Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]DANFS, Higbee (DD-806) - verbatim transcription via HazeGray DANFS mirror (Wayback capture; live NHHC page returns 404) and Destroyer History Foundation transcription (destroyerhistory.org) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Higbee' (DD-806), specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 13 November 1944 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine (sponsor Mrs. A. M. Wheaton, sister of Lenah S. Higbee); commissioned 27 January 1945, Comdr. Lindsay Williamson; converted to radar picket destroyer at Boston; Pacific from 24 May 1945, screening TF 38 within 400 miles of Tokyo Bay from 19 July to end of hostilities 15 August; mine clearance and occupation support seven months; San Diego 11 April 1946; two peacetime WestPac cruises (Toledo escort to India/Pakistan summer 1948); redesignated DDR-806 18 March 1949; Korea from June 1950 - TF 77 screening, Inchon bombardment/screening group 15 September; home 8 February 1951; two further Korea tours incl. Formosa Strait patrol; Long Beach yard six-month modernization from 30 June 1953 (enlarged CIC, height-finding radar, improved AA battery); six-month WestPac rotations from San Diego with SEATO exercises; homeport Yokosuka 21 May 1960; new homeport San Francisco 4 September 1962; FRAM overhaul entered shipyard there 1 April 1963; redesignated DD-806 1 June 1963; ready for action 3 January 1964; Yokosuka homeport 18 July 1964; Tonkin Gulf TF 77 screening August 1964; Danang 9th Marine Brigade support February 1965; Gemini recovery May 1965; Arsinoe rescue 1 September 1965; gunfire support September 1965; sighted Soviet hydrographic ship Gidrifon January 1966; bombardment near Cape St. Jacques and Saigon River mouth April 1966; Long Beach homeport 2 July 1966. One WWII and seven Korean battle stars. Spec block: dp 2,425; 390'6" x 41'1" x 18'6"; 35 kt; cpl 367; 6 x 5", 12 x 40mm, 11 x 20mm, 10 x 21" tt, 6 dcp, 2 dct; class Gearing.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1967 (entry coverage)
- Population
- Bath Iron Works construction trades 1944-45; crew 1945-1979 (design complement 367 per spec block; NavSource lists 336)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The entry predates the ship's later history (ends 1967; no 1972 bombing, 1979 decommissioning, or 1986 sinking - those events are covered by ev-02, ev-03, ev-04). Yard periods are documented events; their asbestos scope is not addressed. Live NHHC DANFS page 404; verbatim mirror transcriptions cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-01
-
[2]Naval Vessel Register, HIGBEE (DD 806) (ex-DDR 806), UIC 03906 (nvr.navy.mil detail page, Wayback capture 2016-01-07) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR DD-806 detail table (builder block, dates block, status block, hull material line)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NVR record for this hull: class DD 710 (Gearing); builder Bath Iron Wks Corp; award date 05/13/1942; keel date 06/26/1944; launch date 11/12/1944; delivery/commission 01/27/1945; stricken date 07/15/1979; status 'Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise,' date status changed 04/24/1986 (sunk as target); steel hull, steel superstructure.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1986
- Population
- Construction trades (Bath, 1944-45); crew 1945-1979
- Limitations
- NVR documents dates, builder, and disposition only - no materials or asbestos content. NVR launch date 11/12/1944 conflicts with DANFS 13 November 1944 (DANFS carried in the record; conflict logged in gaps). NVR gives no sinking position (secondary sources supply 32-28'N 119-58'W).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-02
-
[3]Edward J. Marolda, By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia (Naval Historical Center / NHHC), ch. 4 'Winding Down the War, 1968-1973' (live NHHC page 404; Wayback capture) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Chapter 4, 'Countering the Easter Offensive'/TF 77 passage (mid-chapter)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC combat-history monograph records for this hull: 'Earlier in the year [1972] Higbee (DD 806) became the first U.S. naval vessel attacked by enemy MiGs, one of which dropped a bomb on the destroyer's stern, wounding four sailors.' The passage appears in the Task Force 77 operations narrative of the 1972 Easter Offensive response; secondary accounts identify the event as 19 April 1972 on the Dong Hoi gunline (VPAF MiG-17s; aft 5-inch mount destroyed; USS Sterett downed one attacker; repairs at SRF Subic Bay, floating drydock AFDM-6, May 1972 per official Navy photographs indexed at NavSource).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1972
- Population
- Crew aboard DD-806, April 1972 (4 wounded); SRF Subic Bay repair crews May 1972
- Limitations
- Documents the battle-damage event and its repair cycle, not materials or asbestos content - the damaged-mount repair at Subic Bay is a documented disturbance event whose asbestos scope is unrecorded. Secondary-source detail (MiG regiment number, ordnance weight, AFDM-6, companion ships) is flagged as secondary; NHHC carries only the quoted sentence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-03
-
[4]U.S. Navy (navy.mil), Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee biography - Navy Nurse Corps history page [other_primary]
- Locator
- navy.mil biography page, USS Higbee/DDG-123 paragraph
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Navy biographical record for the namesake of this hull: Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, one of the first twenty Navy Nurse Corps members (the 'Sacred Twenty,' 1908), second Superintendent of the Corps (1911-1922), first living woman to receive the Navy Cross (WWI service). 'The first ship named after Higbee, USS Higbee (DD 806), was the first combat warship named after a woman member of the U.S. Navy.' The namesake was honored again by USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123), launched 27 January 2020.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1908-2023
- Limitations
- Namesake/significance documentation only - bears on hull identity, not on materials or asbestos. 'First combat warship named for a woman member of the U.S. Navy' is the Navy's own formulation; broader 'first ship named for a woman' phrasings elsewhere are narrower than this claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-04
-
[5]VA Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr. 1040405 (Decision Date 10/27/2010, Docket 04-43 873) - PTSD service-connection decision for a USS Hector (AR-7) crewman [other_primary]
- Locator
- BVA Citation 1040405, 'Reasons and Bases' stressor paragraph (USS Hector/USS Higbee sentence)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Federal adjudication record reciting this hull by name: 'Also in April 1972 the USS Higbee was bombed by a MIG-17 and traveled for two days to reach Da Nang Harbor for inspection and repair by the USS Hector.' The recital appears in the stressor-evidence narrative of an unrelated veteran's claim and independently corroborates the April 1972 bombing (ev-03) plus a two-day transit to Da Nang where repair ship USS Hector performed inspection/repair, before fuller repair at SRF Subic Bay.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1972 (event); 2010 (decision)
- Population
- DD-806 crew April 1972; USS Hector repair crew at Da Nang
- Limitations
- A recital in another veteran's administrative claim - corroborating context for the event and repair sequence, not an asbestos finding and not a merits adjudication of anything about this hull. Not asbestos litigation; classified context.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-05
-
[6]Galassi v. A.W. Chesterton Co. et al., No. 3:05-cv-02017-WHA (N.D. Cal.): Order Remanding Case and Vacating Hearing, ECF No. 24 (Alsup, J., filed 2005-06-13); Order re Attorney's Fees, ECF No. 25; Judgment on Attorney Fees against Warren Pumps, ECF No. 39 (2005-07-26). Underlying action: S.F. Superior No. CGC-04-436144. RECAP doc gov.uscourts.cand.30906.24.0 [court_record]
- Locator
- N.D. Cal. 3:05-cv-02017 ECF No. 24 pp. 1-2 (complaint recital, mesothelioma note, removal); ECF No. 39 (fee judgment). CL docket 5720068; RECAP gov.uscourts.cand.30906.24.0/.25.0/.39.0
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Verified federal phase of asbestos litigation reported to involve this hull: the remand order recites that Peter Galassi filed a state-court complaint (Nov. 8, 2004) 'alleging among other things, that he had been exposed to asbestos in products made by numerous defendants while working at Naval shipyards (see Compl. Exh. A),' that plaintiffs expressly disclaimed federal-enclave and federal-directed-act exposure theories, and that Galassi had mesothelioma; the court found Warren Pumps' removal 'wholly unnecessary, meritless,' remanded to state court 13 June 2005, and awarded plaintiffs attorney fees and costs (ECF 25, 39). Plaintiff counsel's public case materials state Galassi was a civilian Navy marine machinist/maintenance manager (1963-1980s) and list USS Higbee among the vessels aboard which he worked; they report a 22 September 2009 San Francisco jury verdict of $2,325,872 with 2% liability assigned to John Crane Inc. Neither the vessel list (Compl. Exh. A) nor the verdict appears in any retrieved court record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1963-1980s (alleged exposure); 2004-2009 (litigation)
- Population
- Peter Galassi (civilian USN marine machinist/maintenance manager 1963-1980s; mesothelioma, died July 2005); Navy shipyard and shipboard maintenance workforce
- Limitations
- The retrieved order does NOT name this hull - the association with DD-806 rests on plaintiff counsel's public case summary and the unretrieved complaint exhibit, so this is a pleading-stage lead only: allegation, not finding. The 2009 verdict is reported solely by the plaintiff firm (no citable verdict record located). Classified at the lowest litigation stage per batch discipline; does not establish exposure, products, or causation aboard DD-806.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-06
-
[7]Goodrich v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp., Omnibus Opinion and Order, ECF No. 171, E.D. Va. No. 4:17-cv-00009 (Sept. 28, 2018) - recital of class engineering drawing and expert insulation tally (per Atlas gearing-class profile, ev-gearing-class-04) [court_record]
- Locator
- Goodrich ECF No. 171 (omnibus order), drawing and McCloskey-report recitals; Atlas class profile 'gearing-class' ev-04
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class-level litigation recital bearing on this hull's design family: the Goodrich omnibus opinion recites that 'an engineering drawing for the insulation and lagging of forced draft blower turbines for the class of destroyers (DD 692, USS Allen M. Sumner class)... specifies the use of amosite felts and asbestos cloths,' and quotes an expert report estimating 'a partial tally of the weight of the asbestos-containing thermal insulation and lagging products in the fire... and engine rooms of a ship belonging to the USS Allen M. Sumner (DD 692) and USS Gearing (DD 710) classes of destroyers is 30.3 tons.' Higbee (DD-806) is a Gearing-class hull sharing Sumner machinery lineage.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1949 (construction era); 2018 (opinion)
- Population
- Gearing/Sumner-class fire-room and engine-room crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Litigation-record recital of an expert report and Navy engineering drawing at class level - not a ship-specific finding for DD-806; the drawing covers DD-692-group machinery shared by Gearing, and the 30.3-ton figure is an expert partial tally for fire/engine rooms, not a classwide inventory or adjudicated quantity. Underlying exhibits not in RECAP index (per class profile); the opinion itself treated related exposure conclusions as speculative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-07
-
[8]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct. 18, 1979) + Atlas shipyard records for Bath Iron Works, Mare Island NSY, Long Beach NSY, and Hunter's Point NSY [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page; shipyards.json records 'bath-iron-works,' 'mare-island-naval-shipyard,' 'long-beach-naval-shipyard,' 'hunters-point-naval-shipyard'; DANFS and NavSource yard-period entries
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era and yard context for this hull's documented yard periods: GAO documents the Navy's standing policy that asbestos insulation was removed only when damaged or required for repairs (1975 policy, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas) - original-era insulation typically remained in place for decades unless a yard period disturbed it. This hull's documented yard events: Boston radar-picket conversion early 1945 (facility unnamed in DANFS); Mare Island overhauls Jun-Sep 1946 and Mar-Jul 1951 (NavSource photo captions) and 1967 refit (secondary); Long Beach yard six-month modernization from June 1953 (DANFS); San Francisco FRAM overhaul April 1963 - Feb 1964 (DANFS 'the shipyard there'; NavSource FRAM table 'San Francisco,' i.e., San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunter's Point); SRF Subic Bay battle-damage repair May 1972 (official Navy photos via NavSource). Atlas yard tiers: Hunter's Point tier 3; Mare Island and Bath Iron Works tier 2; Long Beach tier 1. Era/design inference for the hull itself: a 1944-45 Gearing-class destroyer with a 60,000-shp geared steam plant would have carried period-standard boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe lagging, turbine lagging, valve/flange gaskets and packing, fireproofing, and accommodation insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1986 (service life incl. disposal); 1979 (GAO report)
- Population
- Yard workers at BIW (1944-45), Boston conversion (1945), Mare Island (1946, 1951, 1967), Long Beach (1953-54), Hunter's Point (1963-64 FRAM), SRF Subic Bay (1972); crew aboard during yard periods
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no hull-level material schedule, survey, or work order is cited for DD-806, and the GAO report is program-level. Yard asbestos documentation describes the yards, not this ship; yard-period asbestos scope aboard this hull is not documented. The ship-specific status for this hull is unknown (see ev-06, ev-09). GAO full text unreachable (HTTP 403 to automated fetch) - content via product-page description per prior batch practice.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-08
-
[9]Batch-3778 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC mirrors (HazeGray Wayback capture, destroyerhistory.org); Naval Vessel Register (Wayback capture); NHHC Marolda monograph; navy.mil namesake biography; VA BVA decision file; NavSource index; CourtListener API v4 sweep (partially fleet-paced); NARA catalog [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-higbee-dd806-01 through sl-uss-higbee-dd806-14
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Ship-specific sweep result: no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was verified in retrieved court records. CourtListener sweep: exact-phrase '"USS Higbee"' returned zero indexed opinions and zero dockets; hull-number '"DD-806"' returned zero indexed opinions; '"Higbee" asbestos' returned 64 opinion hits that are attorney-name collisions (the Maine asbestos-defense firm McTeague Higbee PA / attorney G. William Higbee appears throughout Bath Iron Works LHWCA dockets) - no vessel references in reviewed results. One litigation lead located by docket search: Galassi v. A.W. Chesterton (N.D. Cal. 3:05-cv-02017, remand order verified) - reported to name USS Higbee among exposure vessels but the vessel list is unretrieved (see ev-06). No government hull survey, abatement contract, ACM inventory, museum hazmat disclosure, or digitized material schedule for DD-806 was located. Remaining queries ('"DDR-806"' opinions; '"DD-806"' dockets; '"Galassi"' opinions) were intermittently blocked by the shared fleet request budget - flagged as incomplete coverage, not no-result.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - this is a WWII-era steam destroyer at the peak asbestos period. Sweep completeness bounded by fleet pacing (see search_ledger sl-14); the 64-hit 'Higbee' opinion tail beyond the first results page was not exhaustively reviewed; California state-court filings (the Galassi merits record) are outside CourtListener coverage. Residual risk: unindexed complaint exhibits and MDL-875 party papers.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-higbee-dd806-09