Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]Kister v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. et al. (In re Asbestos Litigation), Civ. No. 17-193-LPS-SRF, Report and Recommendation filed 2018-04-04 (D. Del., Fallon, M.J.), posted at ded.uscourts.gov/sites/ded/files/opinions/17-193.pdf; docket index: CourtListener RECAP docket 6355139 (Nature of Suit 368 P.I.: Asbestos; removed 2017-02-23; terminated 2018-06-14) [court_record]
- Locator
- R&R pp. 1-5 (background and Kister deposition recital at numbered pp. 3-4); D. Del. opinions index lists 17-193 under 04/04/2018, Magistrate Judge Sherry R. Fallon; CL docket 6355139
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Docketed federal asbestos personal-injury action naming this hull during construction: In re Asbestos Litigation - Kister v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. et al., Civ. No. 17-193-LPS-SRF (D. Del.). The amended complaint (filed 2018-02-06 by Joan Kister after Alan B. Kister's 2017-07-30 death) alleged mesothelioma from asbestos exposure during his employment as a pipe-coverer with Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. February-August 1968. Per the Report and Recommendation filed 2018-04-04 (Fallon, M.J.): 'In 1968, Mr. Kister was employed by Newport News and worked at Newport News Shipyard. During this time, Mr. Kister worked aboard the USS Mobile ("the Mobile") for seven months. While working as a pipe-coverer aboard the Mobile, Mr. Kister performed work on pumps housed in the Mobile's pump room.' He testified the three pump manufacturers he recalled aboard were 'Warren, Worthington, and Ingersoll-Rand' and 'did not know of any other products which may have exposed him to asbestos.' In 1968 the only USS Mobile extant was this hull, then under construction at Newport News (keel 1968-01-15, launch 1968-10-19) - the attribution is unambiguous. The R&R recommended granting summary judgment to all seven moving defendants (Air & Liquid/Buffalo Pumps, Fairbanks, CertainTeed, Foster Wheeler, Union Carbide, Aurora, Pfizer) on product-identification grounds; the plaintiff filed no opposition. CourtListener docket 6355139 shows the case terminated 2018-06-14.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1968 (testimony period); litigation 2016-2018
- Population
- Newport News Shipbuilding construction trades aboard the hull, 1968 (pipe-coverers/insulators specifically per the testimony); later ship's company not addressed by this record
- Limitations
- Litigation-stage discipline: the hull-naming content is deposition testimony and a complaint allegation - a discovery-stage record, not an adjudicated finding that asbestos exposure occurred aboard this hull, and no asbestos-containing product was identified aboard (Kister could not identify any defendant's product). The recommended summary-judgment grants are a merits-level negative for this plaintiff as to those defendants, not exposure evidence. The R&R's adoption order was not located (termination 2018-06-14 is consistent with adoption). Establishes that a federal asbestos action documented an insulation-trade worker aboard this hull during construction; does not establish quantity, individual causation, or legal eligibility for anyone else.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-01
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[2]Naval Vessel Register (NAVSEA Shipbuilding Support Office), ship detail page for MOBILE (LKA 115), via Internet Archive Wayback capture 2024-08-09 of https://www.nvr.navy.mil/SHIPDETAILS/SHIPSDETAIL_LKA_115.HTML [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR LKA-115 detail page - VESSEL STATUS, MILESTONE DATES, PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS tables
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Naval Vessel Register record for MOBILE (LKA 115) '(ex - AKA 115)', AMPHIBIOUS CARGO SHIP, class LKA 113, UIC 05846: Award Date 06/11/1965; Keel Date 01/15/1968; Launch Date 10/19/1968; Delivery Date 09/02/1969; Commission Date 09/29/1969; Decommission Date 02/04/1994; Stricken Date 08/31/2015. Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding. Physical: overall length 576 ft, waterline 550 ft, beam 82 ft, max navigational draft 27 ft, light displacement 10,157 tons, full displacement 18,542 tons, steel hull and superstructure, 1 propeller, propulsion type Steam Turbine. Accommodations: Officers 50, Enlisted 592. Status: 'Disposed of through Inter or Intra Agency Transfer', date status changed 10/13/2023. Record last updated 01/16/2024.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1965-2024
- Limitations
- Authoritative register data for identity, milestones, characteristics, and disposal status. Contains no asbestos, materials, or insulation information; supports no asbestos claim. The NVR status text 'Disposed of through Inter or Intra Agency Transfer' does not itself describe scrapping; the reported tow to Brownsville is secondary-source only. InService/OutService date fields are blank in the record - no MSC in-service period is recorded here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-02
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[3]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. IV p. 402, 'Mobile' (AKA-115) entry - via hazegray DANFS transcription mirror (live NHHC DANFS URLs for this ship return 404 - NHHC link rot, same defect class noted in BATCH-01) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- hazegray.org/danfs/amphib/aka115.htm - full DANFS entry text (stub)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS (Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. IV, p. 402) entry for Mobile: 'The fourth Mobile (AKA-115) was assigned that name 6 November 1967 and laid down at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock, Co., Newport News, Va., 15 January 1968. Still under construction, she is scheduled to be completed in early spring 1969.' Editorial note on the transcription: ship was reclassified LKA-115 on 1/1/1969. The DANFS entry is an under-construction stub - it covers naming and keel only, no operational history.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1967-1969
- Limitations
- Official text is an under-construction stub written before completion - establishes naming, builder, and keel date only. Post-commissioning history is not covered by DANFS. The 'reclassified LKA-115 1/1/1969' line is the mirror's editorial annotation, corroborated by the NVR '(ex - AKA 115)' marking and the FDC-cachet correction record; the annotation is consistent with the Navy-wide AKA-to-LKA redesignation effective 1969-01-01. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-03
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[4]Marolda, By Sea, Air, and Land, Naval Historical Center 1994, chapter 5 - via Wayback capture of history.navy.mil/seairland/chap5.htm (2012-10-21) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Chapter 5, TF 76 order of battle passage naming 'Mobile (LKA 115)' in TG 76.9
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy history (Edward J. Marolda, 'By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia,' Naval Historical Center, 1994, ch. 5 'The Final Curtain, 1973-1975') lists Mobile (LKA 115) in the Seventh Fleet amphibious order of battle for the April 1975 evacuation of South Vietnam: 'Task Group 76.9 (Movement Transport Group Charlie) - Anchorage (LSD 36), Denver (LPD 9), Duluth (LPD 6), Mobile (LKA 115)' under Commander Task Force 76 assembled off Vung Tau - Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of Saigon 29-30 April 1975.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1975-04
- Population
- Ship's company and embarked personnel during Operation Frequent Wind, April 1975
- Limitations
- Establishes ship-specific participation in Operation Frequent Wind per official Navy history. Detailed Vietnam campaign-star credits (1970-72) exist only in secondary transcriptions (NavSource, NavalCoverMuseum) consistent with this record but not independently official-verified - see gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-04
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[5]GAO, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (published 1979-10-18), incl. Enclosure I - Department of the Navy (CNO) letter, Ser 4542/318054 of 5 Jan 1979 (gao.gov product page https://www.gao.gov/products/hrd-80-2; live gao.gov PDF assets return HTTP 403 - full text via Justia mirror, same mirror as Atlas record uss-tarawa-lha1) [gao]
- Locator
- HRD-80-2 report body (policy narrative) and Enclosure I pp. 1-4 (letter text, spec-revision timeline); Attachment 1 ship list covers only ships delivered since 1973 or under construction - LKA-115 not listed
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO HRD-80-2 documents the Navy's asbestos position contemporaneous with this hull's first decade of service. The Department of the Navy (CNO) letter of 5 January 1979 (Enclosure I) states: 'all ships presently in service contain some quantity of asbestos' - applications listed include electrical resistors, deck tile, galley-range cabling, piping-system gaskets and packing, and equipment brakes and clutches - and that thermal insulation 'for machinery, equipment and piping systems has been the major application of asbestos.' The letter records that insulation specifications were changed as early as 1971 toward little/no asbestos and by late 1973 called for asbestos-free materials, but ships already under construction/insulated continued to delivery with asbestos insulation as late as May 1978; the formal no-asbestos policy (NAVSEAINST 5100.2) issued 24 October 1975 required removal only of damaged insulation or insulation removed for repairs, modified January 1979 to add selective replacement in high-maintenance areas. This hull - delivered 1969-09-02, built entirely within the pre-revision era and in service in January 1979 - falls inside the population the letter describes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1968-1979
- Population
- Fleet-wide: construction trades and ship's companies of pre-1973 Navy ships including this hull
- Limitations
- Fleet/program-level statements - the 'all ships' sentence covers this in-service hull as a member of the fleet but does not itemize this hull (the Attachment-1 table stops at ships delivered since 1973). Supports the inference that a 1969-built steam ship carried era-standard asbestos insulation and that some quantity remained absent documented removal - it does not establish what was aboard this hull, in what quantity, condition, or location, nor any individual exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-05
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[6]U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr 1134841, decision dated 2011-09-16 (docket 08-36 854) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Decision text, REMAND section - paragraphs reciting E&L statements 'Unit Identification Number referring to the USS Mobile (LKA-115)' and the 1985-11-21 casualty
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official VA adjudication record confirming crew service aboard this hull: Board of Veterans' Appeals decision Citation Nr 1134841 (2011-09-16) records that the appellant's service personnel records show stationing aboard the USS Mobile from 1985-12-23 until service separation April 1988 (the 1985-1986 portion falls inside the 1930-1986 exposure window), and that Earnings and Leave statements note 'the Unit Identification Number referring to the USS Mobile (LKA-115)'; the RO confirmed through official channels that a sailor (a fireman) aboard the USS Mobile suffered a fatal pipe-injury accident on 1985-11-21. The underlying claim was PTSD (remanded), not asbestos-related - no asbestos issue was before the Board.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1985-2011
- Population
- Ship's company 1985-1988 (one veteran's stationing documented)
- Limitations
- Non-asbestos administrative record - documents crew presence aboard this hull in 1985-1988 (including the 1985-86 portion inside the 1930-1986 exposure window) and a documented casualty, nothing more. No asbestos claim was made or decided; supports no asbestos finding. Indexed VA search surfaced no BVA asbestos decision naming this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-06
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[7]NVR LKA-115 record (milestone dates, controlling); NavalCoverMuseum 'MOBILE LKA 115' wiki entry (FDC cachet error note; post-office establishment/disestablishment dates); conflicting secondary dates from Wikipedia, NavSource, hullnumber.com logged here [other_primary]
- Locator
- NVR milestone table; navalcovermuseum.org/wiki/MOBILE_LKA_115 'Ship Name and Designation History' + cachet notes
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Designation and date corrections resolved to official records: (a) Designation - the hull was laid down as AKA-115 and redesignated LKA-115 effective 1969-01-01, months before commissioning 1969-09-29, so 'commissioned as LKA-115' is the correct canonical statement; the NVR marks her '(ex - AKA 115)' and the Naval Cover Museum notes that a commissioning first-day cachet reading 'AKA-115' was issued in error (a second cachet correctly reads LKA-115). (b) Commissioning date - Wikipedia's '20 September 1969' conflicts with NVR 09/29/1969; the ship's post office was established 20 September, explaining the secondary error; NVR adopted. (c) Decommissioning - NavSource/NavalCoverMuseum 1994-02-04 vs Wikipedia/hullnumber 1994-02-25; NVR 02/04/1994 adopted (Naval Cover Museum post-office disestablishment 1994-02-04 corroborates). (d) Stricken - NavSource/navysite '15 August 2015' vs Wikipedia/NVR 31 August 2015; NVR 08/31/2015 adopted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1969-2015
- Limitations
- Resolves publication-level discrepancies; the NavalCoverMuseum cachet data is a specialist-philatelic source used only to explain the secondary-date errors, not as an independent official source. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-07
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[8]Olsson v. Flynn, 23 C.M.A. 229 (C.M.A. 1974-10-25), CourtListener opinion 8598003 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search result block for opinion 8598003 (snippet: petition for extraordinary relief, special court-martial, Articles 86/90 UCMJ)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Non-asbestos court record naming this hull: Olsson v. Flynn, 23 C.M.A. 229 (U.S. Court of Military Appeals, decided 1974-10-25) - a habeas corpus petition contesting a special court-martial conviction under UCMJ Articles 86 and 90; the opinion references the USS Mobile (search-index snippet reviewed; opinion body fetch blocked by site protection). In 1974 the only commissioned USS Mobile was this hull (CL-63 scrapped 1960; CG-53 Mobile Bay commissioned 1987). Classified: other litigation, non-asbestos.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1974
- Limitations
- Snippet-level review only - the opinion body was not retrievable at research time (site protection; API throttled). The USS Mobile reference's context (petitioner assignment vs. incidental mention) is inferred from the era's single extant hull; not verified at document level. Non-asbestos military-justice matter; supports no asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-08
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[9]Batch-987 search ledger (this record): NVR (Wayback); DANFS transcription (hazegray); NHHC Marolda ch.5 (Wayback); MARAD ShipHistory public search; GAO HRD-80-2 (Justia mirror); ded.uscourts.gov opinion files; CourtListener site search (opinions + dockets) and RECAP; VA BVA indexed decisions; USAspending keyword search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-mobile-aka115-01 through sl-uss-mobile-aka115-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located beyond the Kister deposition record: no hull asbestos survey, abatement contract, materials inventory, hazmat/disposal disclosure, or adjudicated exposure finding for LKA-115 was found in the public sources searched - the NVR record contains no materials data; MARAD ShipHistory has no record for this hull (only an unrelated 1984 barge named Mobile); the GAO letter's Attachment-1 table does not list pre-1973 hulls; no VA BVA asbestos decision naming this hull was located in indexed search; and no press or official document covering the 2023 disposal's hazmat scope was located. CourtListener opinion search found no asbestos opinion naming the hull; the docket-level sweep found the qualifying Kister matter plus one unverified asbestos-docket mention (Redman v. A.W. Chesterton Co., N.D. Cal. 3:08-cv-03013) whose Mobile reference could not be resolved to a specific hull because RECAP/API access was throttled and intermittently blocked (see search_ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 2026-09-21
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1969 steam ship of this era is consistent with retained asbestos-containing materials, and NISMF layup/disposal hazmat records are not public. The docket-document layer of the litigation sweep is incomplete (CourtListener API daily quota exhausted ~2h before completion of this pass; site search used for opinion/docket levels; RECAP docket pages intermittently 403). The Redman docket's Mobile mention remains unverified to hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-09
-
[10]NARA record-group guidance (RG 24 deck logs; RG 19 Bureau of Ships); NHHC command operation reports collection; NARA still-picture catalog identifier 6932182; D. Del. Civ. No. 17-193 docket; NAVSEA inactive ships program records; CourtListener RECAP docket 4174328 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Record-group and docket identifiers as listed in finding_value
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - no reproduction orders authorized): (a) NARA RG 24 deck logs for LKA-115, 1969-1994 (NARA II, College Park) - would document operational windows corroborating secondary campaign lists. (b) NHHC Archives, Washington Navy Yard - command operation reports/histories for LKA-115 (OPNAV 5750 submissions). (c) NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) - Charleston-class contract plans/specs; NARA still-photo identifier 6932182 exists for 'Mobile (AKA-115) and St. Louis (AKA-116) under construction at Newport News, 1968.' (d) D. Del. docket 1:17-cv-00193 (Kister) full file - R&R adoption order and disposition documents not in the posted PDF. (e) NAVSEA/NISMF inactive-ship maintenance and disposal records for the Philadelphia layup period incl. any hazmat survey or sale/dismantling certification for the 2023 disposal (NVR records status change 2023-10-13 as 'Inter or Intra Agency Transfer'). (f) CourtListener RECAP docket 4174328 (Redman v. A.W. Chesterton, N.D. Cal.) - Mobile mention unresolved to hull.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-21
- Study period
- 1968-2023 records
- Limitations
- Record-series mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mobile-aka115-10