Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet fs-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: Maddox | Hull: DD-622 | Designation: destroyer, second Navy ship of the name
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-maddox-dd622-pkt-fs-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Maddox II (DD-622) (builder, dates, specifications, service narrative, sinking, striking, battle stars; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (hazegray transcription via Wayback capture 2006-11-21)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: the second Maddox (DD-622) laid down 7 May 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 15 September 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Ellen-Venita Browning Wilhoit Gay, great-granddaughter of Captain Maddox; commissioned 31 October 1942, Lt. Comdr. Eugene S. Sarsfield in command. Spec block: Gleaves class; dp 1,630; l. 348'4"; b. 36'1"; dr. 17'5"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 270; a. 4 5", 5 20mm., 5 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct. After shakedown departed New York 2 January 1943 for Norfolk escort duty - fleet-oiler convoys Norfolk-Galveston-Aruba, then transatlantic convoys New York/Norfolk to North Africa; departed Norfolk 8 June 1943 for Oran as a unit of TF 81, assault force for the Sicilian invasion; on antisubmarine patrol ~16 miles offshore 10 July 1943, steaming alone, attacked by a German dive bomber - a bomb exploded the after magazine and she rolled over and sank within 2 minutes; Lt. Comdr. Sarsfield posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for supervising abandon ship, credited with saving 74 of the crew; struck from the Navy list 19 August 1943 (transcription misprints '1843'); two battle stars for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock construction trades May-Oct 1942; crew 1942-43 (DANFS design complement 270; 284 aboard at loss per official casualty accounting)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The hazegray transcription misprints the striking year as '1843'; 1943 is confirmed by context and secondary compilations. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing link-rot defect since batch-01).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-01
-
[3]Bureau of Naval Personnel, 'Statement Concerning Finding of Death,' 1 July 1944 (A.C. Jacobs, Head of Casualties and Allotments Section; approved James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy, 13 July 1944) - incorporating the ship's action report of 15 July 1943 and the Commander Destroyer Squadron SEVENTEEN report of 14 July 1943; plus the Executive Officer's next-of-kin letter (Lt. W. R. Laird Jr., 8 November 1943). NARA Modern Military Branch documents transcribed at ussmaddox.org (USS Maddox Association) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ussmaddox.org/KIA-Statement.htm - full statement text + XO letter (NARA Modern Military Branch documents)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous official Navy record of this hull's loss and casualty accounting: 'At 0458, 10 July 1943, the MADDOX ... while screening our transport area of Gela, was damaged by enemy bombs. She sank two minutes later in position 36 deg 52' N., 13 deg 56' E., or about 16 miles off Gela Point.' Three or four bombs; 'two hits on the after section' - deckhouse aft of number two stack ripped open, 5-inch mount three and after deckhouse leveled or blown over the side, depth-charge projectors and racks leveled, fire and steam pouring from number two stack; ~5-degree port list, righted, then rolled rapidly to starboard and sank vertically. ComDesRon 17 report (14 July 1943): nine officers and 65 men rescued (picked up by the tug INTENT after ~1 hour in the water); eight officers and 202 men missing and presumed dead - 210 lost of 284 aboard. All known survivors were from the forward part of the ship except six enlisted men (four from the after fireroom, two from the 20mm platform aft of number two stack). The XO letter to next of kin notes the decedent 'was in the engineering department ... his station was in an engineroom' - documenting crew stationed in machinery spaces.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-07-10 (loss); 1943-44 (reports and finding)
- Population
- 284 aboard at loss (210 killed/missing + 74 rescued per official accounting); tug INTENT crew during rescue
- Limitations
- Faithful-text transcription hosted on a veterans-association website of documents obtained from the NARA Modern Military Branch; underlying originals are NARA records. Documents casualty accounting, loss mechanics, and crew stationing - not materials or asbestos content. The 284-aboard figure is this record's own arithmetic (210 missing + 74 rescued); the XO letter's 'about two hours' in the water differs from the action report's 'about an hour' - carried in gaps. Proves nothing about fiber aboard; establishes the population aboard at loss.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-02
-
[4]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' (Preliminary Design Section, Navy Department, 25 January 1947; NHHC Online Reading Room via HyperWar mirror) [other_primary]
- Locator
- WDR-51 Table II section A.a and para. 2-31 (ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC mirror)
- 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') classifies MADDOX (DD622), 1630T, bombs, Sicily, 7/10/43, under 'Flooding - loss of buoyancy aggravated by radical list' alongside Preston (DD379), Hoel (DD533), Johnston (DD577), Reid (DD369), and Drexler (DD741). Paragraph 2-31 adds that 'a similar sequence of flooding aft, followed by plunging, took place more rapidly in the losses of DREXLER, LUCE, MADDOX and MORRISON' - the after-end progressive-flooding failure mode the report analyzes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943 (loss); 1947 (analysis)
- Population
- Maddox crew 1942-43 (engineering-spaces context only)
- Limitations
- Postwar engineering loss-mode analysis; documents flooding/sinking mechanics, not materials or asbestos content. Maddox is tabled and discussed but is not one of the report's eleven full case studies.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-03
-
[5]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index, DD-622 USS Maddox - operational/building data block, machinery line, fate line, namesake biography, and NARA/ACME photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-622 page - 'Operational and Building Data,' 'Fate,' machinery line, namesake caption, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource index data for this hull: laid down by Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny NJ, 7 May 1942; launched 15 September 1942 (with sister Nelson DD-623 launched minutes later); commissioned 31 October 1942; sunk by German aircraft off Gela, Sicily, 10 July 1943 - '210 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty.' Machinery: 50,000 shp Westinghouse geared turbines, 2 screws; crew 208; displacement 2,395 t full. Photo captions document yard/port presence: off Kearny 30 October 1942 (NARA 19-N-36532), underway off New York City 17 November 1942 (NARA 19-N-36453), at Brooklyn/New York Navy Yard during early 1943 and on 24 May 1943 with Glennon DD-620 and Butler DD-636. Namesake biography: Capt. William A. T. Maddox, USMC (Charles County, Md., 1814 - Washington, D.C., 1 January 1889), Marine officer of the Creek, Seminole, and Mexican Wars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Federal Kearny construction trades 1942; New York Navy Yard workforce during documented 1943 presence; crew 1942-43
- Limitations
- NavSource is a secondary compilation indexing official records, not a primary document; dates and machinery line agree with DANFS. Its crew figure (208) equals the Gleaves class design complement and conflicts with DANFS's spec-block 270 and the 284-aboard official casualty accounting - carried in gaps. Photo captions document New York Navy Yard presence but not the scope of any industrial work performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-04
-
[6]Destroyer History Foundation - USS Maddox (DD-622) page + Gleaves-class general information page (class specs: 1,630 tons standard, 348' LOA, 50,000 shp, 37 kt design, 2 screws, design complement 9 officers + 199 enlisted) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org/benson-gleavesclass/ussmaddox/ + index.asp?r=0&pid=220 (class general information table)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Specialized destroyer-history reference reproducing the DANFS narrative for this hull and adding class-level specifications (Gleaves class: 66 ships, 1,630 tons; designed 50,000 shp, 37 kt, complement 208). Records Maddox 'to a German dive bomber off Gela, Sicily on 10 July 1943' and notes that Gearing-class USS Sarsfield (DD-837) was named for Maddox's lost commanding officer.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- crew 1942-43
- Limitations
- Secondary historical compilation (DANFS-derived for the narrative); adds no materials or asbestos information. Used for class-design figures and cross-consistency, not as an independent primary source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-05
-
[7]Atlas shipyard dataset, 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' record (tier 2): Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny NJ (Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944; Heathman v. Owens-Corning exhibit) + yard product records (Johns-Manville Superex pipe covering 1940-48; Owens-Illinois Kaylo 1948-58; W.R. Grace Monokote 1950s+; Garlock gaskets 1930-75) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (evidence row ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944; products pd-federal-kearny-01 through -04)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Builder-yard context: Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock, Kearny NJ, where this hull was built May-October 1942, is documented at yard level as an asbestos site - an Owens-Illinois industrial health survey of the yard (30 Aug-2 Sep 1944, wartime production peak) documented insulators cutting and fitting Johns-Manville Superex asbestos pipe covering and boiler insulation in confined spaces, with dust counts measured during cutting/fitting operations. Yard product records period-bound the documented materials: Superex pipe covering 1940-48 overlaps this hull's build window; Kaylo (1948-58) and Monokote (1950s+) postdate it.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942 (hull build); 1944 (yard survey)
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock insulators/pipefitters and construction trades, wartime peak
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation only - establishes that the builder was a documented asbestos site during the wartime era, not that specific materials went aboard this hull. The 1944 survey postdates DD-622's construction by ~2 years (same yard, same production regime, not the same work). Manufacturer-conducted survey (Owens-Illinois) introduced as litigation exhibit. Read as context for ev-07, not as ship-specific evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-06
-
[8]DANFS/NavSource specifications (Gleaves class; 50,000 shp Westinghouse geared turbines) + Destroyer History Foundation class design data + NARA RG19 General Information Books archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org Gleaves general-information table; NavSource DD-622 machinery line; NARA RG19 archival lead
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Gleaves-class destroyer built May-October 1942 at a wartime commercial yard with a 50,000-shp 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 insulated-steam-plant configuration documented as asbestos-bearing across the WWII destroyer fleet. The hull sank nine months after commissioning with no overhaul, modernization, or disposal phase; the wartime fit went down with the ship. NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications are the archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Federal Kearny construction trades 1942; engineering crew 1942-43
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; no source documents an asbestos product aboard DD-622. NARA GIB retrieval not performed. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure; specifically, it makes no claim about the crew or the 210 men lost with the ship.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-07
-
[9]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 2021;18(16):8417, ship-construction passages
- 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 1942 commercial-yard steam destroyer must be read.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 20th-century naval construction era
- Population
- Naval/merchant sailors generally (era context)
- Limitations
- Fleet-era epidemiology review; does not name this hull or class. Cannot be read as evidence of asbestos aboard DD-622 - included as background context only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-08
-
[10]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-maddox-dd622-08 through -11
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Opinion-index sweep complete with zero hits: "USS Maddox" returned 0 opinions and "DD-622" returned 0 opinions in the authenticated CourtListener v4 index (2026-09-27). The RECAP docket-index sweep ("USS Maddox" and "DD-622", type=r) could not be completed - the fleet-wide pacing budget was continuously spent across ~75 minutes of spaced retries and every attempt returned the pacing-standdown signal; the docket sweep is deferred as an open item rather than retried into a throttle.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- none identified
- 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 1943 with 210 lost; any survivor-era claim would be decades old and outside indexed coverage. 'Maddox' is a high-collision name: Maddox III (DD-731, commissioned June 1944, the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin destroyer) absorbs nearly all post-1944 service allegations; an unindexed 'USS Maddox' hit dated August 1943 onward cannot be this hull and requires exposure-window screening. Docket-index coverage remains incomplete pending a pacing window (see search_ledger).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-maddox-dd622-09