Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]research packet fr-packet.md (8 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Nields | hull: DD-616 | designation: Destroyer | class: Benson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nields
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-nields-dd616-pkt-fr-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Nields (DD-616) (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page 404 - see search_ledger) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- hazegray DANFS transcription for DD-616 (Wayback capture 2024-12-09); live NHHC URL patterns 404
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 15 June 1942 by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River, Mass.; launched 1 October 1942, sponsored by Miss Ella S. Nields, daughter of Lt. Comdr. Henry C. Nields; commissioned 15 January 1943, Lt. Comdr. Albert R. Heckey in command. Spec block: 1,620 t; 348 ft 4 in; 36 ft 1 in beam; 17 ft 4 in draft; 37.5 kt; complement 259; 4 x 5 in, 4 x 40 mm, 7 x 20 mm, 5 x 21 in torpedo tubes, 6 depth-charge projectors; Benson class. Service: shakedown and east-coast training; tanker escort to Aruba and Cristobal; DesRon 16 trans-Atlantic convoy duty from New York (first North African run, convoy USG-8, Oran 19 May 1943); 21 May 1943 sank Italian submarine Gorgo off Oran (two 9-charge depth-charge patterns, K-gun charges; oil patches observed); Sicily - sortied 5 July with the 'Cent' attack force, guarded Transport Area Two off Scoglitti 10-13 July; Mediterranean and UK convoys into 1944; March 1944 hunter-killer exercises with DesDivs 31/32; 7 April - Champlin (DD-601) and Huse (DE-145) sank U-856, Nields recovered 11 survivors for ONI; joined 8th Fleet 21 April; in the four-day U-616 hunt of 14-17 May 1944 Nields fired an 11-charge pattern, conducted creeping attacks, and directed Gleaves' (DD-423) 18-charge deep pattern before U-616 surfaced and sank at 0612 on 17 May (51 survivors recovered under her screen); Operation Dragoon 15 August 1944 - off St. Raphael blocking E-boats and firing on 'Red Beach'; under German shore-battery fire between St. Honorat and St. Marguerite, returned fire unscathed; Boston availability from 19 September; two more North African convoys; rejoined 8th Fleet January 1945; Ligurian Sea patrol with the Flank Force from 9 April (Vada MTB attack support 11 April; Bordighera bombardment 17 April); relieved by Kendrick (DD-612) 19 April; New York 1 May; Guantanamo training; departed 20 July for Pearl Harbor; occupation duty - DesRon 12 at Buckner Bay 5 September, Guam round trip, Ryukyus disarming operations in Tokara Gunto and Amami Gunto; detached 31 October; San Diego 21 November; Charleston, S.C.; decommissioned 25 March 1946 into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, berthed at Orange, Texas 'into 1970'; three battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1970
- Population
- Bethlehem Fore River construction trades 1942; wartime crew (design complement 259)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The entry ends with the ship in reserve in 1970, so striking (1970-09-15) and sale (1972-05-08) are not covered by this source (carried from secondary reads - ev-02). Live NHHC DANFS page 404s under current URL patterns; verbatim hazegray transcription via 2024-12-09 Wayback capture cited (standing fleet link-rot issue from Batch 01). Minor date divergences vs secondary sources (Oran return 22 vs 26 June 1943; UGF-9 New York arrival 4 vs 3 August 1943; Pearl Harbor arrival 10 vs 9 August 1945; decommissioning 25 vs 26 March 1946) logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-nields-dd616-01
-
[3]Secondary compilations: NavSource DD-616 photo index (operational/building data, machinery line, commanding-officer list, NARA photo 19-N-84210 credit, Orange ISMF photo feature) + Wikipedia 'USS Nields' article (DANFS-derived narrative with added detail) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/05/616.htm (Wayback capture 2024-05-27; live site refused fetch); en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nields wikitext via MediaWiki API
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary corroboration for details DANFS does not carry: commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard (Wikipedia); machinery 50,000 shp Bethlehem geared turbines, 2 screws (NavSource); Sicily convoys NCF-1/KMF-18 and 1943-44 convoy codes UGF-10, GUF-12, UTF-3, KMF-25-A, TU-03, TU-6; CTF-60 RAdm C. F. Bryant commendation for Marnix/Santa Helena survivor-rescue work; escorted USS Guam (CB-2) to Norfolk 27 October 1944; convoys UGS-59 and UGF-19; May-July 1945 availability extended to 3 July for high-pressure steam turbine repairs; Pearl Harbor arrival 9 August 1945 (DANFS reads 10 August); escorted USS Lunga Point (CVE-94) Saipan-to-Okinawa; 6 October 1945 boarding parties to Japanese destroyers Hibiki, Amami, Kunasiri repatriating former POWs; 9 October typhoon anchorage incident with LST-553 grounding and Nields losing her anchor; reported to 16th (Inactive) Fleet 8 December 1945; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 15 September 1970 as 'unfit for further Naval service'; sold 8 May 1972 to Southern Scrap Material Company, Limited, New Orleans (NavSource reads 'Southern Materials'); departed under tow of tug Betty Smith 25 May 1972 and broken up for scrap. Commanding officers: LCDR Albert R. Heckey (15 Jan 1943 - 7 Oct 1944), LCDR Charles R. Norris Jr. (7 Oct 1944 - 25 Mar 1946). Namesake bio: Henry C. Nields, Mate 1863, Acting Ensign 1864, USS Metacomet, Tecumseh rescue at Mobile Bay under Farragut's praise; Lt. Comdr. 1870; died 1880.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1972
- Population
- Wartime crew 1943-45; reserve-fleet berthing personnel, Orange, TX 1946-70; scrapyard workforce, New Orleans 1972
- Limitations
- Secondary/tertiary compilations used for corroboration and for events outside the DANFS entry's 1970 cutoff (striking, sale, scrapping). Wikipedia's own infobox reads decommissioned 26 March 1946 against its DANFS-derived narrative's 25 March - and NavSource's data block likewise reads 26 March while its commanding-officer list ends Norris's tour 25 March 1946; the conflict is logged in gaps rather than reconciled. No asbestos content in any of these sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-nields-dd616-02
-
[4]Class/era inference basis: DANFS-type specifications (Benson class; high-pressure superheated boilers, geared turbines, twin screws, 50,000 h.p. per HyperWar spec block and NavSource machinery line); BuShips Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels Jan 1945 'No. 421 Class' machinery table; Atlas shipyard dataset records for bethlehem-shipbuilding, fore-river-shipyard, boston-naval-shipyard, brooklyn-navy-yard (tier 3) and charleston-naval-shipyard (tier 2); class profile benson-gleaves-class.class.json [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block (ev-01); class profile machinery/propulsion entries; shipyards.json records
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: a Benson-class (1941 repeat, 'Laffey' group) destroyer built 1942 at Bethlehem Quincy with a four-boiler superheated steam plant and geared turbines would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation on boilers, turbines, and steam lines, plus flange and valve gaskets, machinery packing, and fireproofing. The builder yard is a tier-3 documented asbestos yard in the Atlas dataset; the hull's documented yard events at other documented yards are the Boston Navy Yard commissioning, the May-July 1945 New York Navy Yard availability including high-pressure steam turbine repairs (work that disturbs machinery-space insulation), and Charleston decommissioning-inactivation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem Quincy construction trades 1942; Boston Navy Yard commissioning workforce 1943; New York Navy Yard repair workforce May-July 1945; Charleston inactivation workforce 1945-46; crew 1943-46
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific material schedule, survey, or abatement record establishes asbestos aboard this hull. Yard-event documentation speaks to the yards' documented asbestos environments, not to this hull's materials. Does not establish quantity, location, or exposure for any individual (hull scrapped 1972). BuShips 1945 reads 47,000 shp for the class lead vs 50,000 shp in DANFS-type summaries - documented class-level discrepancy, not asbestos-relevant.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-nields-dd616-03
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[5]CourtListener API v4 sweeps, 2026-09-27, authenticated via fleet helper: 'USS Nields' opinions 0 hits; 'USS Nields' dockets 0 hits; 'U.S.S. Nields' opinions 0 hits; 'aboard the Nields' opinions 0 hits; 'DD-616' opinions 0 hits; 'DD-616' dockets 4 hits; 'Nields' opinions 1,470 hits - all reviewed for vessel relevance [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search API, type=o and type=r, 2026-09-27
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS Nields or DD-616 located. All 4 'DD-616' docket hits are string collisions in unrelated matters - Intermec Technologies Corp. v. Palm Inc. (D. Del. 2007, patent), Arch Coal Inc. bankruptcy (E.D. Mo. 2016), Williams v. City of Springfield (D. Mass. 2016), Activision Publishing v. Warzone.com (C.D. Cal. 2021, trademark) - none names the vessel. The 1,470 'Nields' opinion hits are surname collisions (State v. Nields, an Ohio criminal line; Nields v. Lea; People v. Nields; Dooley Improvements v. Nields) - none names the ship. 'aboard the Nields' produced zero opinion hits. Open-web asbestos searches return only law-firm/marketing listicle entries naming DD-616 in generic ship lists - banned sources, excluded. No survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or museum record names this hull (no museum - scrapped 1972).
- Verification
- verified
- 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 or absence of claims - RECAP coverage is not exhaustive and MDL-875 complaint exhibits may name hulls in attachment text not indexed. Exact-name, variant, and hull-number sweeps in both indexes complete at zero qualifying hits; 'Nields' is a rare string, so the negative finding is correspondingly clean.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-nields-dd616-04
-
[6]Archival leads: USS Nields (DD-616) Booklet of General Plans, Bethlehem Steel Company, 23 November 1942 (NARA-derived scan donated by Ed Zajkowski to the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association; listed in the maritime.org plans index as 'DD-616 - USS Nields - Booklet of General Plans, 1942, Benson Class, dd616.pdf (6 MB PDF)') + NARA holdings for this hull (RG 24 deck logs, RG 38 war diaries, RG 19 BuShips plan/material records) [other_primary]
- Locator
- maritime.org/doc/plans index listing (search-index confirmed; site 404 on fetch); model-monkey.com product description confirming NARA provenance; catalog.archives.gov
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A ship-specific as-built primary document exists for this hull: the Booklet of General Plans for DD-616 prepared by Bethlehem Steel and dated 23 November 1942, scanned from NARA holdings and released by the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association (maritime.org). Its existence, authorship, and date are corroborated by the plans-index listing and a licensed reseller's product description; the file itself was unreachable this session (maritime.org returned 404 to all requests 2026-09-27), so its contents - including any insulation, lagging, or material-schedule notes, which some booklets of general plans carry - are unverified. NARA additionally holds deck logs (RG 24) and WWII war diaries (RG 38) for this hull, and RG 19 BuShips records may hold contract material specifications; none digitized for this hull.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1946 (record coverage); 2026-09-27 (lead logged)
- Limitations
- Leads only - document contents unreviewed (site unreachable); no spend authorized for retrieval this batch. Whether the booklet or NARA holdings contain insulation or asbestos statements is unknown; the lead is logged because hull-level plan/spec documents are the most likely surviving source of ship-specific material information for a hull scrapped before Navy asbestos surveys.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-nields-dd616-05