Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet kn-packet.md (3 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Shelton (DE-407), first of two Navy ships of the name
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-shelton-de407-pkt-kn-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Shelton I (DE-407), NHHC (J.D. Foster, published 2020-05-13; live page returned 404 on 2026-09-28 - verbatim text verified via Wayback capture 2024-11-30) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Shelton I (DE-407) entry: spec block + service narrative + photo captions (NH 80-G-365813; Midway CVE-63 Ser 006 action report, RG 38)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 1 November 1943 at Houston, Texas, by Brown Shipbuilding Co.; launched 18 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Anise L. Shelton, mother of the namesake; commissioned 4 April 1944 at Houston, Lt. Cmdr. Lewis B. Salomon, USNR, in command. DANFS specification block verbatim: 'DE-407: displacement 1,350; length 306'; beam 36'7; draft 13'; speed 24 knots; complement 186; armament 2 5-inch, 4 40-millimeter, 10 20-millimeter, 2 depth charge tracks, 8 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (hedgehog), 3 21-inch torpedo tubes; class John C. Butler.' Shakedown Bermuda (with Edmonds DE-406, arrived 26 April); post-shakedown availability at Boston Navy Yard from 24 May into mid-June; escort duties to Balboa (TU 29.6.3 with Bearss DD-654 screening Baxter APA-94), then San Diego and Pearl Harbor; convoy PD38-T escort to Eniwetok (26 July-6 August); TU 57.19.5 screen at Seeadler Harbor, Manus (arrived 13 August); rescued downed Santee pilot Ens. Robert J. Masterson 19 August; Morotai Attack Force TF-77 from 10 September, operating with TU 77.1.2. On 3 October 1944, screening position 4 supporting Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) and Midway (CVE-63), a Japanese submarine (Ro-41, Lt. Shiizuka Mitsuo) acoustic torpedo struck the starboard screw at ~0808, bending the main deck upward from about frame 148 aft at 45-50 degrees; abandon ship ordered by Commander TU 77.1.2; crew taken off by Richard M. Rowell (DE-403), Salomon last to leave; Shelton capsized under tow and sank at approximately 02deg32'N, 129deg13' (DANFS prints 'W'). Rowell and Midway aircraft then mistakenly sank the U.S. submarine Seawolf (SS-197) believing her to be Ro-41. Stricken from the Navy list 27 November 1944; one battle star for the Morotai landings (15 September 1944). Namesake: Ens. James Arnold Shelton, USNR (b. 20 Sept 1916, Denton, Mont.), VS-6 pilot off Enterprise (CV-6), lost 4 June 1942 at Midway, posthumous Navy Cross.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; crew (design complement 186) April-October 1944
- Limitations
- DANFS documents construction, service, and loss - not materials or asbestos content. Casualty count is not stated in the DANFS narrative (13 lost per NavSource and other secondary compilations - carried separately as partial). The printed sinking longitude 'W' is an evident typo (the Morotai area is ~128-129 deg E); secondary sources give 129 deg E. Live NHHC page 404 on 2026-09-28 - Wayback capture 2024-11-30 read.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-01
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[3]Bureau of Ships, Preliminary Design Section, 'Summary of War Damage to U.S. Battleships, Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts, 8 December 1943 to 7 December 1944,' NavShips A-3(420), 1 June 1945 (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Section III, Combatant Ships Lost - Destroyer Escorts table, SHELTON (DE407) row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips loss entry for this hull, verbatim: 'SHELTON (DE407) | 10/3/44 | Off Halmahera Island | Submarine Torpedo - 1 | Capsized - Sunk by U.S. Forces. | Struck by Japanese torpedo under stern on starboard side. Abandoned. Taken in tow. Slow flooding reduced stability and caused starboard list. Started to break up with hull hinging at about frame 125. Finally capsized to starboard about 15 hours after hit. Hulk sunk by gunfire from U. S. Forces.' Adds details absent from DANFS: the tow, the ~15-hour capsize interval, the frame-125 hinging, and the U.S.-gunfire finishing of the hulk.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Crew of USS Shelton at loss (April-October 1944 complement)
- Limitations
- Official war-damage summary - documents loss mechanics only, no personnel-casualty figures and no materials content. 'Off Halmahera Island' is consistent with DANFS's Morotai position (Morotai lies in the Halmahera group). Transcription is HyperWar's HTML rendering of the official document.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-02
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[4]NavSource Online, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Shelton (DE-407) page (building/operational data, CO roster, loss summary) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.org/archives/06/407.htm - 'Building and Operational Data' + commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource DE-407 page: keel laid 1 November 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston; launched/christened 18 December 1943, sponsor Mrs. Anise L. Shelton; commissioned 4 April 1944 at Houston, Lt. Lewis B. Salomon, USNR (Lewis George Salomon of New York City) in command; sunk 3 October 1944 by Japanese submarine Ro-41 off Morotai - 'Torpedoed off [Morotai], Indonesia - 13 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on eternal duty'; Rowell (DE-403) removed the crew and took her under tow before she capsized and sank; struck from the Navy List 27 November 1944 'after 6 months of service.' The 13-fatality figure is the only casualty count located for this hull.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Crew complement at loss; 13 fatalities per secondary compilation
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-run archival compilation, not an official record - the 13-fatality figure is corroborated by uboat.net, NavalCoverMuseum, and secondary loss compilations but is NOT stated in DANFS or the BuShips summary; classified partial rather than verified. Page fetch returned error to the crawler this session; content reviewed via search-engine index text, which may be incomplete.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-03
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[5]Consolidated era inference - BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group-6 (WGT) row (shipscribe.com scan) + navypedia WGT member/block table + John C. Butler class profile (this dataset) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips SDB1945v1 printed p.234 design-group table row 6 (WGT) + roster footnote 1 on Straus DE-408/Stafford DE-411 rows (printed pp.~261-262); navypedia us_de_tev_wgt boiler-block map; class profile ev-john-c-butler-class-01/-05
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-407 is a BuShips design-group-6 (WGT) John C. Butler-class destroyer escort - the official design table gives 306 ft oa, 1,350 t standard, 2 'D' express boilers 435 psi/750 deg F, 2 sets geared turbines, 12,000 shp, 2 shafts, 24.3 kt. Turbine manufacturer is per-hull in that volume (G.E. or Westinghouse, interchangeable); the Brown-built WGT sisters immediately adjacent to DE-407 in the roster (Straus DE-408, Stafford DE-411, same $2,517,000 contract block) carry footnote 1 = 'Turbines built by Westinghouse,' and navypedia's block map assigns Combustion Engineering boilers to the DE-402-424 Brown-built block. A steam-plant escort built November 1943-April 1944 falls in the peak period of asbestos use in Navy construction: expected applications include boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. No hull-specific material schedule or survey was located to confirm any of this aboard DE-407.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; crew April-October 1944
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - establishes nothing ship-specific. Shelton's own roster row is absent from the 1945 volume (stricken ~5 weeks before the edition date), so even her per-hull turbine footnote cannot be read directly; the Westinghouse attribution is block-level inference from adjacent sister rows, and the boiler manufacturer is navypedia's block map, not a Shelton document. No BuShips material schedule, build spec sheet, or survey naming DE-407 was located; quantities, locations, and whether any given product aboard actually contained asbestos are all unknown.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-04
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[6]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - praecipe/pretrial order materials and exhibit list, ECF 738 att. 1 [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF 738.1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list (Jane's Fighting Ships entry; spec items Honeywell-160 through -167)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- The class's only located litigation record names a sister hull, not this one: pretrial materials name USS Brannon (DE-446, John C. Butler class per the docket's own Jane's Fighting Ships exhibit) and recite that 'Griscom-Russell supplied the Navy with the evaporator on Mr. Jack's ship in conformity to detailed precise specifications... without insulation. The Navy did not consult it about the type of insulation it planned to use' - while proposed testimony conceded that aboard Brannon the insulation 'could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The same exhibit list identifies the era's controlling Navy insulation specifications relied on in DE litigation: 'Bureau of Ships Manual, Chapter 39, Thermal Insulation, NAVSHIPS 250000(39), dated 24 August 1945'; 'Navy Department Specification, Felt, Insulating, Asbestos, 32F3a, dated 15 October 1945'; 'General Specifications for Machinery - Subsection S39-1, Navy Department, Bureau of Engineering, dated 3 Feb 1939'; 'Instructions Relative to Heat Insulation' (BuEng Manual ch.13, rev. 1933, repr. May 1939).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- Service era WWII/postwar; litigation 2017-2019
- Population
- Machinist's mate aboard USS Brannon DE-446 (class-level datapoint)
- Limitations
- Class-level context: names DE-446, never DE-407. Pretrial/exhibit-list level - allegation and expert-testimony recital, not adjudicated fact. The spec documents are identified but not retrieved; they are the correct next-pull targets for class-level material documentation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-05
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[7]Owens Corning/Fibreboard Asbestos Personal Injury Trust, 'FB Approved Site List' (updated 2026-05-13), record 10020240 - 'Brown Shipyard, Houston, TX, 1/1/1941-12/31/1982'; Fuller-Austin Asbestos Settlement Trust, 'Current FA Jobsite List' (2008) - 'Brown Shipyard, Houston, TX, first exposure 1/1/1965' [court_record]
- Locator
- OCFB FB Approved Site List record 10020240; Fuller-Austin FA Jobsite List 'Brown Shipyard / Houston / TX / 1/1/1965' (per fleet research file, Todd-Houston yard report 2026-09-16)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Builder-yard context: two independent section 524(g) asbestos bankruptcy trusts publish approved site lists naming 'Brown Shipyard, Houston, TX' as an accepted exposure site. The Owens Corning/Fibreboard list's accepted exposure window (1/1/1941-12/31/1982) spans this hull's entire construction period (November 1943-April 1944) at that yard. These are court-administered claims records - a site appears only after the trust accepts that the debtor's asbestos product was present there.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1941-1982 (Fibreboard window); 1965+ (Fuller-Austin window)
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding yard workers (wartime and postwar eras per list windows)
- Limitations
- Yard-level litigation-derived record, not hull evidence: the lists name the yard, not DE-407, and do not identify which products, dates, or areas of the yard were involved. Fuller-Austin's exposure start (1965) postdates this hull's loss; only the Fibreboard window overlaps the build period. Same source family (claims-administration records) twice - under the Atlas bar this counts as one family at most. Establishes nothing about asbestos aboard this specific hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-06
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[8]CourtListener API v4 sweeps via fleet-paced authenticated helper cl-auth-search.py: '"USS Shelton"' opinions + RECAP dockets; '"DE-407"' opinions + dockets; '"USS Shelton" asbestos' opinions [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger row sl-uss-shelton-de407-04; raw result files in cl-results/ (o-name, r-name, o-hull, r-hull, o-name-asb)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming DE-407 was located in the CourtListener indexes searched. Exact-name opinion sweep '"USS Shelton"' (type=o): 0 hits. Exact-name docket sweep '"USS Shelton"' (type=r): 2 hits - (a) MDL No. 875, IN RE: Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. VI), JPML: the phrase matched somewhere in that docket's indexed RECAP content, but no returned snippet shows the match and the matching entry cannot be identified; even if a filed complaint in the MDL names a 'USS Shelton,' that is a pleading-stage allegation that cannot be resolved to DE-407 versus DD-790 (Gearing-class, in service 1946-1973 - the more plausible exposure vessel) versus a surname reference - classified unresolvable, NOT qualifying litigation evidence for this hull; (b) 20-60860, Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers bankruptcy (W.D. Va.): name collision, unrelated. Hull-number opinion sweep '"DE-407"' (type=o): 14 hits, all reviewed - zero occurrences of Shelton, asbestos, vessel, ship, USS, Navy, or destroyer anywhere in the result set; pure reporter/exhibit-number collisions. Hull-number docket sweep '"DE-407"' (type=r): 144 hits, all docket-entry-number collisions ('DE-407' = docket entry 407, e.g., Longi v. State of New York, E.D.N.Y. 2:02-cv-05821); the sole keyword-bearing hit is that same docket-entry reference, unrelated. Qualified opinion sweep '"USS Shelton" asbestos' (type=o): 0 hits.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Sweep coverage is the CourtListener opinion + RECAP docket indexes only; state-court dockets not mirrored, PACER-only filings, and settled/undocketed claims are outside it. 'No qualifying result' does not prove no claim was ever filed - it proves no indexed opinion names the hull and no individually docketed case resolves to it. The MDL-875 docket-level match is carried at the least-final stage (an allegation-stage filing at most, unresolvable to a specific hull) and is not exposure evidence. 'Shelton' is a surname collision risk; 'DE-407' collides with PACER docket-entry numbering. DD-790 shares the ship name - any future 'USS Shelton' hit must be checked against service windows (DE-407: April-October 1944 only).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shelton-de407-07