Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Little I (DD-79/APD-4) - builder, dates, WWI convoy service, reserve/decommissioning, APD-4 conversion, TransDiv 12 flagship, Guadalcanal operations, loss narrative 5 September 1942, two battle stars (verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio; live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (full entry)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, Mass., 18 June 1917; launched 11 November 1917, sponsored by Mrs. Samuel W. Wakeman; commissioned 6 April 1918, Comdr. Joseph K. Taussig in command. Departed Norfolk 5 May 1918 for convoy escort duty with Patrol Force, Coast of France, operating from Brest until sailing for home 26 December; escorted President Wilson's party to the Paris Peace Conference. Boston drydock 18 January 1919; reserve status ComDesRon 3 Philadelphia 17 November 1919 to 4 January 1921; decommissioned Philadelphia 5 July 1922. Converted to high-speed transport, redesignated APD-4 (DANFS text prints 'ADP-4') 2 August 1940; recommissioned 4 November 1940. Caribbean maneuvers February 1941; San Diego amphibious training from 9 March; Norfolk drydocking from 1 December 1941. Flagship TransDiv 12; San Diego repairs February 1942; Pearl Harbor; Midway late June; New Caledonia 7 July for the Solomons campaign. Discharged stores at Guadalcanal 30 August and witnessed Colhoun (APD-2) loss; carried Marine raiders to Savo Island 4 September; engaged by a Japanese surface force about 0100 on 5 September after a PBY Catalina's flares illuminated the APDs; helpless and ablaze by 0115; sank on an even keel about two hours later. Two battle stars for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1917-1942
- Population
- Fore River Shipbuilding construction trades 1917-18; WWI crew; interwar crew; WWII crew and embarked Marines (design complement 133)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications (dp. 1,191; 35 kt; cpl. 133; cl. Wickes), not materials or asbestos content. The transcription's 'ADP-4' is a typographical variant of APD-4. No stricken date, casualty count, or conversion-yard detail is given; the live NHHC DANFS page returns 404 so the verbatim HyperWar/ibiblio transcription is cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-01
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[2]Naval Historical Center (now NHHC) Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS Little (Destroyer # 79, later DD-79 and APD-4), 1918-1942' (verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Online Library page text for DD-79/APD-4 + photos NH 63478, NH 50022, NH 97784-85
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Naval Historical Center photo-archive summary for this hull: 1,060-ton Wickes-class destroyer built at Quincy; commissioned April 1918; convoy operations out of Brest; 'eighteen years in "red-lead row" at the Philadelphia Navy Yard' after July 1922 decommissioning; converted to high-speed transport APD-4 in 1940; participated in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi operation 7-9 August 1942; patrolling off Lunga Point with USS Gregory (APD-3) on the night of 4-5 September 1942 when attacked by three Japanese destroyers; 'quickly put out of action and sank soon afterwards.' Records that a July 1992 Ironbottom Sound expedition 'found and examined a sunken U.S. Navy high-speed transport some miles off Lunga Point. While the identity of this ship could not be conclusively determined, she is either Little or the virtually identical Gregory.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1942; 1992 survey
- Population
- WWII crew; embarked Marines; wreck-site researchers
- Limitations
- Photo-archive summary text; no asbestos or materials information. Wreck identity remains officially inconclusive (Little vs. Gregory). The 1,060-ton figure differs from DANFS's 1,191 (standard vs. loaded displacement convention); DANFS figures are carried where they differ. The August 2025 OET/Nautilus Ironbottom Sound survey of 13 wreck sites did not include this wreck, so identity remains unresolved as of the last located expedition report.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-02
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[3]Navy Department Communique No. 131, 24 September 1942 (wartime official release; Pearl Harbor Attack Hearings communique collection, HyperWar/ibiblio transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Communique No. 131, 24 September 1942, items 2-3 (with Jarvis loss item 1)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Navy Department announcement of this hull's loss: 'The U. S. S. Little (small auxiliary transport) has been sunk by the enemy in recent operations in the Solomon Islands area. Approximately half of the personnel of the Little were saved. The next of kin of those lost have been notified.' Establishes a wartime-contemporaneous official casualty proportion for the sinking.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942
- Population
- USS Little crew aboard at loss (~half of ship's company per communique); embarked personnel
- Limitations
- States a proportion ('approximately half'), not an exact count; secondary compilations give 61-65 killed (including the CO, Lt. Comdr. Lofberg, and TransDiv 12 commander Cdr. Hadley) and are carried in gaps, not in the record. No asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-03
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[4]DANFS, Manley II (DD-74/APD-1) - first flush-deck APD conversion (New York Navy Yard, by 7 February 1939); survivor rescue after Little and Gregory sunk, 5 September 1942 (verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Manley entry, APD-1 conversion paragraph and 5-6 September 1942 passage
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS Manley names this hull in the loss account: 'After Little and Gregory were sunk at night 5 September, she rescued five survivors the next morning.' The same entry documents the APD program context into which this hull was converted: Manley, the Navy's first high-speed transport, 'was outfitted as a troop transport in the New York Navy Yard by 7 February 1939' and designated APD-1 on 2 August 1940 - the same date this hull was redesignated APD-4.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1942
- Population
- USS Little/Gregory survivors; Manley crew
- Limitations
- Names Little only as the sunk vessel in Manley's rescue narrative; the rescue figure (five survivors picked up next morning by Manley) covers only that ship's pickup and does not conflict with the communique's 'approximately half saved' (other rescues by different means). Manley's conversion details document the program pattern, not this hull's conversion yard, which is not stated in the official sources consulted. No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-04
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[5]Office of Naval Intelligence, Combat Narrative 'The Landing in the Solomons, 7-8 August 1942' (Publications Branch, ONI; Naval Historical Center 50th-anniversary republication; HyperWar/ibiblio transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Combat narrative chapter 5, screening/transport force roster (destroyers/APDs)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official wartime combat narrative lists this hull in the invasion force for the Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings of 7-8 August 1942: 'Little, Lt. Comdr. Gus B. Lofberg, Jr.' appears in the transport/screening force roster alongside sister APDs Colhoun, McKean, and Gregory. Corroborates the NHHC photo-archive statement that Little participated in the 7-9 August operation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942
- Population
- Invasion-force crews, August 1942
- Limitations
- Force-roster placement only; the narrative's detailed action coverage ends with the 7-8 August landings and does not narrate the 4-5 September loss. No asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-05
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[6]DANFS specifications block (Wickes class; steam plant; 35 kt) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Fore River Shipyard record (yard-level tier 3: asbestos litigation and documented products at the builder yard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; shipyards.json record 'fore-river-shipyard' (evidence_tier 3)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Wickes-class flush-deck destroyer built 1917-18 at Fore River with an oil-fired steam plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation, boiler and steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing typical of WWI-era naval construction. Builder Fore River (Quincy, Mass.) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (evidence tier 3), including yard litigation over asbestos disease and documented asbestos product categories (boilers, pipes, turbines, fireproofing, gaskets, packing, electrical components, asbestos cement, asbestos-containing paint). Hull-interaction yard periods: build 1917-18 (Fore River); Boston drydock January 1919; Philadelphia Navy Yard lay-up 1922-1940 and 1940 APD conversion; Norfolk drydocking December 1941; San Diego repairs February 1942.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1917-1942
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1917-18; navy-yard overhaul/conversion workers 1919-1942; crew 1918-1942
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding. The Fore River yard record documents the yard in later eras (documented litigation 1967-70; welding-blanket product evidence 1940s) and does not itemize 1917-18 construction materials for this hull. No asbestos survey, abatement record, or litigation naming this hull was located. This row adds context, not an independent ship-specific finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-06
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[7]Batch-3762 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS + Online Library; wartime Navy Department communiques; ONI combat narrative; NavSource amphibious archive; NARA catalog; OET/Nautilus 2025 expedition release [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-little-dd79-01 through sl-uss-little-dd79-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or museum documentation exists for this hull in the public sources searched. A hull sunk in action on 5 September 1942 has no postwar documentation surface - no museum conversion, no reserve-fleet lay-up, no scrapping, and no veteran-crew exposure pathway documentation was located. 'No record located' is reported as a result, not papered over.
- 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 - a 1917-18 steam destroyer is era-consistent with asbestos insulation use (see ev-06), but no source documents asbestos aboard this specific hull. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-07
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[8]CourtListener API v4 opinion-index sweep: "USS Little" asbestos (0 hits); "USS Little" (2 hits, both name collisions); "DD-79" (6 hits, all name collisions); "APD-4" (11 hits, all name collisions); RECAP docket sweep (pending - fleet pacing throttle) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search API results, queries logged in search_ledger
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located in CourtListener opinion index. "USS Little" exact-phrase returned 2 hits, both classified name collisions: Brookins v. Cullins, 23 C.M.A. 216 (1974) - habeas petition naming the commanding officer of USS Little Rock (CLG-4), a different vessel; United States v. Ware, 1 M.J. 645 (N.M.C.M.R. 1975) - larceny courts-martial aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. "DD-79" returned 6 hits, all unrelated civil/family-court matters (NY appellate docket-number and text collisions), none maritime or asbestos. "APD-4" returned 11 hits, all non-maritime collisions (state criminal/civil-service/agency texts matching the string; 'APD' = Agency for Persons with Disabilities, Austin Police Department, etc.). "USS Little" + asbestos returned 0. A second commissioned USS Little (DD-803, Allen M. Sumner class, sunk off Okinawa 3 May 1945) exists; none of the located hits resolve to either hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27 (sweep); exposure period 1918-1942
- Limitations
- Opinion-index (type=o) sweep complete; the RECAP docket (type=r) query remained pending under the fleet pacing throttle when this row was written - see search_ledger sl-uss-little-dd79-10 for status. A veteran who served aboard in 1918-1942 could appear in dockets not indexed by name here; absence of a located hit is not proof none exists.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd79-08