Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, Kennebec II (AO-36), NHHC (verbatim text via Wayback Machine capture 2025-02-08; live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-24) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Kennebec II (AO-36)' full entry (specs block + service narrative)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS establishes identity and service: launched as Corsicana 19 April 1941 by Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Corp., Sparrows Point, Md.; sponsored by Mrs. E. Rolfe Brown; renamed Kennebec 9 January 1942; acquired from the Maritime Commission 13 January 1942; commissioned 4 February 1942 (Comdr. S. S. Reynolds). Atlantic/Mediterranean fuel runs including North African campaign support off French Morocco 7-14 Nov 1942; four Mediterranean cruises 1944; Pacific station-tanker duty for occupation forces (arrived Japan 9 Sep 1945); Naval Transport Service 1947-50; MSTS service 1951-54; T-AO-36 period 1956-57 (NATO exercise 'Strikeback'); recommissioned 16 Dec 1961 during Berlin crisis buildup; Hunter's Point overhaul Jun 1962-Jan 1963; 7th Fleet replenishment incl. South China Sea Aug 1964 and Subic Bay 1967. One battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1941-1970
- Population
- Crew (~214 per DANFS); shipyard workers at documented availabilities
- Limitations
- DANFS contains no asbestos information - it establishes identity, propulsion era, service, and documented yard periods only; any asbestos content is not addressed. DANFS narrative ends at 1967; final decommissioning/stricken dates sourced from NavSource and MARAD. Live NHHC page 404 on 2026-09-24 (same link-rot pattern noted in Batch-01).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-01
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[2]MARAD Vessel History Database, KENNEBEC (AO-36), official no. 240844; Reserve Fleet - Ship Particulars cards (Form MA-383) 2856_5306AF/AB/BF [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- MARAD vesselhistory detail 2856, 'Status Cards' 2856_5306AF (Suisun Bay card), 2856_5306BF (Beaumont card), 2856_5306AB (archive summary)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD records document the hull's custody chain: ex-Corsicana, MC hull 142, 'T2-A Turbine', built 1941 at Beth-Sparrows Point; entered Beaumont Reserve Fleet 23 Nov 1957 (USMA title, Navy-reimbursable); withdrawn 9 Aug 1961 'Navy - Perm. Transfer (Berlin Emergency)'; entered Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet 17 Aug 1970; sold for non-transportation use under PD-X-1048 on 4-6-82 to Levin Metals Corporation for $180,077.00 (card remark: 'Scrap Levin Metals 4/82'); withdrawn 14 May 1982.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1957-1982
- Population
- NDRF layup/custody crews (1957-61, 1970-82); shipbreaking workforce (1982)
- Limitations
- Documents custody and disposal only; the cards carry no asbestos or hazardous-material data. Scrapping location is not stated in the MARAD record (Levin Metals Corporation was a Richmond, CA scrap-ship firm; actual breaking yard unverified). The MARAD web milestone table shows only the 1957 entry; both NDRF layups are documented in the card images.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-02
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[3]USS Kennebec (AO-36) Association history page, 'Asbestos Related Cancer' section - item submitted May 2005 by Les Blake, identified as Kennebec Chief Engineer 4/67-6/70 [other_primary]
- Locator
- uss-kennebec.org/history.htm, 'Asbestos Related Cancer' section, Les Blake submission (May 2005)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Firsthand crew account stating that the ship's building specifications book called for asbestos 'to insulate from heat on all boilers, steam lines[,] generators, steam operated pumps, evaporators, and Ebony asbestos switchboards.' The author noted engineering-department personnel 'probably was exposed' and that asbestos use was reduced over time fleet-wide.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1941-1942 (original specifications); account published 2005
- Population
- Kennebec engineering department crew; electricians, shipfitters, auxiliary personnel (per the account)
- Limitations
- Unverified firsthand account published on an unofficial veterans' association website. The underlying building specifications book - the primary source - was not independently examined and its present location is unknown (Bethlehem contract specifications via NARA or association/crew custody are the leads). Whether installations matched the written spec, and in what quantities, is unverified. Because the claim is unverified, it is carried as an archival lead and cannot support 'documented aboard this hull' wording or elevate the evidence tier.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-03
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[4]Wildenberg, Thomas, Gray Steel and Black Oil: Fast Tankers and Replenishment at Sea in the U.S. Navy, 1912-1995 (Naval Institute Press, 1996), ch. 11 'The Second Group of National Defense Tankers,' section 'The Kennebec (AO-36) Class' (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- GSBO ch. 11, pp. 122-126 incl. Table 11 'Principal Dimensions of Kennebec (ex-Corsicana)'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Authoritative design history documents the class: six 'national defense tankers' ordered by Socony-Vacuum (first four contracted 1 Nov 1939, two more 10 Jan 1940) to a design by N. J. Pluymert derived from the company's Mobilfuel/Mobilube, uprated for the Navy's 16.5-knot requirement; Corsicana launched 19 Apr 1941, delivered 18 Aug 1941, taken over by the Navy after Pearl Harbor and commissioned 4 Feb 1942 as lead ship Kennebec (AO-36). Machinery: single screw driven by a Westinghouse cross-compound, double-reduction geared steam turbine rated 12,000 shp on steam at 375 psi/700 deg F, supplied by two Foster Wheeler 'P'-type marine boilers at 450 psi/725 deg F (52,500-58,000 lbs/hr each), with auxiliary De Laval cargo pumps and steam-driven stripping pumps. A steam plant of this rating and era was insulated under Navy/Maritime Commission practice - boilers, steam lines, turbine, pumps, valves, and associated gaskets/packing were the era-standard asbestos applications. All six class ships (Kennebec, Merrimack, Winooski, Kankakee, Lackawanna, Neosho) built at Bethlehem Sparrows Point.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1940-1942 (design/construction)
- Population
- Construction trades (Sparrows Point 1940-41); engineering crews; shipyard repair workers at later overhauls
- Limitations
- Design/class-level documentation - Wildenberg describes machinery and cargo systems but does not state asbestos content aboard this or any specific hull. Asbestos presence is era inference consistent with, but independent of, the unverified spec-book account (ev-03). Does not establish quantity, present-day material (hull scrapped 1982), or individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-04
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[5]DANFS Kennebec II (AO-36) service narrative + NavSource AO-36 archive (US Navy/NARA photo captions: refueled TG22.3 hunter-killer group 8 Jun 1944 during retirement of captured U-505; departs Norfolk Navy Yard 24 Jul 1944) - documented operational and yard events [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative (Jan 1945 Norfolk overhaul; Jul 1946 Bremerton; Jun 1962-Jan 1963 Hunter's Point); NavSource 0919036-series photo captions (Norfolk Navy Yard 24 Jul 1944); NavSource chronology (Mare Island NISMF 29 Jun 1970)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented operational and yard periods aboard this hull: on 8 June 1944 diverted to refuel the TG 22.3 hunter-killer group (USS Guadalcanal CVE-60) covering the retirement of captured U-505 (US Navy/NARA photo caption via NavSource); photographed departing Norfolk Navy Yard 24 July 1944 with armament/radar upgrades; overhaul at Norfolk January 1945; post-deployment overhaul at Bremerton, Wash. (Puget Sound) from 29 July 1946; 'extensive overhaul' at Hunter's Point (San Francisco Naval Shipyard) June 1962 through completion 5 January 1963; final decommissioning at Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Mare Island, 29 June 1970. NavSource's awards table attributes the single WWII battle star to North African Occupation (Algeria-Morocco landings, 8-11 Nov 1942) and documents seven Vietnam campaign-star periods plus the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. Repeated availabilities of this kind are the maintenance-disturbance pathway for era insulation materials.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1944-1970
- Population
- Yard workers at each availability; ship's force during yard periods
- Limitations
- The events are documented; the asbestos scope of each availability is not. These yards are asbestos-documented sites in the Atlas shipyard dataset (bethlehem-shipbuilding, norfolk-naval-shipyard, puget-sound-naval-shipyard, hunters-point-naval-shipyard, mare-island-naval-shipyard), but no hull-level exposure or work-package record was located. Does not establish individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-05
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[6]Selikoff IJ, Nicholson WJ, Lilis R. 'Radiological evidence of asbestos disease among ship repair workers.' Am J Ind Med. 1980;1(1):9-22. PMID 7342758 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed abstract, PMID 7342758
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed cohort study found 86% radiological evidence of asbestosis (plus five previously undiagnosed lung cancers) among 286 ship-repair workers 30+ years from employment onset - documenting the era's ship-repair exposure pathway relevant to this hull's repeated documented overhauls (Norfolk 1945, Bremerton 1946, Hunter's Point 1962-63) and its 1982 demolition.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1980 (study); career exposure era ca. 1940s-1970s
- Population
- Ship repair workers (cohort of 286)
- Limitations
- Cohort epidemiology, not a hull record - no vessel is named. The Atlas shipyard dataset attributes the study population to Bethlehem's Baltimore (Sparrows Point) yard workforce; the published abstract does not itself name the facility. Establishes the era occupational pathway only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-06
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[7]Batch-1882 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS; MARAD vessel history + status cards; NavSource; Wildenberg GSBO; shipscribe/a.visser MC registers; CourtListener opinion and docket searches (name, hull number, and merchant-name variants); NARA catalog; NVR [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-kennebec-ao36-01 through sl-uss-kennebec-ao36-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located beyond the unverified crew account (ev-03): no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed litigation naming USS Kennebec (AO-36) or SS Corsicana was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener searches returned only name collisions - Kennebec County/Valley, Maine entities and Bath Iron Works cases; Corsicana, Texas venue/attorney references; 'AO-36' docket-number matches.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the unverified spec-book account and the documented era design are consistent with asbestos use, and the hull was scrapped in 1982 so no present-day survey is possible. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kennebec-ao36-07