Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]DANFS, Laning (DE-159/APD-55) (build, conversion, service narrative, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; canonical page verified via Wayback capture 2025-12-08) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, DE-159 specifications block + full service narrative + bracketed disposal note
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 23 April 1943 by Norfolk Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va.; launched 4 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Mabel C. Laning (widow of namesake Admiral Harris Laning); commissioned 1 August 1943, Comdr. E. C. Woodward in command. Atlantic convoy escort (Aruba-Bizerte-Algiers runs; fought off five Ju-88s 20 April 1944; screened for torpedoed Menges (DE-320) and rescued 125 survivors of Fechteler (DE-157) in convoy GUS-38, May 1944). Steamed to Philadelphia 22 November 1944; redesignated APD-55 on 24 November; conversion completed 14 February 1945. Pacific: Pearl Harbor 18 June 1945; UDT training; San Francisco UDT-flagship alteration; embarked UDT 9/ComUDTRon 2; Okinawa 4 September; UDT reconnaissance at Jinsen (Korea), Taku Bar and Tsingtao (China) 8 September-17 October 1945 with 7th Fleet occupation forces. Decommissioned 28 June 1946 at Green Cove Springs (Atlantic Reserve Fleet). Recommissioned 6 April 1951; Atlantic coast operations; San Diego period 23 January-11 April 1955; 3d Naval District Naval Reserve training ship from New York 1955-57; decommissioned 13 September 1957 at Bayonne, N.J.; berthed at Norfolk; reclassified LPR-55 on 1 January 1969. Bracketed DANFS note: struck from the Navy list 1 March 1975 and sold for scrapping 30 September. One battle star (WWII).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1975
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1943; Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion trades 1944-45; wartime and postwar crew (DANFS complement 186 as DE; ~213 as APD)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Conversion location is given only as 'Philadelphia'; the Philadelphia Navy Yard attribution comes from NavSource (see ev-02). The HyperWar transcription contains three typos resolved against the canonical NHHC page (Wayback 2025-12-08): '1843' laid down (1943), 'LPR-66' reclassification (LPR-55), 'departing Little Creek 6 January 1955' (5 January).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-01
-
[2]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Laning (LPR-55) ex APD-55 ex DE-159 (service chronology; conversion yard; disposal detail) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource APD-55/LPR-55 page, building and operational data block; DE-159 photo index page (navsource.org/archives/06/159.htm)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology for this hull: built at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; commissioned as DE-159 1 August 1943; converted to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 24 November 1944 to 14 February 1945; assigned TransDiv 107 (CAPT. N. E. Millerand) in the Asiatic-Pacific theater; decommissioned 28 June 1946 at Green Cove Springs; recommissioned 6 April 1951; decommissioned 13 September 1957 at Bayonne, N.J.; laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Norfolk; reclassified amphibious transport, small (LPR-55) 1 January 1969; struck from the Naval Register 1 March 1975; sold for scrapping 30 September 1975 to Trebor Marine Corp., Camden, N.J., for $53,000.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1975
- Limitations
- NavSource is a secondary volunteer compilation - corroborating chronology, not a primary record. The conversion-yard attribution (Philadelphia Navy Yard) is stated explicitly here but only implied ('steamed to Philadelphia') in DANFS. The scrapping buyer and price (Trebor Marine Corp., $53,000) are NavSource-only, unverified against a primary disposal record - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-02
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[3]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (Jan 1945), DE design groups 2-3 table (shipscribe.com scan) + navypedia Buckley (TE) class boiler-block map + Atlas shipyard dataset records for norfolk-naval-shipyard and philadelphia-naval-shipyard [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips Ships' Data 1945 v1 DE design-group table (shipscribe scan pp. DE section); navypedia us_de_te boiler-block map; shipyards.json records 'norfolk-naval-shipyard' and 'philadelphia-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull is a Buckley-class (design groups 2-3, TE turbo-electric) destroyer escort - one of the only two DE classes with a full superheated-steam plant: 2 'D' express-type boilers at 435 psi/750F feeding GE turbine-generators and electric drive motors, 12,000 shp (BuShips Ships' Data 1945). The navypedia block map assigns Babcock & Wilcox boilers to the DE-153/156-161 block including DE-159 (unverified against contract documents). A 1943 steam plant of this type would have carried period-standard asbestos-containing boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck coverings. The 1944-45 APD conversion at Philadelphia Navy Yard added troop spaces and berthing during the yard period. Both facilities are documented asbestos-intensive yards in the Atlas yard dataset (norfolk-naval-shipyard: tier 2, Superfund-listed, asbestos among documented disposed materials; philadelphia-naval-shipyard: tier 3, litigation-documented product identifications including insulation and gasket products).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (construction/conversion); 1943-1957 (commissioned service)
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1943; Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion trades 1944-45; crew complement 186 (DE) / ~213 (APD)
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No insulation survey, material schedule, or conversion work package for this hull is public. Does not quantify material, does not establish any individual's exposure, and does not establish present-day conditions (hull scrapped 1975). Yard documentation speaks to facility conditions, not to materials installed aboard this vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-03
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[4]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page (report digest)
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-management program: standing policy from 1975 removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or when required for repairs, modified in 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place unless a yard period disturbed it. GAO fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards; this hull was built at Norfolk Navy Yard and lay in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet berthed at Norfolk from 1957 until struck in 1975.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1975-1979 (policy window)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers, program-wide
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation only - the report does not name this hull, does not survey this hull, and does not establish materials aboard it. gao.gov blocks automated fetches (HTTP 403); product-page description used. Norfolk was a fieldwork site in the GAO study but no hull-level finding derives from that.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-04
-
[5]Golden Arrow Research Navy deck-log request index (USS Laning DE-159 listed among hulls whose deck logs are held at NARA and retrievable on request) + NARA RG 181 Philadelphia Naval Shipyard records (conversion work packages) - undigitized leads [other_primary]
- Locator
- goldenarrowresearch.com Navy deck-logs index (DE-159 entry); NARA RG 24 / RG 181 / RG 19
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads located but not reviewed: NARA holds deck logs for USS Laning (DE-159) retrievable on request (Golden Arrow index), covering the commissioned periods 1943-46 and 1951-57; the Philadelphia Navy Yard APD-conversion work package (Nov 1944-Feb 1945) would sit in RG 181 Philadelphia Naval Shipyard records and BuShips contract files (RG 19) at NARA. These are the undigitized sources most likely to carry hull-level material evidence.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-1957
- Limitations
- Lead status only - contents unreviewed; deck logs record operations, not materials, and conversion work packages may or may not itemize insulation. Presence in an index does not establish any asbestos content in the documents.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-05
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[6]Batch-2441 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS (canonical + mirrors); NavSource; CourtListener exact-name, surname, and hull-number queries; Atlas shipyard dataset; NARA/Golden Arrow index; general web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-laning-apd55-01 through sl-uss-laning-apd55-12
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-159/APD-55/LPR-55: no hull ACM survey, no abatement or hazmat disclosure, no material schedule, and no qualifying asbestos litigation names the vessel. CourtListener sweep (authenticated API v4, 2026-09-25): 'USS Laning' opinion and RECAP docket queries returned zero results; 'APD-55' and 'aboard the Laning'/'aboard USS Laning' returned zero; 'Laning' + asbestos returned two attorney-surname collisions (Hyde v. Wages, Ala. 1984; In re Carrier IQ, N.D. Cal. 2015); 'DE-159' returned 27 token-collision hits (reporter/page fragments, unrelated cases). Web sweep surfaced only law-firm marketing pages (excluded per batch rules), which assert no ship-specific record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 2026-09-25
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 steam-plant escort scrapped in 1975 (before the Navy's 1979 selective-replacement policy) plausibly carried era materials to disposal, but that is inference. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-laning-apd55-06