Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet iu-packet.md (5 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-meredith-dd165-pkt-iu-packet-md
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1924 edition (Google-scan via shipscribe.com), destroyer data, machinery, contract, and chronology tables + namesake biography entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1924, destroyer data tables (DD-165 row), machinery table row ('2 Curtis geared turb.', 27,540/28,765), contract-program table (Fore River S.B. Co., Cost+10%), chronology table (commission/decommission dates), namesake biographies ('Destroyer No. 165-MEREDITH')
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips publication carries per-hull rows for MEREDITH (DD-165): builder 'Fore River S. B. Co.', contract 'Cost+10%' dated March 1917; armament 4 x 4"/50 cal. + 12 x 21" torpedo tubes in four triple mounts + 3"/23 cal. AA; dimensions 314'4" oa / 310'0" wl x 30'11" beam x 9'2" draft; displacement rows 1,191 / 1,284 tons; machinery '2 Curtis geared turb.', 27,540 shp design / 28,765 shp on trial, oil-burning boilers; chronology row reads laid down 26 June 1918, launched 22 September 1918, in commission 29 January 1919, decommissioned 28 June 1922; numeric index entry '(165) Meredith' between Crosby (164) and Bush (166).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1917-1922 (rows); 1924 (publication)
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; ship's company 1919-22
- Limitations
- Authoritative interwar BuShips publication naming this hull - confirms identity, builder, machinery plant, armament, manning table, and dates. Contains no asbestos or materials-schedule information; supports no asbestos finding. OCR of the scanned tables is imperfect; figures cross-checked against DANFS (matches on dimensions and 1,284-ton full-load displacement) and NavSource.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-01
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[3]DANFS, 'Meredith I' (DD-165) entry, Naval History and Heritage Command (verbatim transcription via hazegray/losthistory mirror - live NHHC page 404 on 2026-09-26) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: '(DD-165: dp. 1,284; l. 314'5"; b. 30'11"; dr. 9'2"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 101; a. 4 4", 2 1-pdrs.; 4 21" tt.; cl. Wickes)'. Laid down 26 June 1918 by Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, Mass.; launched 22 September 1918, sponsored by Mrs. William F. Meredith; commissioned at Boston 29 January 1919, Comdr. H. H. Michaels in command. Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet; shakedown to Cuba begun 18 February 1919; 22 February joined escort to George Washington returning President Wilson from France; 1 May departed New York for Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, as guide post for the first transoceanic flight (Navy Curtiss flying boats, Long Island to Plymouth); returned Boston 22 May; cruised east and gulf coasts with Destroyer Flotilla 2 until November; Newport-based training until November, then repair at Norfolk; rejoined division at Charleston 26 January 1922; maneuvers until 5 April; Philadelphia Navy Yard for inactivation; decommissioned 28 June 1922; remained at Philadelphia until sold for scrapping 29 September 1936 in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1936
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; crew 1919-22 (design complement 101)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The narrative's two 'until November' references omit years (1919 and 1921 inferred from sequence); the striking date (7 January 1936 in secondary sources) is not stated. Live NHHC page returns 404 as of 2026-09-26; verbatim transcription mirror cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-02
-
[4]U.S. Naval Historical Center, Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS Meredith (Destroyer # 165, later DD-165), 1919-1936' (photo archive page; NH 50021, NH 95792, NH 46317) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Online Library ship page + photo captions NH 50021, NH 95792, NH 46317
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC photo-archive record for this hull: 'a 1060-ton Little class destroyer built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned in late January 1919. She operated in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean area during her brief active career. Among her activities was service as a plane guard during the trans-Atlantic flight of the seaplane NC-4 in May 1919. Following three years and five months of commissioned service, Meredith was laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June 1922. She was sold for scrapping in September 1936.' Includes NH 95792, the official diagram of the NC-1/NC-3/NC-4 transatlantic flight legs showing the 21 stationed destroyers.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1919-1936
- Population
- Crew 1919-22
- Limitations
- Confirms identity, career span, NC-4 plane-guard role, and 1936 disposal. Caption-level detail only - no materials information; the '1060-ton Little class' label reflects the Bethlehem-design subclass naming and differs from the DANFS 1,284-ton spec block (carried in gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-03
-
[5]DANFS narrative (Norfolk repair; Philadelphia Navy Yard inactivation and lay-up) + Atlas shipyard dataset records for fore-river-shipyard, norfolk-naval-shipyard, philadelphia-naval-shipyard [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS narrative; shipyards.json records 'fore-river-shipyard', 'norfolk-naval-shipyard', 'philadelphia-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Three documented industrial-yard events/periods for this hull sit at Atlas-dataset yards: (1) 1918-19 construction at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy (dataset 'fore-river-shipyard', evidence_tier 3 - yard-level asbestos products documented incl. boiler/pipe/turbine insulation, gaskets, packing, fireproofing; yard litigation record covers 1967-70 apprenticeship); (2) repair at Norfolk (dataset 'norfolk-naval-shipyard', tier 3) November-January preceding the January 1922 Charleston rejoining; (3) inactivation at Philadelphia Navy Yard April-June 1922 and inactive lay-up there 1922-1936 (dataset 'philadelphia-naval-shipyard', tier 3 - yard-level asbestos products and OSHA 1989 inspection record). The yard events are ship-specific (DANFS); the asbestos content of any work performed on this hull is yard-level inference.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1919; 1921-22; 1922-1936
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; Norfolk yard repair force 1921-22; Philadelphia Navy Yard inactivation/detail crews 1922
- Limitations
- The yard periods are documented for this hull; the yards' asbestos product inventories are yard-level dataset records, NOT hull-level findings, and the cited yard asbestos evidence mostly post-dates this hull's presence (Fore River litigation 1967-70; Philadelphia OSHA 1989). No work order, materials schedule, or survey names DD-165. The asbestos scope of any 1918-22 work aboard this hull is inference, not record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-04
-
[6]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., and Drinker, P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030; Corn & Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' AJIM 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed PMID 21016030; DOI 10.1002/ajim.4700110311
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Era-level documentation: the U.S. Maritime Commission-commissioned 1944-45 industrial-hygiene survey of pipe-covering operations at Navy and Navy contract yards documented that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard material in naval-vessel construction of the era; peer-reviewed scholarship (Corn & Starr 1987) documents extensive Navy use of asbestos-containing fireproofing and insulating materials in WWII shipbuilding.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- survey ~1944-45; scholarship 1987
- Population
- WWII pipe coverers/insulators at Navy and contract yards (era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level documentation only - does not name this vessel, class, or yard, and does not establish that asbestos was aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. Materially weaker context for this hull than for WWII-service hulls: this hull's entire commissioned career (1919-1922) and scrapping (1936) PREDATE the documented WWII survey window; asbestos was in common marine use by 1918 but the WWI-era extent is not established by these sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-05
-
[7]Consolidated design/era inference - BuShips SDB 1924 machinery row for this hull ('2 Curtis geared turb.', 27,540/28,765 shp, oil-burning boilers) + DANFS as-built specs + NavSource class block [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1924 destroyer machinery table row (DD-165); DANFS specs; NavSource 05/165 class block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull's documented steam plant - a Wickes-class (Bethlehem/'Little' design) geared-turbine installation built 1918-19 - is of the type whose boiler casings, fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, turbo-generator lagging, gaskets, valve packing, and compartment fireproofing were commonly asbestos-containing in WWI-era naval construction. The 1918-19 Fore River construction is the hull's only substantial asbestos-relevant industrial event; there is no WWII-era refit or FRAM analog (the hull spent 1922-1936 inactive and was scrapped).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1918-1919 (construction); 1919-1922 (service)
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1918-19; crew 1919-22 (design complement 101)
- Limitations
- Inference from the documented machinery plant and construction era - NOT a hull record. No survey, specification, materials schedule, or work order naming DD-165 was located. WWI-era (1918) construction predates the documented WWII peak usage documented by Fleischer 1946 and Corn & Starr 1987; asbestos insulation was nonetheless in established marine use by 1918. A DD-165 asbestos claim would require crew-era exposure 1919-22, decades before the litigation era - a plausible mechanism with no supporting record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-06
-
[8]Batch-3171 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 queries attempted under fleet pacing; general-web litigation-surface check; NHHC/DANFS; BuShips SDB 1924; NavSource; asbestos-specific web search [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-meredith-dd165-01 through sl-uss-meredith-dd165-07; CourtListener opinion 1805233 (Cobb v. United States)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Meredith DD-165 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener API v4 exact-name opinion search '"USS Meredith"' returned exactly ONE opinion: Cobb v. United States, 471 F. Supp. 102 (M.D. Fla. 1979), Civ. A. 77-50-Civ-J-M - a 1976 guest-cruise personal-injury case aboard the Mayport-homeported hull, i.e., DD-890 (Gearing class), and non-asbestos: NAME COLLISION, not this hull. The hull-number opinion query '"DD-165"' returned 6 opinions, all New York Appellate Division family-court matters (e.g., Matter of Damascus LL. v. Janelle MM.) where 'DD-165' matches anonymized party initials - term collisions, none the ship. The type=r docket sweep was blocked by the fleet-wide request-budget pacing mid-sweep (logged honestly in the ledger). Law-firm marketing ship lists naming all four Merediths including DD-165 (mesotheliomahelp.org and similar) are an excluded source class.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a steam-plant destroyer built 1918 is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials, though her 1919-22 service window predates the litigation era entirely. The CourtListener RECAP docket-index (type=r) sweep is INCOMPLETE (fleet pacing block) - residual unqueried litigation surface (pleading-stage vessel lists) is a logged gap. Both completed opinion sweeps are clean negatives for this hull. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-07
-
[9]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 24 (Bureau of Navigation/Naval Personnel - Navy deck logs); RG 19 (Bureau of Construction and Repair / Bureau of Ships - design records, Booklet of General Plans); Fore River contract-scope records; Philadelphia Navy Yard industrial records [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov Guide to Federal Records RG 24 / RG 19 group pages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): Navy deck logs for USS Meredith 1919-1922 (RG 24; WWI-era logs are largely digitized on NARA partners, this hull's coverage unverified); RG 19 Bureau of Construction and Repair design records and any surviving Booklet of General Plans for the Bethlehem/'Little'-design Wickes hulls (the most promising materials-schedule lead); Fore River Shipbuilding contract records for the 1917 cost-plus destroyer program; Philadelphia Navy Yard industrial-order files for the April-June 1922 inactivation work (the hull's only documented post-construction yard event).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1917-1936 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd165-08