Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet fo-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-shields-dd596-pkt-fo-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Shields (DD-596) - verbatim text verified via Wayback captures of the canonical NHHC page (2024-12-05) and the legacy danfs/s12/shields.htm (2014-07-27) plus the HazeGray mirror (2024-12-04); live NHHC page returns 404 to automated fetches [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Shields (DD-596) entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: keel laid 10 August 1943 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington; launched 25 September 1944, sponsored by First Lieutenant Margaret Shields Farr, WAC (great-granddaughter of namesake Purser Thomas Shields); commissioned 8 February 1945, Cmdr. George B. Madden in command. Shakedown 7 March-18 April 1945; WWII combat service 24 May-15 August 1945 (escort/patrol: Eniwetok, Ulithi, Leyte, Okinawa, Borneo; shelled Miri, Borneo, 26 June 1945); occupation escort to Jinsen, Korea; Gulf of Po Hai demonstrations; Yangtze River Patrol; decommissioned to reserve 14 June 1946; recommissioned 15 July 1950; three Korean War tours (1951-52 bombline/Kojo; 1952-53 bombline/8th Army; Feb-Jul 1954 TF 77 and Indochina coast); seven WESTPAC deployments 1954-1963 out of San Diego; Battle Efficiency 'E' August 1960; Naval Reserve Training ship, Reserve Destroyer Squadron 27, from 30 November 1963; March 1972 survey found modernization cost prohibitive; decommissioned 1 July 1972 and sold to the Brazilian Navy. Korean Presidential Unit Citation and three Korean battle stars. Spec block: dp 2,050; 376'5" x 39'7" x 17'9"; 35.2 kt; cpl. 329; 5 5"/10 40mm/10 21" tt; cl. Fletcher.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1972
- Population
- Puget Sound Naval Shipyard construction trades 1943-45; wartime and postwar crew (DANFS complement 329); Naval Reserve Training reservists 1963-72
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The March 1972 survey it describes is a material-condition/economic survey (modernization cost), not a hazmat or ACM survey - no insulation content should be read into it. Live NHHC page returns 404 to automated fetch; verbatim text verified via Wayback captures of the canonical page and legacy URL, plus the HazeGray mirror.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-01
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[3]Hewitt v. Allis Chalmers Corporation Product Liability Trust et al., No. 3:07-cv-03474-SI (N.D. Cal.), Notice of Removal (ECF No. 1, filed 2007-07-03) incl. Exhibit B (Plaintiffs' Preliminary Fact Sheet); removed from S.F. Super. Ct. CGC 06-449838; transferred to MDL-875 (E.D. Pa.) per JPML orders 2007-08-29 and 2009-02-17; N.D. Cal. case terminated 2007-08-29 [court_record]
- Locator
- CL docket 4167923; ECF No. 1 (gov.uscourts.cand.193712.1.0.pdf), para. 4 (p.3) and Exhibit B jobsite table (p.26 of the PDF); docket entries 19-24 (remand withdrawal, MDL transfer orders)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Qualifying asbestos docket naming this hull: defendant Todd Shipyards' Notice of Removal recites the plaintiffs' Preliminary Fact Sheet - 'sometime between 1955 and 1968, while employed as a Machinist Mate for the U.S. Navy, Decedent Ronald Hewitt was exposed to asbestos aboard the following U.S. Navy ships' - the five-vessel list ends '...and the USS SHIELD (DD-596)' (OCR of the narrative; the exhibit table spells it 'USS Shields DD-596'), alongside USS Ashtabula, USS Ajax, USS Epperson, and USS Perkins (the pleading/OCR renders of those hull numbers are partially garbled - Epperson DD-719 appears as 'DD-179' in the exhibit, Perkins as 'DD-817'/'DD-877'; DD-596 renders cleanly in both). Hull attribution is explicit (hull number DD-596 named; the only USS Shields in the 1955-68 window). The complaint alleges mesothelioma; decedent died 2006-12-22. Removal was on federal-officer grounds (28 U.S.C. 1442 - Todd's Navy-contract shipyard work); the case was then transferred into MDL-875.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1955-1968 (alleged exposure); 2006-2009 (litigation)
- Population
- Ronald Hewitt (USN Machinist Mate 1955-1968; mesothelioma, d. 2006-12-22); plaintiffs Jo Gunter Hewitt, Susan Simpson, Rhonda Knight
- Limitations
- PLEADING-STAGE allegation, never adjudicated on ship-specific facts in the located record: the ship list is recited from the plaintiffs' own fact sheet inside a jurisdictional removal notice. Does not establish which products aboard were asbestos, quantity, individual dose, or causation; whether the alleged exposure occurred aboard the hull versus in adjacent shipyard duty is not resolved by the exhibit ('Machinist mate on ships' is the listed duty). The complaint's gravity centers on Todd Shipyards San Pedro facility exposure. Post-transfer MDL merits history not located. OCR caveats: the removal notice renders the name 'USS SHIELD' (singular) while the exhibit reads 'USS Shields' - both cite DD-596.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-02
-
[4]NGB - Navios de Guerra Brasileiros, 'CT Maranhão - D 33' ship record (naval.com.br), citing Brazilian official publications (SDGM name repository; NOMAR service notices; Revista Marítima Brasileira; Jane's) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NGB M023 Maranhão D-33 page: Datas block (Baixa USN 1972-07-01; Incorporação MB 1972-07-06; Baixa MB 1990-07-06); Histórico 1972-1990
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Brazilian custody record for this hull: ex-USS Shields (DD-596) transferred and incorporated into the Marinha do Brasil on 6 July 1972 in a ceremony at San Diego, as CT Maranhão (D-33); removed from the U.S. Navy's list of units and definitively acquired by Brazil on 15 August 1973; served 18 years (1,016 days at sea, 270,717.87 miles steamed; five UNITAS operations among other commissions); submitted to Mostra de Desarmamento (deactivation review) on 6 July 1990 in a joint ceremony with Mato Grosso (D-34), striking her from active Brazilian service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1972-1990
- Population
- Brazilian Navy crew (310 at incorporation-era fit, per NGB characteristics block); Santos-area disposal workers
- Limitations
- Secondary Brazilian reference work sourcing official publications - documents custody dates and service totals, not materials or hazmat condition. Brazilian-era maintenance, modernization, and scrapping details carry no asbestos or material documentation in this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-03
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[5]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index, USS Shields (DD-596) status lines + Brazilian NGB (final disposition) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 05/596.htm 'Operational and Building Data' and 'Fate' lines (Wayback 2024-11-12 capture); NGB M023 Datas block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposal-chain context for this hull: NavSource status lines record stricken 1 July 1972, to Brazil 1 July 1972 renamed Maranhão, and 'Stricken and scrapped at Santos, Brazil in July 1 1990' (Brazilian baixa per NGB is 6 July 1990); the hull never entered the U.S. NDRF/MARAD disposal pipeline, so no U.S. federal dismantlement or hazmat record exists for it. Brazilian scrapping at Santos in 1990 has no public hazmat or asbestos-waste documentation located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1972-1990
- Population
- Santos scrapping workers, 1990 (undocumented)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled secondary index (status lines consistent with DANFS and NGB); the scrapping notation establishes location and year only. Absence of a U.S. disposal record is structural (foreign sale), not an asbestos finding in either direction.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-04
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[6]GAO HRD-80-2, 'Asbestos: The Navy's Program to Control Exposure' (program-level report, product page; full text HTTP 403 to automated fetch) + Fletcher-class design data (DANFS spec block; class profile) [gao]
- Locator
- gao.gov HRD-80-2 product page; shipyards.json record 'puget-sound-naval-shipyard'; DANFS spec block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a WWII Fletcher-class destroyer built 1943-44 with a four-boiler 60,000-shp steam plant falls squarely inside the Navy's documented peak asbestos-use era (GAO HRD-80-2: Navy substitution of asbestos-free materials not begun until the early 1970s); period-standard applications were boiler and steam-line insulation, turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Builder Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is documented at yard level in the Atlas shipyard dataset.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1990
- Population
- Puget Sound Naval Shipyard construction trades 1943-45; USN crew 1945-72; Brazilian Navy crew 1972-90
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The ship-specific finding for this hull is ev-02 (Hewitt pleading allegation); this row adds context, not an independent ship-specific finding. No per-hull material specification, insulation schedule, or ACM survey was located for DD-596; GAO HRD-80-2 is a program-level report naming no individual hull, and its full text was inaccessible (HTTP 403) - the product-page description is the basis cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 authenticated search set: "USS Shields" (type=o: 0 hits; type=r: 1 hit - Hewitt) and "DD-596" (type=o: 0 hits; type=r: 4 hits) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-shields-dd596-05, -06, -09 (queries + Hewitt docket/PDF verification)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation-sweep classification for this hull: "USS Shields" returned exactly one docket (Hewitt v. Allis Chalmers PLT, N.D. Cal. - the qualifying row ev-02). "DD-596" returned four dockets: Hewitt (qualifying, as above); IN RE: Asbestos Products Liability Litigation (No. VI), MDL No. 875 (the master MDL container docket - the DD-596 text match is consistent with Hewitt's tag-along transfer; the container itself is not a case naming this hull); Arapahoe Surgery Center LLC v. CIGNA Healthcare (D. Colo., ERISA - name collision, 'DD-596' is not the hull); DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures (C.D. Cal., copyright - name collision). Zero published opinions name this hull (type=o count 0 for both queries).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Classification is at indexed-text level: the MDL-875 container match's internal document is presumed but not individually opened (the Hewitt tag-along is the documented DD-596 source in that docket). No row upgrades any hit to an adjudicated exposure finding; the qualifying case is pleading-stage only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-06
-
[8]Batch-3568 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (Wayback/HazeGray), NVR, NavSource, Brazilian NGB, GAO product page, excluded law-firm surface, CourtListener API v4 + RECAP PDF [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-shields-dd596-01 through -09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos MATERIAL record located for DD-596: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no museum or custodian hazmat disclosure (no museum phase exists - hull went to Brazil), and no disposal-waste manifest for the 1990 Santos scrapping. The only ship-specific asbestos-adjacent record is the Hewitt pleading allegation (ev-02); the hull's material content remains undocumented by any survey or government record.
- 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 1943-45 steam destroyer almost certainly carried era-standard insulation, but that remains class/era inference, not a documented material finding. The pleading alleges exposure without identifying products or quantities; it does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-shields-dd596-07