Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]DANFS, Intrigue (AM-253) (builder, dates, service narrative, reclassification, striking, sale; verbatim transcription - no live NHHC page located) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (hazegray.org/losthistory.net mirror of DANFS)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 17 December 1943 by Savannah Machine & Foundry Co., Savannah, Ga.; launched 8 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Henry R. Keller; commissioned 31 July 1944, Lt. P. F. McLaughlin in command. After Chesapeake Bay shakedown, departed Norfolk 28 September 1944 for coastal convoy duty escorting cargo ships to the Canal Zone and Argentia, Newfoundland, returning 5 December 1944; target-towing duty January 1945; student-officer training out of Miami from June 1945; training ship at the Mine Warfare School, Yorktown, Va., from 23 September 1945; decommissioned 31 May 1946; Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Orange, Tex.; reclassified MSF-253 on 7 February 1955; struck from the Navy List 1 May 1962; sold to the Mexican Navy 1 October 1962, serving as DM-19. Spec block: dp. 530; 184'6" x 33' x 9'9"; 15 k.; cpl. 104; 1 3", 4 40mm.; cl. Admirable.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1943-1962
- Population
- Savannah Machine & Foundry construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (design complement 104); Mine Warfare School trainees 1945-46
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and design specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Live NHHC DANFS page not located (404 on tested URL patterns); verbatim hazegray transcription of the printed DANFS entry cited. Transcription contains an OCR artifact ('7 Fe wary 1955' = February). Spec-block displacement (530 t) is light/standard figure; full-load displacement per NavSource is 945 t - variance carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-01
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[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Intrigue (MSF-253) ex-AM-253 (per-hull specifications, commanding officers, call sign NGNG) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 11/02253, specifications block and commanding-officer list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Per-hull archive entry corroborating DANFS dates (laid down 17 December 1943; launched 8 April 1944; commissioned 31 July 1944; decommissioned 31 May 1946; reclassified MSF-253, 7 February 1955; struck 1 May 1962; sold to Mexico 1 October 1962 as ARM DM-19) and adding: displacement 945 t. (full load); speed 14.8 kts; propulsion two 1,710 shp Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines with National Supply Co. single reduction gear, two shafts; armament one 3"/50 DP mount, two 40mm mounts, six 20mm mounts, one hedgehog, four K-guns, two depth-charge tracks; commanding officers Lt. Paul F. McLaughlin (31 Jul 1944 - 9 Sep 1945) through Lt. George P. Hoenninger (23 Apr 1946 - 31 May 1946); Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists a plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as December 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1943-1962
- Population
- Crew 1944-46
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained archival compilation, not an official record - used here to corroborate DANFS dates and for per-hull machinery detail. Engine fit conflicts with class-generic secondary references that list ALCO 539 diesels for Admirable-class hulls; the conflict is carried in gaps rather than resolved. No materials or asbestos content documented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-02
-
[3]Batch-1225 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC, NavSource, NVR, NPS, Georgia Historical Society, general web, and CourtListener queries [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger entries sl-uss-intrigue-am253-01 through -09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for this hull: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum or Navy hazmat disclosure, and no docketed case naming USS Intrigue or AM-253 was found in the repositories searched. The only web content tying 'USS Intrigue' to asbestos is alphabetical ship-list material on law-firm marketing pages (e.g., mesothelioma.com, mesotheliomahelp.org ship lists) - an excluded source class that lists ships by name without vessel-level documentation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of located records is not evidence of absence of asbestos: a 1943-44 naval hull plausibly carried era-standard ACM, and Mexican-era (1962-2001) material history is wholly undocumented. The formal CourtListener API sweep is BLOCKED (authenticated daily quota exhausted by prior batch activity; HTTP 429 persisted past the stated backoff window) - a search-engine proxy check of courtlistener.com returned only name collisions (e.g., Intrigue Spirits Ltd. securities litigation; unrelated Navy cases), but 'no qualifying litigation' is a provisional finding pending a clean API run. See sl-uss-intrigue-am253-08/-09.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-03
-
[4]DANFS specifications block (Admirable class; 1943-44 construction; diesel-driven minesweeper) + documented Admirable-class characteristics [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; Admirable-class machinery data per NavSource class pages
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference: a welded-steel Admirable-class fleet minesweeper built December 1943 - July 1944 falls squarely in the period when U.S. naval construction standardly used asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck coverings. However, this hull's plant was diesel (twin-screw, ~1,710 shp engines) with no boilers or steam turbines - the boiler/main-steam lagging scope typical of steam combatants does not apply, narrowing the plausible ACM footprint to exhaust-system lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical/fireproofing, and interior finish materials.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1943-2001
- Population
- Savannah Machine & Foundry construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-46; Mexican Navy crew 1962-2001
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific manifest, drawing, survey, or sampling record located for AM-253; this row cannot establish that asbestos was installed aboard this hull, and no 'typical of the class' claim should be read as ship-specific. Mexican-era modifications (1962-2001, including the training-ship conversion) could have added or removed material; undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-04
-
[5]National Park Service, '(H)our History Lesson: Shipbuilding in Savannah and Chatham County, Georgia, World War II Heritage City' (reproducing 'Ocean Broom Factory,' The Atlanta Journal, Sept. 10, 1944, and Oct. 26, 1941 Atlanta Constitution coverage) [nps]
- Locator
- NPS article, Reading 1 (Oct. 1941 plant description) and Reading 3 ('Ocean Broom Factory,' Sept. 10, 1944)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NPS lesson documenting this hull's builder during its construction period: Savannah Machine & Foundry - 'a boat repairing firm' that 'put up a million-dollar plant' - was producing Navy minesweepers 'as fast as the steel can be welded,' starting on its 21st minesweeper since November 1941 (as of Sept. 1944), with '3,000 men and women working here, in two 10-hour shifts,' holder of the Army-Navy 'E' award three consecutive times, building welded-steel hulls in roughly four months each. Establishes the industrial setting and workforce that built AM-253.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- ~3,000 Savannah Machine & Foundry shipyard workers (1944)
- Limitations
- Yard-level context only - the article (and the 1944 newspaper reading it reproduces) never mentions asbestos or insulation materials and does not name AM-253; documents workforce scale and welded-steel construction methods, not material content. Useful for exposure-population context only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-05
-
[6]Georgia Historical Society, finding aid for collection GHS 1659, 'Savannah Shipyard Co. records, 1940-1992' (organizational history of Savannah Machine & Foundry) [other_primary]
- Locator
- GHS 1659 finding aid, organizational history field
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- GHS finding aid documenting this hull's builder: Savannah Machine and Foundry originated 1914 as Forest City Machine and Foundry, reorganized as SMF in 1929; contracted with the Navy in 1941 for minesweepers built 'entirely of welded steel' on a new Savannah River yard off North Lathrop Avenue; by the end of the Navy contracts had constructed 25 minesweepers and 4 submarine rescue vessels with peak employment of 2,800-3,300; postwar participated in 'Operation Zipper' Navy-ship deactivation/preservation; renamed Savannah Machine and Shipyard 1971 and Savannah Shipyard Co. 1980. The collection (3 boxes) is an unretrieved archival lead for yard-level contract and possibly material records.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1940-1992 (collection dates)
- Population
- Savannah Machine & Foundry workforce (peak 2,800-3,300)
- Limitations
- Archival description only - collection contents were not inspected and may contain nothing relevant to AM-253 or to materials; finding aid makes no asbestos statement. 'Operation Zipper' deactivation work is noted because reserve-fleet preservation involved shipboard material handling, but no hull-level tie is established.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-06
-
[7]Wertheim, Eric (ed.), The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 15th ed. (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2007), p. 472 (Mexico section) - as transcribed in secondary compilations of AM-253's Mexican career [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Wertheim, Combat Fleets of the World 15th ed., p. 472; secondary transcription of Mexican career details
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Mexican Navy disposition per the standard English-language fleet reference: the former Intrigue was acquired October 1962 as ARM DM-19; renamed ARM Cadete Vicente Suárez (C61) in 1994 (namesake: Vicente Suárez, Heroic Cadet of Veracruz); later converted to a training ship with pennant A06; stricken 16 July 2001; ultimate fate not reported.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1962-2001
- Population
- Mexican Navy crew and trainees 1962-2001
- Limitations
- Not directly inspected - details carried from Wertheim 15th ed. p. 472 as cited in secondary compilations (Wikipedia/NavSource-derived); no SEMAR or Mexican official record was located to confirm the 1994 rename, A06 conversion, or 2001 striking independently. Treated as partial verification; a SEMAR archival query is the outstanding lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-intrigue-am253-07