Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, 'Lake Champlain II (CV-39)' - NHHC ship histories (migrated entry) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS migrated HTML entry, spec block and 1943-1957 narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS entry documents construction and career: the second Lake Champlain (CV-39) was laid down in drydock by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., 15 March 1943; launched by float 2 November 1944; sponsored 3 June 1945 by Mrs. Warren Austin and commissioned the same day, Capt. Logan C. Ramsey in command. Spec block: dp. 27,100; l. 888'; b. 147'6"; s. 33 k.; cpl. 3,448; a. 12 5-inch, 72 40mm; cl. Essex. Postwar Magic Carpet repatriation (including a trans-Atlantic speed record per Navy.mil), then 'Mothball Fleet' reserve at Norfolk 17 February 1947. Reactivated and modernized for Korea, recommissioned 19 September 1952; reclassified attack carrier CVA-39 1 October 1952. Served as flagship of Carrier Task Force 77 off Korea June-October 1953, then world cruise home via Singapore, Columbo, Port Said, Cannes, and Lisbon to Mayport 4 December 1953. Mediterranean/NATO cruises followed; Lebanon crisis response April-July 1957; converted to ASW carrier CVS-39 1 August 1957.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1943-1957
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy history for milestones; contains no asbestos or insulation-material content. Spec block lists class as 'Essex' - she was a long-hull (Ticonderoga-group) Essex variant.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-01
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[2]DANFS, 'Lake Champlain II (CV-39)' (migrated entry); Navy.mil NNSY feature 'Great Lake: The Fascinating History of NNSY's World War II Aircraft Carrier USS Lake Champlain' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS final paragraphs (1961-66); Navy.mil NNSY history feature paragraphs on CVS conversion, Freedom 7 recovery, and FY66 modernization decision
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Later career per DANFS and Navy.mil: primary recovery ship for Alan Shepard and Freedom 7 (5 May 1961) - first American manned spaceflight; quarantine duty during the Cuban Missile Crisis (October-November 1962); 'the last major duty of her career occurred on 5 August' [1965] 'when she served as the primary recovery ship for Gemini 5' per DANFS. An official Navy.mil Norfolk Naval Shipyard history feature records that the Navy recommended Lake Champlain for modernization in the FY1966 budget and Secretary of Defense McNamara demurred over limited ASW-carrier capability; she sailed to Philadelphia for inactivation and decommissioned 2 May 1966 - the last axial-deck (straight-deck) carrier in U.S. Navy service per the Navy feature.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1957-1966
- Limitations
- Space-recovery and quarantine facts are ceremonial context, not exposure evidence; the FY66 declined-modernization detail explains why the ship carries no second-generation rebuild (unlike SCB-27 sisters) and bounds the industrial work aboard to the 1950-52 reconstruction and routine availabilities.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-02
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[3]NHHC SCB-27 program page vs. DANFS 'Lake Champlain II (CV-39)' / ibiblio HyperWar transcription [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC SCB-27 page, Lake Champlain entry (Norfolk Naval Shipyard); DANFS reactivation paragraph (Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- SOURCE CONFLICT on the SCB-27A reconstruction yard, documented rather than silently resolved: the NHHC SCB-27 program page states 'Lake Champlain (CV-39). Reconstructed to SCB-27A design by the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Work began in August 1950; recommissioned in September 1952.' DANFS (and the verbatim ibiblio/HyperWar transcription) states she 'was reactivated and modernized at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. and recommissioned 19 September 1952.' Both sources are NHHC products; they agree on the program (SCB-27A) and the recommissioning month but name different yards. No third authoritative source resolving the conflict was located in this pass.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1950-1952 (reconstruction period)
- Limitations
- Internal NHHC disagreement carried verbatim: the reconstruction itself (SCB-27A, work beginning 1950, recommissioning September 1952) is not in doubt - only the yard identity. Both related_shipyards entries (norfolk-naval-shipyard, newport-news-shipbuilding) are retained pending a resolving source such as the shipyard's own records or the BuShips completion report.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-03
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[4]Pace v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp., 171 F. Supp. 3d 254 (S.D.N.Y. 2016), No. 13 Civ. 6227 (KPF) (opinion filed 22 March 2016; 2016 WL 1169512) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion at *261-262 (Navy/shipboard service recital), *265-266 (excluded 'Data of Pumps' record), *268-271 (Square D/Allen-Bradley switchgear and Bakelite analysis), *276 (conclusion: five grants, one denial)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published federal summary-judgment opinion documents shipboard asbestos-exposure allegations naming this hull. In Pace v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp., decedent Raymond Balcerzak - a career electrician (enlisted U.S. Navy 6 March 1956) - testified at deposition to working aboard USS Lake Champlain while serving in the Navy, and in interrogatory responses alleged exposure to asbestos-containing products 'including but not limited to, turbines, boilers, valves, gaskets, packing, steam traps, motors, [and] wire electrical panels.' He further testified to working on or around switchgear/distribution panels and their arc chutes and Bakelite insulation backing 'throughout his career as an electrician and in the U.S. Navy.' The court observed that maritime jurisdiction could lie only as to his Lake Champlain service (his other ship, USS Constellation, was still under construction). A purported Navy record ('Data of Pumps, Blowers, and Compressors') offered to show Gardner Denver pumps aboard USS Lake Champlain was excluded as untimely - sent after the close of fact discovery. Disposition: summary judgment GRANTED to Warren, Square D, Buffalo, Gardner Denver, and Byron Jackson (product-identification failure); DENIED to Allen-Bradley (genuine fact issues on contactor/arc-chute Bakelite).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- Service aboard after March 1956; opinion filed 2016-03-22
- Population
- Navy electrician aboard CV-39 during post-1956 service; lung cancer diagnosed 2011; died 2014; claims resolved at summary judgment
- Limitations
- Stage discipline: discovery/summary-judgment-stage record - the ship-specific content is deposition testimony and interrogatory responses (sworn allegations), not an adjudicated exposure finding. Five defendants won on product identification; the one surviving claim (Allen-Bradley) went no further in this opinion. The excluded Navy 'Data of Pumps' record was never evaluated on the merits. Nothing here proves asbestos was or was not aboard - it proves a sailor alleged shipboard exposure and litigated it to the SJ stage.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-04
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[5]DANFS, 'Lake Champlain II (CV-39)' (decommissioning); NHHC Naval Aviation 'Appendix 3: Aviation Ships' (app03.pdf) and NHHC carrier data table (Part4.pdf) (striking) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS final paragraph; app03.pdf/Part4.pdf carrier table row '39 Lake Champlain ... Stricken 1 Dec 1969'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposal record partially verified: DANFS documents Philadelphia inactivation and decommissioning 2 May 1966. Two official NHHC carrier tables - the 'Appendix 3: Aviation Ships' compilation and the NHHC research-publications carrier data table (Part4.pdf) - list CV-39 as 'Stricken 1 Dec 1969.' No accessible authoritative source was found for the sale/scrapping milestone (secondary sources report sale for scrap in 1972); NavSource was unreachable and NVR detail pages do not render for disposed hulls, so the final disposal date and scrapper identity are carried as an open gap rather than asserted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1966-1969+
- Limitations
- Stricken date is officially documented; the sale/scrapping leg is NOT - it is deliberately excluded from finding_value and carried in gaps. The app03.pdf document is a scanned compilation; the row content was verified via the NHHC-hosted index text.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-05
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[6]Batch-57 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API throttle + alternative opinion sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-04 and sl-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-05
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CourtListener could not be swept for this hull (API HTTP 429 daily-rate-limit throttle on the first batch-wide query; retry confirmed; abandoned per batch instructions). Alternative opinion searches surfaced no qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS Lake Champlain or CV-39 beyond Pace v. Air & Liquid Systems - 'Lake Champlain' hits were collisions with the lake itself, Lake Champlain Transportation Co., and other non-ship entities; 'CV-39' hits were docket-string noise. VA BVA searches surfaced no asbestos decision naming this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Incomplete sweep by external constraint - absence of a found case beyond Pace is not evidence of absence. State-court filings, settled matters, and unindexed opinions remain unexamined.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-06
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[7]Essex-class profile (class-a/essex-class.class.json); NHHC SCB-27 program page [other_primary]
- Locator
- Class profile era-application list; NHHC SCB-27 page Lake Champlain entry
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/era context only: Lake Champlain is a long-hull (Ticonderoga-group) Essex-class carrier built 1943-45 with the class's eight-boiler/four-turbine steam plant, reconstructed under SCB-27A (1950-52) during the peak era of Navy thermal-insulation specifications - a rebuild that removed and replaced much of her internal systems. Essex-class era applications generally included thermal insulation on steam systems, boilers, and piping - but no hull-specific inventory for CV-39 was located and none is asserted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1943-1952 (construction and reconstruction era)
- Limitations
- Context only - no ship-specific asbestos inference is drawn from class, era, boilers, steam propulsion, or the SCB-27A rebuild. Ship-specific content rests solely on the Pace litigation record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lake-champlain-cv39-07