Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
-
[1]United States v. Vereen, 236 F. Supp. 1018 (E.D.S.C. 1965) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion at 1018-1020 (Findings of Fact; Conclusions of Law)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Published federal district court opinion: on 1962-06-03, the 'USS PLOVER MSC[0]33' - found by the court to be a wooden-hulled public vessel of the United States, 136 feet in length, 25 feet in beam, with a 10-foot draft - was underway at sea off the mouth of the Cape Fear River when she heard a Coast Guard distress call from the M/V Ocean Queen (17 passengers aboard, taking on water), diverted at flank speed, made visual contact, and came alongside to transfer a portable pump. During a second, uncommunicated approach by the Ocean Queen to retrieve the pump's hoses, the Ocean Queen struck the Plover (frame #70, number three chock) at 1035. The court found the Ocean Queen's operator solely at fault and awarded the United States $2,138.09 in survey/repair costs.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1962-06-03 (event); opinion filed 1965-01-07
- Population
- n/a (vessel-identity/collision record)
- Limitations
- Confirms identity (MSC(O)-33 designation), hull dimensions, and one specific 1962 active-service/rescue event via a directly-read, published primary source. This is an admiralty collision case, not asbestos litigation - it establishes no asbestos information whatsoever and supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-01
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Plover II (YMS-442)' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry (full page) - not directly re-read this session, see limitations_note
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Construction and service chronology: laid down 1943-10-12 by C. Hiltebrant Dry Dock Co., Kingston, NY; launched 1944-04-20; commissioned as YMS-442 1944-10-14. Operated from Brooklyn, NY; served as an escort vessel in the Okinawa area in autumn 1945; cleared shipping lanes off Japan, Korea, and China into spring 1946; occasional service to the Mine Warfare School, Yorktown, VA, 1946-1948; assisted a 1948 survey effort off Labrador. Renamed/redesignated USS Plover (AMS-33) 1947-02-18; assisted the Navy Mine Defense Laboratory, Panama City, FL, late 1948-1956. Reclassified MSC(O)-33 1955-02-07; became a Naval Reserve training ship November 1956 (4th Naval District/Philadelphia, later 6th Naval District/Charleston). Struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1968-10-01.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Limitations
- The live DANFS page returned HTTP 503 on every attempt this session; no DANFS mirror was reachable (ibiblio.org/HyperWar and nps.gov are blocked by this environment's network policy; web.archive.org is blocked entirely). This finding_value reflects convergent secondary-source synthesis (the vessel's Wikipedia article, fetched and read directly, cross-checked against three independent search passes that returned identical specific dates) rather than a directly-read primary document this session - hence 'partial,' not 'verified.' Contains no asbestos information whatsoever; supports no asbestos claim. A specific claim that this hull 'sank at Okinawa 9 October 1945 during Typhoon Louise and was refloated 19 October 1945,' surfaced in one early search pass, could NOT be reproduced on the directly-read Wikipedia text or on repeat searches and is deliberately excluded from this finding_value as unverified.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-02
-
[3]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
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material fleet-wide in U.S. Navy and merchant shipbuilding during World War II, the era and program under which this wood-hulled YMS-1-class auxiliary minesweeper was built.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article published 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. This citation was previously used and title/journal/year-confirmed in this repository's batch-05/merchant work (ss-john-w-brown.atlas.json); doi.org itself was blocked by this environment's network policy this session, so the DOI resolution was not independently re-verified here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-03
-
[4]National Archives and Records Administration, 'Military Records: Guided Topics - Asbestos' [other_primary]
- Locator
- Guide page, Record Group and record-type sections
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's official research guide to documenting asbestos aboard U.S. Navy vessels points to Bureau of Ships records (RG 19: correspondence, specifications, Ship Information Books, engineering drawings organized by hull number and Material Group, with code S39 = Insulation/Lagging flagged as particularly relevant but rare in paper collections), Board of Inspection & Survey reports assessing material condition (RG 38), and Bureau of Naval Personnel deck logs/muster rolls (RG 24). The guide states plainly that deck logs and muster rolls 'provide no direct evidence of asbestos,' that holdings are incomplete on a hull-by-hull basis (not every ship has a Ship Information Book), and that NARA reference staff 'cannot perform the research required for this topic.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- Records span 1940-1961 per the guide; accessed 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Directly-read official guidance on where hull-specific asbestos records could exist; it is not itself an asbestos finding for this vessel. No RG 19/RG 38 record naming YMS-442, Plover, AMS-33, or MSC(O)-33 was retrieved this session - only the pointer/guidance was confirmed. The guide's own caution that deck logs and musters establish no asbestos content applies directly to the RG 24 deck-log holdings the batch brief cites for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-04
-
[5]National Archives and Records Administration, 'Digitized Deck Logs' and 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' [other_primary]
- Locator
- Guide pages (archives.gov); catalog.archives.gov search itself not reachable - see limitations_note
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- National Archives deck-log finding aids (archives.gov 'Digitized Deck Logs' and 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' pages) confirm that Navy deck logs (RG 24) are filed and searchable by the vessel name/number in effect during the logged period, with hull-number cross-reference; wartime-period logs for this hull would therefore be filed under YMS-442, not Plover or AMS-33. The specific National Archives Identifier (NAID) for this hull's deck-log holding was not located.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 1944-1946 wartime period; accessed 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- catalog.archives.gov's search and record pages are a client-side JavaScript application this session's fetch tooling cannot render, and the public Catalog API requires a registration key not available this session, so the specific NAID for YMS-442's deck log (which the batch brief states exists) could not be independently located or confirmed. Establishes only that deck logs exist and are filed by wartime designation, consistent with the batch brief's own framing ('log coverage is not treated as commissioning dates'); does not itself establish any asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-05
-
[6]Batch-1723 CourtListener search log (this record) - API v4, exact-phrase and broad free-text queries, 2026-09-24 [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-plover-ams33-05 through sl-uss-plover-ams33-13
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos litigation located for this hull under any alias. CourtListener API v4 exact-phrase searches across Opinions and RECAP for 'USS Plover', '"USS Plover" asbestos', '"YMS-442"', '"YMS 442"', '"AMS-33"', '"Plover" "AMS-33"', '"Plover" mesothelioma', and '"Navy Mine Defense Laboratory" asbestos Panama City' all returned zero qualifying hits. The single real hit on bare 'USS Plover' (Opinions) is United States v. Vereen, 236 F. Supp. 1018 (E.D.S.C. 1965) - a genuine, ship-specific admiralty collision case, not asbestos litigation (see ev-uss-plover-ams33-01). Broader unquoted free-text queries ('Plover' 'MSC' asbestos on the docket index; 'Plover' minesweeper asbestos on RECAP) returned high-volume name-collision noise (e.g., a 2023 NYT v. Microsoft copyright docket at near-zero relevance) with no vessel- or asbestos-relevant hits among those reviewed; not pursued further given the clean exact-phrase results.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-24
- Study period
- 2026-09-24
- Limitations
- Absence of located litigation does not prove absence of asbestos aboard or of exposure - it establishes only that no qualifying case was found in the CourtListener index as of this search date. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plover-ams33-06