Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet km-packet.md (2 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (mirror-sourced
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (mirror-sourced
- Evidence ID
- uss-holder-de401-pkt-km-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Holder I (DE-401) (builder, dates, service narrative, Menges graft, scrap sale; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex., 27 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Annette Holder, mother of the namesake; commissioned 18 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. G. Cook in command; departed 24 March escorting a convoy to Mediterranean ports; tracked by German aircraft 10-11 April along the Algerian coast and attacked by torpedo bombers just before midnight 11 April; torpedo struck amidships on the port side causing two heavy explosions, fire, and flooding; crew kept the convoy undamaged and the ship seaworthy; towed to Oran, then to New York (arrived 9 June 1944); decommissioned at New York Navy Yard 13 September 1944; part of her hull used to repair Menges (DE-320); remainder sold for scrap to John A. Witte, Staten Island, N.Y., 19 June 1947; one battle star. Namesake LT(jg) Randolph Mitchell Holder, VT-6, killed at Midway 4 June 1942, posthumous Navy Cross.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The transcription's 'forward part of her hull was used to repair Menges' conflicts with the NHHC H-Gram and official All Hands account (stern/afterpart grafted) - carried in gaps. DANFS gives no laid-down date, no stricken date, and no casualty figure for the 11 April attack. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404; the transcription renders Menges's hull number as 'DE-20' - an artifact; the correct hull is DE-320.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-01
-
[3]NHHC H-Gram 035-2, 'Mediterranean Theater Catch-up' (Director's Corner, NHHC) - verified via Wayback capture 2025-02-02; live page serves 404 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- H-Gram 035-2, section 'Convoy Battles Along the Algerian Coast, April-May 1944' (Holder and Menges paragraphs)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC official history of the convoy battles off Algeria: 'while laying smoke ahead of convoy UGS 37 transiting easterly along the coast of Algeria, the destroyer escort USS Holder (DE-401) was struck portside amidships by an aerial torpedo from a German bomber... two heavy secondary explosions and extensive fire and flooding... towed into Oran, Algeria, and then to New York, where the damage was considered to be too severe to repair.' On Menges: 'her mangled stern was removed and replaced by that from the damaged USS Holder (DE-401) with repairs complete in October 1944' - establishing that Holder's stern (not 'forward part' as DANFS reads) was the grafted section.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Wartime crew; New York Navy Yard cutting/welding trades August-October 1944
- Limitations
- Official NHHC operational history; documents damage, towing, and the hull graft but says nothing about materials, asbestos content, or worker exposures during the 1944 cutting/welding at New York Navy Yard. Live page 404s; text verified through the Wayback Machine capture of 2025-02-02.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-02
-
[4]All Hands magazine (official U.S. Navy publication), October 1957 issue, ship-repair feature incl. 'TWO FOR ONE' photo caption: 'Forward section of USS Menges was merged with afterpart of USS Holder' (media.defense.gov) [other_primary]
- Locator
- All Hands Oct 1957, p.3 photo + caption; Commons mirror: File 'USS Menges (DE-320) is repaired with stern of USS Holder (DE-401) in 1944.jpg'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Navy magazine account of the graft: at New York Naval Shipyard, the remnants of Menges and Holder were 'placed side by side... supported by special cradles, the two vessels were cut, skids were greased, and with the aid of powerful cranes and hydraulic jacks, a 94-foot section of Holder was slipped into position astern Menges... the two parts were welded together.' Documents a major structural cutting and hot-work event on this 1943-built hull in August-September 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944; article 1957
- Population
- New York Naval Shipyard structural/cutting trades, August-September 1944
- Limitations
- media.defense.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches; text verified via indexed search excerpt of the PDF and the Wikimedia Commons file page carrying the identical official photo/caption (U.S. Navy All Hands, Oct 1957, p.3). Documents the sectioning event only - no asbestos, insulation, or industrial-hygiene content. Cutting/welding through a wartime hull's midships structure is a plausible disturbance event for any era materials present, but asbestos scope is inference.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-03
-
[5]DANFS specifications block (Edsall class, 21 kt, cpl 186) + Edsall-class FMR diesel-electric design references (navypedia/BuShips Ships Data DE section, per class-profile convention) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block (cl. Edsall, 21 k.); Edsall-class machinery references
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for a diesel-electric destroyer escort built at Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, in the Navy's peak asbestos period (laid down October 1943): NO boilers or steam plant - the steam-lagging pathway does not apply; plausible asbestos applications on the Edsall (FMR) type concentrate in diesel-engine and exhaust-system insulation, gaskets and packing throughout the engineering spaces, electrical insulation and cable, deck coverings, accommodation-space insulation, and brake/friction linings on deck machinery.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew
- Limitations
- Class/era and design inference only - no hull-level material schedule, insulation spec, or survey exists in the public record for this ship, and none can: the hull was sectioned in 1944 and scrapped by 1947. Does not establish presence, absence, or quantity of ACM that was aboard; does not speak to any individual's exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-04
-
[6]NARA RG 19 (BuShips contract plans/material specs; war damage reports) and RG 24 (deck logs) for DE-401; NavSource DE-401 photo archive [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 19 / RG 24 (not retrieved); navsource.org/archives/06/401.htm (lead)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Undigitized primary records for this hull: the ship's war damage documentation and New York Navy Yard work records for the August-September 1944 sectioning (RG 19/yard records), WWII deck logs (RG 24), and Brown Shipbuilding contract material schedules would be the authoritative sources for any materials question. NavSource's DE-401 archive (secondary) supplies dates not in DANFS: laid down 6 October 1943; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 23 September 1944; and reports 17 killed and 12 wounded in the 11 April 1944 attack (other secondary sources read 16 killed) - unverified against primary records. On the litigation side, two RECAP docket references remain unresolved archival leads where 'USS Holder' appears in indexed text but the vessel's role is not retrievable from the public index: MDL-875 ECF 6464 (2010 tag-along notice attaching the Mason complaint, N.D. Ill. 1:10-cv-07760) and Agena v. Cleaver-Brooks (D. Haw. 1:19-cv-00089, removed asbestos complaint); if either names the ship, the hull would be DD-819 given postwar plaintiff service windows.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947 (records); 2026-09-28 (lead identified)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - none of these records were retrieved or digitized in this research pass; the NARA catalog API was unreachable (JS challenge). NavSource dates/casualty figures are secondary-derived and unverified. Nothing here establishes or defeats asbestos presence or exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-05
-
[7]Batch-4301 search ledger (this record): DANFS; NHHC H-Gram 035-2; All Hands Oct 1957; NARA catalog; CourtListener ship-name and hull-number sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-holder-de401-01 through sl-uss-holder-de401-08 (10 rows incl. 05b, 05c)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case attributable to DE-401 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero opinions naming 'USS Holder' and eight RECAP docket hits - all classified: Mullinex v. Air & Liquid Systems (E.D. Va. 4:18-cv-00033), the MDL-875 tag-along for Mason (N.D. Ill. 1:10-cv-07760), and Agena v. Cleaver-Brooks (D. Haw. 1:19-cv-00089) are asbestos dockets, but the Mullinex plaintiff's Navy service was 1969-1989 - two decades after DE-401 was scrapped - so any 'USS Holder' in his ship list is the Gearing-class DD-819 (in commission 1946-1976); the remaining hits are 'U.S. Holder(s)' securities-document collisions in bankruptcy/terrorism cases. No litigation attributable to DE-401.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a hull built in the Navy's peak asbestos period is consistent with era materials, and her 1944 sectioning at a Navy yard plus 1947 commercial scrapping were undocumented disturbance events. Does not establish that asbestos was or was not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-holder-de401-06