Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), "Pelican II (YMS-441)" [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, full text (content carried via secondary aggregation - see limitations_note)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS entry for Pelican (ex-YMS-441): laid down 27 November 1943 by Robert Jacob, Inc., City Island, New York; launched 13 November 1944; commissioned as USS YMS-441 on 21 February 1945. After east-coast shakedown, sailed for the Pacific 10 April 1945, arriving Okinawa in August 1945 for minesweeping operations. Returned stateside February 1946; sailed to Guam and swept mines in the Caroline and Marshall Islands into early 1947. Named USS Pelican and classified AMS-32 on 18 February 1947. In October 1947 arrived Pearl Harbor and was outfitted as an experimental/instrumentation ship supporting the 1948 Eniwetok nuclear test program. During the Korean War deployed to Korea and, in October 1950, took part in the multi-ship task group (with Thompson DMS-38, Carmick DMS-33, Forrest Royal DD-872, Catamount LSD-17, Horace A. Bass APD-124, Swallow AMS-36, Gull AMS-16, Republic of Korea minesweepers, and a helicopter from Rochester CA-124) that swept the mined port of Chinnampo in under two weeks.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1943-1950
- Limitations
- This session could not retrieve the live NHHC page (HTTP 503 on repeated attempts across the session, roughly 10 minutes apart) or any DANFS mirror (ibiblio.org egress-blocked by this environment's network policy; hazegray.org DNS-unreachable; web.archive.org blocked at the tool level). This entry's content is carried as consistently reflected across independent secondary aggregations of the DANFS text (Wikipedia, DBpedia, Military Wiki, search-engine synthesis) and has not been independently re-confirmed against the primary page this session. Establishes vessel identity and general service chronology only; does not address asbestos, materials, or shipboard conditions; does not establish individual exposure or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-01
-
[2]NavSource Naval History, "Pelican (MSC(O)-32)" [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource ship page (content carried via secondary aggregation - see limitations_note)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource Naval History archive entry for Pelican (AMS-32/MSC(O)-32/ex-YMS-441) cross-identifies the hull across its Navy designations (YMS-441 to AMS-32 on 18 February 1947; AMS-32 to MSC(O)-32 on 7 February 1955) and its disposition: decommissioned and loaned to Japan on 16 April 1955 as JMSDF Ogishima (MSC-659); returned to U.S. Navy custody April 1968; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 May 1968.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1947-1968
- Limitations
- navsource.org (and the bare-domain variant) was not reachable from this research environment this session (DNS resolution failure on every attempt). This identity/disposition cross-reference is carried from the batch task brief and consistent secondary aggregation, not independently re-confirmed against the live page. Establishes identity/disposition only; no asbestos content; does not establish individual exposure or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-02
-
[3]National Archives, "Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog" and general Navy deck-log research guidance [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online ; https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/digitized-logs
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- General NARA guidance confirms U.S. Navy deck logs (Record Group 24, transferred to National Archives custody) are cataloged by ship name and hull designation, including small combatant/auxiliary hulls. The batch task brief for this vessel states National Archives holdings include wartime deck logs cataloged under the YMS-441 designation, which establishes in-scope Navy service for the interval those logs cover; it is not treated as a commissioning-date record. This session could not independently retrieve the specific catalog identifier or date range for YMS-441 - the National Archives Catalog search interface (catalog.archives.gov) is a JavaScript application that returned no retrievable results through the tools available this session.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1945-1955 (deck log coverage claimed, unconfirmed this session)
- Limitations
- Record-group/catalog-program mapping only; no hull-specific catalog entry was retrieved this session, so the specific date range and digitization status of YMS-441's deck logs is unconfirmed. Deck-log coverage under the YMS-441 designation is not evidence of asbestos aboard the hull and is not a commissioning-date record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-03
-
[4]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, "Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- AJIM 11(3):359-373; bibliographic record confirmed via NCBI/PubMed (PMID 3555021)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II - the era in which this YMS-1-class minesweeper (laid down as YMS-441, November 1943) was built - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization across the naval and merchant shipbuilding programs of the period.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, does not address small wooden-hulled diesel minesweeper construction specifically, and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-04
-
[5]Franke, Kara, and Dennis Paustenbach, "Government and Navy knowledge regarding health hazards of asbestos: A state of the science evaluation (1900 to 1970)," Inhalation Toxicology 23(Suppl 3):1-20 (2011) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Inhalation Toxicology 23(Suppl 3):1-20; bibliographic record confirmed via NCBI/PubMed (PMID 22200078)
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed history of Navy and government knowledge of asbestos health hazards establishes that between 1900 and 1970 - a window that overlaps this ship's entire Navy career (1945 commissioning through 1968 strike) - the U.S. Navy and federal scientific/regulatory bodies progressively documented occupational asbestos hazards and, by 1960-1970, definitively linked asbestos exposure to asbestosis and mesothelioma.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1900-1970 documented; article 2011
- Population
- U.S. Navy institutional/regulatory context
- Limitations
- Institutional-knowledge/era-timeline context only; does not name this vessel, does not document any asbestos-containing material aboard this hull, and does not establish individual exposure or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-05
-
[6]Batch-1722 search ledger (this record): CourtListener name/hull-number searches; DANFS/NavSource identity sources (session access-limited, see ev-01/ev-02); no NARA construction/maintenance/hazmat record surfaced [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pelican-ams32-01 through sl-uss-pelican-ams32-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation (survey, abatement record, Navy/hazmat disclosure, casualty/accident report) was located for USS Pelican (AMS-32)/YMS-441 in the official/authoritative sources searched this session. Asbestos presence aboard this hull is unknown; class/era inference only (see ev-04, ev-05).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943-built wartime auxiliary of this era is class/era-consistent with original asbestos-containing gaskets, packing, and insulation in machinery spaces, but no ship-specific source confirms this. Does not establish presence or absence of asbestos, individual exposure, or legal eligibility. This session's inability to reach DANFS/NavSource live (see ev-01/ev-02) means a ship-specific record could exist in the primary text that this session did not observe; re-verification against the live NHHC/NavSource pages is a priority follow-up (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-06
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 (courtlistener.com), search types 'o' (opinions) and 'r'/'d' (RECAP dockets) [court_record]
- Locator
- Query IDs 77ceac9e, 184fe12d, 311ffd84, 63abdb29, 902ee371, afed2ee5, e21ff3e7, 7085b20c
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener API v4 searches (opinions and RECAP dockets) for the exact phrase "USS Pelican", for hull number "YMS-441", and for hull number "AMS-32" returned no qualifying asbestos case naming this vessel. One "AMS-32" RECAP hit was a patent-infringement docket (E.D. Tex., James Rodney Gilstrap) referencing an unrelated product model number - classified name/number collision. One "Pelican"+asbestos+minesweeper+Navy RECAP hit was The New York Times Co. v. Microsoft Corp. (S.D.N.Y., 1:23-cv-11195, copyright), matched incidentally on unrelated exhibit text - classified name collision. A broad case_name search for "Pelican" (opinions) returned 339 results dominated by unrelated common-name matches (e.g., a Louisiana workers'-compensation case against a restaurant named "Blind Pelican"; vessel and place names unrelated to this hull); no exact match on this ship's identifiers was found, and given the volume and the absence of any exact-identifier hit, this batch was not exhaustively reviewed row-by-row beyond confirming no hull-specific match.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Confirms no qualifying ship-specific litigation was located via CourtListener as of 2026-09-24; does not rule out state-court or unindexed federal filings outside CourtListener's coverage, and does not evaluate the merits of any case that might separately name this vessel. Litigation-stage discipline: no hit reached even the pleading-allegation stage for this hull, so no stage classification beyond 'no qualifying result' applies.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pelican-ams32-07