Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet iy-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-herndon-dd198-pkt-iy-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Herndon I (DD-198), verbatim transcription (live NHHC page returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: Clemson-class; displacement 1,190 tons; design speed 35 knots; design complement 122. Launched 31 May 1919 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., sponsored by Miss Lucy Taylor Herndon; commissioned 14 September 1920 at Norfolk; reserve at Charleston from 3 November 1920; decommissioned at Philadelphia 6 June 1922; Coast Guard service 1930-1934; recommissioned in the Navy 4 December 1939; Caribbean Neutrality Patrol from Guantanamo Bay 23 January 1940; Canal Zone operations July-August 1940; decommissioned and turned over to Great Britain at Halifax 9 September 1940 as HMS Churchill; transferred to the Russian Navy 16 July 1944 and renamed Delatelnyi; sunk 16 January 1945, 40 miles east of Cape Tereberski, while escorting a convoy from Kola Inlet to the White Sea.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity and service chronology, not materials or asbestos content. Its 'lend lease program' wording for the 9 September 1940 transfer is anachronistic (see ev-uss-herndon-dd198-04). It does not state a laid-down date; that date comes from NavSource (ev-03). Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-01
-
[3]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Herndon (CG-17)' webcutters history (uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Herndon.pdf, via Internet Archive capture) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Cutter history PDF, specifications block and 'Operational History' section
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- U.S. Coast Guard Historian's cutter history for Herndon (CG-17): one of 31 Navy destroyers lent to the Coast Guard for Prohibition enforcement; acquired 13 September 1930; commissioned into Coast Guard service 7 March 1931 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; assigned to Division III, Destroyer Force, Boston; arrived Boston Navy Yard 12 March 1931; permanent change of station to New London, Connecticut, June 1933; Cuban expedition September-November 1933 (Key West, Cardenas, Nueva Gerona); decommissioned and returned to the U.S. Navy 28 May 1934. Machinery listed: geared turbines, 2 screws, 26,500 hp, 35 knots; complement 101 (USN).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Official Coast Guard source for the 1930-1934 loan period; documents reconditioning context and operational stations, not materials or asbestos content. The Coast Guard loan is not the qualification basis for this record (Navy service is). Its complement figure (101) differs from the DANFS design block (122).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-02
-
[4]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Photo Index, USS Herndon (DD-198) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Operational and Building Data block; 'On Coast Guard Service' photo captions (Leslie Jones/BPL); 'On British Service' and 'On Soviet Union Service' sections; commanding officers list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource destroyer index for this hull: laid down 25 November 1918 at Newport News Shipbuilding; machinery 26,500 SHP geared turbines, 2 screws; loaned to the Coast Guard as CG-17 13 September 1930 and returned 28 May 1934; stricken 8 January 1941; commanding officer list (LCDR L. H. Thebaud from 18 September 1920; LT J. A. Webster during the 1939-40 recommissioning); photo-documented drydocking at Charlestown Navy Yard after the 15 January 1932 collision with collier SS Lemuel Burrows off Montauk Point (Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones collection); Royal Navy service detail including refit at Charleston, S.C., beginning late September 1942; renamed Deyatel'niy 30 May 1944; sunk 16 January 1945 off Ostrov Bolshoy Olenyi with 117 lost and 7 survivors, cause disputed (NavSource notes modern German sources show U-956 made no claims on 16 January; accidental depth-charge explosion and other attributions exist).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained photographic archive compiling official data and named collection captions (Boston Public Library Leslie Jones collection; Imperial War Museum photo FL 25452; NHHC photo NH 78127). Used as an archival lead and for dates absent from the DANFS narrative (laid down; stricken). Its 1944 naming date (30 May) conflicts slightly with the DANFS transfer date (16 July); carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-03
-
[5]NHHC, 'Destroyers for Bases Agreement, 2 September 1940' (FAQ 59-24, archived); Building the Navy's Bases in World War II, ch. 18 (official Navy history, HyperWar transcription) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC FAQ text of the Hull-Lothian exchange of notes; bases-18.htm paragraph on the 2 September 1940 agreement
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The 9 September 1940 transfer of this hull at Halifax was executed under the Destroyers for Bases agreement - the exchange of notes of 2 September 1940 under which Britain received 50 over-age destroyers in exchange for 99-year base leases - not under the Lend-Lease Act (March 1941), which postdates the transfer. DANFS's phrase 'turned over to Great Britain under the lend lease program' is anachronistic.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Corrects the program label for this hull's 9 September 1940 transfer only; it does not change the transfer date or establish anything about materials aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-04
-
[6]National Archives, Ship Plan Index, HERNDON DD-198 entries [other_primary]
- Locator
- HERNDON DD-198 rows, RG 19, Alphabetical Ship Drawings and Microfilm
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's Ship Plan Index lists HERNDON DD-198 in Record Group 19 under Alphabetical Ship Drawings (NAID 53484277) and Microfilm (NAID 175669366). These holdings are leads for ship-specific plans, including any S39 insulation/lagging and S48 piping drawings. The adjacent index row HERNDON DD-638 (NAID 153714634) is the second, Gleaves-class Herndon - a different hull outside this record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- The index establishes holdings, not the contents of individual drawings. No Herndon drawing or material schedule was retrieved or reviewed; the index is not evidence of asbestos aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-05
-
[7]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' [other_primary]
- Locator
- Beginning Research; General Information Books; Cartographic Branch; Other Records sections
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- NARA's research guide describes asbestos-relevant Navy record groups for the 1941-1961 period: RG 19 Bureau of Ships correspondence by hull designation (DD198 / DD186 Class), Destroyer General Information Books (Entry P 9), and ship engineering drawings under S-filing codes including S39-Insulation and Lagging and S48-Piping. It states that deck logs and muster rolls do not directly show asbestos aboard ships.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Research guide, not a Herndon material record; it establishes where to search, not that any Herndon GIB or S39 drawing exists or that this ship contained asbestos. Its principal correspondence series begin 1940 - after most of this hull's U.S. Navy custody (the 1939-40 reactivation and any Bureau of Ships correspondence on the transfer are the in-scope periods).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-06
-
[8]U.S. GAO, HRD-80-2, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure (1979) [gao]
- Locator
- Highlights, paragraphs 1-2 (product-page description; gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The 1979 GAO review documents asbestos insulation policy and exposure concerns across Navy shipbuilding and repair, with fieldwork at Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards. This is program-level context only.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- GAO studied policy decades after this hull was lost (1945) and did not examine it. It cannot establish this ship's materials, exposures, or repair work. Full text not retrieved (HTTP 403).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-07
-
[9]Negative result across NHHC DANFS, USCG Historian cutter history, NavSource, NARA Ship Plan Index, NARA asbestos research guide, and GAO HRD-80-2; see search_ledger [other_primary]
- Locator
- Search ledger sl-01 through sl-06
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The official sources and catalog entries reviewed for this record did not yield a ship-specific asbestos survey, product schedule, abatement record, insulation specification, or material finding for Herndon (DD-198). Asbestos presence aboard DD-198 remains unknown.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- This is a bounded search result, not proof that asbestos was absent. Underlying NARA plans, GIBs, reactivation work packages (1939), and transfer/survey files were not obtained. The 1945 loss forecloses postwar museum or abatement documentation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-08
-
[10]CourtListener authenticated API v4 search responses via fleet helper cl-auth-search.py, six queries (name and hull, opinion and docket corpora, plus RN-name and dotted-name variants) [court_record]
- Locator
- Search ledger sl-08 through sl-13; query counts recorded there
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Authenticated CourtListener API v4 sweep, 27 September 2026: exact-name opinion query "USS Herndon" returned count 0; exact-name docket query returned count 0; hull-number opinion query "DD-198" returned count 0; "U.S.S. Herndon" (dotted variant) opinion query returned count 0; British-name opinion query "HMS Churchill" returned count 0. The hull-number docket query "DD-198" returned 7 hits, all name collisions in which 'DD-198' is a docket-entry/exhibit/claim identifier in unrelated litigation (Arch Coal bankruptcy E.D. Mo. 2016; Cadles of Grassy v. Steele S.D. Fla. 1999; Timberlake v. Carnival S.D. Fla. 2018; SCO v. IBM D. Utah 2003; Coleman v. Brown N.D. Ill. 2019; Thompson v. Select Portfolio Servicing S.D. Ind. 2020; Winn-Dixie bankruptcy M.D. Fla. 2005) - none references the vessel. No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Bounded result: six CourtListener queries returned no vessel-related hit. Does not cover state-court dockets, PACER-only filings, MDL-875 claimant interrogatory answers, or UK/Soviet-era proceedings. A plaintiff could have served aboard DD-198 without the hull being named in an indexed opinion or docket.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-herndon-dd198-09