Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet kp-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-pkt-kp-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Oliver Mitchell (DE-417) (namesake, builder, dates, specifications block, service narrative; live NHHC page returns 404 - Wayback capture 2024-12-07 cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Oliver Mitchell (DE-417)', specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake 2nd Lt. Oliver Mitchell, USMCR (born 14 March 1917, Los Angeles; killed in action engaging Japanese destroyers off Ramos Island 28 August 1942; posthumous Silver Star). Hull: laid down 3 January 1944 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.; launched 8 February 1944 (sponsor Mrs. Margaret R. Mitchell, mother of the namesake); commissioned 14 June 1944, Lt. Comdr. Kenneth J. Barclay in command. Specifications block: John C. Butler class; dp. 1,745; l. 306'; b. 36'8"; dr. 13'4"; s. 24.3 k.; cpl. 222; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 2 dct, 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.), 3 21" tt. Service: Bermuda shakedown; departed Hampton Roads 31 August 1944; CortDiv 72 ASW exercises at Hawaii; Ulithi 1 November; TG 30.7 screening Anzio (CVE-57) to 10 December; ASW sweeps north of TF 38 during Mindoro landings; Formosa/Luzon strikes supporting Lingayen; TG 50.7 Marianas/Volcanos, screening Anzio off Iwo Jima 16 February - 3 March 1945; TU 52.1.1 from Leyte 21 March, Kerama Retto and Hagushi screening, Guam 6 April, Ryukyus screening through May; detached 4 June; 47-day deployment screening carrier task forces off Japan; escorted occupation forces to Korea and along the China coast; Magic Carpet departure 26 December 1945, San Francisco 15 January 1946; decommissioned at San Diego 24 April 1946 into the Pacific Reserve Fleet; later Mare Island Reserve Group; 'remains a unit of the Reserve Fleet into 1970.' Five battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1970
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1944; wartime crew (design complement 222)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The cited edition ends 'into 1970' and does not record the 1972 striking or 1973 sale (carried from secondary sources, see gaps). Live NHHC URL returns 404 (same link-rot pattern as BATCH-01 Hornet/Midway/Missouri); verbatim page text via the 2024-12-07 Wayback capture.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-01
-
[3]NavSource Online, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Oliver Mitchell (DE 417) - building and operational data block [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-417 page, 'Building and Operational Data' block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Operational chronology for this hull: commissioned 14 June 1944 at 16:07 moored to the Tennessee Coal and Iron Co. dock, Houston River Ship Channel, Lcdr. Kenneth J. Barclay in command; decommissioned 24 April 1946 at San Diego 'after 1 year and 10⅓ months of service, having steamed 117,941 miles,' credited with the destruction of one Japanese aircraft; inactivation completed 10 July 1946, assigned to Submarine Group Two, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the NVR 15 March 1972; sold for scrapping 15 January 1973.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Wartime crew; inactivation workers San Diego 1946; Pacific Reserve Fleet caretakers 1946-1972
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained secondary compilation, not an official record - carried because it supplies the inactivation completion (10 July 1946), reserve-group assignment, mileage, and aircraft credit absent from DANFS, and is the consistent source for the stricken/sold dates. One NavSource line - '13 April 1945 - 17 November 1945: Moored at South Harbor, Manila ... providing electrical power to U.S. Army shore installations' - irreconcilably conflicts with the DANFS combat chronology (Ryukyus screening through May; 47-day deployment off Japan; Korea/China September-December); documented in gaps, not asserted.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-02
-
[4]NARA Catalog fileUnit 'Oliver Mitchell (DE-417), 6/14/44-4/24/46' - deck-log microfilm, Roll 5612, National Archives at College Park, scanned under the NARA-Ancestry partnership (unrestricted; digitized images on catalog.archives.gov) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov fileUnit id 192517341; microfilm Roll 5612; online resource partnership scan set 32862_252826
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The hull's World War II deck logs exist and are digitized: NARA catalog fileUnit 'Oliver Mitchell (DE-417), 6/14/44-4/24/46' (spanning the full commissioned period), media 'Microfilm', container 'Roll 5612', reference unit National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference, access Unrestricted, with page-scan digital objects mounted via the NARA-Ancestry partnership. Deck logs anchor the hull's documentary trail; the NARA-held commissioning-to-decommissioning span is confirmed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (logs); catalog reviewed 2026-09-28
- Population
- Wartime crew 1944-1946 (documentary subjects)
- Limitations
- Index/catalog-level verification only - the log images were not retrieved or reviewed. Deck logs record operational events (movements, musters, visitors), not material content; whether any entry identifies insulation or materials is unknown until reviewed. Record-group attribution per catalog control group (Bureau of Naval Personnel records, RG 24 logbooks series).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-03
-
[5]Class inference consolidated from: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group 6 (WGT) row (shipscribe.com scan, per john-c-butler-class.class.json); Navypedia WGT page per-block boiler map (Combustion Engineering boilers for the DE-402-424 Brown-built block that includes DE-417); USNI Naval History, 'The Brown Shipbuilding Company's Rise During World War II' (June 2025) [other_primary]
- Locator
- john-c-butler-class.class.json (ev-john-c-butler-class-01/-02/-05); Navypedia us_de_tev_wgt boiler block map; USNI Naval History June 2025
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference only: Oliver Mitchell carried the class's standard WGT steam plant - two superheated 'D' express boilers (Combustion Engineering in the DE-402-424 block per the Navypedia boiler map) and 12,000-shp Westinghouse geared turbines, 435 psi/750F steam - built at Brown Shipbuilding, a wartime emergency yard on Greens Bayou, Houston, which produced 61 destroyer escorts during the war at an average delivery of roughly one per week (USNI). WWII-era steam warships of this type, as a class, carried period-standard boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing of the era - applications that in this era commonly contained asbestos. The class litigation theory is documented at sister-hull level (see ev-05).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1944; crew 1944-46
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific finding is established by this row. This is not evidence that asbestos-containing material was installed, present, or handled aboard this specific hull; it does not identify products, quantities, or locations aboard USS Oliver Mitchell. The boiler-builder attribution (Combustion Engineering) rests on Navypedia's block map, unverified against contract documents; the yard production figure is a secondary compilation (USNI, per sibling-batch verification). No ship-specific asbestos documentation exists for this hull (see ev-06 litigation sweep and the negative-finding row ev-07).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-04
-
[6]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - praecipe/pretrial order materials and exhibit list, ECF 738 att. 1 (as documented in john-c-butler-class.class.json, ev-03/-04) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF 738.1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list (per class profile ev-03/-04)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec name sister hull USS Brannon (DE-446, John C. Butler class per the docket's own Jane's Fighting Ships exhibit) and recite that 'Griscom-Russell supplied the Navy with the evaporator on Mr. Jack's ship in conformity to detailed precise specifications... without insulation,' with proposed testimony that 'asbestos was a critical material during WWII when the Navy installed the distiller on Mr. Jack's ship' - while conceding 'on the USS BRANNON this could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the controlling era insulation-spec suite: BuShips Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (1945); Navy Dept spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (1945); BuEng General Specifications for Machinery S39-1 (1939); BuEng Manual ch.13 Instructions Relative to Heat Insulation (1933/1939).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- Service era WWII/postwar; litigation 2017-2019
- Population
- Machinist's mate aboard USS Brannon DE-446 (class context only)
- Limitations
- Pretrial-order/exhibit-list recital in a case naming a different hull (DE-446), carried at class_or_era as the documented litigation theory for this DE type - it is not evidence about USS Oliver Mitchell specifically, establishes no adjudicated exposure finding even for DE-446, and the same materials concede non-asbestos insulation was possible. The spec documents themselves were not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 sweep (authenticated, via fleet helper cl-auth-search.py): exact-name "USS Oliver Mitchell" and bare-name "Oliver Mitchell" (type=o); hull-number "DE-417" (type=o); "USS Oliver Mitchell" and "DE-417" (type=r) - run 2026-09-28 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows for CourtListener queries
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep complete, 2026-09-28 (authenticated API v4 via cl-auth-search.py): '"USS Oliver Mitchell"' opinions = 0 results; '"USS Oliver Mitchell"' dockets = 0 results; '"Oliver Mitchell"' opinions = 117 hits, all name collisions on review (judge-surname adjacency - 'Galbreath, Oliver, Mitchell' Tenn. Crim. App. and 'Oliver, Mitchell' Iowa panel listings - and person-name collisions in criminal appeals; no vessel/Navy/asbestos reference); '"DE-417"' opinions = 7 hits, all numeric-string collisions in opinion text (Visteon v. National Union 7th Cir. insurance; Wilson v. Parratt 8th Cir. habeas; State v. Price R.I.; U.S. v. Mills 6th Cir.; Velez Colon v. Colegio de Optometras P.R.; In re Rotman Ill.; Marchese v. Shearson 9th Cir. - none vessel-related); '"DE-417"' dockets = 131 hits, all Bates/document-number collisions in returned case names and metadata (e.g., U.S. v. Hernandez S.D. Fla.; Rodriguez Licea v. Curacao Drydock S.D. Fla. - none reference this hull or asbestos). No qualifying asbestos litigation naming DE-417 located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- A public-index sweep outcome is recorded as of 2026-09-28; it does not prove no such litigation exists - PACER-gated dockets, sealed filings, and state-court records outside CourtListener's index are not searched. 'Oliver Mitchell' is a person name and a judge-surname adjacency ('Oliver, Mitchell' appears in appellate panel listings), so bare-name sweeps without the 'USS'/'DE-417' qualifier produce false positives; see search_ledger for exact queries.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-06
-
[8]Batch-4318 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (Wayback capture); Naval Vessel Register; NavSource; NARA catalog (deck-log fileUnit, Roll 5612); Atlas shipyard dataset (37 yard_ids); CourtListener API v4; general web search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or government material record naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was sold for scrapping in 1973 and no surviving structure exists to survey - no ship-specific record can be generated by inspection.
- 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 during service - the 1944 wartime build and WGT steam plant are consistent with era-standard materials (see ev-04). Does not establish that asbestos was or was not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The structural ceiling (scrapped hull) means no future survey evidence is possible; archival records (deck logs, BuShips material schedules) remain the only leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-oliver-mitchell-de417-07