Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet ga-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-mcgowan-dd678-pkt-ga-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, McGowan (DD-678) (builder, dates, service narrative, battle stars; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Rear Adm. Samuel McGowan (Paymaster General, WWI). Laid down 30 June 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 14 November 1943 (sponsor Mrs. Ross McG. Cantey, the admiral's sister); commissioned 20 December 1943, Comdr. James B. Weiler. Marianas campaign (Saipan bombardment screen and fire support 14-23 June 1944; Guam transport screen; Tinian); Palaus/Angaur antisubmarine screen September 1944; Leyte - fighter-director at Dulag 20 October, DesRon 54 torpedo attack in Surigao Strait early hours 25 October; Lingayen Gulf January 1945; TF 58 fast-carrier operations February-July 1945 (Honshu strikes, Iwo Jima, Okinawa support, Kuriles strikes); at Adak 14 August 1945; occupation duty at Ominato; decommissioned 30 April 1946 into San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; recommissioned 6 July 1951; Atlantic Fleet, Newport homeport; Korea November 1952-April 1953 (TF 77 fire support, Wonsan bombardments); Mediterranean deployments 1956-58 (Port Said area during Suez withdrawal; first warship transit of reopened Suez Canal 22 May 1957 with DesDiv 202; off Beirut during the July-August 1958 Lebanon crisis); designated October 1960 for transfer to Spain on renewable 5-year MAP loan; decommissioned at Barcelona 30 November 1960 and became Jorge Juan (D-25) the following day. Nine WWII and two Korean battle stars. Spec block: dp 2,050; 376'6" x 39'8" x 17'9"; 37 kt; cpl 319; 5x5", 10x40mm, 7x20mm, 10x21" tt, 6 dcp, 2 dct; Fletcher class.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1960
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime and postwar crew (design complement 319)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content - no insulation, abatement, or hazardous-material statement. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (NHHC link rot documented in BATCH-01). Postwar yard periods are narrated without naming performing yards.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-01
-
[3]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-678 (operational/building data; official Navy photo captions; commanding-officer roster) + corroborating compilations (NavalCoverMuseum; uboat.net; losbarcosdeeugenio.com) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/05/678.htm - building data block, photo captions (Mare Island 6 Nov 1945-25 Jan 1946; Boston NSY May 1960; SCB-74A note), CO roster
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilation for this hull consistent with DANFS and adding disposal detail: decommissioned 30 April 1946; recommissioned 6 July 1951; decommissioned 30 November 1960; loaned to Spain 30 November 1960, renamed Jorge Juan (hull 45, reclassified D-25 in 1961); stricken from the U.S. Naval Register 1 October 1972 - the date a Spanish naval reference records as her outright purchase by Spain, consistent with loan-to-sale conversion; stricken from the Spanish Navy list 15 November 1988 and scrapped. Official Navy photo captions (80-G series) document an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard 6 November 1945-25 January 1946 (alongside USS Bell DD-587) and presence at Boston Naval Shipyard May 1960, months before transfer. A NavSource caption identifies McGowan as one of the 39 Fletchers modernized under the FY 1952 program (project SCB-74A): #3 5"/38 mount and abeam 40mm mounts replaced by three twin 3"/50 mounts and Mk.56 GFCS; tripod foremast with SPS-6/-10 radars; Mk.25 radar on the Mk.37 director; Hedgehogs forward; single Mk.9 depth-charge track and T-Mk.6 'Fanfare' torpedo-decoy winch aft.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1988
- Population
- Mare Island yard workers Nov 1945-Jan 1946; Boston NSY May 1960; crew 1943-1960; Spanish Navy crew 1960-1988
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated secondary compilation - the primary-grade elements are the official Navy photo captions (yard dates, conversion configuration). The SCB-74A conversion yard and exact dates are not identified in any source searched. Spanish-service material condition, maintenance practices, and scrapping-site abatement regime are undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-02
-
[4]DANFS specifications block (Fletcher class; 37 kt; cpl 319) + BuShips Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels 1945 class design (4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2-shaft GE geared turbines, 60,000 shp) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Federal Shipbuilding-Kearny record (incl. Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of the yard, Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; BuShips SDB1945v1 DD section (via Fletcher class profile); shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Fletcher-class destroyer built June-December 1943 with a four-boiler 60,000-shp steam plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation, lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing; builder Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock (Kearny) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset - including a 1944 Owens-Illinois industrial-health survey documenting insulator work with asbestos pipe covering (Johns-Manville Superex) and boiler insulation with measured dust counts in confined spaces, and documented products Kaylo, Monokote fireproofing, and Garlock gaskets at the yard.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1960
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; crew 1943-1960
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The 1944 Owens-Illinois survey postdates this hull's December 1943 completion by roughly nine months and documents yard practice, not materials aboard DD-678. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. NARA RG 19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications remain an unretrieved archival lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-03
-
[5]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 that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - placing this hull's entire U.S. Navy service (1943-1946, 1951-1960) and her documented yard periods (Mare Island 1945-46; Boston NSY 1960; SCB-74A conversion) inside the documented peak asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full report text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description, same limitation carried in BATCH-01.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-04
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[6]CourtListener API v4 authenticated sweep, 2026-09-27: "USS McGowan" type=o and type=r; "DD-678" type=o and type=r [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener v4 search API, five authenticated queries (type=o and type=r for each term, plus the surname sweep)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located in CourtListener: "USS McGowan" returned zero opinion hits and zero docket hits; "DD-678" returned zero opinion hits and one docket hit - Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 08-01789), a string collision inside Madoff SIPA filing text, not litigation involving this vessel. The surname-collision sweep ("McGowan" + asbestos, type=o) returned 211 opinion hits - the first page (20, relevance-sorted) reviewed case-by-case: all are surname collisions (law-firm names such as Reingold & McGowan; ERISA defendant W. Brian McGowan; plaintiff estates) with zero naval/ship/vessel context. DD-678 is the only U.S. Navy ship named McGowan, so no sister-ship name collision exists.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27 (index state)
- Limitations
- CourtListener indexes published opinions and RECAP-contributed dockets; PACER-only filings, state-court complaints without federal removal, and settled/unreported matters are not searchable. A zero result means no indexed litigation surfaced, not that no claim was ever filed. The 211-hit surname sweep was reviewed to the relevance-sorted first page (20 opinions) - deeper pages are the same surname distribution but were not individually pulled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-05
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[7]Search ledger for this record (below): NHHC DANFS live page; ibiblio DANFS transcription; NavSource index + official photo captions; NavalCoverMuseum and uboat.net compilations; losbarcosdeeugenio.com Spanish reference; NVR online; NARA deck-log series; Fletcher-class profile (class-c worktree); GAO HRD-80-2 product page [other_primary]
- Locator
- this record, search_ledger sl-01 through sl-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation located for DD-678 across the repositories searched: no hull ACM survey, no abatement or hazmat-remediation record, no donation/transfer-condition hazmat disclosure, and no qualifying litigation names the hull. The 1960 MAP transfer instruments and 1972 sale documentation (the plausible public venues for any hazmat condition) were not located. Because the hull was scrapped under Spanish custody after November 1988, no extant hull remains for future survey. Absence of a located record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard applications are documented at class/era level (ev-03, ev-04).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Negative finding bounded by the repositories actually searched (see search_ledger); Spanish-language archival sources (Armada records, Spanish scrapping contracts) were not searched and remain open leads. NARA RG 19 BuShips records and DD-678 deck logs (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1978, NAID 594258) are unretrieved archival leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mcgowan-dd678-06