Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]DANFS, USS Independence IV (CVL-22) entry (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Independence IV entry - construction paragraph, Gilberts/torpedo paragraph, Magic-Carpet/Crossroads paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Construction and service milestones (DANFS): begun as light cruiser Amsterdam (CL-59), launched as CV-22 on 22 Aug 1942 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; commissioned 14 Jan 1943; redesignated CVL-22 on 15 Jul 1943 - the first of nine cruiser-hull carrier conversions. Torpedoed by Japanese aircraft off the Gilberts 20 Nov 1943; repaired at Funafuti, then returned to San Francisco 2 Jan 1944 for permanent repairs (fitted with an additional catapult; back at Pearl Harbor 3 Jul 1944). Served through Leyte Gulf, Okinawa, and final strikes on Japan; Magic Carpet duty; assigned as a target vessel for the Bikini atomic bomb tests, placed within one-half mile of ground zero for the 1 Jul 1946 explosion, survived a second explosion 25 Jul, and was decommissioned at Kwajalein 28 Aug 1946. Eight battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1941-43; crews 1943-46; San Francisco repair-yard workers Jan-Jul 1944
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history from the official ship dictionary; contains no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material content. The 1944 San Francisco repair yard is not named in the entry (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-01
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[2]NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries, 'NOAA, partners, survey historic WWII-era aircraft carrier' (USS Independence shipwreck page) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NOAA sanctuaries Independence page - survey summary, position/depth, wreck imagery captions
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries wreck record: ex-USS Independence rests upright in 2,600 feet of water off California's Farallon Islands, hull and flight deck clearly visible in sonar (possible aircraft in hangar bay); she was one of more than 90 vessels in the 1946 Bikini target fleet and, blast-damaged, was scuttled in 1951. The 2015 mission was the first maritime archaeological survey of the wreck (Boeing Echo Ranger AUV; first multibeam sonar by NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer in 2009).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1946-1951 disposition; 2009/2015 surveys
- Population
- n/a (wreck documentation; unmanned survey)
- Limitations
- Documents the hull's disposition and present state on the seafloor - the ship was never scrapped or abated, so as-built material went down with her. Not an asbestos record; the survey assessed wreck condition, not fiber content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-02
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[3]Delgado, J.P., Keeney, E., et al., 'Assessment of the Deep Sea Wreck USS Independence,' Frontiers in Marine Science 3:80 (2016) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Frontiers Mar. Sci. 2016 - 'Independence in World War II' and NRDL/scuttling sections
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed wreck assessment (Delgado et al., NOAA-affiliated authors) drawing on declassified government reports: after Crossroads, thirteen surviving target ships were sent to Pearl Harbor or the West Coast 'for further study of damage and for development of radiological decontamination and safety techniques.' Independence left Kwajalein under tow 15 May 1947 and arrived at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, 16 Jun 1947; she then served as the platform for the U.S. Navy's radiological decontamination school - later the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory - until December 1950, and as a repository for radioactive materials at the time of her scuttling (depth charges used to sink her). The 2015 sonar survey documented the wreck intact and upright.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1947-1951; 2015 survey
- Population
- Radiological-safety trainees and NRDL personnel working aboard the contaminated hull 1947-50; towing/scuttling crews Jan 1951
- Limitations
- Documents years of hands-on decontamination work performed on and inside this hull - a postwar disturbance history on as-built material. The paper's hazard assessment covers radioactivity and oil only and contains no asbestos evaluation; no fiber content established.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-03
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[4]NHHC, United States Naval Aviation 1910-2010, vol. II, Part IV 'Ships', Chapter 26 'Aviation Ships' - Carrier Listing for CV, CVA, CVB, CVAN, CVN, and CVL [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Part4.pdf, carrier listing, hull 22 row (pp. 341-342)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC carrier listing entry for hull 22: commissioned 14 Jan 1943, decommissioned 28 Aug 1946, designation CVL 22; comments: 'Sunk in weapons test 29 Jan 1951.' No stricken date is listed for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1943-1951
- Limitations
- Official NHHC tabular data; consistent with DANFS and NOAA on commission/decommission and sinking. Carries no stricken date for this hull - treated as 'expended' rather than formally stricken in consulted sources (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-04
-
[5]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships Technical Manual, NAVSHIPS 250-000, Chapter 39 'Thermal Insulation' (1960, page date 15 April 1959) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips TM ch.39, materials sections (verbatim OCR text of retrieved PDF scan)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/era material context: this hull carries a two-layer build history - Cleveland-class cruiser-era construction (keel as CL-59, May 1941) plus carrier conversion work through commissioning (Jan 1943), all inside the Navy asbestos-specification era. The 1960 BuShips Technical Manual's insulation chapter enumerates the asbestos material suite standard to Navy steam plants of this construction era: MIL-P-2781 pipe covering including 85% magnesia 'formed from a combination of 85 percent magnesium carbonate with about 15 percent asbestos fiber' and a class 'formed from a uniform mixture of amosite asbestos fibers'; 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. Her four Babcock & Wilcox boilers, GE geared turbines, and steam piping are the equipment classes those specifications cover.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1941-1943 construction; 1960 manual describing era-standard specifications
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1941-43; crews and repair workers
- Limitations
- Specification-level documentation of what the Navy specified, not a ship-specific installation record - establishes what the era insulation suite contained, not what is or was aboard this hull. The retrieved PDF is a scan hosted in the Garlock bankruptcy Daubert-appendix repository; the document itself is the government manual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-05
-
[6]Simmons v. Pacor, Inc., 543 Pa. 664, 674 A.2d 232 (Pa. 1996) [court_record]
- Locator
- 674 A.2d 232 - factual recital (Murray employment at NYSB Camden; trial testimony)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinion (consolidated appeal on a trial record) documents Theodore Murray's work as carpenter, joiner, pipecoverer and insulator at New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, N.J., 1952-1967, with 'considerable asbestos exposure in all areas of his employment' - the yard that built this hull in 1941-43.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1952-1967 yard employment; opinion 1996
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding insulation/carpentry trades
- Limitations
- Builder-yard context only. The documented exposure period (1952-67) postdates this hull's construction (1941-43); establishes the yard's asbestos work environment in the immediately following era, not material aboard this hull. The opinion's holding (asymptomatic pleural thickening non-compensable) concerns injury definition, not exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-06
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[7]Batch-67 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC; NOAA sanctuaries; Frontiers 2016; NHHC carrier listing; CourtListener API (blocked HTTP 429); substitute web-index litigation sweep; NavSource (DNS unreachable); hazegray (DNS unreachable) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-independence-cvl22-01 through sl-uss-independence-cvl22-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, insulation inventory, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Independence (CVL-22) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The one surfaced asbestos opinion naming 'USS Independence' (Cochran v. E.I. duPont, 933 F.2d 1533, 11th Cir. 1991 - nonskid deck grinding, service 1972) describes service aboard the later Forrestal-class USS Independence (CV-62), a different hull - classified as a name collision, not a hit. NOAA's wreck assessment covers radioactivity and oil pollution and includes no asbestos evaluation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- search date 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the wreck retains its as-built material and remains unsurveyed for fiber content; CourtListener API was rate-limited this session so the litigation sweep is a web-index substitute plus the class profile's 2026-09-16 CourtListener sweep (same null result). Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-independence-cvl22-07