Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet ki-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-pratt-de363-pkt-ki-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Pratt (DE-363), vol. 5 p. 368 (1970) - verbatim transcription; live NHHC page serves 404. Corroborating transcription: hazegray DANFS mirror (losthistory.net/hazegray/danfs/escorts/de363.txt) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesakes Lt. Comdr. Malcolm Lewis Pratt, MC, USNR (Navy Cross, WWI; reported missing in action on Guadalcanal 13 August 1942) and his son 1st Lt. John Lester Pratt, USMCR (killed in action on Guadalcanal 22 January 1943). Laid down 11 April 1944 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex.; launched 1 June 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Malcolm L. Pratt; commissioned 18 September 1944, Comdr. Robert H. Wanless in command. Shakedown off Bermuda; Escort Division 85; Panama Canal to the southwest Pacific; arrived Manus, Admiralty Islands, 7 January 1945; escort commander for convoys between New Guinea and the Philippines until 25 May; trained and escorted British and U.S. submarines in the Subic Bay area and patrolled shipping lanes off northwestern Luzon, 25 May - 25 August; joined TG 70.4 to Okinawa and the Korean occupation force; 5 September to Jinsen (seaplane anchorage); with Currituck (AV-7) and Rombach (DE-364) to Shanghai, then Taku (arrived 28 September) to plant seaplane moorings; departed the Asian continent 21 November; arrived San Pedro 16 December; decommissioned 14 May 1946; berthed at Stockton, Pacific Reserve Fleet; transferred to the Mare Island Group in 1959; remained a unit of the Reserve Fleet into 1970.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (active); 1946-1970 (reserve fleet)
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1944 (Orange, Tex.); wartime crew (design complement 222 per DANFS spec block)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history, specifications, and custody - not materials or asbestos content. The entry predates the 1972 striking and 1973 disposal ('she has remained a unit of the Reserve Fleet into 1970'). Live NHHC DANFS page returns 404 - mirror transcriptions cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-01
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[3]DANFS bracketed supplement (hazegray mirror transcription), citing K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, 'Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990' p. 236; NavSource Online DE-363 building/operational data; corroborated by NavalCoverMuseum PRATT DE-363 entry and uboat.net [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-363 page, building/operational data block + war-history scan (images/363/06363wh.jpg) + launch-photo caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposal record for this hull: decommissioned at San Pedro 14 May 1946 after 1 year and 8 months of service; stricken from the Navy Register 15 March 1972 and sold 15 January 1973 (bracketed DANFS supplement citing Bauer & Roberts, 'Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990,' p. 236). The scrapping buyer is not named in the sources consulted - NavSource records only 'sold for scrapping.' A NavSource-held scan of the ship's official war history (submitted at war's end) exists as a primary document. The 1 June 1944 launch was a side-launch at Orange, Tex., per the NavSource photo caption.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1946-1973
- Population
- Pacific Reserve Fleet custodial personnel (1946-1972); scrapping workers (1973)
- Limitations
- Strike and sale dates rest on the published Bauer & Roberts register as cited in the DANFS supplement - not verified against the underlying NVR entry or disposal contract. Unlike sister hull Gentry (DE-349), no buyer's identity is documented for DE-363's 1973 sale; scrapping location unverified. The war-history scan is an archival lead - not transcribed or analyzed in this session. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-02
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[4]John C. Butler-class (WGT) design record: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group 6 table (shipscribe.com scan) + navypedia WGT boiler-block map; Atlas class profile john-c-butler-class.class.json [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia us_de_tev_wgt member table (DE-363 row) + technical data; SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 group 6 row
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-363 is a BuShips design-group-6 (WGT) hull - 2 'D' express boilers at 435 psi/750F superheat, 2 Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 12,000 shp, 2 shafts, 24.3 kt. Per the navypedia boiler-block map, DE-339 through DE-372 (which includes DE-363) carried Combustion Engineering boilers. A full superheated steam plant built in 1944 sits squarely in the Navy's peak asbestos era; era-standard applications for this plant type were boiler and steam-line insulation/lagging, machinery-space insulation, valve and flange gaskets, packing, deck coverings, and accommodation insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1944; wartime crew 1944-46
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The boiler-block map derives from a secondary compilation (navypedia) cross-referenced against the BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design-group table; per-hull material specifications for DE-363 are not retrieved (NARA RG 19 General Information Books is the lead). Establishes no quantities and no individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-03
-
[5]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - pretrial/exhibit-list materials naming USS Brannon (DE-446), a John C. Butler-class sister hull [court_record]
- Locator
- Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec, ECF 738 att. 1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list items Honeywell-160 through -167 (per Atlas class profile)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec name USS Brannon (DE-446, John C. Butler class per the docket's own Jane's Fighting Ships exhibit) and recite a defense-position statement that the ship's Griscom-Russell evaporator was supplied '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 insulation aboard DE-446 'could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the era's controlling Navy insulation documents (BuShips Manual ch. 39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39), 24 Aug 1945; Navy Dept. spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos,' 15 Oct 1945; BuEng Manual ch. 13; BUMED Code-55 memo 1977).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- WWII/postwar service era; litigation 2017-2019
- Population
- Machinist's mate aboard USS Brannon DE-446 (the litigated hull); class context for DE-363
- Limitations
- Class-level litigation context for a SISTER hull, not DE-363: no exposure finding was adjudicated even for DE-446, and the materials are pretrial/exhibit-list recitals that expressly concede non-asbestos insulation was possible. Used here only to document the class's insulation-spec context and the litigation theory directed at WGT-class machinery; establishes nothing about materials or exposure aboard DE-363.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-04
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[6]CourtListener API v4 sweep (type=o opinions, type=r RECAP dockets): exact-name queries "USS Pratt"/"U.S.S. Pratt"; hull-number query "DE-363" [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4 search results; query set in search_ledger rows sl-uss-pratt-de363-03 through -06
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep result for this hull: exact-name queries "USS Pratt"/"U.S.S. Pratt" returned 3 opinions - ALL are name collisions with USS William V. Pratt (DLG-13, in commission 1960-1991), not this hull. (1) Andrews v. United States, 548 F. Supp. 603 (D.S.C. 1982) and its affirmance, Sandra B. Andrews v. United States, 732 F.2d 366 (4th Cir. 1984): FTCA medical-malpractice actions, non-asbestos; 'U.S.S. PRATT' is the plaintiff-officer's duty station 'home quartered at the Naval Base, Charleston' mid-1976 through June 1978 - a window in which DE-363 was already stricken and scrapped (only DLG-13 existed). (2) Chesher v. 3M Co., 234 F. Supp. 3d 693 (D.S.C. 2017): an asbestos product-liability order denying Crane Co.'s motion for summary judgment in which footnote 1 recites Crane's interrogatory admission that it 'supplie[d] valves to the USS Cadmus, USS Fox, USS Mahan, and USS Pratt' among ships plaintiff James Chesher (Navy machinist mate/officer, service 1965-1989) served on - the only 'Pratt' afloat in that window was William V. Pratt (DLG-13); DE-363 was a decommissioned reserve hulk throughout. Hull-number query "DE-363" returned 13 opinions, every one a string collision in unrelated litigation (bankruptcy, immigration/habeas, environmental, patent, healthcare, criminal, Puerto Rico decisions) - 'DE-363' as docket sub-number, exhibit, or identifier. RECAP docket sweep: exact-name returned 2 dockets (Chesher v. Crane Co. D.S.C. 3:15-cv-02123 and Spells Jr. v. Air & Liquid Systems Corp. S.D. Ill. 3:13-cv-00129, both P.I.: Asbestos) - Spells' 'USS Pratt' reference appears in an order reciting 1960s engine-room service aboard several ships, again necessarily William V. Pratt (DLG-13); "DE-363" returned 184 dockets, sampled top-25 all 'DE 363' docket-entry or 'de-00363' docket-number collisions with zero asbestos or vessel relevance. No qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Search-index negative with full classification: every hit was reviewed and resolved as a collision rather than left unexamined. The collision calls rest on service-era analysis - DLG-13's formal name is 'USS William V. Pratt' and the opinions use the shorthand 'USS Pratt'; DE-363 is literally the only vessel bearing that exact name, but it was in the reserve fleet (1946-1972) throughout the plaintiffs' service eras and the Andrews 1976-78 Charleston homeport window postdates its 1973 scrapping, so attribution to DE-363 is impossible in all three. The Chesher footnote documents (at discovery-answer level, recited in an MSJ order - unadjudicated) that Crane supplied valves to the DLG-13 Pratt, which is relevant to that hull, not this one. Absence of a located docket does not prove no pleading ever named the vessel (unindexed or pre-digital state-court filings would not appear), and 'Pratt' as a party surname was deliberately excluded from the query set to avoid collisions. Establishes only that no qualifying case naming this hull is locatable in CourtListener's indexed corpus as of 2026-09-28; the DE-363 docket sweep classified the 25 top-ranked of 184 hits (BM25 order) - residual risk confined to lower-ranked collision rows.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-05
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[7]Batch-4268 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS transcriptions; NavSource/NavalCoverMuseum/HyperWar compilations; CourtListener exact-name and hull-number queries; class profile john-c-butler-class.class.json [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pratt-de363-01 through sl-uss-pratt-de363-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-363: no hull ACM survey, no abatement or hazmat disclosure (the hull was scrapped in 1973, before regulated asbestos documentation), no museum custody (hull not preserved), and no qualifying asbestos litigation names the vessel (see ev-uss-pratt-de363-05).
- 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 - a 1944 steam-plant escort's era materials would have been present as built, but no ship-specific documentation confirms content, quantity, or any individual's exposure. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pratt-de363-06