Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet jb-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-mccook-dd252-pkt-jb-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, McCook I (Destroyer No. 252), Naval History and Heritage Command (published 2016-02-25; live NHHC URL returns 404 as of 2026-09-27 - verbatim text verified via Internet Archive Wayback capture 2025-12-09 and the hazegray/losthistory.net transcription) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'McCook I (Destroyer No. 252)' entry, specifications block + service narrative (Wayback capture 2025-12-09; mirror https://losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/destroy/dd252txt.htm)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 10 September 1918 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, Mass.; launched 31 January 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Henry C. Dinger; commissioned 30 April 1919 (Lt. Comdr. G. B. Ashe); assigned to Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet; east-coast operations; decommissioned at Philadelphia 30 June 1922; Atlantic Reserve Fleet until recommissioned 18 December 1939; designated 1940 for the destroyers-for-bases exchange; arrived Halifax 20 September 1940; decommissioned and transferred to Great Britain 24 September 1940; immediately retransferred to the Canadian Navy owing to Royal Navy manpower shortages and commissioned as HMCS St. Croix (I-81). RCN service per the same DANFS entry: hurricane-damage repairs until 14 March 1941; Newfoundland Escort Force (St. John's-Reykjavik) from late August 1941; Mid-Ocean Escort Force (to Londonderry) from May 1942; sank U-90 on 24 July 1942 (convoy ON 113); assisted HMCS Shediac in sinking U-87 on 4 March 1943 (convoy KMS 10); joined the ONS 18 / ON 202 convoy defense on 16 September 1943; sunk 20 September 1943 after three hits in the stern - first of three escorts lost in the action; HMS Itchen picked up 81 survivors the next morning and was herself torpedoed the following day, leaving one St. Croix survivor.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1943
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; USN crew 1919-1922 and 1939-1940 (DANFS design complement 120); RCN crew 1940-1943
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Strike date (1941-01-08) is not in the DANFS text and rests on NavSource and Tin Can Sailors disposition tables. Casualty count not given in DANFS - the 147 figure rests on the Naval Museum of Manitoba page. Live NHHC page 404s as of 2026-09-27; content verified against the Wayback capture and the independent hazegray transcription, which agree verbatim except hazegray's '1930' typo for the 1939 recommissioning.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Photo Index: USS McCook (DD-252) - operational and building data, machinery line, commanding-officer table, photo captions (live navsource.org refused automated fetch; verbatim content verified via Wayback capture 2024-05-27) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 05/252 'Operational and Building Data' block, machinery line, and photo captions (Wayback capture 2024-05-27)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource building/operations record for this hull: built by Bethlehem Steel, Quincy, MA, yard no. 332; laid down 11 September 1918 (one day later than DANFS's 10 September - conflict carried in gaps); launched 31 January 1919; commissioned 30 April 1919; decommissioned 30 June 1922; recommissioned 18 December 1939; decommissioned and transferred to Britain/Canada 24 September 1940 as HMCS St. Croix (I81); stricken 8 January 1941; torpedoed and sunk by U-305 southwest of Iceland 20 September 1943. Machinery line: 26,500 shp geared turbines, two screws, 35 knots, crew 114; 'as built' armament line reads 4 x 4"/50 and 1 x 3"/23AA (vs DANFS's two 3-inch - carried in gaps). Photo captions place this hull at Venice in 1919 (with USS Gridley, DD-92) and on the East River circa 1921.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1943
- Population
- USN crew (NavSource crew line reads 114)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated photographic-history compilation, not a primary record; used here for the strike date, yard number, machinery line, and port-call corroboration. Its laid-down date and crew/armament figures conflict with DANFS by one day and a few units respectively - documented rather than silently reconciled. Contains no materials or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-02
-
[4]Naval Museum of Manitoba, 'HMCS ST. CROIX' history page (RCN service narrative and loss accounting) [museum_official]
- Locator
- naval-museum.mb.ca HMCS St. Croix page - 'A Tragic Saga' and 'The Loss of HMCS St. Croix' sections
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Naval museum record for this hull's Canadian identity: built 1919 for the USN as USS McCook; reserve at Philadelphia 1922; recommissioned December 1939; transferred to the Canadian Navy at Halifax 24 September 1940 as HMCS St. Croix. Storm damage on the 30 November 1940 U.K.-bound passage forced return to Halifax (arrived 18 December), under repair until mid-March 1941; local escort; Newfoundland Escort Force August 1941; six-month Saint John, N.B. refit; first MOEF convoy SC.84 (May 1942); sank U-90 while escorting ON.113 on 24 July 1942; assisted HMCS Shediac destroying U-87 on 4 March 1943 (convoy KMS.10); Escort Group C-1 April 1943, C-5 June 1943, then C-9 in September 1943 with St. Francis, Chambly, Morden, Sackville and HMS Itchen. Loss: torpedoed by U-305 south of Iceland 20 September 1943 at 2151 while escorting ON.202 - two GNAT acoustic torpedoes aft, a third sank her within three minutes; sixty-five of the ship's company perished in the sinking; 81 survivors (5 officers, 76 ratings) recovered by HMS Itchen after about 13 hours in the water; HMS Polyanthus sunk by U-952 while screening; Itchen torpedoed by U-666 about 0200 on 23 September; only three men rescued - two Itchen and Stoker W. Fisher, the sole St. Croix survivor. The museum records 147 Canadian sailors perished in total; Surgeon Lt. W.L.M. King, RCNVR (Prime Minister Mackenzie King's nephew) was among those lost.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940-1943
- Population
- RCN ship's company 1940-1943 (147 dead; 1 ultimate survivor)
- Limitations
- Museum history page documents RCN operations and the loss accounting; contains no materials or asbestos information. Casualty figures are internally approximate (65 at sinking + most of the 81 rescued later lost with Itchen, vs. the '147 total' figure) - carried as stated. Itchen's sinking is dated 22 September in DANFS and about 0200 on the 23rd by the museum. U-305 attribution rests on the museum, NavSource, and canada.ca (the NavalCoverMuseum wiki's 'U-952' reading confuses the U-boat that sank Polyanthus).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-03
-
[5]Government of Canada / Royal Canadian Navy, 'Fighting the U-Boats (1939-1945)' official history page and 'Rear-Admiral Leonard Murray' profile (canada.ca) [other_primary]
- Locator
- canada.ca 'Fighting the U-Boats' page (St. Croix class paragraph and photo caption H-1293); canada.ca Leonard Murray profile (29 July 1942 awards paragraph)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Canadian Navy history context: the RCN's mid-ocean-capable escorts in 1940-41 were its pre-war River-class destroyers and the ex-American four-stackers - styled the 'St. Croix class' in RCN service, of which this hull was the name ship; a DND photo caption (H-1293) records 'NCSM St. Croix (I81), mars 1941'; the official history notes St. Croix was sunk by a U-305 torpedo on 20 September 1943 while with Escort Group 9; the Leonard Murray page records the 29 July 1942 award presentation to St. Croix crew members for the U-90 sinking.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940-1943
- Population
- RCN mid-ocean escort crews 1940-1943
- Limitations
- Government-history context only - corroborates the RCN period, the 'St. Croix class' grouping, the EG-9 assignment, the U-305 attribution, and the U-90 award; contains no materials or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-04
-
[6]NARA RG 19 scan via Internet Archive: 'USA - DD Wickes & Clemson Class Booklet of General Plans' (dated 1919-10-01, Navy Yard Newport News; File Unit 'Plans for Flush Deckers, 1789-1967', Series 'Alphabetical Series of Ship Engineering Drawings', Record Group 19, Records of the Bureau of Ships) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Fore River Shipyard record (yard_id 'fore-river-shipyard', evidence_tier 3) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json record 'fore-river-shipyard' (asbestos_products_documented, product_normalized); archive.org item ddflushdeckersbogp1919 description (NARA file-unit provenance)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Clemson-class destroyer built 1918-19 with a four-boiler, geared-steam-turbine plant (NavSource machinery line: 26,500 shp, two screws) would have carried the period-standard insulated fit - boiler and steam-line lagging, turbine insulation, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing - of the types documented at yard level for the builder: the Atlas shipyards.json record for Fore River Shipyard (Quincy, MA, tier 3) lists documented asbestos products including boiler insulation, pipe insulation/lagging, turbine insulation, gaskets, valve and pump packing, fireproofing, asbestos cement, asbestos cloth, and asbestos-containing paint. NARA RG 19 holds the Wickes & Clemson-class Booklet of General Plans dated 1 October 1919 (10 sheets: general information, outboard/inboard profiles, deck plans, sections) - a class-level design record contemporaneous with this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1943
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; USN and RCN crews 1919-1943
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The yard record documents yard practice across 1883-1986 (its flagship litigation row covers a 1967-70 pipefitter apprentice), not materials installed aboard DD-252; the 1919 plan set is a general-arrangement booklet not verified to itemize insulation materials. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-05
-
[7]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987); Fleischer, Viles, Gade & Drinker, 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Am. J. Ind. Med. 11(3):359-373 (1987); J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (1946)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed era scholarship: Corn & Starr document that the U.S. Navy required and used asbestos-containing shipboard materials in WWII shipbuilding; the Fleischer et al. USMC-commissioned industrial-hygiene survey found amosite 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels' (1944-45 fieldwork). These establish the Navy's documented reliance on asbestos shipboard insulation across the era bracketing this hull's 1918-19 construction and 1939-40 reactivation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940s
- Population
- WWII-era Navy shipbuilding and pipe-covering trades (class context)
- Limitations
- Era-scholarship context only - both sources document WWII-era (1940s) practice, which postdates this hull's 1918-19 construction. Neither names DD-252 nor the Clemson class; they establish policy/material continuity, not this hull's fit. Not a ship-specific finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 sweep results for this hull: 'DD-252' opinion hits (6) are all N.Y. App. Div. family/juvenile matters where 'DD-252' appears as a docket/identifier fragment; 'DD-252' RECAP hits (4) are Shirazi v. Meta (N.D. Cal. statutory), In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation (N.D. Ohio MDL), Egyptian Navigation Co. v. Wakalex (S.D.N.Y. marine contract), and SIPA v. Madoff (S.D.N.Y. bankruptcy) - none ship-related; 'McCook' + asbestos opinion hits (11) carry McCook as surname or locality (incl. McCook, Illinois industrial-site context) in non-naval litigation [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search results, query set recorded at sl-uss-mccook-dd252-05 through sl-uss-mccook-dd252-08
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Verified name collisions: every CourtListener hit for the hull-number and asbestos-conditional name queries classifies as a non-vessel match (docket-fragment, surname, or locality references in unrelated litigation). Separately, the second USS McCook (DD-496, Gleaves-class, in service 1943-1949) is the high-collision hull for any post-1943 'USS McCook' exposure claim - hull attribution must be explicit; law-firm marketing ship lists name both DD-252 and DD-496 without primary support (excluded source class).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Collision classification rests on case-name, court, nature-of-suit, and date metadata in the search index; one spot-check fetch (opinion 4306901, a 'DD-252' opinion hit) resolved to J.A.M., Sr. v. C.M.A., a Pennsylvania allocatur order in an anonymized custody matter - confirming the docket-fragment collision pattern. Remaining hits' full texts were not individually fetched (fleet pacing budget constrained fetches). A 'McCook' surname/locality reference inside an asbestos complaint's unindexed text could still exist; the sweep covers the opinion index and RECAP docket index only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-07
-
[9]Batch-3251 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS via Wayback; NavSource via Wayback; Naval Museum of Manitoba; canada.ca RCN history; CourtListener exact-name, hull-number, and asbestos-conditional sweeps; NVR; VA BVA index web check; NARA RG 19 plan-set location [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-mccook-dd252-01 through sl-uss-mccook-dd252-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-252: the hull was sunk in action on 1943-09-20, so no postwar ACM survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, MARAD/NDRF custody record, or donation-condition document exists or is feasible; no docketed asbestos case naming USS McCook, DD-252, Destroyer No. 252, or HMCS St. Croix (I81) was found in the CourtListener opinion or RECAP docket indexes; the VA BVA index web check returned only surname/locality collisions.
- 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 destroyer sunk with her 1919/1940 fit intact would have carried era materials to the wreck, but that is inference, not a ship-specific documentation finding; the wreck is deep, unsurveyed, and a war grave. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-08
-
[10]NARA Guide to Federal Records leads: RG 19 'Alphabetical Series of Ship Engineering Drawings' (Wickes & Clemson Booklet of General Plans, 1919-10-01 - digitized) and RG 19 General Information Books (per-vessel material specifications - not digitized); RG 24 Navy deck logs (Destroyer No. 252, 1919-1940); Library and Archives Canada RCN files for HMCS St. Croix (1940-43, incl. Halifax repair period) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archive.org item ddflushdeckersbogp1919 (NARA file-unit provenance); NARA RG 19/RG 24 record-group guides; LAC RCN holdings
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Unretrieved archival leads for hull-level material documentation: the digitized 1919 Wickes & Clemson Booklet of General Plans (10 sheets - cover, general information, profiles, decks, sections) is class-level and was not verified to itemize insulation or lagging materials; NARA RG 19 General Information Books hold per-vessel material specifications and are the lead for hull-level specs; RG 24 deck logs cover the USN periods (1919-1922, 1939-1940); Library and Archives Canada holds RCN service and Halifax repair records for the 1940-43 St. Croix period (including the November-December 1940 hurricane-damage repair file - a documented disturbance event whose material scope is unrecorded in cited sources).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1943 (record coverage); 2026-09-27 (assessment)
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - none retrieved (no retrieval budget authorized). Nothing in this row establishes materials content aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mccook-dd252-09