Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]research packet et-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-meredith-dd434-pkt-et-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Meredith II (DD-434) (builder, dates, service narrative, loss account, battle star; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry DD-434, specifications block + service narrative + bracketed Official Chronology note
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 1 June 1939 by Boston Naval Shipyard; launched 24 April 1940, sponsored by Miss Ethel Dixon Meredith; commissioned 1 March 1941, Lt. Comdr. William F. Mendenhall, Jr. in command. Spec block: 1,630 t, 341 ft, 35 ft 4 in beam, 10 ft 2 in draft, 35 kt, complement 208, armament 5x5-inch/10x21-inch tt/12x.50-cal mg, class Gleaves. Shakedown Cuba; DesDiv 22; Hvalfjordur Iceland patrol 28 Sep 1941-31 Jan 1942; rescued Empire Wave survivors 17 Oct 1941; screened Washington to Norfolk Feb 1942; TF 18 with Hornet - Doolittle Raid screen April 1942; New Caledonia/Tangier escort May-June; Samoa Aug 1942; Guadalcanal reinforcement convoy Sept 20; departed Espiritu Santo 12 Oct escorting convoy; sunk 15 Oct 1942 by 35 bombers and torpedo planes from Zuikaku after taking aboard Vireo's crew; 7 officers and 56 men survived three days adrift, rescued by Grayson (DD-435) and Seminole (AT-65). One battle star.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1942
- Population
- Boston Naval Shipyard construction trades 1939-41; wartime crew (design complement 208)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Survivor count (63) conflicts with secondary accounts (81 rescued + 6 who reached Vireo); attacker count (35) vs secondary 38 and Vireo-narrative 27 - conflicts carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing defect since batch-01). DANFS states no striking date.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-01
-
[3]Chief of Naval Operations action report, Loss of USS Meredith, 15 October 1942 (verbatim excerpt, Destroyer History Foundation transcription; original in NARA WWII action reports, RG 38) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org 'Loss of Meredith: CNO Report' page, excerpted report text
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The CNO action report on the loss documents Task Unit 62.4.5 (Bellatrix, Alchiba, Jamestown, Vireo, Meredith) departing Espiritu Santo 1700/12 October for Guadalcanal, the cargo ships each towing a barge of gasoline, ammunition, and bombs; Japanese carrier task force contacts in the vicinity of the Santa Cruz Islands; and the unit's tactical dispositions through the 15 October air attack. Confirms the convoy composition and loss circumstances recited in DANFS.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-10-12 to 1942-10-15
- Population
- Wartime crew; embarked Vireo crew (~68) taken aboard before the attack
- Limitations
- Battle-damage/loss documentation - establishes the sinking event and its tactical context, not materials or asbestos content. Transcription host is a private site (destroyerhistory.org); the underlying document is a primary Navy record held at NARA (RG 38, WWII action reports) - verbatim consistency with the Official Chronology excerpt bracketed in DANFS supports the transcription.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-02
-
[4]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (Jan 1945), destroyer machinery table + No. 421 Class roster (shipscribe.com scan); class profile benson-gleaves-class ev-04 consolidation [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 destroyer machinery table (No. 421 Class); class profile asbestos_application row
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull is a Gleaves-subclass member of the Benson/Gleaves machinery family - 4 superheated Babcock & Wilcox boilers (575 psi/700F per the BuShips SDB 1945 machinery table), 2-shaft geared turbines, ~47-50,000 shp, built 1939-41 at a Navy yard in the documented peak-asbestos era. Typical period applications for the type: boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, valve/flange gaskets and packing, deck tile, accommodation/compartment insulation and fireproofing.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1942
- Population
- Boston Naval Shipyard construction trades 1939-41; crew 1941-42
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-level asbestos record for DD-434 or any class member has been located. The SDB 1945 machinery table documents plant parameters, not materials content; the asbestos applications list is era-standard practice, not a materials schedule for this hull. Establishes no quantities and no individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-03
-
[5]DANFS build record (Boston Naval Shipyard) + Atlas shipyard dataset, boston-naval-shipyard record (evidence_tier 3; product-level row: John Crane gasket/packing exposure allegation in In re John Crane, Inc., Tex. App. 1st Dist. 2003, period not stated; WWII peak employment 50,128) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative (Boston build/return); shipyards.json record 'boston-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The hull's only documented yard period is its construction at Boston Naval Shipyard, Charlestown (laid down 1 Jun 1939 - commissioned 1 Mar 1941); DANFS records no post-commissioning overhaul or repair availabilities - she returned to Boston once (June 1941 shakedown return) before deploying. The builder yard is a tier-3 Atlas-documented asbestos yard whose product-level record is a worker's allegation of John Crane gasket/sealing-material exposure (period not stated in the 2003 Texas appellate opinion).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1942
- Population
- Boston Naval Shipyard construction trades 1939-41
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation is not hull-level: the yard record does not establish that asbestos was installed in this hull, and the opinion's exposure period is unstated - it may post-date 1941. No post-commissioning yard availability is documented for this hull (sunk in action 17 months after commissioning), so no yard-disturbance events are attributable to it.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-04
-
[6]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 the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - the policy framework under which era insulation was disturbed in surviving hulls' postwar yard periods.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1979 (publication); program 1975-79
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program scope)
- Limitations
- Program-level context post-dating this hull's loss by 37 years - DD-434 sank in 1942 and never underwent a postwar yard period, so the program's implications for retained ACM in surviving hulls do not attach to this vessel. gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch; content per product-page description (standing defect since batch-01).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-05
-
[7]Batch-3419 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 '"USS Meredith"' opinion sweep completed (1 hit, name collision); '"DD-434"' opinion + both type=r docket sweeps blocked by fleet pacing; general-web litigation-surface check; NHHC/DANFS; destroyerhistory.org; navy.mil [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-meredith-dd434-05 through sl-uss-meredith-dd434-08; CourtListener opinion 1805233 (Cobb v. United States); batch-3171 uss-meredith-dd165.atlas.json ev-07 (independent identical result)
- 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-434 was found in the public sources searched. This batch's completed CourtListener API v4 '"USS Meredith"' opinion sweep returned exactly ONE opinion - Cobb v. United States, 471 F. Supp. 102 (M.D. Fla. 1979), a 1976 guest-cruise personal-injury case aboard the Mayport-homeported DD-890 (identical result to the independent batch-3171 sweep of 2026-09-26): NAME COLLISION, non-asbestos, not this hull. The '"DD-434"' opinion query and both type=r RECAP docket sweeps were BLOCKED by the fleet-wide request-budget pacing at research time and are logged as blocked in the ledger. General-web litigation surface (BVA index surface, firm lists) located only law-firm marketing ship lists naming all four Merediths including DD-434 (asbestos-ships.com boilerplate page; mesotheliomahelp.org; duboselawfirm.com) - an excluded source class, recorded as surface signal only.
- Verification
- partial
- 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 1939-41 steam-plant destroyer is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials. The CourtListener sweep is INCOMPLETE: the '"USS Meredith"' opinion query is a clean negative for this hull (single hit resolves to DD-890), but the hull-number opinion query and both docket-level sweeps were blocked by shared fleet pacing - residual unqueried opinion and pleading-stage docket surfaces remain a logged gap. A genuine DD-434 asbestos claim would require a 1941-42 service window - plaintiffs would be unusually old by the litigation era, which is consistent with the clean completed sweep and clean web surface. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-06
-
[8]U.S. Navy press release, 'Expedition Reveals Thirteen Shipwrecks from WWII Battles off Guadalcanal' (Ocean Exploration Trust E/V Nautilus archaeological survey of Iron Bottom Sound, Aug 2025) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navy.mil release 4272152, surveyed-vessel list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A Navy-reported OET/Nautilus expedition (July-August 2025) imaged 13 WWII wreck sites in Iron Bottom Sound including four newly identified hulls (New Orleans bow, Teruzuki among them). USS Meredith (DD-434) is NOT among the surveyed sites - consistent with her sinking position off San Cristobal, southeast of the surveyed sound. No wreck survey, salvage documentation, or materials condition report exists for this hull in the public record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2025 (survey); 1942 (loss)
- Limitations
- Documents that no wreck-site survey of this hull is on public record as of Aug 2025 - the absence is real for the surveyed set but the expedition's published scope is Iron Bottom Sound, not the San Cristobal offshore position; 'unsurveyed' is supported, 'unlocated' is not strictly provable from this source. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-meredith-dd434-07
-
[9]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 38 (Chief of Naval Operations - WWII action reports and war diaries, incl. the Meredith loss report excerpted at destroyerhistory.org); RG 24 (Bureau of Navigation/Naval Personnel - Navy deck logs, this hull 1941-42); RG 19 (Bureau of Ships design records / Booklet of General Plans for Gleaves-class hulls) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov Guide to Federal Records RG 38 / RG 24 / RG 19 group pages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): the CNO action report on the loss (RG 38 WWII action reports, College Park) - the verbatim excerpt confirms the series holds this hull's file; deck logs 1941-42 (RG 24) documenting the single documented Boston return (June 1941) and any in-port availability; RG 19 Bureau of Ships design records and any Booklet of General Plans for the Gleaves-subclass hulls (the most promising materials-schedule lead for the class); Boston Naval Shipyard industrial-order files for the 1939-41 construction period.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1942 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-dd434-08