Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, Preston VI (DD-795) (builder, dates, service narrative, striking; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (ibiblio HyperWar transcription)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 13 June 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Shipbuilding Division, San Pedro, Calif.; launched 12 December 1943 (sponsor Mrs. R. F. Gross); commissioned 20 March 1944 (Comdr. G. S. Patrick); specifications 2,940 t (f), 376'6" x 39'4", dr. 17'9", 35 kt, cpl. 320, cl. Fletcher. WWII: Guam screening Jul-Aug 1944; TF 38 Palaus/Philippines strikes; Leyte Gulf battles 24-27 Oct (TG 38.3, Princeton lost; Cape Engano); Luzon/Ormoc Nov-Dec; Formosa-Nansei Shoto-Lingayen and South China Sea Jan 1945; Iwo Jima and home-island strikes Feb; TF 54 Okinawa fire support Mar-Aug; air-sea rescue post-surrender; arrived San Pedro 24 Sep 1945 for inactivation; decommissioned San Diego 24 April 1946, Pacific Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned 26 January 1951; modernization at Philadelphia; Newport homeport; Mediterranean Jan 1952; Korea TF 77 and TF 95 to 27 Jul 1953 armistice; round-the-world to Boston Oct 1953; Atlantic HUK 1954; Med 1955; to Pacific Mar 1956, DesRon 23 Long Beach; 7th/1st Fleet rotations incl. Taiwan patrol, SEATO, Arctic cruises, 1962 nuclear tests; Vietnam TG 77.5 Aug 1965-15 Jan 1966 plane guard for Coral Sea and Ticonderoga plus gunfire support; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 15 November 1969. Six WWII and one Korean battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1969
- Population
- Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades 1943-44; wartime and postwar crew (complement 320)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Entry predates/does not narrate the Turkish transfer. 'Modernization at Philadelphia' does not name the facility - read as Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and flagged in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-01
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[2]Robert J. Cressman, 'One Last Time' (Historic Fleets), Naval History (U.S. Naval Institute) Vol. 24 No. 3, June 2010 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History, Vol. 24 No. 3 (June 2010), 'One Last Time' - final paragraphs and deployment narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USNI Naval History feature on this hull's fourth and final Vietnam cruise: departed Long Beach 5 July 1968 with Berkeley (DDG-15), Maddox (DD-751), Fechteler (DD-870); Pearl Harbor generator repairs and Midway refuel en route; gunline H&I off Tuy Hoa and Nha Trang; saltwater contamination of the forward plant limited her to one boiler and one engine - boiler/maintenance/repair divisions repaired at Subic Bay; rescue destroyer for Intrepid (CVS-11) TG 77.4; Sea Dragon missions off North Vietnam riding shotgun on Joseph Strauss (DDG-16), 167 rounds of 5"/38; plane guard for America (CVA-66) Oct; second gunline tour off Phan Thiet from 12 Nov with further engineering casualties; 2,334 5-inch and 28 3-inch rounds fired on the deployment; returned home five days before Christmas 1968. Decommissioned at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, 15 November 1969; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and turned over to Turkey; operated as Icel until 1981, when she was stricken and broken up for scrap. Six WWII battle stars, one Korean, six Vietnam, plus a Navy Unit Commendation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1968-1981
- Population
- Crew during fourth Vietnam deployment 1968; Hunters Point decommissioning workforce 1969
- Limitations
- Service-history documentation only - no asbestos, material-condition, or abatement content. Repeated boiler/engineering casualties in 1968 are operational context, not materials evidence. Page returns HTTP 403 to plain fetch; content verified via firecrawl extraction on the access date.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-02
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[3]Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images, USS Preston (DD-795), 1944-1969 page (verbatim mirror of NHC photo catalog) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHC Online Library page for DD-795 (photo captions NH 73468, NH 99282-99287; ibiblio mirror of history.navy.mil content)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy photographic record for this hull: NH 73468 ('four-gun Fletcher' conversion configuration, circa mid-1950s); NH 99282 (arriving Pearl Harbor 19 March 1964); NH 99283-99287 (off the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, 22 October 1966) - documenting a 1966 yard period at Hunters Point three years before the 1969 decommissioning there. Page text: 'a 2050-ton modified Fletcher class destroyer... built at San Pedro, California'; four Vietnam War cruises 1964-1968; 'decommissioned in November 1969 and transferred to Turkey. Renamed Icel, she was part of that nation's navy until 1984.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1969; Turkish service to 1981/1984
- Population
- Crew 1964-1969; Hunters Point yard workforce 1966
- Limitations
- Photographic catalog documents locations, dates, and configuration - not asbestos content or yard work scope; the 1966 Hunters Point presence does not by itself establish what work was performed. The 'until 1984' Turkish-service reading conflicts with USNI/secondary sources' 1981 stricken-and-scrapped date - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-03
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[4]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) + Fletcher-class machinery data (class profile: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. I; navypedia) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2; Fletcher-class profile (class-c worktree) machinery block; DANFS specifications block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: a Fletcher-class destroyer built 1943-44 at Bethlehem Steel San Pedro with a four-boiler, 60,000-shp geared steam-turbine plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation, lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings; GAO HRD-80-2 documents that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substitution until the early 1970s - placing this hull's entire USN career (1944-46, 1951-69) inside the documented asbestos-use era. The builder yard is absent from the Atlas yard dataset, so no yard-level hygiene/abatement record can be attached (carried in gaps).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1981
- Population
- Construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-69; Turkish crew 1969-81
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. GAO HRD-80-2 is program-level; it does not enumerate this vessel. No insulation specification, material schedule, or ACM inventory for DD-795 was located. Does not establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-04
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[5]CourtListener API v4 results: 'USS Preston' opinions = 0 results; 'DD-795' opinions = 1 hit, Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion JC-562 (Tex. Att'y Gen., filed 2002-07-02, cluster 4351858) - precinct-chair candidacy, identifier collision; 'USS Preston' dockets = 1 hit, United States v. QTC Medical Services, Inc. 2:14-cv-08961 (C.D. Cal.) - False Claims Act qui tam, incidental text mention inside a 332-page amended complaint [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search results, exact-name and hull-number query set (see search_ledger)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Verified non-qualifying CourtListener surface for this hull: zero 'USS Preston' opinion hits; zero 'aboard the Preston' opinion hits; zero 'USS Preston'+asbestos opinion hits; the sole 'DD-795' opinion hit is a Texas AG opinion where the identifier is a form/docket-style string unrelated to the vessel (name collision); the sole 'USS Preston' RECAP docket hit is an unrelated False Claims Act case (medical-examination contractor qui tam, C.D. Cal.) in which the string appears incidentally - not asbestos litigation and no exposure allegation naming this hull. No qualifying asbestos case names DD-795 in indexed CourtListener text.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Index-level classification: 'USS Preston'+asbestos opinion query also returned zero; the QTC mention's context was not opened in full text (fleet pacing budget constrained deep pulls - see ledger). Classification rests on case nature (FCA, not asbestos) plus party set; no asbestos plaintiff or vessel exposure list is present. Absence of a located case is not proof none exists - dockets without indexed full text are not covered.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-05
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[6]Batch-3767 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; NHC Online Library; USNI Naval History; NVR detail page; NARA digitized deck-log index; NavSource index; CourtListener exact-name and hull queries; public-web asbestos sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-preston-dd795-01 through sl-uss-preston-dd795-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-795: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat disclosure from the 1969 Turkish transfer or the 1981 scrapping, and no qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull. Public-web asbestos results are exclusively law-firm marketing pages (Shepard O'Donnell, mesotheliomasymptoms.com, Throneberry) asserting class-typical risk - excluded under source rules, logged as swept.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943-44 steam destroyer is consistent with retained era materials, but that is inference, not documentation. Turkish-custody records (1969-81) and the scrapping site are entirely undocumented in accessible public sources. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-06
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[7]NARA, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' index page; NARA RG 24 Entry 118 series 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1978' (NAID 594258); NARA RG 19 General Information Books [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online (Preston absent from digitized list); catalog.archives.gov/id/594258 (series); navsource.org/archives/05/795.htm (unreachable)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads for hull-level material and exposure documentation, unretrieved: (1) NARA RG 24 deck-log series covers this hull's commissioned periods (1944-46, 1951-69); the NARA digitized-logs index page lists no Preston entries - logs are physical holdings at Archives II, not yet in the online Catalog per that index. (2) NARA RG 19 General Information Books per-vessel material specifications are the hull-level insulation-spec lead (not retrieved). (3) NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-795 page (operational/building data, commanding officers, Turkish-service photographs) is the photo/reference lead - site unreachable during the session (DNS SERVFAIL); reviewed via search-index snippets only.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1969; access 2026-09-27
- Population
- Crew 1944-1969 (deck-log coverage)
- Limitations
- Leads, not findings - none of these records was reviewed at hull level; the digitized-logs index may lag the catalog's actual contents; NavSource snippets corroborate transfer/disposal dates but the page itself could not be fetched.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-preston-dd795-07