Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]DANFS, Little II (DD-803) (namesake biography, specifications, builder, dates, service narrative, loss, battle stars; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (ibiblio HyperWar transcription)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Capt. George Little (1754-1809); the second ship of the name. Laid down by Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co., Seattle, Wash., 13 September 1943; launched 22 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Russell F. O'Hara; commissioned 19 August 1944, Comdr. Madison Hall, Jr., in command. West Coast training; departed Seattle 11 November 1944 escorting a convoy to Pearl Harbor (arrived 23 November); departed 22 January 1945 with LSTs for Eniwetok and Iwo Jima rehearsals; shore bombardment at Iwo Jima from 19 February, fire support to 24 February, returned 4 March; sailed for Okinawa 27 March, demonstration-group feigned landings 1-2 April; picket duty 19-24 April. On 3 May 1945 on picket with Aaron Ward (DM-34): at 1813 an attack by 18-24 aircraft; Aaron Ward hit at 1841; Little hit portside, then three more kamikazes within four minutes - keel broken, amidship section demolished, all three after machinery spaces opened; 'At 1955 Little broke up and went down.' Two battle stars. Spec block: 2,050 t; 376' x 40' x 14'; 35 kt; cpl 329; 5 x 5", 10 x 40mm, 7 x 20mm, 8 x 21" tt, 6 dcp, 2 dct; cl. Fletcher.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (design complement 329)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. This original-entry transcription records the sinking time as 1955; the April 2019 revised DANFS entry records 1855 with a detailed loss narrative - conflict carried in gaps. The spec block's '8 21" tt' conflicts with the class-standard two quintuple mounts (10 tubes) given in the 2019 revision and secondary compilations - conflict logged. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-01
-
[2]DANFS, Little II (DD-803), April 2019 revised entry - reproduced verbatim on the Tin Can Sailors (National Association of Destroyer Veterans) ship page, labeled 'Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2019' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- destroyers.org DD-803 page, 'Ship History' block (DANFS April 2019 text)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- April 2019 revised DANFS record for this hull: sponsor named in full (Mrs. Dorothy P. O'Hara, wife of Russell F. O'Hara, president of the California State Bar Association); builder noted as 'Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co. (soon to be renamed Todd-Pacific Shipyard)'; assigned Destroyer Squadron 58, Destroyer Division 115. Detailed service: fitting out Puget Sound; departed Pier 91 Naval Supply Depot Seattle 8 September 1944 for San Diego shakedown; 12 November convoy escort from Port Angeles to Pearl Harbor with O'Neill (DE-188); eight weeks of Hawaiian exercises incl. screening Saratoga (CV-3) with Van Valkenburgh (DD-656), Kahoolawe bombardment practice with Gregory (DD-802), exercises with Indiana (BB-58), Tuscaloosa (CA-37), Henry A. Wiley (DM-29); availability alongside Yosemite (AD-19) 23-27 December 1944; DesDiv 115 = Van Valkenburgh, Gregory, Colhoun (DD-801), Rooks (DD-804). TG 51.14 Tractor Group Able to Iwo Jima; TG 51.2 transport screen. Loss narrative: Radar Picket Station 10 with Aaron Ward (DM-34), LSM(R)-195, LCS(L)-25, LCS(L)-83, LCS(L)-14; at 1813 attack by 18-24 aircraft; first kamikaze hit portside ~1841 dislodging the No. 3 boiler; a second vertical dive into the after torpedo mount exploding air flasks and the No. 3 and No. 4 boilers; dead in the water within five minutes, keel broken, three after machinery rooms opened; 10-degree starboard list by 1850; abandon ship ordered; at 1855 jackknifed and sank approximately 28 miles west of Kume Shima. Casualties: of a total complement of 339, 30 sailors killed or missing and 79 officers and crewmen injured. Stricken from the Navy List 2 June 1945. Two battle stars; Cmdr. Hall awarded Gold Star in lieu of second Silver Star.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (total complement 339 at loss)
- Limitations
- Revised DANFS documents service history, organization, casualty accounting, and the 1945-06-02 striking - not materials or asbestos content. Accessed as a verbatim reproduction on a veterans-association page labeled 'DANFS April 2019' because the live NHHC page returns 404; reproduction fidelity not independently verified against an NHHC-hosted copy. Casualty/injury and sinking-time figures differ from secondary compilations and from the original DANFS entry - conflicts carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-02
-
[3]Bureau of Ships, War Damage Report No. 51 - 'Destroyer Report: Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage, Including Losses in Action, 17 October 1941 to 15 August 1945' (NAVSHIPS 50 (51), 25 January 1947; NHHC Online Reading Room transcription via HyperWar - live NHHC page 404s) [other_primary]
- Locator
- WDR-51, Table II (loss-by-mechanism list, 'B. Structural Failure - a. Jackknifed', entry 5); para 2-17
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official postwar BuShips engineering analysis naming this hull: Table II ('Governing Elements in Loss of Destroyers Sunk by Gunfire, Bomb or Kamikaze Attack') lists LITTLE (DD803), 2050T, under 'B. Structural Failure - a. Jackknifed' - Kamikaze, Okinawa, 5/3/45. Section 2-17 explains the loss class: six destroyers, all 2050 or 2200 tons standard, 'were lost through structural failure following above-water attacks, usually multiple Kamikaze attacks which severely damaged the upper flange of the hull girder.' Consistent with the April 2019 DANFS narrative ('jackknifed, lifting the bow and stern up').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1945 (loss); 1947 (report)
- Population
- Wartime crew (damage-control engineering analysis)
- Limitations
- Postwar engineering analysis of the loss mechanism only - a Table II classification plus the class-level structural-failure discussion in para 2-17; Little is not an individual case-study section in WDR-51 (the report's detailed sections cover other hulls). Documents the loss mode, not materials or asbestos content. Live NHHC Online Reading Room page returns 404; HyperWar/ibiblio transcription cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-03
-
[4]Guy J. Nasuti, 'On the Verge of Breaking Down Completely: Surviving the Kamikaze off Okinawa, 1945,' Naval History and Heritage Command, 2023 (U.S. Navy Operations in World War II commemorative series; ISBN 978-1-943604-84-5; GPO D 221.20:K 12) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC publication-508 series PDF (canonical URL; 404 to automated fetch); bibliographic record via GPO C&I / ECU Libraries catalog; Google Scholar indexed excerpts
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC monograph (2023) covering this hull's loss: indexed excerpts include a photographic plate captioned 'A view of the damage Little (DD-803) received during kamikaze attacks off Okinawa on 3 May 1945' (noting the 'greatly distorted forward smokestack') and a quoted passage from the picket-station OTC action report listing 'USS Little (DD 803), LSMR 195, LCS 83, LCS 14' in company - an official U.S. Navy historical treatment of this hull's sinking.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1945 (events); 2023 (publication)
- Population
- Wartime crews of the Okinawa radar picket line
- Limitations
- Bibliographic existence and DD-803 coverage verified via library catalog record (ECU/GPO: NHHC, Washington DC, 2023, xi+95 pp.) and search-indexed excerpts; the full PDF was not retrievable - the canonical NHHC URL returns 404 and the FDLP mirror is bot-challenged - so only indexed excerpt content is asserted. No materials or asbestos content is implied by the excerpts seen; the full text is an open lead for narrative detail only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-04
-
[5]USS Little DD 803 Project (dd803.org) ship-statistics and crew-roster pages + Tin Can Sailors (destroyers.org) registry line (call sign NTTN; disposition 'Sunk by Japanese suicide plane NE of Okinawa 5/3/1945') [other_primary]
- Locator
- dd803.org 'DD 803 Ship Stats' and DANFS pages; crew roster summary block; destroyers.org/ships/dd-803 disposition line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Veterans-association registry data for this hull: sinking position given as 26 deg 24'N, 126 deg 15'E, 'sunk in 850 fathoms - Okinawa Gunto'; crew roster enumerates 339 aboard on 3 May 1945 (19 officers, 320 enlisted) with 31 listed killed in action; casualties page gives 'crew lost: 30; crew wounded: 49'; battle stars: Iwo Jima (19 February - 2 March 1945) and Okinawa (1 April - 3 May 1945); configuration described as square-bridge Fletcher (1943-45 'J' configuration), Camouflage Measure 31 Design 16D. The same association site documents the first Little (DD-79/APD-4) DANFS sketch used for collision screening.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Wartime crew
- Limitations
- Veterans-association compilation, not an official source; the sinking position and casualty roster are registry data - the primary wartime action report was not retrieved. Internal inconsistency carried in gaps: the stats page reads '30 lost' while the roster's KIA column totals 31 (one officer entry likely accounts for the delta). No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-05
-
[6]Fletcher-class design and member-table data (navypedia us_dd_fletcher.htm member row for DD-803; BuShips 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels 1945' class block; Atlas Fletcher-class profile, class-c worktree) + NARA RG 19 General Information Books archival lead + GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy asbestos substitution timing) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia Fletcher class page (DD-803 member row via class profile); gao.gov/products/hrd-80-2 product page (full text HTTP 403 to automated fetches)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: a Fletcher-class destroyer built September 1943 - August 1944 at Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., with the class's uniform four-Babcock & Wilcox-boiler, two-shaft, 60,000-shp General Electric geared steam-turbine plant, would have carried the period-standard insulated fit - boiler and steam-line insulation, turbine lagging, gaskets and packing, fireproofing, bulkhead/compartment insulation, and deck coverings. The construction window sits squarely inside the Navy's documented peak asbestos-use era (GAO HRD-80-2: the Navy did not begin substituting asbestos-free materials until the early 1970s, decades after this hull sank). NARA RG 19 Bureau of Ships General Information Books, holding per-vessel material specifications, are the archival lead for hull-level confirmation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (construction/service); GAO program review to 1980
- Population
- Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-45
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; no source documents an asbestos product aboard DD-803. The GAO report is program-level (Navy-wide policy timing), not a survey of this hull or class. NARA GIB retrieval was not performed. navypedia was not re-fetched for this record (timeout); its DD-803 member row was verified in the Atlas Fletcher-class profile (2026-09-17) and is consistent with DANFS.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-06
-
[7]Atlas shipyard dataset (shipyards.json, 37 yard_ids) - scan for the builder yard: Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. / Todd-Pacific Shipyard (Harbor Island, Seattle) is NOT enumerated; nearest-name records are different facilities or eras [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json dataset scan for 'Seattle'/'Tacoma'/'Harbor Island'/'Todd' slugs (todd-shipyards = Houston; lockheed-shipbuilding = same site, later era); Franks (DD-554) record convention for the same builder
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Builder-yard context with explicit limitation: DD-803's builder - Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., which operated the Harbor Island, Seattle yard (per April 2019 DANFS 'soon to be renamed Todd-Pacific Shipyard'; secondary yard histories date the rename June 1944) - is not separately enumerated in the 37-yard Atlas dataset. The dataset's 'todd-shipyards' record is tagged to the Houston Ship Channel, Texas facility - a different operation, not a valid proxy. The 'lockheed-shipbuilding' record is the same Harbor Island site under later operation (1959-1986) but its evidence covers only the Lockheed era (a 1960-75 litigation finding marked 'disputed'), not the 1943-44 Seattle-Tacoma construction period. No Harbor Island wartime asbestos documentation was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44 (undocumented in dataset)
- Limitations
- Yard-level context only, and thinner than for sister records whose builder yard carries yard-specific asbestos findings: no dataset record documents the Seattle-Tacoma yard's wartime practices. Establishes only that the wartime builder yard is undocumented in the dataset - not that materials aboard this hull were or were not asbestos-containing.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-07
-
[8]Lemen RA, Landrigan PJ. 'Sailors and the Risk of Asbestos-Related Cancer.' Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(16):8417. PMID 34444165 [other_primary]
- Locator
- IJERPH 18(16):8417, ship-construction material discussion
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed review documenting that chrysotile and amphibole asbestos were used extensively in ship construction of the era - insulation, joiner bulkhead systems, pipe coverings, boilers, machinery parts, bulkhead panels - and that sailors both worked and lived at their exposure site. Establishes the era-level background against which a 1943-44 steam-plant destroyer must be read.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940s era reviewed; publication 2021
- Population
- U.S. Navy sailors, WWII-era fleet
- Limitations
- Fleet-era epidemiology review; does not name this hull or class. Cannot be read as evidence of asbestos aboard DD-803 - included as background context only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-08
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 authenticated search sweep (opinion index type=o and RECAP docket index type=r) for this vessel's exact name and hull number [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-little-dd803-06 through sl-uss-little-dd803-09; document-level verification: Vesper Doc. 58 (2015-07-30) and Feaster Doc. 74 (2015-12-22) RECAP PDFs fetched and text-searched
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos-litigation record names this hull. Opinion index: 'USS Little' returned 2 hits - Brookins v. Cullins, 23 C.M.A. 216 (1974), a courts-martial command-relief petition directed at the commanding officer of USS LITTLE ROCK (CLG-4), and United States v. Ware, 1 M.J. 645 (N-M. C.M.R. 1975), a military-justice opinion whose 'USS Little' match is unverified at document level but cannot concern a hull sunk in 1945 - collision; 'U.S.S. Little' returned 2 hits - Berg v. Claytor, 591 F.2d 852 (D.C. Cir. 1978) and 436 F. Supp. 76 (D.D.C. 1977), the naval-discharge case of an officer assigned to duty aboard USS Little Rock. Hull-number queries 'DD-803', 'DD803', 'Little DD-803', 'Little DD803' returned zero opinions. RECAP docket index: 'USS Little' returned 18 dockets, 'DD-803' 3, 'DD803' 2 - none qualifying. The asbestos-captioned docket hits were resolved at document level: Vesper v. 3M Co. (D.N.J. 1:15-cv-01322) Doc. 58 and Feaster v. A.W. Chesterton Co. (D.N.J. 1:14-cv-03417) Doc. 74 name 'the USS Little Rock' in plaintiffs' Navy-ship lists (with USS Savannah/Kitty Hawk/Bonefish/NS Savannah); Sebright v. General Electric (D. Mass. 1:19-cv-10593) and the related Sebright VA action allege exposure in the fire rooms of USS Boston and USS Little Rock. Remaining docket hits are criminal, administrative, trademark, or civil-rights matters where the match is a surname, a 'Little Rock' Arkansas reference, or an alphanumeric artifact. No opinion or docket naming USS Little (DD-803) - or the earlier same-name DD-79/APD-4 - in an asbestos context was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- CourtListener indexes opinions and PACER dockets, not state trial filings, VA claims, asbestos trust claims, or settled/unreported matters - absence here does not prove no claim was ever filed. Sunk May 1945; any survivor- or estate-era claim would be decades old and outside indexed coverage. 'Little' is a common surname, a second naval Little (DD-79/APD-4) served 1918-1942, and 'USS Little Rock' (CLG-4) partial-name matches occur in both military and asbestos dockets - all screened as collision classes.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-little-dd803-09