Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]DANFS, 'Kirwin (DE-229)' entry, Naval History and Heritage Command (online entry published 2016-04-14; live URL serves 404 to automated fetches - verbatim NHHC text via Internet Archive Wayback capture 20251209102145; cross-verified against the DANFS 1968 print Vol. III pp. 657-658, archive.org scan identifier dictionaryofamer03wash) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Kirwin (DE-229)' entry body + spec block (Wayback 20251209102145); print original Vol. III pp. 657-658
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC records for this hull: namesake Lt. John Joseph Kirwin (born 4 July 1918, Newport, R.I.), Navy Cross posthumous for heroism aboard USS Savannah (CL-42) in the 11 September 1943 Salerno Bay air attack. Spec block (APD-90): 1,650 t; 306'; b. 36'10"; dr. 9'8"; 24 k.; cpl. 186; a. 12 20mm; cl. Rudderow. 'Kirwin (DE-229) was launched 15 June 1944, by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia; sponsored by Mrs. Andrew J. Kirwin, mother of Lt. Kirwin; reclassified APD-90, on 7 July 1944; and commissioned 4 November 1945, Lt. Comdr. Lloyd G. Benson, USNR, in command.' Shakedown Chesapeake Bay; cleared Norfolk 29 January 1946; Green Cove Springs, Fla., 2 days later; decommissioned there 6 April 1946, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned 15 January 1965; February 1965 overhaul at Newport News; Guantanamo Bay 6 July 1965 (5 weeks atomic-defense, ASW, gunnery); San Juan; Little Creek 22 August; Task Force 184 Caribbean 29 November-16 December 1965; 1966 Little Creek ops, Atlantic coast/Caribbean, Mediterranean deployment 15 August-3 December (Rota, Italy, Malta, Greece, Tunisia, Spain, Morocco); 'She operated along the West Coast in 1967 preparing for future assignments.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1967
- Population
- Philadelphia Navy Yard construction/conversion trades (1944); crew 1945-46 and 1965-68 (DANFS complement 186)
- Limitations
- Primary Navy historical entry - authoritative for identity, service history, and the 1945-1967 narrative. Contains no asbestos or materials information; supports no asbestos claim. The 1968 print predates final decommissioning, LPR-90 redesignation, striking, and disposal - those events come from later sources (ev-02). Two print anomalies flagged in gaps: reclassification reads '7 July 1944' (class-wide record reads 17 July 1944) and 'West Coast in 1967' (an Atlantic Fleet hull homeported at Little Creek). Live NHHC page 404s to automated fetches (standing link rot, cf. BATCH-01); Wayback capture is verbatim NHHC text.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-01
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[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive - USS Kirwin (LPR-90) ex (APD-90), file 10/04/04090 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 04090.htm - chronology block, commanding-officer table, photo captions (NH 86081, NH 97284)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology for this hull: laid down 14 February 1944 as Kirwin (DE-229), Rudderow-class destroyer escort, Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched 15 June 1944 (dual launching with Ruchamkin DE-228; NHHC photo NH 86081); reclassified Crosley-class high-speed transport 17 July 1944; commissioned USS Kirwin (APD-90) 4 November 1945 (LCDR Lloyd G. Benson, USNR); decommissioned 6 April 1946; Atlantic Reserve Fleet; recommissioned 15 January 1965; decommissioned 16 December 1968 at Orange, TX; redesignated Amphibious Transport, Small (LPR-90) 1 January 1969 in reserve; struck from the Naval Register 15 September 1974; final disposition sold 11 August 1975 for scrapping to J. R. Steel Inc., Houston, TX, for $79,002. Commanding-officer table (Benson 1945-11-04 to 1946-01-01; Tucker to 1946-02-16; Murray to Mar 1946; Eschen to decommissioning 1946-04-06; Cotten 1965-01-15 to 1966-07-22; Cross to 1968). USN photo NH 97284 documents Kirwin in the Caribbean Ready Group ('Carib 1-68 Patrol'), January 1968. uboat.net Allied Warships (ship/10007) corroborates the chronology ('decommissioned in late 1968'; stricken 15 Sep 1974; sold 11 Aug 1975).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1975
- Population
- Crew 1945-46 and 1965-68; reserve-fleet caretakers Green Cove Springs / Orange, TX; J. R. Steel breaking-yard workforce 1975-76
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary compilation - detailed and consistent with NHHC where they overlap, but non-official; adds post-1967 events absent from DANFS. Conflicts carried in gaps: reclassification (17 July vs DANFS print 7 July 1944); final decommissioning day (16 Dec vs NavalCoverMuseum 20 Dec 1968); sale date (11 Aug 1975 vs Bauer & Roberts '1 July 1975'). NavSource photo caption misspells 'APD-190' once. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-02
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[3]NavSource Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Rudderow (DE-224) class spec block + HyperWar 'US Navy Destroyer Escorts, 1940-45' Rudderow-class data (ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/ships-de.html) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-224 class spec block; https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/ships-de.html Rudderow-class table
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull was built to the Rudderow-class TEV plant - per NavSource class spec '2 CE boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws, 24 kts'; HyperWar's DE reference block carries the same class figures (turbo-electric drive, 12,000 h.p., 24 knots). A steam turbo-electric plant of this type - boilers, superheated steam mains, turbine-generators, and associated gaskets, packing, lagging, and accommodation insulation - is the configuration for which WWII-era naval construction commonly used asbestos-containing materials. The mid-build APD conversion at Philadelphia Navy Yard added troop-accommodation and boats davits scope to the same hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1968
- Population
- Philadelphia Navy Yard construction and conversion trades (1944); engine-room and deck-force crews of both commissions
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull record. No material specification, survey, or manifest naming DE-229/APD-90 was located. Boiler-maker attribution conflicts across sources (NavSource Rudderow-class spec reads CE; secondary APD-class listings name Babcock & Wilcox DR boilers) - flagged in gaps. Establishes no asbestos content, quantity, location, exposure, or causation for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-03
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[4]USS Earle B. Hall (APD-107) association site history page (Wayback capture 20160304040941) - 1964-65 reactivation detail; corroborated at timeline level by NavSource 04090 and DANFS (ev-01, ev-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS narrative (ev-01); earlebhall.com history page (Wayback 20160304040941); NavSource 04090 chronology
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented disturbance events for this hull: (a) built and converted DE-to-APD mid-construction at Philadelphia Navy Yard, 1944 - an Atlas-documented asbestos yard (shipyards.json 'philadelphia-naval-shipyard', tier 3: Merwitz shipfitter verdict, product IDs in Taylor/Junge/Gross appellate opinions, OSHA 1989 inspection); (b) ~19 years in Atlantic Reserve Fleet lay-up (1946-1964); (c) November 1964 - January 1965 reactivation at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek pier 17 performed by USS Earle B. Hall's crew on the mothballed hull; (d) February 1965 overhaul at Newport News (DANFS names the location only; the overhaul facility there is Newport News Shipbuilding - Atlas-documented yard); (e) December 1968 inactivation at Orange, TX; (f) 1975 sale and breaking at J. R. Steel Inc., Houston.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1975
- Population
- Philadelphia Navy Yard trades 1944; Earle B. Hall crew performing reactivation 1964-65; Newport News yard trades Feb 1965; Orange TX inactivation crews Dec 1968; J. R. Steel breakers 1975-76
- Limitations
- The events are ship-specific and documented; any asbestos scope within them is inference, not record - no work-package, abatement contract, or material disclosure for any of these events was located. 'Newport News' is the only site named in DANFS for the February 1965 overhaul; attribution of the work specifically to Newport News Shipbuilding is near-certain but technically unverified. Earle B. Hall crew-labor detail rests on the veterans'-association site (secondary).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-04
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[5]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., and Drinker, P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed record PMID 21016030; article pp. 9-16 (pipe covering material section)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- The U.S. Maritime Commission-commissioned industrial-hygiene survey of WWII pipe-covering operations at two Navy yards and two Navy contract yards documented that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard material in wartime naval-vessel construction of exactly this hull's era and type.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- survey ~1944-45; published 1946
- Population
- WWII pipe coverers and insulators at Navy and contract yards (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level documentation of asbestos use in naval construction generally; does not name this vessel, class, or builder yard (whether Philadelphia Navy Yard was among the surveyed yards is unverified) and establishes nothing about this hull's materials, condition, or any individual exposure. (The study's exculpatory 'not a dangerous occupation' conclusion has since been heavily criticized - see the 2026 critique at DOI 10.1177/10482911261446696.)
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-05
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[6]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the era and program under which this Rudderow-class hull was built and converted at a Navy yard - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization in shipbuilding.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel or class and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-06
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[7]CourtListener API v4 sweeps (authenticated, fleet-paced via cl-auth-search.py): '"USS Kirwin"' type=o - count 0; '"USS Kirwin" OR "Kirwin (APD-90)" OR "Kirwin (DE-229)"' type=r - count 0, document_count 0; '"Kirwin" asbestos' type=o - count 2, both name collisions (Stine v. United States, 92 Fed. Cl. 776 (2010), Navy discharge/BCNR case; In re Yawger, 61 N.Y.S. 1152 (N.Y. App. Div. 1899), predating the hull); '"APD-90" asbestos' type=o - count 0 [court_record]
- Locator
- cl-auth-search.py results, 2026-09-28 (type=o '"USS Kirwin"' count 0; type=r combined name/hull query count 0; type=o '"Kirwin" asbestos' count 2, non-qualifying; type=o '"APD-90" asbestos' count 0)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener returns no opinion and no docket naming USS Kirwin / APD-90 / DE-229: exact-phrase opinion search '"USS Kirwin"' = 0 results (clean HTTP 200); combined docket/RECAP search '"USS Kirwin" OR "Kirwin (APD-90)" OR "Kirwin (DE-229)"' = 0 dockets, 0 documents; '"Kirwin" asbestos' opinion search = 2 hits, both name collisions - Stine v. United States, 92 Fed. Cl. 776 (2010), a Navy wrongful-discharge/records-correction case, and In re Yawger, 61 N.Y.S. 1152 (N.Y. App. Div. 1899), decided decades before this hull existed; neither is asbestos litigation naming the ship; '"APD-90" asbestos' opinion search = 0 results. Indexed-web litigation checking surfaced only further name collisions - Paul M. Kirwin v. Price Communications Corp., 391 F.3d 1323 (11th Cir. 2004), a securities/merger case with a plaintiff surnamed Kirwin, and the VA citation trail of Kirwin v. Brown, 8 Vet. App. 148 (1995) - and law-firm marketing ship lists that name the hull without primary support (simmonsfirm.com, sokolovelaw.com, freeasbestostesting.com), an excluded source class.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (index state)
- Limitations
- Coverage is search-index level, not a PACER-level docket inspection: a pleading could name the hull inside a document that index text does not expose. Fleet-paced quota limited the sweep to the queries that completed cleanly; bare hull-string sweeps ('DE-229'/'LPR-90'/'aboard Kirwin' tokens - low-yield, matching docket text) were deferred when the shared budget window closed (see search_ledger). Absence of a located case does not prove no claim was ever filed or settled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-07
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[8]Batch-4148 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS via Wayback + 1968 GPO print scan; NavSource 04090; uboat.net ship/10007; NavalCoverMuseum; NARA Ship Plan Index (NAIDs 153714029, 175669579); MARAD ShipHistory; CourtListener API (paced sweeps); indexed-web litigation checks; VA BVA index [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-kirwin-de229-01 through sl-uss-kirwin-de229-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum document (the hull was scrapped - no preservation phase exists), court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Kirwin / DE-229 / APD-90 / LPR-90 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Law-firm marketing pages asserting era-typical asbestos content for this hull were excluded per the no-law-firm-sources rule and logged in the batch report.
- 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 1944 steam turbo-electric escort/transport built and converted at a documented asbestos-era Navy yard is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials, and the reactivation, overhaul, inactivation, and breaking are undocumented disturbance phases. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-08
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[9]NARA Ship Plan Index entries for KIRWIN (APD-90): RG 19 'Hull series of Ship Engineering Drawings' file unit NAID 153714029; RG 19 'Microfilm' series file NAID 175669579; deck-log series 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations' NAID 594258 (1941-1992) [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://www.archives.gov/research/cartographic/ship-index (KIRWIN APD-90 rows); https://catalog.archives.gov/id/594258 (logbook series)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - requires research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): RG 19 hull-series engineering drawings and microfilm for KIRWIN (APD-90) per the NARA Ship Plan Index - the BuShips drawing set would carry the DE-229 construction and APD-90 conversion arrangement and any insulation schedules; Booklet of General Plans analog (the class-level APD-117/-118/-119 booklet is publicly mirrored on archive.org, archive.org/details/apdcrosleybogp1945); Navy deck logs for 1945-46 and 1965-68 (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, NAID 594258 - digitization status for this hull unverified); BuShips APD conversion correspondence (RG 19); Navy disposal file for the 1975 J. R. Steel sale - the most promising disposal-era hazmat lead.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1975 records
- Limitations
- Record-group/NAID mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kirwin-de229-09