Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet 1097-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-osceola-yt129-pkt-1097-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Osceola III (YTB-129)' - construction, commissioning, naming, 14th Naval District assignment, wartime duties, redesignations (live NHHC page, verified 2026-10-05) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Osceola III service narrative and spec block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'The third Osceola, a harbor tug launched by the Navy Yard, Charleston, S. C. 3 March 1938; and commissioned 1 June 1938.' DANFS ties her construction to the 1928 Navy Expansion Act authorization ('Osceola was one of the smaller ships built at the time'). 'Her name was assigned 17 September 1938, and she reported to the 14th Naval District, headquartered at Pearl Harbor.' 'Stationed at Pearl Harbor throughout her war-time Naval service, Osceola provided assistance in maneuvering larger ships, rendered towing service for naval vessels, and stood ready to aid in water-front fire protection. Her class was changed to YTB-129, 12 April 1944.' 'Her classification changed to YTM-129 in early 1962, and she remains active with the U. S. Pacific fleet into 1970.' Spec block: YTB-129: dp. 890; l. 124'9"; b. 28'; dr. 14'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1938-1970 (entry coverage)
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades (1937-38); crew (1938-1973)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. The DANFS entry ends at 1970 - her decommissioning, striking, and 1973 disposal come from other rows. DANFS does not detail her actions during the 7 December 1941 attack or her West Loch damage (see ev-03, ev-04).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-01
-
[3]NHHC, Navy Department Library, 'Ships Present at Pearl Harbor' - official presence list for the 7 December 1941 attack (live page, verified 2026-10-05) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC 'Ships Present at Pearl Harbor' table, harbor craft section; NHHC action-reports index checked - no YT-129 report present
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official NHHC presence list for the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack names Osceola (YT-129) among ships present at Pearl Harbor (harbor craft section; note 'class changed to YTB'). A National Archives-held U.S. Navy photograph shows her moored at Pearl Harbor just after the attack (NavSource-captioned, see ev-05). NavSource's compiled award display gives her the Combat Action Ribbon (Pearl Harbor). No individual ship's action report for YT-129 appears in the NHHC Pearl Harbor action-reports digital exhibit - her precise actions during the attack are not documented in located official sources (the tug recorded attempting to ram a midget submarine periscope was YT-153, a different hull, per the official chronology).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-12-07
- Population
- YT-129 crew aboard during the attack (7 Dec 1941)
- Limitations
- Establishes presence at Pearl Harbor during the attack, not specific combat actions or any material/exposure condition aboard. The Combat Action Ribbon entry is NavSource's compilation - the underlying award roster for district craft was not independently pulled. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-02
-
[4]Cressman, Robert J., The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II (Naval Institute Press, 2000), 21 May 1944 entry, printed p. 485 - full text verified in the HyperWar/ibiblio official mirror and in the Internet Archive scan [other_primary]
- Locator
- USN-Chron-1944, entry for 21 May 1944 (West Loch); printed page 485 in the 2000 NIP edition; corroborated at https://archive.org/details/TheOfficialChronologyOfTheUSNavyInWorldWarII
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official Navy chronology documents damage to this hull during the West Loch Disaster, Pearl Harbor, 21 May 1944: after an accidental explosion aboard LST-353 while loading mortar ammunition - a chain of blasts that destroyed six LSTs, three LCTs, 17 LVTs, and eight 155-mm guns - 'During firefighting efforts, big harbor tugs Osceola (YTB-129) and Hoga (YTB-146); medium harbor tug Geronimo (YTM-119); little harbor tugs YTL-233, YTL-306, YTL-307, YTL-308, YTL-309, and YTL-339; net tender (tug class) Tamaha (YTM-12); and Navy-chartered tug Mikioi suffer varying degrees of damage.' NHHC's West Loch account (ev-search ledger) puts the toll at 163 dead and 396 injured. Osceola had been redesignated YTB-129 six weeks earlier (12 April 1944).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1944-05-21
- Population
- YTB-129 crew during firefighting (21-22 May 1944); repair trades if yard availability followed
- Limitations
- Documents that Osceola was damaged while firefighting at West Loch - 'varying degrees' gives no damage extent and no repair scope; whether she underwent a Navy Yard availability afterward is undocumented (see gaps). Firefighting/damage/repair is a material-disturbance-relevant event but this source contains no asbestos content. Wikipedia's citation of this passage to 'p. 229' is wrong - the passage sits on printed p. 485 (corrected here).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-03
-
[5]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, Osceola (YTM-129) ex-(YTB-129) ex-(YT-129) - designation timeline, specifications, awards display, disposal (live page, verified 2026-10-05) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 14/08129.htm header block, awards display, timeline, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: authorized 15 December 1936; laid down 2 August 1937 at Charleston Navy Yard; launched 3 March 1938; placed in service as YT-129 1 June 1938; assigned the name Osceola 17 September 1938; assigned to the Fourteenth Naval District, 1938-1970s; 'Osceola was present at Pearl Harbor, 07 December 1941'; redesignated District Harbor Tug, Large (YTB-129) 12 April 1944; redesignated District Harbor Tug, Medium (YTM-129) 1962; decommissioned and stricken, dates unknown; sold for scrapping by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS), February 1973. Awards display: Combat Action Ribbon (Pearl Harbor); American Defense Service Medal (Fleet clasp); American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; National Defense Service Medal. Specifications: displacement 890 tons; length 124'9"; beam 28'; draft 14'; propulsion direct-drive diesel, twin screw; speed, complement, and armament unknown.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1936-1973
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades (1937-38); crew (1938-1973); DRMS/scrapping personnel (1973)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track DANFS/NVR but 'decommissioned/stricken, date unknown' and 'speed/complement/armament unknown' stand unverified. The awards display (incl. Combat Action Ribbon) is NavSource's compilation; the underlying award roster was not pulled. Diesel plant noted - no steam plant. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-04
-
[6]NARA-held photography transcribed in NavSource captions: 80-G-411134 (YFD-2 arrival, 23 Aug 1940); post-attack mooring photo (7 Dec 1941); West Virginia (BB-48) to Drydock No. 2 (9 Jun 1942); NARA ID 2663369 / local 428-NPC-47631, John Ford film unit frames - California (BB-44) to drydock (9 Apr 1942) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 14/08129.htm photo table (rows 14070201, 140812901-140812904); NARA IDs 80-G-411134, 2663369/428-NPC-47631 - direct catalog verification open
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA-held U.S. Navy photography documents this hull's ship-handling work at Pearl Harbor during the post-attack salvage era: assisting the arrival of floating drydock YFD-2 (photo 80-G-411134, 23 August 1940); moored just after the 7 December 1941 attack; moving USS California (BB-44) to drydock at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 9 April 1942 (still frames from the John Ford film unit, NARA ID 2663369, local ID 428-NPC-47631); and, with other tugs, maneuvering USS West Virginia (BB-48) into Drydock No. 2 on 9 June 1942 after seven months sunk in the harbor mud (probable companion tug Nokomis YT-142). This is physical-presence and salvage-support documentation - the harbor tugs' daily work put their crews alongside damaged capital ships and shipyard drydock operations throughout 1942.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1940-08-23 to 1942-06-09
- Population
- YT-129 crew during salvage-era ship handling (1940-42); Pearl Harbor Navy Yard drydock personnel worked alongside
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: photographs establish presence and ship-handling work, not what repair or maintenance was performed on YT-129 itself - a photo of her towing is not a work record. NARA catalog pages are JS-rendered and could not be fetched directly this session; NAIDs and photo numbers transcribed via NavSource captions. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-05
-
[7]Era inference built on: DANFS/NavSource spec blocks (diesel district harbor tug, built 1937-38 at Charleston Navy Yard); shipyard-exposure-map documented asbestos product list for charleston-naval-shipyard (Atlas shipyards.json) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications (direct-drive diesel); shipyards.json entry charleston-naval-shipyard (products list, evidence_tier 2)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered district harbor tug built 1937-38 at Charleston Navy Yard sits inside that yard's documented asbestos era: the Atlas shipyard record for charleston-naval-shipyard lists magnesia pipe insulation, asbestos cement products, asbestos gaskets in pumps and valves, packing materials for rotating equipment, brake linings, clutch facings in mechanical systems, thermal insulation for steam systems, electrical insulation throughout vessels, spray-on insulation, and fireproofing materials. Era-standard applications aboard a diesel harbor tug of this period were engine and exhaust insulation, machinery thermal insulation, gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and brake/clutch linings on towing-winch gear. Direct-drive diesel propulsion - no steam plant aboard - so the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1937-1973
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades (1937-38); crew (1938-1973); Pearl Harbor Navy Yard trades during availabilities
- Limitations
- Class/era and yard-level inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for YT/YTB/YTM-129. Names era-standard applications and the builder yard's documented product set, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-06
-
[8]Kolonel LN et al., 'Cancer occurrence in shipyard workers exposed to asbestos in Hawaii,' Cancer Res 1985 Aug (PMID 4016758); and Sinks T et al., 'A case-control study of mesothelioma and employment in the Hawaii sugarcane industry,' Epidemiology 1994 Jul;5(4):466-8 (PMID 7918819) - published epidemiology on the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workforce [other_primary]
- Locator
- PMID 4016758 (Cancer Res 1985 Aug); PMID 7918819 (Epidemiology 1994 Jul;5(4):466-8) - abstracts verified via NCBI E-utilities 2026-10-05
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Government-published epidemiology documents asbestos exposure at this hull's 34-year duty station: Kolonel et al. studied 7,971 male Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers (up to 29 years' follow-up), finding lung cancer RR 1.4 at 15+ years' asbestos exposure and a resident-subset mesothelioma incidence of 67.3 per million men/year versus a 5.8 statewide Hawaii baseline (7 cases); Sinks et al. (93 Hawaii mesothelioma cases, 281 cancer controls) found work at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard associated with a 10-fold mesothelioma increase (OR 10.1; 95% CI 2.6-56.6) after excluding asbestos-related-cancer controls. Osceola was stationed at Pearl Harbor 1938 into the 1970s, worked daily alongside shipyard operations, and is NARA-documented moving capital ships into Pearl Harbor Navy Yard drydocks during the 1942 salvage era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- cohort follow-up to ~1982 (Kolonel); 1994 (Sinks); hull presence 1938-1973
- Population
- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard civilian workforce (studied cohorts); YT-129 crew present at the same station is contextual, not part of the cohort
- Limitations
- Yard-level epidemiology, not a hull record: documents asbestos exposure risk for the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workforce - ship's company aboard a district tug is not the studied population, and YT-129 is not named. Does not establish materials aboard this hull, individual exposure, or quantity.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-07
-
[9]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-05)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's entire service era (1938-1973).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403 - standing defect since Batch 01) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-08
-
[10]Batch-9299 search ledger (this record): DANFS Osceola III page (live); NHHC 'Ships Present at Pearl Harbor' (live); NHHC Pearl Harbor action-reports index (no YT-129 report); NHHC West Loch page (live); official chronology via HyperWar + archive.org scan (verified); NavSource 14/08129 (live); NVR (no entry, disposed pre-1987); NARA catalog (JS-rendered); PubMed PMIDs (verified); CourtListener API v4 - 4 base queries + 3 asbestos-qualified variants, all classified, variants count=0; secondary web sweep (no qualifying case, no marketing claims surfaced) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-osceola-yt129-01 through -19
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum record, or verified litigation naming USS Osceola (YT/YTB/YTM-129) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener fully searched this session: 4 base queries (name + hull x opinion + docket) returned only name collisions and incidental token matches; all three asbestos-qualified variants (authorized by base overflow) returned count=0 - no asbestos opinion or docket naming 'USS Osceola' or 'YT-129' exists in the index. Secondary web sweep surfaced no qualifying case and, unusually, no law-firm marketing claims naming this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 2026-10-05
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - 1937-38 Navy Yard construction inside a documented asbestos-era yard is consistent with era-standard materials. CourtListener coverage is name/hull-term search only - litigation phrased around a yard, job site, or defendant rather than the vessel name is outside its reach; docket-page results beyond each 20-hit page were resolved via the authorized asbestos-qualified variants (all count=0). Deck logs (RG 24), Charleston Navy Yard work packages, and DRMS disposal records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osceola-yt129-09