2026-09-21 (opinion, docket, and RECAP-document searches) + verbatim text search of five retrieved N.D. Cal. asbestos complaint documents (gov.uscourts.cand.192004, .197119, .199308, .204620 - local OCR 2026-09-18 session, .204934) and web-index litigation searches [court_record]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-guam-cb2-05 through sl-uss-guam-cb2-08 and sl-uss-guam-cb2-13 through sl-uss-guam-cb2-20

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located. The authenticated CourtListener API v4 sweep (2026-09-21, token-authenticated; hourly shared-quota throttling honored with backoff) returned: "USS Guam" opinions - 3 hits, all name collisions (United States v. Ray, N.M.C.M.R. 1993, appellant assigned to the USS Guam deployed to the Persian Gulf for Desert Shield = LPH-9; United States v. Johnson, N.M.C.M.R. 1980, text expressly reads 'USS GUAM (LPH-9)'; Government of Guam v. United States, D.C. Cir. 2020, the island territory's Ordot Dump CERCLA litigation - 0 asbestos/vessel mentions in the opinion text). "USS Guam" dockets - 4 hits, all collisions: Guam v. U.S. Dep't of Navy (D. Conn. 3:17-cv-00371) and Government of Guam v. U.S. Dep't of Navy (D.D.C. 1:17-cv-02487) are the territory's Ordot Dump CERCLA filings; Bray v. Purple Eagle Entertainment (S.D.N.Y. 1:18-cv-05205, copyright/band-agreement dispute) references plaintiff's 1996 22nd MEU deployment aboard USS Guam LPH-9 (doc 51 verified); Ackley v. Islamic Republic of Iran (D.D.C. 1:20-cv-00621, FSIA/Khobar Towers) references a sailor stationed aboard USS Guam rerouted toward Saudi Arabia after the 1996 bombing = LPH-9 (doc 152 verified). Exact phrase "USS Guam (CB-2)" = zero across opinions, dockets, and RECAP documents; "USS Guam" + asbestos and "USS Guam" + mesothelioma = zero across all three search types; hull-number-broadened queries ("Guam"+"CB-2", "CB-2"+asbestos) returned only OCR/exhibit-label noise, no vessel-roster complaint. The nearest asbestos proximity is Dillon v. Fiberboard Corp. (E.D. Tenn. 1982), a real asbestos wrongful-death action where the decedent 'served in the United States Navy on Guam' - the island duty station, not this hull. The 2026-09-18 workaround sweep (verbatim + local-OCR text search of five N.D. Cal. asbestos complaints) likewise found zero vessel references. Web-index litigation searches returned only non-citable law-firm/aggregator vessel-list pages.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-21

   Study period

   2026-09-18, 2026-09-21

   Limitations

   Absence of a located pleading or opinion is not proof none exists. CourtListener coverage is federal-and-state appellate opinions plus PACER-sourced RECAP dockets/documents - trial-court pleadings never RECAP'd, state trial filings, and MDL-875 member-case rosters not text-indexed remain outside coverage; the five-docket verbatim sweep covers only indexed N.D. Cal. complaints. 'Guam' is a collision-prone name (the territory's own litigation; USS Guam LPH-9, an unrelated amphibious assault ship) - every located hit was classified down accordingly. The ship's presence on marketing vessel lists is noted for awareness only and is not citable evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-06

7. [7]Batch-117 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC (live + Wayback + ibiblio + hazegray), Naval Vessel Register, NavSource, NHHC photo library (ibiblio OnlineLibrary mirror), PubMed, ACM-survey/abatement/hazmat web sweep, litigation sources in ev-06 [other_primary]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-guam-cb2-01 through sl-uss-guam-cb2-12

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No ship-specific asbestos documentation of any kind was located for USS Guam (CB-2): no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, materials schedule, scrapping hazmat disclosure, NVR entry (disposed 1961 - pre-1987 disposals are outside live-register coverage), museum record, or litigation record naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Ship-specific asbestos documentation status: UNKNOWN; assessment is class/era and builder-yard inference only (ev-03, ev-04, ev-05).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-18

   Study period

   2026-09-18

   Limitations

   Absence of a located public record is not proof none exists. The hull was scrapped 1961, before modern ACM survey practice, and no scrapping-era materials disclosure was located; 1942-44 builder records (Independence Seaport Museum New York Shipbuilding collection), the wartime cruise book 'U.S.S. Guam: Her Story, 1944-1945' cited in NHC photo captions, and NARA RG-19/BuShips files are the unpursued archival leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-guam-cb2-07