Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships, NAVSHIPS 1851, 'Yachts Acquired Since September 1939 from Private Owners' (24 July 1946), p. 3 - AMc 28 row (scanned official document, OCR + visual verification) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAVSHIPS 1851, p. 3 (PDF p. 3), AMc-28 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips register of small-craft acquisitions records: 'AMc 28 MOCKING BIRD - Rio Douro - Purchase - 11/30/40 - L. C. McEwen, 1 Beachmont Ave., Gloucester, Mass. - place of acquisition: East Boston, Mass.' Establishes the Navy acquired this hull by purchase (not charter) from her Gloucester fishing-vessel owner and took delivery at East Boston.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1940 (record compiled 1946)
- Limitations
- Acquisition record only - establishes method, seller, and place of acquisition but says nothing about conversion scope, materials installed or removed, or any asbestos content. Date reads 11/30/40 versus DANFS's 30 October 1940 - a one-month discrepancy between two official sources, unresolved (visual read of the scan confirms 11/30/40). NAVSHIPS lists only L. C. McEwen; DANFS adds co-owner A. M. Pereira.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-01
-
[2]DANFS, Mockingbird I (AMc-28) - verbatim transcription via hazegray.org mirror, Wayback capture 2024-06-24 (live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 on 2026-09-23) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Mockingbird entry, full text (2 paragraphs + spec line)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents: the first Mockingbird (AMc-28), a wooden dragger built in 1936 as Rio Douro by Morse Shipyards, Thomaston, Maine; purchased by the Navy from L. C. McEwen and A. M. Pereira of Gloucester, Mass., 30 October 1940; converted to a coastal minesweeper by the General Ship & Engine Works, East Boston, Mass.; renamed Mockingbird 14 November 1940; placed in service at Boston 12 June 1941; departed Boston 14 July 1941 for Yorktown, Va., trained at the Mine Warfare School, and reported 20 August 1941 to the Experimental Mine Sweeping Group; operated in the 5th Naval District until placed out of service at Norfolk 18 February 1944; struck from the Naval Register 29 July 1944; delivered to WSA for disposal at Little Creek, Va., 23 July 1945. Spec line: '(AMc-28: dp. 205; l. 97'1"; b. 20'9"; dr. 9'6"; s. 10 k.; a. 6 .30 cal. mg.)'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Crew (complement not stated); conversion yard workers, General Ship & Engine Works, East Boston
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy ship-history entry; contains no asbestos, materials, or industrial-hygiene information whatsoever. 'Placed in service' is DANFS's wording - NavSource and the NHHC photo captions record the same date as a commissioning; small-craft practice makes 'in service' the more precise term.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-02
-
[3]U.S. Navy, Bureau of Ships, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1945' Vol. II (NAVSHIPS 250-011) - vessel index, coastal minesweepers (AMc) section [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2.pdf index, 'MINE SWEEPERS-COASTAL (AMC)' section; class footnote in AMc characteristics pages
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official 1945 Ships' Data index carries 'MOCKING BIRD (returned)' in the AMc index between FRIGATE BIRD (AMc-27) and PUFFIN (AMc-29) - an official disposition marker consistent with delivery to WSA for disposal. The AMc class footnote in the same volume states 'All AMC's are wood hulls.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Index line confirms Navy-register disposition status only; 'returned' does not itself document the buyer, sale terms, or subsequent fate. No materials or asbestos information. Vessel is absent from the main characteristics tables (stricken July 1944), so no official 1945 spec line exists to corroborate the DANFS/NavSource figures.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-03
-
[4]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive - Mockingbird (AMc 28) page (specifications block; cites NHHC photos NH 102181-102185 and National Archives photo 80-G-411694) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AMc-28 page, 'Specifications' block and photo captions
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource specification block for this hull: displacement 189 t.; length 96'; beam 21'; draft 9'6"; speed 10 kts.; armament six .30 cal. machine guns; propulsion one 6-cylinder direct-reversible Cooper Bessemer diesel engine, one shaft. The diesel/single-shaft datum is the material fact for exposure assessment - the vessel had no steam plant. NavSource also identifies NHHC photo numbers NH 102181-102185 (vessel as Rio Douro, originals in NARA RG-19-LCM) and NARA photo 80-G-411694 (vessel c. 1943 with acoustic minesweeping 'hammer' on bow).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Crew (complement not stated for this hull)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled archive of official records, not itself a primary source; the diesel datum is consistent with the vessel's fishing-dragger origin and the DANFS narrative. Minor spec discrepancies vs. DANFS (189 t./96'/21' vs. 205 t./97'1"/20'9") are unresolved and noted, not asserted as authoritative. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-04
-
[5]Naval Historical Center Online Library (HyperWar mirror), 'Rio Douro (Fishing Vessel, 1936). Later USS Mockingbird (AMc-28), 1941-1945' - photo catalog page, photos NH 102181-102185 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- HyperWar Online Library civsh-r/rio-dour.htm, photo captions NH 102181-102185
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official NHC Online Library catalog page corroborates the DANFS narrative ('a 205-ton dragger type fishing vessel, built in 1936 at Thomaston, Maine... transferred to the War Shipping Administration for disposal in July 1945') and catalogs five pre-Navy photographs of the hull (NH 102181-102185, including marine-railway haulout views), with original prints in National Archives Record Group 19-LCM. Photo captions phrase the disposal as 'transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal on 23 July 1945.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Limitations
- Confirms identity, dimensions class (205-ton dragger), and photo holdings; the 'Maritime Commission' vs. DANFS 'War Shipping Administration' phrasing reflects the two agencies' overlapping wartime roles and is noted, not an error. Contains no asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-05
-
[6]GAO, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (18 October 1979) - era documentation of asbestos use in naval vessel insulation, gasketing, packing, and deck materials [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- GAO-era documentation establishes that asbestos was standard in Navy ship construction and overhaul materials of the period (thermal insulation, gaskets, packing, deck tile). For a wooden-hulled diesel dragger conversion with no steam plant, the plausible subset on this hull type is confined to machinery-exhaust lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck materials - a materially smaller asbestos profile than steam-powered combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Conversion yard workers (General Ship & Engine Works, East Boston, 1940-41 - undocumented); wartime crew
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only - the GAO report does not name this hull, the AMc type, or small diesel conversions, and its fieldwork concerned naval shipyards, not district-craft conversions. No application aboard this hull is established; equally, absence of the steam-plant pathway is a structural inference from the documented diesel propulsion, not a certification that no asbestos was present. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description, same limitation as Batch 01.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-06
-
[7]Batch-1563 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS; NAVSHIPS 1851; Ships' Data 1945; NHC Online Library photo catalog; NavSource; CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket indexes; MARAD vesselhistory; open-web legal index [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-mockingbird-amc28-01 through sl-uss-mockingbird-amc28-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum record, or docketed case naming USS Mockingbird (AMc-28) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero hits for 'USS Mockingbird' and only name collisions for 'Mockingbird'/'AMC-28' queries. The vessel left federal custody in 1945, before the Navy's asbestos-control era and before the exposure-litigation era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 2026-09-23
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record is not proof asbestos was absent aboard - era materials on small diesel craft are plausible but undocumented. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. 'Mockingbird' is a high-collision term (street names, LLCs, literary references); collision hits were classified and excluded, not counted.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-07
-
[8]NARA photos NH 102181-102185 (RG-19-LCM) and 80-G-411694 (identified via NHC Online Library and NavSource); NARA RG-19 (BuShips) conversion/alteration files, RG-181 (1st/5th Naval District) records, and the WSA/Maritime Commission disposal case file for the 23 July 1945 Little Creek delivery [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHC Online Library photo page; NavSource AMc-28 photo captions; NARA RG-19/RG-181 series (not digitized); shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net Lyman-Morse yard table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Identified archival leads not yet digitized: five pre-Navy hull photographs and one wartime view (with acoustic hammer) in NARA custody; BuShips/1st Naval District records of the 1940-41 East Boston conversion; and the WSA/MC disposal file, which a shipbuilding-history compilation indicates ended in resale under the name 'Mockingbird' (official no. 235748) - the most promising lead for closing the post-1945 fate.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-23
- Study period
- 1940-1946
- Limitations
- Leads only - none of these files was examined; catalog.archives.gov record pages render as a JS application and could not be machine-read in session. The 'sold as Mockingbird' datum is a secondary compilation, not a primary record. No asbestos content is expected or implied by these leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-mockingbird-amc28-08