Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet et-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-plunkett-dd431-pkt-et-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Plunkett (DD-431) (builder, dates, specifications block, service narrative, transfer; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; Wayback capture of history.navy.mil/danfs/p8/plunkett.htm dated 2012-09-16 confirms identical text) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Rear Adm. Charles Peshall Plunkett; laid down 1 March 1939 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 7 March 1940 (sponsor Mrs. Charles P. Plunkett); commissioned 17 July 1940, Lt. Comdr. P. G. Hale. Specs: 2,060 t (f.), 348'1" x 36'1" x 17'5", 35 kt, cpl. 208, 4x5", 5x21" tt. Neutrality Patrol (Tampico, Martinique, North Atlantic convoys) pre-12/7/41; TF 39 and British Home Fleet, Scapa Flow and first-leg Murmansk escort spring 1942; Casablanca convoys from Nov 1942; TF 60 Oran May 1943; Sicily (TG 80.5, Gela) July 1943; Salerno (TG 81.6) Sept 1943 incl. aiding and scuttling British hospital ship Newfoundland 14 Sep; Anzio follow-up group 21 Jan 1944; hit by a 250-kg bomb 24 Jan 1944 in a sustained 17-minute air attack (23 killed, 28 missing, many wounded; fire-control apparatus, armament, and port engine damaged); Palermo on one engine, temporary repairs Casablanca, repairs completed New York; Omaha Beach screen 6 June 1944; Operation Dragoon fire support Aug-Nov 1944 (St. Tropez, Port de Bouc, Marseilles); New York 16 Jan 1945; Pacific via Panama Canal Aug 1945; occupation-force escort to Japan Sep; Aleutians Nov; decommissioned 3 May 1946 and berthed Charleston, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; reactivated and transferred under MAP loan to Nationalist China 16 February 1959, renamed Nan Yang (DD-17), in ROC service into 1970. Five battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1970
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1939-40; wartime and reserve-era crew (design complement 208, wartime ~276)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Entry predates the 1970s strike/scrapping (reads 'remains with that country's navy into 1970'). Specs differ from the HyperWar '1940-1945' listing (37 kt, cpl. 276, 2,450 t) - variants carried unmerged. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-01
-
[3]Navy Unit Commendation to USS PLUNKETT, Secretary of the Navy (James Forrestal) for the President; transcript hosted by Destroyer History Foundation, sourced to NARA Modern Military Records (NECTM), Textual Archives Services Division [other_primary]
- Locator
- Navy Unit Commendation text, destroyerhistory.org 'Commendation' subpage (source line: NARA Modern Military Records)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Primary Navy award document naming this hull: for 'outstanding heroism in action against enemy forces off Anzio, Italy, from January 21 to 25, 1944' with TG 80.6 - a 550-lb bomb crashed on the 1.1" gun platform, 'killed 53 officers and men,' fires augmented by exploding ammunition and depth charges ruptured the fire main to the after magazine; the crew 'jettisoned the burning depth charges and ammunition, secured the steam-filled fire room and extinguished the flames within ten minutes without cessation of fire from her own guns'; ship reached Palermo at reduced speed. All personnel attached during the period authorized the Navy Unit Commendation ribbon.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-01-21 to 1944-01-25
- Population
- USS Plunkett ship's company, 21-25 January 1944
- Limitations
- Award citation documents combat events and machinery-space conditions aboard this hull (a steam-filled fire room secured under fire) - it contains no materials, insulation, or asbestos information. Its casualty figure (53 killed) conflicts with the DANFS narrative (23 killed + 28 missing); carried unmerged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-02
-
[4]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Photo Index DD-431 USS Plunkett (compilation record + photo index incl. NARA RG-19 and NHHC-sourced images) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-431 page: 'As Built' block, 'Operational and Building Data' block, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilation for this hull: 'As Built' data - 2,395 t full, 348'4"(oa) x 36'1" x 13'2" max; 4x5"/38AA, 10x21" tt; machinery 50,000 shp, General Electric turbines, 2 screws, 35 kt; crew 208. Operational data: laid down 1 Mar 1939 Federal Shipbuilding Kearny; launched 9 Mar 1940 (conflicts with DANFS 7 Mar); commissioned 17 Jul 1940; decommissioned 3 May 1946; stricken 1 Nov 1972; 'To Taiwan February 16 1954' (typo - DANFS and ROC-service photos say 1959); stricken and scrapped 1975. Photo documentation places the hull at New York Navy Yard 5 Aug 1942 and 27 Oct 1942 (NARA RG-19 textual files, Item S-22) and off Brenton Reef, Newport, R.I., Mar 1945 in Camouflage Measure 32/3D (NHHC photo NH 107430).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1975
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation - cited for machinery detail (GE turbines) and yard-presence photo documentation, not asbestos content. Contains the propagated 1954 Taiwan-transfer typo and the 9 March launch date conflicting with DANFS; both conflicts logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-03
-
[5]United States Navy Memorial, Navy Log 'Lost At Sea' register - Plunkett (DD-431), date lost 1944-01-24 [museum_official]
- Locator
- Navy Log Plunkett page, 'Lost At Sea Log' table (52 entries)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The U.S. Navy Memorial's Lost At Sea log for this hull lists 52 sailors lost 24 January 1944 in the Anzio air attack - corroborating the order of magnitude of the dead in the Navy Unit Commendation (53 killed) and the DANFS narrative (23 killed + 28 missing).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- USS Plunkett crew lost 1944-01-24 (52 registered)
- Limitations
- Casualty-register corroboration only - no materials or asbestos information. Count (52) differs from both the NUC (53) and the DANFS narrative (51 combined); carried unmerged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-04
-
[6]Era/yard inference - class profile benson-gleaves-class (ships-worktrees/class-f): BuShips Ships' Data 1945 'No. 421 Class' machinery data + Atlas shipyard dataset, Federal Shipbuilding-Kearny record (incl. 1944 Owens-Illinois industrial-health survey of insulation work) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar DD-431 spec block ('High-pressure super-heated boilers, geared turbines with twin screws, 50,000 h.p.'); shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny'; class-f benson-gleaves-class.class.json ev-03/04
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Gleaves-class destroyer built 1939-40 with four superheated Babcock & Wilcox boilers (575 psi/700F per BuShips class data) and ~50,000-shp geared turbines would have carried period-standard asbestos boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, valve/flange gaskets and packing, deck tile, and accommodation insulation; builder Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock (Kearny) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset, including a 1944 Owens-Illinois industrial-health survey of insulation work at the yard; NARA RG 19 'General Information Books' holding per-vessel material specifications are an archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1975
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1939-40; crew 1940-46 (U.S.), 1959-75 (ROC)
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The 1944 yard survey postdates this hull's March 1940 launch and documents yard practice, not materials installed aboard DD-431. Does not quantify material or establish any individual exposure. The class profile documents no ship-specific asbestos record for any of the 96 Benson/Gleaves members.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-05
-
[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - i.e., original-era insulation typically remained in place for decades unless a yard period disturbed it. The report places this hull's construction (1939-40) and entire U.S. commissioned service (1940-46) inside the documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not hull-specific; the report's fieldwork yards (Long Beach, Norfolk) are not among this hull's documented yards, and its policy window (1970s) postdates the hull's U.S. service - she was under ROC flag from 1959. gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches; product-page description used, full text not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 authenticated sweep (via fleet helper cl-auth-search.py) - USS Plunkett / DD-431 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-plunkett-dd431-05/06
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep attempted but not completed this session: seven authenticated requests (type=o 'USS Plunkett' opinion-index query, repeated across ~1.5 hours) all failed at the fleet pacing limiter (helper exit 2 - shared ~114/hr budget momentarily spent). Zero CourtListener results were retrieved or classified for this vessel; planned queries ('USS Plunkett', 'U.S.S. Plunkett', 'aboard the Plunkett', 'DD-431', 'Plunkett destroyer' - type=o and type=r) are recorded in the search ledger for rerun.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- BLOCKED, not a negative finding: no CourtListener content was retrieved, so nothing can be concluded about asbestos litigation naming this hull. The record must be re-swept before the sweep can be treated as a negative result.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-07
-
[9]Batch-3416 search ledger (this record): DANFS mirror (HyperWar/ibiblio + Wayback capture of NHHC page); NARA-sourced NUC transcript (destroyerhistory.org); NavSource compilation; U.S. Navy Memorial Navy Log; GAO product page; law-firm list pages screened as exclusions [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger, this record (sl-01 through sl-09)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-431 in the public sources searched (see search_ledger): no asbestos survey, abatement contract, materials inventory, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming USS Plunkett. The hull was transferred to the Republic of China Navy in 1959, stricken circa 1972 (U.S. list) and 1975 (ROC), and scrapped - before modern asbestos documentation was routine and with no museum-disclosure channel; the class profile's member sweep likewise located no ship-specific asbestos record for any Benson/Gleaves hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard applications are documented at class level (ev-05) and the CourtListener sweep is incomplete (ev-07). The hull no longer exists, so present-day ACM status is moot.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-08
-
[10]NARA archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction order): RG 24 Navy deck logs covering DD-431's 1940-46 service; RG 19 Bureau of Ships records incl. 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specs and textual files Item S-22 (the 1942 NY Navy Yard photo series); the NUC original at Modern Military Records (NECTM) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov RG-24 guide page; NARA custody confirmed by destroyerhistory.org source line on ev-02
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Record-group mapping only: NARA RG 24 deck logs for this hull (1940-46) would carry engineering-casualty and yard-availability detail; RG 19 General Information Books may hold per-vessel material specifications (the archival lead where hull-level insulation schedules would surface); RG 19 textual files Item S-22 already produced the documented 27 Oct 1942 New York Navy Yard photograph of this hull. The Navy Unit Commendation transcript (ev-02) is itself sourced to NARA Modern Military Records, confirming custody of the award file.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940-1959 (records created)
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - not evidence about this hull's materials. No box-level retrieval performed; the NARA Catalog is a JavaScript-only application and could not be queried programmatically this pass.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-plunkett-dd431-09