Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, Naifeh (DE-352) (namesake, builder, dates, service narrative, striking and disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, spec block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 29 December 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; launched 29 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Rathia Naifeh (mother of the namesake); commissioned 4 July 1944, Lt. J.S. Albert in command. Namesake Lt. (j.g.) Alfred Naifeh (b. Covington, Tenn., 5 Jan 1915): Ensign 5 July 1941; Destroyer Division Disbursing officer aboard Meredith from 27 Feb 1942; died 16 Oct 1942 of exhaustion after working through the night keeping wounded survivors on life rafts following Meredith's sinking in the Battle of the Solomons; posthumous Navy and Marine Corps Medal. Service: shakedown Bermuda; training ship Norfolk; two convoy-escort voyages to Europe/North Africa from 6 Oct 1944; Pacific via Panama Canal (Manus 20 Feb 1945); Philippine Sea Frontier, Leyte Gulf - convoy escort to New Guinea, Ulithi, Palau, Guam, Manila, Okinawa plus weather-ship, SAR, and mail duty; rescued the crew of the grounded merchantman Glenns Ferry near Batag Island 10 Oct 1945; San Diego 17 Dec 1945; decommissioned 27 June 1946, Pacific Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned 26 Jan 1951; UN Escort and Blockade Force off Songjin from 28 June 1951 - shore bombardment, mine/junk/submarine patrol; screened Sicily (CVE-118) and HMS Glory; returned Nov 1951. Second Korean tour July-Dec 1952 with TF 95 (Songjin-Chongjin); once bracketed by shore fire; flagship of the Wonsan Element Commander; counterbattery fire and smoke screen for Lewis (DE-535) after she was hit. WestPac Nov 1953-Jun 1954 (Pusan landing exercises May 1954); Nov 1954-Jun 1955 (Korea east-coast patrol; Tachen Islands evacuation Jan-Feb 1955); Mar-Aug 1956 (Guam-based SAR ready ship, five Northern Marianas/Bonin/Caroline surveillance patrols); Apr-Jul 1957 (Bonin patrol, Sasebo and Subic Bay ops). Decommissioned 17 June 1960 at San Francisco; berthed at Mare Island; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 Jan 1966; towed to San Diego in early 1966 'for stripping prior to being used as a target to destruction'; sunk as a target off San Clemente Island 'in July' by naval gunfire and aircraft. Three battle stars for Korean service. Spec block: dp. 1,350; l. 306'; b. 36'8"; dr. 9'5"; s. 24 k.; cpl. 186; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 3 21" tt., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. John C. Butler.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1966
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; wartime and postwar crew (DANFS complement 186); Mare Island reserve-fleet custody 1960-66
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history, specifications, and disposal - not materials or asbestos content. The 'stripping prior to being used as a target' line is the only pre-sinking handling reference and does not characterize what was removed. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (both URL patterns tried).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-01
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[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (1 January 1945), NAVSHIPS 250-010 - DE design-group table and per-vessel register row (shipscribe.com scan; row verified by direct read of the page image) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 PDF pp. 127-138 (book pp. 234-265): DE design-group table row 6; individual-ship table index 234 'NAIFEH ... DE352' (book pp. 254-255)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips register names this hull: individual-ship table row 'NAIFEH (footnote 2) - DE352 - WGT - Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex. - (footnote 3) 2,043,000 - [contract signed] ...do... (Aug. 7, 1942)' with milestone row 'keel laid Dec. 29, 1943; ship launched Feb. 29, 1944; contract date of completion May 5, 1944; date of preliminary acceptance June 30, 1944; date of first commission July 4, 1944' (book pp. 254-255, alphabetical index no. 234). Register footnote 2 reads 'Turbines built by G. E.' - hull-level evidence that this ship's geared turbines were General Electric-built, not Westinghouse as generalized in the class block map. Footnote 3 marks the price as cost-plus-fixed-fee. The DE design-group table (book pp. 234-235) defines group 6 'WGT' (geared-turbine drive): 2 shafts, 12,000 shp, two 'D' express boilers at 435 psi / 750 deg F.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945 (register); covers 1943-44 construction data
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Official contemporaneous register read directly from the scanned page image. Establishes design group (WGT), builder, contract price ($2,043,000, cost-plus-fixed-fee), milestone dates, and GE turbine manufacture for this hull - no materials or asbestos content. Boiler manufacturer (Combustion Engineering for the DE-339-372 block) rests on the navypedia-derived class map, not this register.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-02
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[3]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Naifeh (DE-352) 'Building and Operational Data' block (compiled from NVR/ship records; volunteer archive) - corroborated by NavalCoverMuseum and Wikipedia entries [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/06/352.htm - 'Building and Operational Data' chronology (via search-index text; direct fetch refused with HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Operational-data record for this hull: struck from the NVR 1 January 1966 'with a total of 11 years and 4 months of service'; '11 July 1966: Sunk as target off San Clemente Island, Cal. by Naval gunfire and aircraft.' The day-level sinking date (11 July) refines DANFS's 'in July' and is concordant with secondary compilations (Wikipedia ship list entry; NavalCoverMuseum entry).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1966
- Population
- Reserve-fleet/inactive-ships custody personnel, Mare Island 1960-1966; target-stripping and sinking-exercise crews 1966
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer photographic archive; the stricken (1 Jan 1966) and sunk (11 Jul 1966) dates concur across NavSource, NavalCoverMuseum, and Wikipedia but are not verified against an official disposition document (NVR does not cover pre-1987 disposals; DANFS gives only 'in July'). Scope of the documented pre-target stripping at San Diego is undocumented - no hazmat or abatement content. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-03
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[4]HyperWar 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' DE-352 USS Naifeh page (compiled ship-data sheet) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/DE/DE-352_Naifeh.html - specifications block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- HyperWar ship page for this hull (Patrick Clancey compilation): 'John C. Butler Class Destroyer Escort: Displacement 1811 tons (full load); Length 306'; Beam 36'8"; Draft 11'2"; Speed 24 knots; Range 6,000 miles at 12 knots; Armament: 2 5"/38, 1x3 21" torpedo tubes, 2x2 40mm, 10 20mm, 1 hedgehog, 2 depth charge tracks, 8 "K" gun projectors; Complement: 14 officers, 201 enlisted; Geared-turbine drive, 12,000 h.p.; Built at Consolidated, Orange and commissioned 4 July 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (data as designed)
- Population
- Wartime crew (215 per this sheet)
- Limitations
- Compiled ship-data sheet corroborating DANFS specifications; its complement figure (14 officers + 201 enlisted = 215) conflicts with the DANFS spec block (186) and BuShips class design (15/207) - carried in gaps. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-04
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[5]BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group-6 row and per-hull register row (shipscribe scan) + insulation-spec suite identified via Jack v. Borg-Warner exhibit list (class-profile archival lead ev-john-c-butler-class-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 (design group 6) and register index 234; Jack v. Borg-Warner ECF 738 att. 1 exhibit-list items Honeywell-160 through -167
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-352 is a BuShips design-group-6 (WGT) destroyer escort - keel 29 Dec 1943, first commission 4 July 1944 - with two 'D' express boilers (435 psi / 750 deg F) and geared turbines (12,000 shp), inside the peak naval asbestos era, when the documented insulation suite (BuShips Manual ch.39 'Thermal Insulation' NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) 1945; Navy Dept. spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' Oct 1945; BuEng ch.13 heat-insulation instructions 1933/39) covered thermal pipe covering, block insulation, asbestos felt, lagging cloth/tape, millboard, finishing cement, gaskets and packing aboard steam-driven hulls. Builder Consolidated Steel Corp. (Orange, Tex.) is not in the Atlas yard dataset, so no yard-level record tempers the inference.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1960
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; engineering-plant crew 1944-1960
- Limitations
- Class/era and design-group inference only - does NOT establish that any asbestos-containing material was installed aboard this hull, and establishes no quantity and no individual exposure. The controlling spec suite is identified from a sister-hull litigation exhibit list; the spec documents themselves were not retrieved this session. NARA RG 19 General Information Books per-hull material specifications are the unretrieved archival lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-05
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[6]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - pretrial order materials and exhibit list, ECF 738 att. 1 (verified in class-profile record john-c-butler-class, 2026-09-16) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF 738.1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC (W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537) name USS Brannon (DE-446), a John C. Butler-class sister of this hull, and recite the plaintiff's theory that a Griscom-Russell evaporator was supplied to Navy specification 'without insulation' and that asbestos was 'a critical material' when the Navy insulated it aboard - while the same materials concede the insulation 'could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the era's controlling Navy insulation documents as evidence in that case.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- WWII/postwar service era; litigation 2017-2019
- Population
- Machinist's mate aboard USS Brannon (DE-446)
- Limitations
- Names sister hull DE-446, NOT this hull - included to document the class's known litigation posture and the insulation-spec theory; it is a pleading/exhibit-list-level recital, not an adjudicated finding, and transfers nothing ship-specific to DE-352.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-06
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[7]Batch-4256 CourtListener sweep (this record): authenticated API v4 'USS Naifeh' opinions = 0; 'DE-352' opinions = 16, all identifier collisions; RECAP docket queries blocked by fleet pacer; site:courtlistener.com index sweep = name collisions only [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-naifeh-de352-08 through sl-uss-naifeh-de352-11
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep for this hull (authenticated API v4 + site-index sweep): exact-name 'USS Naifeh' opinion search returned ZERO hits. Hull-number 'DE-352' opinion search returned 16 hits, all identifier collisions - none is a maritime, asbestos, or vessel case (e.g., Murphy v. Gilman §1983; United States v. MacDonald; People v. Ortega; Puerto Rico Supreme Court matters; In re Tousa bankruptcy; Bufalino BIA) - the string matches docket-entry/page references of the form 'DE 352'/'DE-352', not the vessel. RECAP docket queries could not be completed - the fleet-wide paced request budget (~114/hr shared across sessions) was spent on every attempt and the helper returned its stand-down instruction. A site-scoped web-index sweep of courtlistener.com for 'USS Naifeh' and 'Naifeh' + DE-352/asbestos/ship returned only name collisions: Naifeh v. Ronson Art Metal Works (1953 trademark opinions, 111 F. Supp. 491 and 117 F. Supp. 690), Naifeh v. Valley Forge Life Ins. Co. (Tenn. 2006 citation), attorney Stuart Naifeh (NAACP LDF) filings, and 'Naifeh and Smith' book references - no opinion or docket naming the vessel located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- PARTIAL COVERAGE - opinion indexes were swept with zero qualifying result, but RECAP docket queries never ran (fleet pacing); the 'DE-352' collisions were classified by case-name/domain inspection, not per-opinion full-text review (the same collision mechanism - docket-entry citations - was verified at full-text level for 'DE-341' in batch-4244). PACER-only and state-court records are outside scope. Absence of a located case does not prove no claim was ever filed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-07
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[8]Batch-4256 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS transcription; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 register row; HyperWar ship page; NavSource operational data; NVR coverage check; shipyards.json yard-dataset check; CourtListener API opinion sweeps + site-scoped index sweep (RECAP docket queries fleet-paced); law-firm listicle sweep (excluded); class profile background [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-naifeh-de352-01 through sl-uss-naifeh-de352-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-352: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no materials inventory, no hazmat or pre-sinking environmental disclosure, and no qualifying litigation naming the vessel was found in the sources searched (see search_ledger). 'USS Naifeh (DE-352) asbestos' content circulates on mesothelioma law-firm/lead-gen ship lists (asbestos-ships.com, shepardlawfirm.com, freeasbestostesting.com, mesotheliomabook.com) - excluded per source rules; none cites underlying documentation. The hull was stricken 1966 and sunk as a target off San Clemente Island in July 1966, predating EPA/Navy ship-sinking environmental review - no pre-sinking abatement record is expected to exist; whatever remained aboard went down with the wreck.
- 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 - a 1943-44 steam destroyer escort is era-consistent with asbestos insulation, and the CourtListener API sweep could not be completed under fleet pacing (site-index sweep is partial coverage). Does not establish that asbestos is or was present aboard, does not speak to the stripped material's fate, and does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-naifeh-de352-08