Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet in-packet.md (7 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lovelace-de198-pkt-in-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Lovelace (DE-198), Vol. 4 p.151 (1969) (namesake biography, specifications block, service narrative; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page at history.navy.mil returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry DE-198: namesake biography, specifications block, full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Lt. Comdr. Donald Alexander Lovelace, naval aviator killed 2 June 1942 northeast of Midway; spec block 'cl. Buckley', dp. 1,400, l. 306', s. 24 k., cpl. 186. Laid down 22 May 1943 by Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; launched 4 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Donald A. Lovelace (widow); commissioned 7 November 1943, Lt. Comdr. R. D. de Kay, Jr., in command. Flagship of Destroyer Escort Division 37; departed Norfolk 2 January 1944 for the Pacific - Noumea (arrived 8 February), Solomons escort, Hollandia (24 April), Toem bombardment (8 July), Milne Bay floating drydock (22 July), new 20mm guns at New Caledonia (August); Leyte Gulf 25 October, first enemy plane splashed 26 October, suicide-plane attack on convoy 1 November, assist on bomber 21 November; TF 78 intra-Philippine escort 8 January 1945 - mid-July; air-search radar installed at Manus; Ulithi; Okinawa 9 August; assisted mine-damaged attack transport Coulter with liberated U.S. POWs to Buckner Bay 19 September; departed Subic Bay 1 October, arrived San Diego 23 October 1945. Decommissioned 22 May 1946, berthed at Bremerton, Wash. Struck 1 July 1967; sunk as target. Three battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1943; wartime crew (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents namesake, construction, specifications, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. The target-sinking detail is compressed in DANFS ('acting as a target for destruction'); date and location come from NavSource. Live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim ibiblio/HyperWar transcription cited (hazegray mirror of DANFS Vol. 4 p.151 corroborates).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Lovelace (DE-198) page (specifications block; building and operational data; U.S. Navy photographs) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/06/198.htm - specifications block and 'Building and Operational Data' chronology
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: class Buckley, type TE (turbine-electric drive, 3-inch guns); propulsion '2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws', 24 kts; complement 15 officers / 198 enlisted. Operational data: keel laid 22 May 1943 Norfolk Navy Yard; launched 4 July 1943; commissioned 7 November 1943 at the yard's St. Helena Annex; decommissioned 22 May 1946 at San Diego after steaming 117,005 miles, credited with destruction of one Japanese aircraft; inactivation completed 20 February 1947 at San Diego, assigned to Submarine Group Two, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the NVR 1 July 1967 while mothballed at Bremerton, Wash.; sunk as a target off San Clemente Island, Cal., 25 April 1968.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Population
- Wartime crew 1943-1946; reserve-fleet caretaker population 1947-1967 undocumented
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled archive drawing on official records - authoritative secondary, not a primary document; key details corroborated against DANFS where overlapping (laid down, launched, commissioned, decommissioned, struck). The sinking date/location and inactivation dates are NavSource-specific details not in the DANFS narrative. Documents machinery configuration and disposition - not materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-02
-
[4]U.S. Navy photograph 19-LCM-DE198-1 (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park), via NavSource image 0619805 - caption: USS Lovelace (DE-198) at Noumea, New Caledonia, 10-19 February 1944 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource image 0619805 caption; NARA photo no. 19-LCM-DE198-1
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- An official U.S. Navy photograph (NARA identifier 19-LCM-DE198-1) depicts this hull anchored at Noumea, New Caledonia, 10-19 February 1944, with the archive caption recording that 'While anchored she took the opportunity to clean both her boilers, fire and watersides.' Ship-specific confirmation that DE-198 carried a two-boiler steam plant in service - consistent with the Buckley TE design's two 'D' express-type boilers - and that boiler maintenance (fireside and waterside cleaning) was performed aboard during wartime operations.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-02
- Population
- Lovelace engineering crew performing boiler cleaning, Noumea, February 1944
- Limitations
- The photograph and caption confirm boilers existed aboard this hull and were periodically cleaned - they say nothing about insulation composition, lagging materials, or asbestos content. Caption text survives via NavSource transcription of the NARA photo record; the NARA catalog entry itself was not separately retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-03
-
[5]Navypedia TE-type (Buckley-class) destroyer escort member table + BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. I DE design groups 2-3 (shipscribe.com scan) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Norfolk Naval Shipyard record (tier-2 asbestos-era yard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia us_de_te.htm member table row DE198 + boiler-block map; SDB1945v1.pdf DE design section (groups 2-3); shipyards.json record 'norfolk-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: the Buckley class is the turbo-electric (TE) destroyer-escort design - one of only two DE types (with John C. Butler WGT) carrying a full steam plant: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design groups 2-3 record 2 'D' express-type boilers at 435 psi / 750F superheat feeding GE turbo-electric machinery at 12,000 shp; the navypedia per-block boiler-manufacturer map assigns Babcock & Wilcox boilers to DE-198's construction block (DE-198-213, Norfolk Navy Yard). A ship of this design and era would have carried the standard steam-ship asbestos set - boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line and turbine lagging, gaskets and packing - plus general era items (electrical insulation, brake linings, deck coverings). Builder Norfolk Navy Yard is documented in the Atlas shipyard dataset (tier 2) with shipyard-level asbestos product records incl. pipe insulation/lagging, boiler and turbine insulation, gaskets and packing, Marinite, Transite, Kaylo, Unibestos.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Population
- Norfolk Navy Yard construction trades 1943; wartime crew 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No hull-level material schedule, insulation specification, or survey was located for DE-198; the boiler-manufacturer assignment is navypedia-sourced and unverified against contract documents; yard-level records document the builder's asbestos-era operations, not installation aboard this hull. Establishes no quantities and no individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-04
-
[6]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's extensive shipboard asbestos insulation use during the era in which this hull was built, with substitution not beginning until the early 1970s - DE-198's 1943 construction, 1943-46 commission, 1947-67 reserve-fleet mothball, and 1968 destruction fall entirely inside the documented asbestos-use era and end before any substitution-era yard period could occur.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program-level)
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only - not class- or hull-specific. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch); content via product-page description, same limitation as prior batch records.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-05
-
[7]Batch-4113 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS transcription; NavSource and navypedia member records; NARA photo 19-LCM-DE198-1 via NavSource; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 (shipscribe.com); VA BVA decisions (via web search); CourtListener sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- this record, search_ledger sl-uss-lovelace-de198-01 through -10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-198: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, disposal or donation-condition hazmat disclosure, museum record, or ship-specific industrial-hygiene document; no qualifying asbestos litigation or BVA decision naming this hull located in the searches performed; no competitor/law-firm page about this hull cites a primary source (asbestos-ships.com, mesotheliomahelp.org, shepardlawfirm.com listicles located and excluded). The hull was sunk as a target off San Clemente Island on 25 April 1968 - no extant-hull survey is possible, and no NRHP/HAER documentation exists.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era materials consistent with the TE steam design are a reasonable inference, not a ship-proven fact. Undigitized archival leads remain: NARA RG 19 (BuShips contract specifications / General Information Books), NARA RG 24 deck logs, and the Norfolk Navy Yard industrial records; any SINKEX environmental review for the 1968 sinking is unlocated. Litigation sweep coverage is bounded by CourtListener pacing - see search ledger.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lovelace-de198-06