Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]DANFS, Mack (DE-358), updated entry by Robert J. Cressman dated 28 July 2022 (NHHC live page returns 404; 2024-05-24 Wayback capture cited) + verbatim 1969 print transcription at hazegray/losthistory (DANFS Vol. 4, p.181) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Mack (DE-358)' entry (updated 2022-07-28), specifications block + service narrative; print DANFS Vol. 4 p.181 via https://losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/escorts/de358.txt
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for GM2/c Harold John Mack (Navy Cross, posthumous, USS Vincennes CA-44, Savo Island 9 Aug 1942); laid down 14 February 1944 at Orange, Texas, by Consolidated Steel Corp., Shipbuilding Division; launched 11 April 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Gertrude Mack; commissioned 16 August 1944, Lt. Cmdr. John F. Nelson, D-V(G), USNR, in command. Shakedown off the east coast; ComCortDiv 82 at Norfolk 17-20 October 1944, departed 21 October for the Panama Canal en route to the Pacific. Seventh Fleet convoy escort Hollandia-Kossol Roads-Leyte until March 1945; antisubmarine patrols South China Sea from 2 March 1945; grounded on uncharted shoal in Mangarin Bay 13 March 1945 (both screws and tail shafts damaged); towed to Hollandia for repairs 14 April-4 June 1945; escort Hollandia-Manila; Port Director Manila/San Fernando convoy escort until 3 August 1945; Port Director Subic - landing-craft convoy Subic to Okinawa; air-sea rescue patrols Philippines-Palaus from 4 September 1945 and east of Samar; Okinawa and Shanghai December 1945; FS-274 distress response and collision damage to bow 10-11 January 1946, repairs at Subic; Escort Division 33 to Tsingtao, China, February-April 1946 (Shanghai, Taku); San Pedro 11 May 1946; inactivation; out of commission in reserve 11 December 1946 at San Diego; Pacific inactive fleet berthed at Mare Island through the end of the 1960s; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 15 March 1972; disposed of by Navy sale 1973 for scrap. Specifications block: displacement 1,350 t; length 306'0"; draft 13'4"; speed 24.3 kt; complement 232; class John C. Butler.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades (Orange, Tex., Feb-Aug 1944); wartime crew (design complement 232); Hollandia repair crews April-June 1945; Subic repair crews January 1946
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Sale-date conflict: updated NHHC entry reads 'disposed-of, by Navy Sale, on 1 May 1973' while the print DANFS bracket (Bauer & Roberts, Register of Ships 1775-1990) and NavSource read sold 13 June 1973 - carried in gaps. The updated entry's 'Departing Subic Bay on 11 February 1945' is a typo for 1946 (the surrounding narrative is the 1946 Tsingtao deployment preceding the May 1946 San Pedro arrival). Live NHHC page 404; Wayback capture of the updated entry and hazegray's verbatim print transcription cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-01
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[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (Jan 1945), DE design-group table row 6 (shipscribe.com scan) + navypedia WGT page boiler-block map [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 design-group table row 6; navypedia us_de_tev_wgt boiler-block map
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-358 is a John C. Butler-class (BuShips design group 6, WGT) hull - official 1945 BuShips table reads 306 ft oa, 1,350 t standard, 24.3 kt, 2 shafts, 12,000 shp, 2 'D' express boilers at 435 psi/750F; the navypedia boiler-block map places DE-339 through DE-372 (including this hull) on Combustion Engineering boilers with Westinghouse geared turbines. A superheated steam plant built Feb-Aug 1944 sits inside the Navy's peak asbestos-use era and would have carried period-standard boiler and steam-drum insulation, steam-line lagging, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades (Orange, Tex. 1944); crew 1944-46; reserve-fleet maintenance/berthing personnel 1946-72; scrapping workers 1973
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No per-hull material schedule, insulation spec, or survey for DE-358 was located; the BuShips table documents design, not materials, and the boiler-maker attribution rests on the navypedia block map (secondary compilation, unverified against contract documents). Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-02
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[3]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - pretrial/exhibit-list materials naming sister ship USS Brannon (DE-446, John C. Butler class) and identifying the Navy insulation-spec suite [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener docket 6100500, ECF 738 att. 1 (pretrial order materials / exhibit list)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context (sister ship, not this hull): pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec name USS Brannon (DE-446, John C. Butler class per the docket's own Jane's Fighting Ships exhibit entry) and recite a Griscom-Russell evaporator installed per Navy specifications 'without insulation... The Navy did not consult it about the type of insulation it planned to use,' with proposed testimony that 'asbestos was a critical material during WWII when the Navy installed the distiller on Mr. Jack's ship' alongside the caveat that 'on the USS BRANNON this could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the primary Navy insulation-document suite used in DE-era asbestos litigation: BuShips Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (24 Aug 1945); Navy Dept spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (Oct 1945); BuEng ch.13 (1933/39); BUMED 1977 memo.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2017 (litigation); 1943-45 (construction era at issue)
- Population
- John C. Butler-class crew and construction/maintenance trades (class context)
- Limitations
- Pretrial/exhibit-list level material concerning a different hull (DE-446) - allegation and expert-recital stage, no adjudicated exposure finding even for Brannon, and nothing in this docket names DE-358. Class context establishing the documented insulation-spec framework for the type, not ship-specific evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-03
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[4]Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr. 9828426 (decision 1998-09-23, docket 94-15 783, RO Houston) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BVA Citation Nr. 9828426, Findings of Fact 1-3 and coworker-letter recitals
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Builder-yard exposure record (adjudicated): a veteran employed as a driller (boilermaker department) at Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas, 1942-46 - the same yard and period as this hull's construction - sought service connection for asbestos disease. The Board's findings of fact: (1) 'the veteran was not exposed to asbestos during his periods of employment with Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange, Texas' - supported by coworker letters that hull-side drilling occurred before asbestos-containing materials appeared in the construction sequence; (2) 'the veteran was exposed to asbestos when serving aboard Navy vessels in service' (his ships were USS Prince William, AN-37 Teakwood, and a WWI-era destroyer - not this hull); (3) asbestos-related lung disease service-connected. Documents that the Orange yard's wartime workforce included boilermaker-department trades and that asbestos exposure aboard WWII Navy vessels of the era was adjudicated as factual - while the specific yard-floor claim was rejected for that worker.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1946 (employment/service); 1993-1998 (adjudication)
- Population
- Consolidated Steel (Orange) boilermaker-department trades 1942-46; Navy crew of the claimant's actual vessels
- Limitations
- Context only: names the builder yard and era but not this hull, and the Board found AGAINST yard-floor asbestos exposure for that claimant's particular job (outside hull drilling) - it must not be cited as proof of asbestos conditions at Consolidated Steel, nor of any condition aboard DE-358. It is evidence that era Navy service (not yard work) grounded that claimant's exposure finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-04
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[5]NARA Navy deck-log holdings (post-1941 logs at Archives II, College Park) for USS Mack (DE-358), 1944-1946; ship's official war history submitted at war's end (referenced in NavSource archive entry for DE-358); NHHC photo NH 79835 [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online; NavSource DE-358 archive page (war-history reference; NH 79835 Stockton photo dated 9 April 1972)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Hull-specific primary records exist but were not retrieved: deck logs for commissioned Navy ships dated 1941 and later are held at the National Archives at College Park (Archives II), and a ship-submitted war history for DE-358 is referenced in the NavSource photo-archive entry. Deck logs and the war diary document operations and movements, not materials - but repair-period entries (Mangarin Bay grounding repairs at Hollandia April-June 1945; bow-damage repairs at Subic January 1946) are the likeliest contemporaneous paper trail for hull work that would have disturbed era insulation.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Wartime crew 1944-46; repair crews Hollandia and Subic
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: NARA catalog digitization status for DE-358 logs not verified (catalog API key unavailable this session); these logs are operational records that typically do not enumerate insulation materials. Nothing in this lead establishes asbestos presence aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-05
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[6]Batch-4262 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS (live 404; Wayback capture of updated entry + hazegray print transcription); CourtListener authenticated API v4 opinion sweep (exact-name and hull-number); NavSource archive; Atlas shipyards.json; VA BVA decisions; NARA deck-log holdings [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-mack-de358-01 through sl-uss-mack-de358-08
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-358: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no scrapping/disposal hazmat disclosure (1973 sale predates modern ship-recycling hazmat documentation), and no litigation naming this hull was found. CourtListener opinion sweep returned zero hits for the exact-name query 'USS Mack' and 17 hits for 'DE-358' that are all identifier collisions (docket-entry references '[DE 358]'/'[DE xxx]', monetary figures, and unrelated civil/criminal/bankruptcy matters) - none vessel-related, none asbestos litigation. RECAP docket-type queries were attempted but blocked by fleet-wide quota pacing; see search_ledger.
- 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 1944 steam-plant DE sits in the documented peak-use era and era materials would have remained through 1973 scrapping absent removal. This finding establishes only that no ship-specific public documentation was located in the sources searched; it does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mack-de358-06