Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]DANFS, Kitty Hawk I (APV-1/AKV-1) - construction, acquisition, conversion, commissioning record (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake note, spec block, and first paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS identity and construction record: built 1932 by Sun Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., as SS Seatrain New York; acquired by the Navy 25 June 1941; renamed Kitty Hawk 8 July 1941; converted to an aircraft transport by Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co., Hoboken, N.J. (printed 'Tietjin & Land' in the DANFS transcription); commissioned 26 November 1941 at New York Navy Yard, Comdr. E. C. Rogers in command. DANFS spec block: displacement 14,000; length 478'; beam 63'6"; draft 22'10"; speed 17 knots; complement 245.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1932-1941
- Population
- Construction trades (Sun Shipbuilding, Chester, 1932); conversion-yard trades (Hoboken, 1941); commissioning crew
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, builder, and Navy conversion/commissioning dates; contains no materials or asbestos information. Yard name is an OCR-era garble in the transcription - Shipscribe's register reads 'Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co.'; neither source documents conversion materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-01
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[2]DANFS, Kitty Hawk I (APV-1/AKV-1) - service narrative (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, service paragraphs 2-6
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS operational record: departed New York 16 December 1941 via Panama with replacement aircraft for Pearl Harbor losses (arrived 8 February 1942, unloaded at Hickam Field); May 1942 emergency run to Midway with the 3d Marine Defense Battalion and aircraft of Marine Air Groups 21 and 45 (arrived 26 May, escorted by Gwyn and Sicard); 28 August 1942 moored alongside USS Long Island (CVE-1) at Port Vila, Efate, transferring 40 aircraft catapulted into combat on Guadalcanal; embarked Hornet air-group survivors at Noumea November 1942; seven voyages to Hawaii and seven to the Southwest Pacific 20 February 1943-25 June 1944; reclassified AKV-1 15 September 1943; arrived San Francisco for overhaul 5 August 1944; post-surrender cargo runs to the Marshalls, Marianas, and Philippines from Pearl Harbor; arrived Bayonne, N.J., 15 December 1945; decommissioned at New York 24 January 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Population
- Crew across 1941-1946 service; embarked troops and passengers in transport service
- Limitations
- Operational history only - no asbestos or materials data. The August 1944 San Francisco overhaul is documented as an event but the entry does not name the repair yard or describe its scope; any asbestos rip-out/re-insulation during conversion or overhaul is inference from era practice, not documented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-02
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[3]Shipscribe (S. S. Roberts), U.S. Navy auxiliary vessel register, APV-1 Kitty Hawk class page [other_primary]
- Locator
- APV-1 class page: characteristics block, construction/disposition tables, class notes, ship notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Shipscribe U.S. Navy auxiliary register (Stephen S. Roberts, compiled from official Navy registers): class KITTY HAWK (APV-1), design 'rail car carrier, 1932'; displacement 6,861 light / 14,000 max load tons; 478.0' oa x 63.5' x 22.8' max; De Laval turbine, 1 screw, 8,000 hp; complement 218 (1944); keel 21 February 1932, launched 14 September 1932, commissioned 26 November 1941; decommissioned 24 January 1946, struck 7 February 1946. Class notes: the two 1932 Seatrain ships carried 100 loaded freight cars on four track sets on the main and three lower decks at 16.5 knots; CNO acquisition directive of 15 January 1941 covered four aircraft transports; conversion removed structural stanchions on the two upper hold levels, substituted extra-heavy deck beams, and added two aircraft-handling cranes; converted by Tietjen & Lang Dry Dock Co., Hoboken, N.J.; returned to Seatrain Lines postwar and scrapped 1973 when the line shifted to container transport.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1932-1946; scrapping 1973
- Population
- Conversion-yard trades (Hoboken, 1941); crew
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation of official Navy register data - high reliability for dates/specs but not itself an instrument; contains no asbestos or insulation-material information; conversion alterations are described structurally, not in materials terms.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-03
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[4]Seatrain Lines, Inc. v. United States, 99 Ct. Cl. 272 (1943), No. 42607, opinion by Whaley, C.J. [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion findings, vessel design/construction and delivery passages (pp. 309-312 of the Ct. Cl. report)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Published Court of Claims opinion naming this hull under her merchant name. In a mail-contract validity suit the court found that Seatrain founder Graham Brush submitted vessel blueprints to the Secretary of the Navy in 1929; that the acting Secretary of the Navy replied 17 October 1929 that 'the peculiar construction of the vessel would be of particular value to the Navy, as regards ease of conversion, for use as an aircraft carrier' and 'well adapted to conversion to several types of auxiliary vessels'; that Seatrain altered its plans to Navy Department specifications; and that S.S. Seatrain New York and S.S. Seatrain Havana were built by Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. under Shipping Board and Navy Department supervision and delivered 29 September and 5 October 1932 respectively. Classification: other litigation - non-asbestos mail-contract compensation case; ship-specific as to identity and construction oversight.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1929-1943 (opinion); construction record 1931-1932
- Limitations
- Mail-contract compensation litigation, not an asbestos or exposure record; documents that the hull was designed and supervised to Navy auxiliary-conversion requirements and fixes the merchant delivery date (29 September 1932). Establishes no materials content; Navy-approved 1931-32 design does not itself document asbestos aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-04
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[5]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - SEATRAIN NEW YORK, Detail 10896, vessel status card scan 6JI_01.png [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- Status card image (card 6JI_01.png) - custody/allocation table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD vessel status card for O.N. 231905 SEATRAIN NEW YORK: steam cargo ship, D.W.T. 10,900, gross 8,061 / net 4,927 tons, built by Sun S.B. & D.D. Co. at Chester, Pa., completed September 1932. Custody chain recorded: basis to W.S.A. 25 June 1941 4:15 PM EST at New York from Seatrain Lines, Inc. (bareboat); allocated to Navy Dept. (renamed KITTY HAWK) delivered New York 25 June 1941; allocated to United Fruit Co. (general agency agreement) delivered Brooklyn, N.Y. 24 January 1946 2:00 PM EST; redelivered to Seatrain Lines, Inc. at Chester, Pa. 10 May 1946; sold to Hua Eng Copper & Iron Industrial Co., Ltd. for scrapping in Taiwan 13 March 1973. A second partially legible basis line reads '10-6-42 Noon EWT ... from Seatrain Lines Inc.' - character of that entry unresolved.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1973
- Limitations
- Authoritative custody record; resolves the DANFS compression ('returned to her owner the same day') - WSA allocated the hull to United Fruit Co. on decommission day and physically redelivered her to Seatrain Lines 10 May 1946. Handwritten card partially legible (the 10-6-42 second basis line); contains no asbestos, materials, or condition information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-05
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[6]Hirsch v. London Steamship Owners' Mutual Life Insurance Ass'n (In re Seatrain Lines, Inc.), 198 B.R. 45 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 1996) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion at 47-48 (background recitals of adversary complaint para. 10-11 and trustee memorandum)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Operator-level asbestos litigation context. In the Seatrain Lines Chapter 7 bankruptcy coverage litigation, the bankruptcy court recited the trustee's allegations that 'many of Seatrain's ships contained asbestos' and that 'thousands of Seatrain's sailors and shipbuilders were exposed'; approximately 110 personal-injury claims including asbestos exposure claims were pending against Seatrain at the 17 November 1992 petition date, and the trustee believed hundreds if not thousands of asbestos claimants held potential claims against the estate. RECAP docket index separately shows a February 2010 wave of asbestos personal-injury filings naming Seatrain Lines, Inc. (bar-date practice).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- claims pending 1992; opinion 1996
- Population
- Seatrain Lines sailors and shipbuilders (fleet-wide, dates not hull-specific)
- Limitations
- Fleet/operator-level recital of allegations - does not name this hull, does not adjudicate asbestos aboard any Seatrain vessel, and spans the company's later fleet including its 1970s Brooklyn Navy Yard shipbuilding operation (Seatrain Shipbuilding). An allegation-stage recital, classified down per batch discipline; establishes only that asbestos claims existed against the operator, not exposure aboard this ship.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-06
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[7]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
- Article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era-level asbestos context: peer-reviewed scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the period covering this hull's 1941 Navy conversion at Hoboken (stanchion removal, deck-beam substitution, aircraft-crane installation) and her documented wartime availabilities including the August 1944 San Francisco overhaul. As a 1932-built steam merchant ship with a geared turbine plant, her original insulation, lagging, gaskets, and packing reflect era-typical marine practice for steam tonnage.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1945 documented; 1932 construction inferred
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context); 1932 merchant construction trades
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarship; does not name this vessel and does not establish asbestos aboard, quantity, condition, individual exposure, or causation. The cited period covers the 1941-1945 naval work; the 1932 merchant construction inference rests on era practice without a located period source naming this hull's materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-07
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[8]Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs v. Sun Ship, Inc. (Ehrentraut), 150 F.3d 288 (3d Cir. 1998) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, Part I Background (employment 1938-1981; asbestosis and malignancy findings)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Builder-yard asbestos context: published Third Circuit opinion documents that Raymound Ehrentraut worked for Sun Ship, Inc. from 1938 to 1981 and was diagnosed with asbestosis resulting from years of work-related asbestos exposure at Sun Ship, plus a work-related pulmonary malignancy; the opinion addresses LHWCA section 8(f) special-fund liability allocation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1938-1990 (employment/claims); opinion 1998
- Population
- Sun Shipbuilding workers (1938-1981 period litigated)
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation, not hull-level: documents asbestos exposure conditions at the builder yard beginning 1938 - six years after this hull was completed there in 1932. Establishes nothing about materials aboard this vessel; included to characterize the builder-yard environment only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-08
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[9]Batch-1132 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS via HyperWar; NavSource AKV-1 archive page; Shipscribe APV-1 register; MARAD ShipHistory Detail 10896 + status card; CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket searches (see search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-01 through sl-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming this hull (as APV-1, AKV-1, Kitty Hawk, or Seatrain New York) was found in the public sources searched. All 'Kitty Hawk' asbestos opinions located name CV-63 or are place-name collisions; the only court records naming this hull are a 1943 mail-contract opinion (construction oversight) and fleet-level Seatrain bankruptcy coverage litigation (does not name the vessel).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1932 steam merchant hull converted for naval service in 1941 is era-consistent with asbestos insulation. The hull was scrapped in Taiwan in 1973, so no present-day ACM question exists; no deck-log, conversion-work-package, or survey file was retrieved (see archival leads). Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-kitty-hawk-akv1-09