Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships, NAVSHIPS 1851, 'Yachts Acquired Since September 1939 from Private Owners' (24 July 1946) - IX-176 row (scanned official document, OCR + visual verification of the scan) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAVSHIPS 1851, IX-section page (PDF p. 12), IX-176 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips register of small-craft acquisitions records the vessel under her final designation: 'IX 176 KINGBIRD - Gov. Saltonstall - Purchase - 12/26/40 - Thomas J. Benham - Quincy, Massachusetts.' Establishes the Navy acquired this hull by purchase (not charter) from former owner Thomas J. Benham of Quincy, Mass., on 26 December 1940 - agreeing with the DANFS acquisition date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1940 (record compiled 1946)
- Limitations
- Acquisition record only - establishes method, date, and seller but says nothing about conversion scope, materials installed or removed, or any asbestos content. The table is ordered by final designation, so the vessel appears as IX-176 rather than AMc-56. The rightmost columnar text ('Quincy, Massachusetts') associates Benham with Quincy but the scan does not cleanly separate owner-address from place-of-acquisition columns for this row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-01
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[2]DANFS, Kingbird I (AMC-56) - verbatim transcription via hazegray.org mirror, Wayback capture 2024-06-18 (live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 on 2026-09-23) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Kingbird entry, full text (2 paragraphs + spec line)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents: the first Kingbird (AMC-56), ex-Governor Saltonstall, built in 1939 by the Quincy Drydock & Yacht Co., Quincy, Mass.; acquired by the Navy 26 December 1940; placed in service as a coastal minesweeper in the 1st Naval District 24 July 1941; following assignment to Portsmouth, N.H., in January 1942, operated in the 1st Naval District as a coastal minesweeper for over 2 years; reclassified IX-176 10 July 1944 and placed out of service 28 July 1944 for use in training sound operators for new submarines; transferred to the WSA 7 June 1946 for disposal. Spec line: '(AMC-56: dp. 206; l. 96'; b. 21.69; dr. 7'; s. 9 k.; a. 2 .30 cal. mg.; T. Wooden Dragger)'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1939-1946
- Population
- Crew (complement not stated); sound-operator trainees and training staff, 1944-46; any conversion/maintenance yard workforce (undocumented)
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy ship-history entry; contains no asbestos, materials, or industrial-hygiene information whatsoever. The transcribed beam figure '21.69' is an OCR artifact in the mirror (Ships' Data 1945 gives extreme beam 20'8", matching NavSource). 'Placed in service' is DANFS's wording - NavSource records the same date as a commissioning. The sound-operator training station is not named.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-02
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[3]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1945' Vol. III (NAVSHIPS 250-011) - Miscellaneous-Unclassified (IX) characteristics tables, item 76 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ships' Data 1945 Vol. III, pp. 464-469, IX table item 76 (PDF pp. ~464-469)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official 1945 characteristics entry for IX-176 (item 76, p. 464-469): 'KINGBIRD (ex-AMC 56, ex-Gov. Saltonstall)' with footnote 2 'Wood hull'; type 'Sound barge, training ship'; length overall 96'7", length on waterline 79'3" (registered dimensions), extreme beam 20'8"; propulsion 1 propeller, Superior diesel, 250 shp, boiler columns blank (no steam plant); ship's service generator 1 diesel-drive, 120 D.C.; armament cell carries footnote (1) for 20-mm AA guns or smaller; builder 'Quincy D. D. & Yacht Co., Quincy, Mass.', date acquired 26 Dec 40, year built 1940, date of first commission 24 Jul 41. Displacement, limiting draft, and accommodations columns are blank for this entry.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Training-ship users (sound-operator trainees), 1944-46
- Limitations
- Authoritative characteristics record compiled while the hull was still on the Navy List; contains no asbestos or materials information - the blank boiler columns establish absence of a steam plant as documented configuration, not absence of asbestos. Year-built 1940 conflicts with DANFS's 1939 (carried unresolved). The 79'3" waterline figure is the table's registry-style measurement, distinct from the 96'7" overall length.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-03
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[4]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1945' Vol. II (NAVSHIPS 250-011) - list of naval vessels (minesweeper index) and ship index [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ships' Data 1945 Vol. II, minesweeper list and alphabetical ship index, Kingbird/Gov. Saltonstall entries
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official 1945 index carries the vessel under both identities: the coastal-minesweeper (AMc) index column lists 'AM056 KINGBIRD (now IX176)' with no '(returned)'/'(sunk)' disposition marker, and the alphabetical ship index carries 'Gov. Saltonstall (now Kingbird) IX176 - Miscellaneous-Unclassified (ex-AMc56)' and 'Kingbird (ex-Gov. Saltonstall, ex-AMc56) IX176 - Miscellaneous-Unclassified' with a Vol. III pointer - the index note states 'x' marks vessels whose data is in Vol. III, corroborating the hull was still carried on the Navy List at compilation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Index entries only - they establish designation trail (AMc-56 -> IX-176) and continued Navy List carriage in 1945, but no characteristics, materials, or asbestos information. Whether the entry is italicized (the volume's sunk/disposed/transferred marker) cannot be determined from text-layer extraction.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-04
-
[5]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Kingbird (IX 176) ex-AMc-56 page (secondary compilation citing NHHC photo NH 81375 and researcher credits) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource Kingbird (IX 176) ex-AMc-56 page, spec block and photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource compiles: built 1939 as Governor Saltonstall by the James Shipyard, Essex, MA (noting DANFS lists Quincy Drydock and Yacht Co., Quincy, MA); acquired 26 December 1940; placed in service 24 July 1941; reclassified IX-176 10 July 1944 'for use as a sound barge training ship'; placed out of service 28 July 1944; transferred to WSA for disposal 7 June 1946; 'Fate unknown.' Specs: 206 t., 96'7", 20'8", 7' draft, 9 kts, two .30 cal. machine guns, one 250shp Superior diesel, one shaft; call sign Nan-Baker-Charlie-Sugar; photo NH 81375 (c. 1941, courtesy D.M. McPherson 1974) and an under-construction view credited to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1939-1946
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation, not a primary source - used here for the photo identifiers, call sign, and the explicit builder-attribution discrepancy (James Shipyard, Essex vs. the Quincy yard named by DANFS and Ships' Data 1945). Its James Shipyard claim conflicts with two official sources and is carried as unresolved, not adopted. No asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-05
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[6]GAO, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (18 October 1979) - era documentation of asbestos use in naval vessel insulation, gasketing, packing, and deck materials [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- GAO-era documentation establishes that asbestos was standard in Navy ship construction and overhaul materials of the period (thermal insulation, gaskets, packing, deck tile). For a wooden-hulled diesel dragger conversion with no steam plant, the plausible subset on this hull type is confined to machinery-exhaust lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck materials - a materially smaller asbestos profile than steam-powered combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1939-1946
- Population
- Wartime crew (complement unknown); undocumented conversion/maintenance workforce; sound-operator trainees 1944-46
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only - the GAO report does not name this hull, the AMc/IX types, or small diesel conversions, and its fieldwork concerned naval shipyards, not district-craft conversions. No application aboard this hull is established; equally, absence of the steam-plant pathway is a structural inference from the documented diesel propulsion, not a certification that no asbestos was present. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description, same limitation as Batches 01 and 1563.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-06
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[7]Batch-1592 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS; NAVSHIPS 1851; Ships' Data 1945 Vols. II-III; NavSource; HyperWar ship indexes; CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket indexes; MARAD vesselhistory; open-web legal index [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-kingbird-amc56-01 through sl-uss-kingbird-amc56-10 (incl. 06b RECAP docket sweep)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum record, or docketed case naming USS Kingbird (AMc-56/IX-176) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero hits for 'USS Kingbird' and 'Kingbird' asbestos; all broad-name and hull-number hits were name collisions. The vessel left federal custody in 1946, before the Navy's asbestos-control era and before the exposure-litigation era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 2026-09-23
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record is not proof asbestos was absent aboard - era materials on small diesel craft are plausible but undocumented. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. 'Kingbird' is a common bird name; any litigation hits would require vessel-context disambiguation, and post-1954 records must be distinguished from USS Kingbird (MSC-194), a different hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-07
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[8]NARA photo NH 81375 (c. 1941 view, identified via NavSource, courtesy D.M. McPherson 1974); NARA RG-19 (BuShips) acquisition/alteration files and RG-181 (1st Naval District) records; the WSA/Maritime Commission disposal case file for the 7 June 1946 transfer [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AMc-56/IX-176 photo captions (NH 81375); NARA RG-19/RG-181 series (not digitized); shipbuildinghistory/navalmarinearchive Quincy Dry Dock yard table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Identified archival leads not yet digitized: NHHC photo NH 81375 (a c. 1941 view of the vessel) and an under-construction photograph held by the Essex Shipbuilding Museum; BuShips/1st Naval District records of the 1940-41 acquisition and any conversion work; and the WSA/MC disposal case file - the most promising lead for closing the post-1946 fate, which a shipbuilding-history compilation records only as 'to MARAD 1946.'
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1940-1946
- Limitations
- Leads only - none of these files was examined; catalog.archives.gov record pages render as a JS application and could not be machine-read in session, and the MARAD vesselhistory search endpoint is admin-gated to automated fetch. The 'to MARAD 1946' datum is a secondary compilation, not a primary record. No asbestos content is expected or implied by these leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kingbird-amc56-08