Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet hr-packet.md (8 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lester-de1022-pkt-hr-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Lester (DE-1022), NHHC ship-history entry (published 2015-07-29; verbatim Wayback capture - live page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS entry 'Lester' (DE-1022), specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: specifications line (dp. 1,450; l. 314'6"; b. 36'8"; dr. 13'9"; s. 25 k.; cpl. 149; a. 4 3", 2 tt., 6 dcp., 1 dct., 1 Weapon Alfa; cl. Courtney); namesake Hospital Apprentice First Class Fred Faulkner Lester, posthumous Medal of Honor (Okinawa, 8 June 1945); laid down 2 September 1954 by Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City, Mich.; launched 5 January 1956, sponsored by Mrs. Fred W. Lester; commissioned 14 June 1957, Lt. Comdr. Allan P. Slaff in command. Service narrative: Newport homeport and Escort Squadron 14 from December 1957; rescue of survivors of Italian oreship Bonitoz February 1958; Mediterranean with CortRons 14/10 and carrier Wasp May-October 1958 including Lebanon-crisis barrier patrol; Task Group Charlie ASW exercises; Trinidad/Latin America cruise with TF 86 February-May 1959; Boston overhaul summer 1959; Guantanamo refresher; Springboard 1960 and 1961; NATO fall convoy exercises September-October 1960; Boston overhaul September-20 November 1961; UNITAS III departing 16 August 1962 (over 18,000 miles, more than 20,000 visitors); entered Boston Naval Shipyard 12 September (1963) for 'a major conversion to improve her ASW capabilities'; resumed operations 22 January 1964; newly formed Escort Squadron 8; Key West surveillance duty and Fleet Sonar School services January-February 1965; Boston Naval Shipyard restricted availability July-November 1965; Destroyer Escort Petty Officer Training Program from 31 January 1966 (7 months); Boston Naval Shipyard overhaul 15 October 1966-24 January 1967; Sonar School Ship Key West; northern Europe and Mediterranean deployment May-September 1967; second northern Europe/Mediterranean voyage February-June 1968; local operations out of Newport into 1969.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1954-1969
- Population
- Defoe Shipbuilding construction trades 1954-56; crew 1957-73 (DANFS design complement 149)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Narrative ends in 1969 - decommissioning, striking, and disposal are not covered. The published web text misprints the hull number once as 'DE-10922'. Live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim Wayback capture cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-01
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[3]Siegfried v. 3M Company, No. 2:18-cv-01575-FMO-E (C.D. Cal.), Declaration of Captain James M. Haddock, USN (Ret.), ECF No. 51 (executed 2018-02-27; filed 2018-03-02 by defendant Owens-Illinois, Inc.) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 51, service-history section 'USS Lester (DE1022) (1972-1974)' (12-page text PDF, pp. 5-6)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Sworn declaration in an asbestos personal-injury case names this hull: 'USS Lester (DE1022) (1972-1974): Lester, a steam-powered destroyer escort, was built in 1957 and was homeported in Naples, Italy.' Declarant served as the ship's Damage Control Assistant and Auxiliaries Officer (later acting Engineer Officer), qualified EOOW/OOD/CDO, and 'led a group of young sailors in overhauling and improving the ship's electric plant, emergency generator, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, and communication, indicating and monitoring systems'; 'During my service on Lester in Naples, we accomplished a major alteration to the engineering plant converting from black oil to navy distillate fuel. In 1974, we brought Lester back to Norfolk for decommissioning.' Documents a ship-specific engineering-alteration event aboard this steam hull in 1972-74 and corroborates the 1974 Norfolk decommissioning.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1972-1974 (service described); 2018 (filing)
- Population
- Engineering department/crew of USS Lester (DE-1022), 1972-1974
- Limitations
- Discovery-stage sworn declaration filed by defendant Owens-Illinois in support of a joinder/removal filing - a career recital, NOT an exposure allegation, and unadjudicated; the exposure-allegation record for this hull remains at zero. Does not state asbestos was present aboard, name products aboard, or quantify materials. Classified down per litigation-stage discipline: a defense expert's recital of duties is below any pleading allegation naming the hull, which itself would be below discovery findings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-02
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[4]DELIBERALI v. Allen-Bradley Company, No. 2:18-cv-02682-ER (E.D. Pa.), Declaration of James M. Haddock, USN (Ret.) by Owens-Illinois, Inc. re Notice of Removal, ECF No. 8 (filed 2018-06-28) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 8, service-history section 'USS Lester (DE1022) (1972-1974)' (scanned image, OCR pp. 6-7)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Second asbestos docket carrying the same declaration: E.D. Pa. asbestos personal-injury removal (assigned to Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, the MDL-875 transferee judge; case terminated 2018-09-21). Owens-Illinois filed the same Haddock declaration supporting its notice of removal; the stored PDF is a 13-page scanned image whose CourtListener OCR index and local OCR confirm the identical 'USS Lester (DE1022) (1972-1974)' passage describing the same engineering work aboard.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1972-1974 (service described); 2018 (filing)
- Population
- Engineering department/crew of USS Lester (DE-1022), 1972-1974
- Limitations
- Duplicate filing of the same declaration - corroborates reuse of the document across asbestos removals but adds no new hull-specific facts. Scanned-image PDF; text verified via independent OCR of the storage copy. Not an exposure allegation; unadjudicated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-03
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[5]Haddock declaration, ECF No. 51, Siegfried v. 3M (C.D. Cal. 2:18-cv-01575), paragraphs 3-7 (asbestos-materials expertise; Navy specification/QPL insulation regime; Kaylo approvals) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 51, declaration paragraphs 3-7 (expertise, QPL regime, Kaylo approvals); DANFS service narrative (Boston NSY availabilities)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference anchored in a filed expert declaration: the declarant - a 31-year Navy engineering officer - states his expertise 'includes the use and repair of asbestos materials in valve and pump packing, gaskets, boiler refractory, and pipe and equipment insulation' across U.S. Navy ships, and describes the Navy's specification/Qualified Products List control of thermal insulation (Navy Department Specs 32I-3 'Insulation, Thermal, Block' and 32-P-8 'Insulation, Thermal, Pipe'; Owens-Illinois Kaylo block and pipe insulation approved 1944 and carried on Navy acceptable/QPL lists through 1958, after which Owens-Corning is listed as Kaylo manufacturer). A single-screw steam-plant destroyer escort built 1954-56 (2 Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 De Laval geared turbine, 20,000 shp) would have carried period-standard asbestos boiler and steam-line insulation, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings; the ship's documented 1972-74 engineering-plant alteration and its five Boston Naval Shipyard availabilities (1959, 1961, 1963 conversion, 1965 restricted availability, 1966-67 overhaul) are the kind of events during which such materials are disturbed. NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications and DE-1022 deck logs are archival leads for hull-level confirmation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1974
- Population
- Navy-wide steam-ship engineering crews and shipyard insulation trades (era context)
- Limitations
- Class/era plus expert-characterization inference only - the declaration's asbestos passages describe the Navy-wide insulation regime, not this hull; the passages naming Lester describe no asbestos. Never a ship-specific finding. Declaration was filed by a retained defense expert for a discretionary-function defense; its framing favors the Navy-specification-control theory. NARA GIB and deck-log retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-04
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[6]Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, BGSU University Libraries, vessel registry entry DE-1022 (USS LESTER) + NavSource Online DE-1022 archive page (compiled operational data + DoD bid-list image) via Wayback [other_primary]
- Locator
- BGSU HCGL item 434655 registry/disposition fields; NavSource DE-1022 'Building and Operational Data' block + bid-list image 0616203
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Post-1969 disposition and disposal corroborated across three records: BGSU HCGL registry lists DE-1022 (USS LESTER), steel hull, built by Defoe Shipbuilding Co., Bay City MI, commissioned 14 June 1957, stricken from the Navy List 14 December 1973; the Haddock declaration states 'In 1974, we brought Lester back to Norfolk for decommissioning'; NavSource's compiled record adds reduced operating status at Newport 2 July 1968, homeport change to Naples October 1970, homeport change to Norfolk October 1973, decommissioning at Naval Station Norfolk D&S Pier 20 on 14 December 1973 alongside two other CortRon 8 units (USS Hammerberg DE-1015 and USS Courtney DE-1021 - a shared decommissioning booklet exists) after 16 years 6 months, struck from the NVR the same day, and sale for scrapping 18 June 1974 to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp., New York, N.Y., for $75,141 under a DoD bid list covering ex-DEs 162, 180, 181, 1015, 1021, and 1022.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1968-1974
- Population
- Crew at decommissioning; disposal/scrapping workers (1973-74)
- Limitations
- BGSU HCGL is an authoritative university-archive registry; NavSource is a volunteer-compiled secondary archive - its sale price and bid-list detail are documented by a photographed DoD bid-list image in its collection, and the decommissioning is independently corroborated by the sworn Haddock declaration. NVR carries no detail record for this hull (pre-1987 disposals are outside the register). Scrapping yard, location, and any materials handling not documented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-05
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[7]Batch-3954 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS; Naval Vessel Register; BGSU Historical Collections of the Great Lakes; NavSource (via Wayback); NARA catalog; CourtListener opinion + RECAP docket indexes (exact name and hull number) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lester-de1022-01 through sl-uss-lester-de1022-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, government report, or plaintiff exposure allegation naming USS Lester or DE-1022 was found in the sources searched (see search_ledger). The only litigation artifacts naming this hull are two filings of the same defense expert declaration reciting engineering duties - a discovery-stage recital, below even a pleading allegation. The CourtListener 'USS Lester' opinion index returned zero hits.
- 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 - a 1954-56 steam-plant escort is era-consistent with asbestos materials, and the declaration documents exactly the kind of engineering work that disturbs them. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure, causation, or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lester-de1022-06