Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet jf-packet.md (5 sources cited) [museum_official]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-la-vallette-dd315-pkt-jf-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, La Vallette I (DD-315) - specifications block and service narrative (hazegray DANFS mirror via Wayback capture 2024-05-25; live NHHC page not located) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'La Vallette I', specifications block + full narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: (DD-315: dp. 1,190; l. 314'5"; b. 31'8"; dr. 9'3"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 95; a. 4 4", 12 21" tt.; cl. Clemson). Laid down 14 April 1919 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., San Francisco, Calif.; launched 15 July 1919; sponsored by Miss Nancy Lane, daughter of the Secretary of the Interior; commissioned 24 December 1920, Lt. Comdr. A. D. Denney in command. Homeported at San Diego throughout her service; annual Pacific Fleet battle practice in Hawaiian or Panamanian waters; transited the Panama Canal for Caribbean maneuvers in 1924 and 1927, participating in a presidential review by Calvin Coolidge 4 June 1927; antiaircraft training as early as 1922; plane guard for Lexington (CV-2) during her final months of service; decommissioned at San Diego 19 April 1930; on 10 June 1931 scrapped in accordance with the London Treaty.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Union Iron Works (Bethlehem, Potrero Works) construction trades 1919-20; peacetime crew 1920-30 (DANFS complement 95)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. DANFS is silent on the stricken date (22 July 1930 per NavSource) and does not name the scrapping purchaser. Live NHHC DANFS URL not located (tested URLs returned 404); verbatim hazegray mirror text cited via Wayback capture.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-01
-
[3]NHHC Online Library of Selected Images, photo NH 107437: 'USS La Vallette (DD-315) Underway during the Presidential Naval Review, 4 June 1927' (Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC collections) [museum_official]
- Locator
- NHHC Online Library picture-data page, photo NH 107437
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy photograph in NHHC collections shows this hull underway during the Presidential Naval Review of 4 June 1927 (USS Melvin DD-335 partially visible in background) - independent NHHC corroboration of the DANFS narrative and hull identity.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1927
- Limitations
- Photographic record only; documents presence at the 4 June 1927 review, nothing about materials or asbestos. Mirror hosted on ibiblio HyperWar archive of the NHHC Online Library.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-02
-
[4]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-315 building-data card and photo captions (incl. NARA photo 19-LC-38-L-3 and Mare Island dry-dock photo captions citing shipyard records) - Wayback capture 2024-05-25 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-315 page, 'Operational and Building Data' block; photo captions for 19-LC-38-L-3, Mare Island dry dock #2 (Aug 1922), NH 69509, NH 71034, NH 74645
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilation of official data for this hull: stricken 22 July 1930 (date absent from DANFS); sold and broken up for scrap in 1931; machinery 26,500 SHP, geared turbines, 2 screws; crew 114. Photo captions document the hull fitting out at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Union Plant, Potrero Works, San Francisco on 1 April 1920 (NARA photo 19-LC-38-L-3), and in dry dock #2 at Mare Island Navy Yard 13-25 August 1922 with five squadron mates 'per the shipyard's records'; at Target Bay, Culebra, February 1924; and at the 4 June 1927 Presidential Naval Review.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Construction trades at Potrero Works (1920 fitting-out photo); Mare Island Navy Yard workforce during August 1922 drydocking; crew 1920-30
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer photographic archive compiling official Navy data, not itself a primary federal record - used here for the stricken date and yard-event documentation that DANFS omits. Crew figure (114) conflicts with DANFS complement (95); conflict carried in gaps. Mare Island drydock caption paraphrases shipyard records rather than reproducing them.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-03
-
[5]UPI obituary of Adm. Hyman G. Rickover (8 July 1986) + NavSource-hosted biographical detail (orders to USS La Vallette 5 September 1922; engineer officer 21 June 1923, youngest in the squadron) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- UPI Archives obituary (service-history paragraph); NavSource DD-315 page contributor note and hosted biography PDF
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- This hull was the first duty station of Ensign Hyman G. Rickover, later 'Father of the Nuclear Navy': commissioned ensign 2 June 1922, he reported aboard La Vallette 5 September 1922 and served aboard (then USS Nevada) for the following five years. During 1922-1927 the only commissioned USS La Vallette was DD-315 (DD-448 was not built until 1941-42), so the hull attribution is unambiguous.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1922-1927
- Population
- Crew 1922-27 (including Ens. Rickover)
- Limitations
- Biographical/historical interest only - no bearing on asbestos content. UPI obituary states the vessel name without hull number; the 1922-27 service window uniquely resolves to DD-315.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-04
-
[6]DANFS specifications block (Clemson class; 4 water-tube boilers and geared turbines per class design; 35 k.) + Atlas shipyard dataset, bethlehem-shipbuilding record (yard-level asbestos product documentation; aliases include Union Iron Works) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS DD-315 specifications block; shipyards.json record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' (asbestos_products_documented list)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Clemson-class flush-deck destroyer built 1919-20 with a four water-tube boiler geared-turbine plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation and lagging on boilers, steam drums, and steam lines, plus gaskets, packing, and fireproofing - standard U.S. Navy destroyer construction practice of the era. Builder Union Iron Works (Bethlehem's San Francisco/Potrero Works) resolves to Atlas yard 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' (evidence tier 3), which documents Bethlehem-yard asbestos products including block insulation, pipe covering, lagging, gaskets, and packing; NARA RG 19 General Information Books are the archival lead for hull-level material specifications.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Union Iron Works construction trades 1919-20; crew 1920-30; Mare Island drydock workers Aug 1922
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific asbestos finding exists for this hull. The bethlehem-shipbuilding yard record's evidence rows center on Sparrows Point, Baltimore, and Quincy operations; none is specific to the San Francisco Union Iron Works/Potrero yard, so even yard-level documentation is one step removed from this hull's construction site. NARA GIB retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-05
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[7]CourtListener API v4 sweep: "USS La Vallette" (opinions, 0 hits); "La Vallette" asbestos (opinions, 0 hits); "La Vallette" (opinions, 7 hits; dockets, 4 hits) - all name collisions [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4 search, type=o and type=r, queries logged in search_ledger sl-04 through sl-07
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located in CourtListener. Exact-phrase "USS La Vallette" returned zero opinions; "La Vallette" + asbestos returned zero opinions. The broad "La Vallette" opinion set (7 hits) comprises surname cases (Albert T. La Vallette v. United States, Ct. Cl. 1924; La Vallette v. Booth, N.C. 1902; Jones v. La Vallette, U.S. 1866/1867) and opinions citing them (United States v. Emholt 1882; 443 Cans of Frozen Egg Product 1912; Dower v. Richards 1894) - none names a vessel. The docket set (4 hits) is a bankruptcy surname match (De La Vallette, Bankr. N.D. Cal. 2004) and three text-mention collisions (Hoopes Vineyard v. Napa; Harness v. Hosemann; USCCB v. EEOC). No hit names USS La Vallette DD-315 or DD-448; no asbestos docket or opinion naming either hull was found.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27 (index sweep)
- Limitations
- Absence of located litigation does not prove no claim was ever filed - many asbestos cases settle without published opinions, and state-court filings are under-indexed. Hull scrapped in 1931, roughly four decades before the asbestos-litigation era began (post-Borel, 1973), which structurally reduces but does not eliminate the chance of litigation naming this hull. Any future 'La Vallette' litigation hit requires hull-number disambiguation against DD-448 (in service 1942-1974, the far likelier subject).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-06
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[8]Batch-3302 search ledger (this record): DANFS/hazegray via Wayback; NHHC Online Library photo catalog; NavSource photo index; CourtListener opinion and docket sweeps; NPS/HAER applicability review; law-firm/marketing pages reviewed and excluded [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-la-vallette-dd315-01 through sl-uss-la-vallette-dd315-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, hull material specification, or docketed case naming DD-315 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was scrapped in 1931; no museum hull, NRHP listing, NHL designation, or HAER survey exists or can exist for this vessel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - class/era inference (ev-05) supports period-standard insulation materials, but no source inspected names asbestos aboard this specific hull. NARA RG 19 General Information Books and builder's specifications remain the unfetched archival leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-la-vallette-dd315-07