Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet kl-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-merrill-de392-pkt-kl-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Merrill (DE-392), vol. IV p.336 (namesake, builder, dates, service narrative, striking; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake paragraph + specifications block + service narrative + bracketed Bauer & Roberts disposal line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Ens. Howard Deel Merrill, USN (USNA 1940; USS Arizona, declared dead 7 December 1941). Laid down 1 July 1943 by the Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.; launched 29 August 1943, sponsored by Miss Dorothy E. Merrill; commissioned 27 November 1943, Lt. Comdr. Irvin J. Stephens, USCG, in command. Bermuda shakedown; reported to Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk 28 January 1944; assigned to CortDiv 45; transatlantic escort duty beginning 12 February 1944 with a North Africa-bound convoy; escorted 15 convoys between American and Mediterranean ports through the end of the European war. Sailed 6 July 1945 for Guantanamo Bay training, thence Pearl Harbor; received news of Japanese capitulation en route 14 August. New York 26 September 1945; Jacksonville for deactivation 19 October; decommissioned 1 May 1946 into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs; berthed at the Orange, Tex., group into 1969. Stricken from the Navy Register 2 April 1971; sold 30 September 1974 (Bauer & Roberts, Register of Ships). Specs: 1,200 t, 306', beam 36'7", draft 8'7", 21 kt, complement 186; class EDSALL.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1974
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; Coast Guard wartime crew (DANFS design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing NHHC link rot; navsource's own link points to the dead merrill.html). Complement figure 186 conflicts with NavSource's 8 officers / 201 enlisted - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-01
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[3]NavSource Destroyer Escort Photo Index DE-392 (building/ops data sheet; commanding-officer roster, all USCG; 1960 mothball photo; 1973 auction booklet) + shipbuildinghistory.com Brown Shipbuilding production table (yard hull 65) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-392 page, specifications + Building and Operational Data + memorabilia block; shipbuildinghistory.com Brown yard table row 65
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Independent compilations corroborate the DANFS record: NavSource data sheet lists keel laid 1 July 1943, launched/christened 29 August 1943, commissioned 27 November 1943 (Lcdr Irvin J. Stephens, USCG), decommissioned 1 May 1946 at Green Cove Springs after 2 years 5 months of service, struck from the NVR 2 April 1971, sold for scrapping 30 September 1974; the commanding-officer roster is entirely USCG (Stephens; Sidney K. Broussard; P. G. Prins). A September 1960 photograph shows the hull mothballed at Green Cove Springs alongside Daniel (DE-335); a disposal auction offering booklet dated 2 March 1973 is archived as memorabilia. The Brown Shipbuilding production table lists yard hull 65 = Merrill, DE-392, keel 1 July 1943, launched 29 August 1943, delivered 27 November 1943, disposition scrapped 1974.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1974
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; Coast Guard crew 1943-46
- Limitations
- Secondary compilations, not primary records - corroborate but do not replace DANFS/Bauer & Roberts. NavSource complement (8 officers / 201 enlisted) conflicts with DANFS (186). The 1973 auction booklet and the 1974 sale buyer/breakers site are not further identified; navypedia's Edsall member table misassigns this hull to Consolidated Steel, Orange - conflict logged in gaps, DANFS + Brown table carried.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-02
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[4]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'The Long Blue Line: USS Durant - Coast Guard and Navy warship of World War II and Cold War' [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil Long Blue Line article, CortDiv 45 operational narrative
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Coast Guard history of division-mate USS Durant (DE-389) records Escort Division 45 as the Coast Guard-manned destroyer-escort group and names Merrill among the Coast Guard-manned DEs (Vance, Calcaterra, Chambers, Merrill) that made repeated transatlantic convoy-escort voyages between mid-February 1944 and mid-June 1945 on the UGS/GUS Gibraltar cycle; typical crossings ran about 18 days in rough North Atlantic weather.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Coast Guard crews of CortDiv 45 DEs, 1944-1945
- Limitations
- Documents crew service and convoy operations, not materials aboard; supplies the operational context for this hull's 15-convoy record per DANFS. No asbestos content in the source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-03
-
[5]DANFS specifications block (Edsall class, FMR; 21 kt; complement 186) + NavSource DE-392 data sheet (4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38D8-1/8 geared diesels, 4 diesel-generators, 6,000 shp, 2 screws) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block (class: EDSALL); NavSource spec sheet (propulsion line)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: an Edsall-class (FMR-type) destroyer escort built 1943 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel-driven ship - exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, winch/windlass brake linings, and deck coverings - but no boiler or steam-line lagging, since the FMR plant is geared diesel, not steam.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1971
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; Coast Guard crew 1943-46; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1971
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The geared-diesel plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line insulation) do not apply; does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. Builder-yard asbestos documentation is unavailable because Brown Shipbuilding is not in the Atlas yard dataset.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-04
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[6]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2, title + abstract
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's extensive shipboard asbestos insulation use during the World War II construction era, with substitution not beginning until the early 1970s - placing this hull's 1943 construction, 1943-46 commissioned life, and 1946-71 reserve-fleet custody inside the documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979 (report); 1943-1971 (vessel relevance)
- Population
- Navy ship construction and repair workforce (era-level)
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only - no ship-specific finding; the report's fieldwork yards were not this builder. gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches; content characterized via the product-page description per fleet precedent (Batch-01 standing limitation).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-05
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[7]Batch-4291 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS page variants + hazegray transcription; NavSource DE-392; shipbuildinghistory Brown table; USCG Historian Long Blue Line; NVR SHIPSDETAIL; NPS NRHP/NHL; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries (opinions + RECAP dockets); VA BVA; GAO HRD-80-2; NARA finding aids [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-merrill-de392-01 through sl-uss-merrill-de392-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-392: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no museum or disposal hazmat disclosure, and no qualifying asbestos case naming this hull. The two asbestos-PI dockets in which 'USS Merrill' appears in indexed CourtListener docket text are unverified as to vessel role and carry an unresolved hull attribution between DE-392 (in commission 1943-46) and DD-976 (in commission 1978-98) - see ev-07.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era materials could have persisted through the reserve-fleet and disposal phases undocumented. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-06
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[8]CourtListener API v4 sweep: "USS Merrill" (type=o, 0 hits; type=r, 2 hits); "DE-392" (type=r, 127 hits); VA BVA decision search [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search API results for docket_ids 4168728 (Carolan) and 63376371 (Webb); 127-hit DE-392 collision set
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation surface for this hull: 'USS Merrill' opinion search returns zero hits; 'DE-392' opinion search returns 13 hits, all string collisions - the 'DE-392' match in each is a docket-entry citation, statute or expediente number, not the hull (the single asbestos-matter hit, Yates v. Ford Motor Co., 113 F. Supp. 3d 841 (E.D.N.C. 2015), resolves as the docket-entry cite 'DE 392' in a brake-product case with no Navy exposure). 'USS Merrill' RECAP docket-index search returns two asbestos personal-injury dockets - Carolan v. General Electric Co., No. 3:07-cv-04352 (N.D. Cal., filed 2007-08-23) and Webb v. Baldor Electric Co., No. 1:22-cv-00145 (S.D. Miss., filed 2022-06-10, removal) - in which 'USS Merrill' appears in indexed docket text; the vessel's role in each (plaintiff's exposure vessel vs. vessel list vs. unrelated reference) is unverified from the public index, and each carries an unresolved hull attribution between DE-392 (commissioned 1943-46) and the Spruance-class USS Merrill DD-976 (in service 1978-98), which supplies the exposure window for any post-1978 allegation. 'DE-392' docket-index search returns 127 hits, all sampled entries being docket-number/string collisions in unrelated bankruptcy, trademark, civil-rights, and contract dockets - none ship-related or asbestos. No BVA decision naming this hull located. 'Merrill' additionally collides with litigant surnames in asbestos litigation (e.g., Merrill v. Leslie Controls, Cal. Ct. App. 2009 - a plaintiff surname, not the ship).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2007; 2022 (docket filings)
- Population
- Unverified from index
- Limitations
- The two docket references are index-level only (pleading-stage artifacts at most) - unadjudicated even if qualifying, and hull attribution between DE-392 and DD-976 is unresolved. RECAP document pull to resolve the references was not completed this session (fleet pacing); absence of further located records does not prove absence of exposure or claims.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-merrill-de392-07