Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]DANFS, Helena II (CL-50) (builder, dates, specifications, service narrative; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404); cross-checked against HazeGray/LostHistory transcription [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 27 August 1939 by the New York Navy Yard; commissioned 18 September 1939 (Capt. Max B. Demott). Notably, the DANFS specifications block for this hull carries NO class assignment - unlike the 'cl. Brooklyn' tag present in the CL-41/42/43/46/47/48 entries - consistent with her St. Louis-class design. Moored at 1010 Dock Navy Yard Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941; torpedo hit starboard side almost amidships within 3 minutes of the first bomb - one engine room and one boiler room flooded; preliminary overhaul at Pearl Harbor, then Mare Island Navy Yard for permanent repairs; Wasp rescue ~400 survivors September 1942; sank Furutaka and Fubuki at Cape Esperance 11 October; Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 13 November; New Georgia bombardments; Sydney overhaul early 1943; hit by three torpedoes within ~10 minutes in the Battle of Kula Gulf shortly after 0157 on 6 July 1943, jackknifed and sank - of nearly 900 men, 168 perished (survivor ordeals through 16 July documented in detail); first ship to receive the Navy Unit Commendation; Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign medal with seven stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1936-1943
- Population
- New York Navy Yard construction trades 1936-39; crew 1939-43; Pearl Harbor and Mare Island repair-yard workers 1941-42
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. DANFS gives no laid-down date (keel 9 December 1936 carried from the Navy Directory Jan 1938 construction-progress table, ev-02). The 1941-42 torpedo reconstruction is a documented deep-yard event whose insulation-disturbance scope is inference. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-01
-
[2]U.S. Navy Department, Navy Directory (Bureau of Navigation, January 1, 1938), 'Vessels Under Construction' joint report of progress as of Dec. 1, 1937 - LIGHT CRUISERS table (shipscribe.com scan, OCR-extracted) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR1938-ships.pdf p.5, LIGHT CRUISERS table, last two rows (OCR)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official contemporaneous construction record supplies the date DANFS omits: the Dec. 1, 1937 joint progress table's final CL rows carry the two under-construction hulls at New York Navy Yard - keel 'Dec. 10, 1936' (St. Louis CL-49, per standard references) and 'Dec. 09, 1936' (this hull, Helena CL-50) - consistent with the standard 9 December 1936 keel date for CL-50.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1936-1938
- Population
- New York Navy Yard construction trades 1936-39
- Limitations
- Construction-progress data only - no materials or insulation content. OCR extraction of a scan: the day-of-month digit for the Helena row reads '09' but the OCR is degraded ('Deo. 09,1936'); consistent with standard references. Row attribution (CL-49 vs CL-50) is by keel-date ordering against the known CL-49 date of 10 December 1936.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-02
-
[3]U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (1945), Light Cruisers (CL) machinery table - St. Louis (CL-49) row (shipscribe.com scan, OCR-extracted); Helena absent (sunk 1943, before the 1945 edition) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1.pdf, CL machinery table pp. 54-55 (PDF p. 37; OCR row 51)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Machinery evidence of the class boundary: the official 1945 machinery table lists St. Louis (CL-49) - the St. Louis-class lead and this hull's design sister - with 4 shafts, N.N. Parsons-type geared turbines, ~100,000 shp at 565 psi / 700 deg F, versus the Brooklyn-class suite's 400 psi / 648 deg F. Helena herself is absent from the 1945 tables (sunk July 1943), so the St. Louis row is the official class proxy for her plant.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Class-level proxy only - CL-49's documented steam conditions support the 'modified machinery' distinction for the St. Louis class; Helena's own row does not exist in the 1945 edition. No asbestos or insulation content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-03
-
[4]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips TM ch.39, sections 39-11 through 39-13
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The Navy's own insulation manual enumerates the asbestos material suite standard to steam plants of this hull's construction era: MIL-P-2781 pipe covering including 85% magnesia (~15% asbestos fiber) and amosite-fiber classes; 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.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1960 (manual); describes specifications representative of 1936-39 practice
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Specification-level era documentation, not a hull record - the manual is 1959-60 vintage while this hull was built 1936-39; the same material family is documented for 1930s practice but the manual postdates construction by two decades. Does not quantify material aboard. Retrieved PDF is a scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-04
-
[5]DANFS specifications block + damage/repair narrative (this record, ev-01) + BuShips TM ch.39 era suite (ev-04) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- ev-01/-03/-04 synthesis; repair dates from DANFS service narrative
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference for this hull: a St. Louis-class cruiser built 1936-39 with a ~100,000-shp geared-turbine plant would era-typically have carried asbestos boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, gaskets and packing, deck covering, and bulkhead/cable insulation. The documented repair events - the flooded engine room and boiler room after the 7 December 1941 torpedo hit, Pearl Harbor preliminary overhaul, Mare Island permanent repairs (early 1942), and a Sydney overhaul (early 1943) - opened machinery and hull spaces where original-era material would have been disturbed.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1936-1943
- Population
- Construction trades 1936-39; crew 1939-43; Pearl Harbor + Mare Island repair-yard workers 1941-42
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The Pearl Harbor/Mare Island torpedo reconstruction is documented but its insulation scope is inference from work extent; no work package or abatement record for CL-50 is digitized. Does not quantify material aboard or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-05
-
[6]NHHC H-Gram 027 (Director Sam Cox, 2019): 2018 R/V Petrel expedition results - 'the light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50), sunk during the Battle of Kula Gulf in July 1943' located during 2018; corroborating USNI News 'Paul Allen's Team Finds Lost World War II Cruiser USS Helena' (12 April 2018) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC H-Gram 027 PDF (history.navy.mil); USNI News 2018-04-12; AP 2018-04-12
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Wreck record: NHHC's own H-Gram confirms the R/V Petrel (Paul G. Allen) team located Helena during its 2018 expedition; press reporting dates the discovery 23 March 2018 at ~860 m (2,821 ft) in New Georgia Sound, identified by the '50' hull number and schematics. The wreck is the final resting place of the crew lost with the ship; whatever material was aboard at sinking remains with the hull - no material survey exists or is feasible at depth.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1943-07-06; 2018-03-23
- Population
- Crew lost with the ship (168 of ~900); expedition and NHHC personnel (2018)
- Limitations
- Documents wreck status and custody only; contains no materials, asbestos, or condition-survey information. Exact position not publicly disclosed. The USNI/Navy Times 'St. Louis-class' descriptors corroborate the class assignment carried in this record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-06
-
[7]USNI News, 'Paul Allen's Team Finds Lost World War II Cruiser USS Helena' (12 April 2018) - describes CL-50 as 'the WWII-era St. Louis-class cruiser'; corroborating Navy Times (13 April 2018) and DANFS spec-block absence of a class tag [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI News 2018-04-12; Navy Times 2018-04-13; DANFS CL-50 spec block; SDB1945v1.pdf machinery row 51; brooklyn-class profile member_list_scope
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Class correction: CL-50 Helena is St. Louis class (a modified Brooklyn design), NOT Brooklyn class as grouped in the batch brief. Supporting evidence: (1) the DANFS spec block for CL-50 carries no 'cl. Brooklyn' tag while all six Brooklyn-class sisters' entries carry it; (2) USNI News and Navy Times describe her explicitly as 'St. Louis-class'; (3) the BuShips 1945 machinery table documents the St. Louis-class lead CL-49 at 565 psi/700 deg F versus the Brooklyn suite's 400/648 - the documented machinery difference behind the class split; (4) the batch's own Brooklyn class profile excludes CL-49/50 from member_vessels for the same reason.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1936-1943 (design); 2018 (press)
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- The class label does not change the evidence posture: Helena remains a 1936-39-era steam cruiser with era-inference documentation only. 'St. Louis class' is itself sometimes described as a modified-Brooklyn design - the correction is about accurate class attribution, not about a fundamentally different ship type.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-07
-
[8]CourtListener REST API v4 - per-ship query attempt 2026-09-18 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger sl-uss-helena-cl50-05
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming CL-50 located - with the caveat that coverage is weakest in this batch: this hull was excluded from the class-level sweep of 2026-09-16 (scoped to Brooklyn-class member vessels), and the per-ship exact-phrase and RECAP queries attempted 2026-09-18 were fully blocked - the CourtListener API returned HTTP 429 (daily 125-request limit exhausted; ~44,400 s to reset). No litigation search of any kind has been executed for this hull.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- This is a coverage gap, not a verified negative: unlike the six sisters, Helena has no completed opinion sweep on file. 'Helena' is a lower-collision name than the batch's city names but Montana-place and 'St. Helena' variants still require review. Any exposure claims arising from her 1939-43 service would sit in U.S. indexed coverage if filed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-08
-
[9]This record's search ledger: NHHC DANFS probe; two independent DANFS transcriptions; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 and Navy Directory 1938 OCR; NVR coverage check; NHHC H-Gram + USNI wreck coverage; CourtListener attempts [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-helena-cl50-01 through -07
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation of any kind was located for CL-50: no insulation or material specification, no hull survey (impossible at wreck depth), no abatement contract or hazmat disclosure, no qualifying litigation (coverage blocked). All asbestos-relevant content in this record rests on class/era specification (BuShips TM ch.39), the documented plant (St. Louis-class proxy row, Ships' Data), and documented repair events (Pearl Harbor/Mare Island 1941-42).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record does not prove absence - the 1941-42 torpedo-reconstruction work packages (NARA RG 19) are the likeliest unmined primary records; the hull sank before any postwar survey or abatement era and retains her 1943 material fit on the seabed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-09
-
[10]NARA Record Group 19 (Bureau of Ships series) - known holding class, not yet searched [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 19 (not yet searched)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead: NARA RG 19 BuShips records for the 7 December 1941 torpedo damage (Pearl Harbor preliminary overhaul, Mare Island permanent repairs early 1942) - the likeliest primary records of insulation/material disturbance on this hull. Not digitized; not consulted for this pass.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- n/a
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Holding location inferred from standard records disposition; war-damage reports may sit in RG 19 damage series rather than construction correspondence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-helena-cl50-10