Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet kp-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-pkt-kp-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) - verbatim NHHC page text via Internet Archive Wayback capture 2025-02-02 (live NHHC page returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry (NHHC 'Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415)' page, published 2015-07-29), specifications block + full service narrative; Wayback capture 2025-02-02
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 20 December 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas; launched 29 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence H. Taylor, mother of Lt. Taylor; commissioned 13 May 1944, Lt. Comdr. R. Cullinan, Jr., in command. Specs block: 1,350 tons; 306 ft; 36 ft 8 in; draft 9 ft 5 in; 24 kt; complement 186; armament 2 5-inch, 4 40mm, 10 20mm, 9 dcp, 2 dct, 3 21-inch tt; class John C. Butler. Departed New York 6 August 1944 for the central Pacific, arriving Pearl Harbor 29 August; sailed 16 October to join Anzio (CVE-57) hunter-killer group in the Philippine Sea; 18 November 1944, after a 14-hour search near Leyte and in a coordinated attack with two Anzio planes, sank Japanese submarine I-41; December searches off Leyte and Luzon through a violent typhoon; 3 January 1945 sortied with 3d Fleet for the Lingayen Gulf landings; departed Saipan 12 February 1945 for Iwo Jima, screened escort carriers 16-18 February, assisted Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) after the carrier was hit by a kamikaze; Okinawa ASW sweeps from 26 March through June; with Mitscher's fast carrier task force, sank submarine I-13 by depth-charge attack at 0240 on 16 July 1945 after Anzio planes sighted the boat the night of 15 July; departed Okinawa 5 September for 7th Fleet occupation duty in Korea and China until 26 December; arrived San Francisco 15 January 1946; decommissioned at San Diego 23 April 1946 and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. Seven battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (DANFS complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The DANFS entry predates the striking and sale (it ends 'at present is berthed at San Diego'), so disposition dates rest on secondary compilations (ev-02). Its submarine attribution (I-41, 18 November 1944) conflicts with NavSource's I-26 / 17 November - carried in gaps. Wayback capture of the official NHHC page cited because the live page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) page (specifications, building/operational chronology, commanding officers; secondary compilation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net DE-415 page - 'Building and Operational Data' block + specifications block + commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary-compilation record for this hull's disposition and details DANFS predates: propulsion '2 "D" Express boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12,000 shp, 2 screws'; complement listed 14 officers / 201 enlisted; decommissioned at San Diego 23 April 1946 after 1 year 11.5 months of service and 116,421 miles steamed; inactivated 19 December 1946 at San Diego and assigned to Submarine Group Two, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 December 1972; sold for scrapping 12 September 1973. Commanding officers: Lcdr Ralph F. Cullinan Jr. (13 May 1944 - 31 Jan 1945), Lcdr James R. Gray (31 Jan 1945 - 23 Apr 1946). The page also links a scan of the ship's official war history submitted at war's end (archival lead, unretrieved image 06415wh.jpg).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Wartime and postwar crew 1944-46; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1972
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not an official record; the strike and sale dates are consistent across compilations (Wikipedia, class data) but no primary NVR page exists for a hull stricken in 1972. Its chronology reads 'I-26' on 17 November 1944 and 'I-3' on 16 July 1945 - DANFS and postwar Japanese-side records carry I-41 and I-13; conflicts carried in gaps. Scrap buyer not named.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-02
-
[4]NHHC, United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995, Appendix 12 'Ships Named for Naval Aviators' (official NHHC publication PDF) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC naval-aviation PDF, Appendix 12 entry 'Taylor, Lawrence C. (DE 415)'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC appendix independently lists 'Taylor, Lawrence C. (DE 415) 2nd LT Lawrence C. Taylor, USMC 13 May 1944' - corroborating the namesake identity (a Marine Corps aviator) and the commissioning date of 13 May 1944 from a second official source.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- A naming/commissioning cross-check only - the appendix documents that the ship was named for a naval aviator and its commissioning date; it says nothing about materials, service history, or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-03
-
[5]Destroyer Escort Sailors Association (desausa.org), 'Typhoon of 1944' - firsthand written account by David J. Woodland, TM2c, USS Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) (via Internet Archive capture) [other_primary]
- Locator
- desausa.org 'Typhoon of 1944' page, account by David J. Woodland TM2c (Wayback capture 2002-11-19)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- First-person crew account aboard this hull during the December 1944 typhoon (Halsey's Typhoon): the writer, a torpedoman aboard DE-415, recounts escorting Third Fleet oilers when the storm struck, the loss of destroyers Hull, Spence, and Monaghan, being stationed ahead of escort carrier Coral Sea as division flag, and post-storm recovery of bodies and burials at sea - corroborating DANFS's mention of 'a violent typhoon' during the group's December searches off Leyte and Luzon.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-12 (event); recollection undated
- Population
- Crew aboard DE-415, December 1944
- Limitations
- A decades-later personal recollection hosted on a veterans' association site (archived capture); unverified against official records beyond DANFS's general typhoon reference. Details within the account (e.g., a reported near-300-knot anemometer reading) are hearsay and not carried. Documents crew experience aboard this hull, not materials or asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-04
-
[6]DANFS/NavSource specification blocks for this hull (John C. Butler class; 2 'D' express boilers, geared turbines, 12,000 shp, 24 kt) + Atlas John C. Butler class profile (BuShips design group 6 / WGT; navypedia boiler-block map assigns Combustion Engineering boilers to the DE-402-424 block that includes DE-415) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; NavSource specifications block; class profile john-c-butler-class (class-f worktree)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: a John C. Butler-class WGT destroyer escort built in 1943-44 at a wartime emergency yard (Brown Shipbuilding, Houston) with a two-boiler superheated-steam plant (435 psi / 750F 'D' express boilers, geared turbines, 12,000 shp) would have carried the period-standard asbestos fit - boiler and machinery-space insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets and packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Class-level litigation context exists only for a sibling hull: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec (W.D. Wash. 2:17-cv-00537) name USS Brannon (DE-446) and recite a Navy-specified asbestos-insulation theory for DE evaporator plant - allegation/exhibit-list level, different hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-46; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1972
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a ship-specific finding. No hull-specific document establishes asbestos aboard DE-415. The DE-446 litigation materials are a sibling hull's pretrial record and cannot be attributed to this hull. Boiler-maker attribution (Combustion Engineering for the DE-402-424 block) rests on the class profile's navypedia block map, unverified against contract documents. Establishes no quantities and no individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 sweep (type=o opinions + type=r dockets), exact-name and hull-number queries [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-04, -05
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep completed 2026-09-28 (API v4, authenticated, fleet-paced): (1) 'Lawrence C. Taylor' exact-name opinion query - 4 hits, ALL person-name collisions: United States v. Lawrence C. Taylor, Sgt. USMC, 44 M.J. 254 (C.A.A.F. 1996) (court-martial of a Marine sergeant); Pruitt v. Zeiger (Ala. 1991) and Rudolph v. Lindsay (Ala. 1993) (a physician expert witness named Dr. Lawrence C. Taylor); In re Davies (N.Y. App. Div. 1999) (incidental reference) - no vessel reference, no asbestos case. (2) 'DE-415' opinion query - 13 hits, ALL identifier collisions ('DE 415'/'DE-415' as docket-entry numbers and reporter page cites in unrelated bankruptcy, civil-rights, habeas, and civil litigation, incl. one asbestos friction-products case, Yates v. Ford/Honeywell (E.D.N.C. 2015), where the match is a PACER entry number, not the hull). (3) 'Lawrence C. Taylor' + asbestos docket query (type=r) - 0 hits. (4) 'USS Lawrence C. Taylor' docket query - 0 hits; 'USS Lawrence C. Taylor' OR 'DE-415' docket query - 135 hits, all 'DE 415' PACER docket-entry collisions. RESULT: no qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull; no litigation of any kind references the vessel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- CourtListener indexes opinions and RECAP docket text; a case naming the hull in attachments, exhibits, or non-digitized state-court filings would not surface. Absence of hits does not prove no one was ever exposed aboard; it confirms no retrievable case names this hull. Sweep performed under fleet pacing during heavy contention (multiple waits; all requests authenticated).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-06
-
[8]Batch-4316 search ledger (this record): DANFS via Wayback/NHHC; NavSource compilation; NHHC naval-aviation appendix; veterans' firsthand account; class-era inference; CourtListener sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-01 through -08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-415: no hull ACM survey or abatement record (hull scrapped after 1973 sale - none feasible today), no museum hazmat disclosure (not a museum), no government survey naming this hull, and no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull in the sources searched. Marketing-list pages from law firms (e.g., mesotheliomabook.com, mesobook.com) enumerate DE-415 among asbestos-risk destroyers but are excluded as banned sources and carry no primary documentation.
- 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 - era materials would have been present per class/era inference (ev-05) and no survey exists either way. Establishes nothing about any individual's exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lawrence-c-taylor-de415-07