Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS (1976), Vol. 6, pp. 532-533, 'Smartt' (DE-257) - namesake biography, specifications block, service narrative, striking and disposal (verbatim transcription by Michael Hansen; live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Smartt' (DE-257), namesake paragraph + specifications block + service narrative (Vol. 6, pp. 532-533)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Ens. Joseph G. Smartt, USNR (b. Austin, Tex., 19 March 1917; enlisted USNR 8 October 1940; aviation cadet 28 January 1941; ensign 17 September 1941; assigned Patrol Squadron 11, USNAS Kaneohe Bay, Oahu; killed in action 7 December 1941 during the Japanese attack; posthumously commended by CinCPac for his effort to repel the attack on the air station). Specifications: dp. 1,140 t.; l. 289'5"; b. 35'2"; dr. 11'; s. 21.5 k.; cpl. 198; a. 3 3", 4 40mm, 9 20mm, 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 hedgehog; cl. Evarts. Laid down 10 January 1943 by Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass.; launched 22 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Thompson; commissioned 18 June 1943, Lt. Cmdr. W. B. Pendleton in command. Service: fitted out at Boston; shakedown Bermuda B.W.I. 6 July-7 August; Norfolk 23 August; departed four days later with a North Africa-bound convoy (Gibraltar transit 13 September; convoy reformed 17th; Brooklyn arrival 5 October); three convoys New York-Casablanca 25 October 1943-20 April 1944; sailed Norfolk 23 April 1944 with Escort Division 5 as escort for convoy UGS-40 to the Mediterranean; convoy attacked near Algiers 11 May by German dive bombers - smoke screen laid, three Ju-88s taken under fire with hits observed on all three, one attacker splashed ~2,000 yards out in the second wave, one of two splashed at ~1,500 yards in the third wave; arrived Bizerte 13 May; joined 65-ship convoy GUS-40 the following week and returned to New York; six further U.S.-Mediterranean convoy escort voyages 4 July 1944-14 June 1945; New York upkeep to 10 July; Casco Bay, Me., local operations 18 July-10 September; returned to New York for inactivation; placed out of commission, in reserve, 5 October [1945]; struck from the Navy list 24 October 1945; sold for scrap 12 July 1946. One battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; wartime crew (DANFS design complement 198); yard workers at New York Navy Yard (1945 inactivation)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Spec-block figures conflict with NavSource class data on speed (21.5 vs 19 kt) and AA armament (4x40mm vs 1x1.1" quad) - carried in gaps; Wikipedia renders the sponsor's surname 'Thomson' against DANFS's 'Thompson' - carried in gaps. Live NHHC DANFS page returns 404 (standing link-rot note from BATCH-01); losthistory.net/hazegray verbatim transcription cited, corroborated verbatim by the historycentral.com transcription.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-01
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[2]NavSource Naval History, 'USS Smartt (DE 257)' photo archive page - building/operational data block, Evarts-class specification block, commanding officer list, and image captions citing National Archives photo numbers [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-257 page, 'Building and Operational Data' block, 'Specifications' block, image table captions, commanding officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource building and operational data for this hull: keel laid 10 January 1943 by Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Mass.; launched and christened 22 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Thompson; commissioned 18 June 1943, Lcdr. W. B. Pendleton in command; decommissioned 5 October 1945 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., after 2 years and 3.5 months of service; struck from the NVR 24 October 1945; sold 12 July 1946, scrapped. Class specification block: Evarts class, type GMT ('diesel-electric tandem motor drive, short hull, 3" guns'); propulsion '4 GM Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 screws'; speed 19 kts; range 4,150 nm at 12 knots; complement 15 officers / 183 enlisted. Image captions document two U.S. Navy photos 'CP-DE-257 19-N-70379' and '19-N-70380' (1943, off Hingham, Mass., completing at Boston Navy Yard) credited to NARA, and a wartime photo of Smartt highlining with USS Walter S. Brown (DE-258). Commanding officer list (Pendleton; Katschinski; Wepman; Yeomans) matches the uboat.net officer chronology.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (page last updated 18 June 2017)
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; crew 1943-45; New York Navy Yard inactivation force October 1945
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-run archive, not a government source - its building data and NARA photo captions are reliable conventionally cited data but are secondary compilations; the underlying NARA still photos (19-N-70379/70380) are the primary artifacts and are carried as archival leads (ev-06). NavSource's class-level spec block (19 kt speed; 1.1" quad AA) conflicts with the DANFS hull spec block (21.5 kt; 4x40mm) - both recorded in gaps rather than reconciled. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-02
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[3]NHHC, 'United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995,' Appendix 12 - Ships Named for Naval Aviators: 'Smartt (DE 257) ENS Joseph G. Smartt, USNR 18 Jun 1943' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Appendix 12 PDF, 'Smartt (DE 257)' entry (indexed snippet); Appendix 11 'SMARTT FIELD' entry (indexed snippet)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC publication entry independently confirms the namesake and commissioning date for this hull: Smartt (DE-257) was named for Ensign Joseph G. Smartt, USNR, and commissioned 18 June 1943 - consistent with DANFS and NavSource. The companion Appendix 11 records a second, non-vessel namesake asset: 'SMARTT FIELD,' an outlying field of NAS St. Louis, Mo., named June 1943 for the same ensign (VP-11, Kaneohe) - relevant only as a name-collision caution for non-ship 'Smartt' references.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943
- Limitations
- Namesake/commissioning confirmation only - no construction, materials, or asbestos content. The live PDF returned HTTP 404 at fetch time (2026-09-28); the entry text is confirmed via the search-engine index snippet for history.navy.mil, not a retrieved document, so verification is partial. 'Smartt Field' (Appendix 11) is an airfield asset, not this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-03
-
[4]NavSource DE-257 class/specification block (Evarts class, GMT type: 'diesel-electric tandem motor drive, short hull'; propulsion '4 GM Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 screws') + Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol. 1946;28(1):9-16 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-257 specifications block; Fleischer et al. 1946 (bibliographic citation; digitized copy not fetched)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: this hull was an Evarts-class destroyer escort built in 1943 with a diesel-electric plant (four GM 16-278A diesels with electric drive, 6,000 shp - no boilers or steam system). A WWII Navy diesel-electric escort would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to that plant type - exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, winch/windlass brake linings, and deck coverings - while the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line lagging) do not apply. The contemporaneous Fleischer/Viles/Gade/Drinker survey (WWII-era naval-vessel construction, published 1946) documented asbestos pipe-covering operations across Navy and contract yards as standard practice.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (construction/operations); 1942-46 (era hygiene literature)
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; crew 1943-45 (DANFS design complement 198)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. Machinery specifics are class-design data (NavSource; the DANFS spec block for this hull carries speed and armament only). The 1946 survey anonymized its yards and does not name this hull; it establishes era practice, not installation aboard DE-257. Does not quantify asbestos, establish crew exposure, or speak to legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-04
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[5]Atlas shipyard dataset (shipyards.json): 'boston-naval-shipyard' (evidence tier 3; John Crane gaskets/sealing materials litigation), 'brooklyn-navy-yard' (tier 3; Kaylo/Owens-Illinois products) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json records 'boston-naval-shipyard', 'brooklyn-navy-yard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Yard-level documentation for yards where this hull was built or inactivated: builder Boston Navy Yard (Charlestown) is a tier-3 asbestos-documented yard in the Atlas dataset; the October 1945 decommissioning/inactivation yard, New York Navy Yard (Brooklyn) per NavSource building data, is likewise tier-3 in the dataset. DE-257's construction and inactivation at these yards fall within the documented asbestos era for each.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Yard workers during 1943 construction and October 1945 inactivation
- Limitations
- Yard-level findings only - no work order, specification, or survey ties yard asbestos products to this hull's specific construction or inactivation; yard tier reflects the dataset's yard-level documentation, not conditions aboard DE-257. DANFS records Norfolk and Casco Bay only as staging/operating locations, not yard periods; no other availability is documented for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-05
-
[6]NARA holdings for this hull (inferred from NavSource-documented NARA artifacts and standard series): Bureau of Ships/NARA still photos 19-N-70379 and 19-N-70380 (1943, off Hingham, Mass., completing at Boston Navy Yard - 'CP-DE-257' series per NavSource captions); RG 24 deck logs for DE-257; RG 19 Bureau of Ships 'Booklet of General Plans' per-hull series; Escort Division 5 / CortDiv 5 war diary (RG 38) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov (deck logs, RG 24; war diaries, RG 38); archives.gov/research/cartographic/ship-plans (RG 19 plans); NavSource 19-N-70379/70380 captions citing NARA
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads for hull-level material/work documentation: (a) two NARA-cataloged Navy still photos (19-N-70379, 19-N-70380, 1943) document this hull completing at Boston Navy Yard; (b) DE-257 deck logs (RG 24, Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations) document yard periods and availabilities; (c) a per-hull Booklet of General Plans or Evarts-class engineering drawings in RG 19 would record machinery and insulation-spec callouts; (d) the Escort Division 5 war diary (RG 38) would document UGS-40 and later convoy operations. NARA catalog search was inconclusive in-session (catalog is JS-gated/key-gated); retrieval not performed.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 records
- Limitations
- Leads only - the two still photos are confirmed NARA artifacts via NavSource captions; deck logs log events but rarely identify materials; plan-booklet existence for DE-257 specifically is unverified. No asbestos content is asserted from these holdings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-06
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 (authenticated, fleet-paced helper cl-auth-search.py) - opinion (type=o) and RECAP docket (type=r) searches for '"USS Smartt"', '"Smartt"', and '"DE-257"' [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-smartt-de257-05 through -09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying litigation naming this hull located. CourtListener opinion index: '"USS Smartt"' = 0 hits; '"Smartt"' = 677 hits, all litigant/witness-surname collisions in non-vessel matters (e.g., State v. Smartt, Or. App. 2019; Smartt v. United States, M.D. Fla. 2003; United States v. Smartt, 6th Cir. 2003); '"Smartt" asbestos' = 3 hits, all surname collisions in non-vessel cases (Colorado firefighters workers' comp; Tennessee tort and criminal appeals). Hull-number queries: '"DE-257"' = 16 opinion hits and 295 RECAP docket hits, all identifier collisions (docket-entry numbers, quantities, Puerto Rico case-number strings) - no vessel-related result identified among them. The '"USS Smartt"' docket-type (type=r) query remained blocked by fleet-wide request pacing at record time (see ledger).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Sweep completed 2026-09-28 under heavy fleet contention. Not a trial-level finding for any vessel - it establishes only that no docketed opinion or reviewed RECAP docket surfaced naming USS Smartt or DE-257 as a vessel. The '"USS Smartt"' RECAP docket query exhausted eight spaced retries and is a residual gap, not a verified zero. Absence of a docket hit does not prove no claim was ever asserted; asbestos lawsuits naming hulls are a small subset of filed cases. The surname-variant hit sets were classified by caption and snippet; individual full-text review of all 677 'Smartt' opinions was not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-07
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[8]Batch-4178 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live 404; losthistory.net/hazegray + historycentral verbatim transcriptions); NHHC Appendix 12 namesake publication (live PDF 404; indexed entry); NavSource building/specification/photo data; Atlas shipyards.json yard records; CourtListener sweep (see ledger); law-firm ship-list pages (excluded by source rule) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-smartt-de257-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-257: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, materials inventory, or confirmed docketed litigation naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was sold for scrapping 12 July 1946, so no museum-phase or layberth hazmat record can exist. Generic asbestos claims for 'USS Smartt' exist on law-firm marketing pages (asbestos-ships.com dedicated DE-257 page; shepardlawfirm.com destroyer-escort ship list) - all are boilerplate ship-list pages with no cited source and are excluded per source rules.
- 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 - era materials are consistent with a 1943 diesel-electric escort, and the hull's 1946 scrapping forecloses modern survey evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Litigation sweep details and any residual unqueried variants are recorded in the search ledger.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-smartt-de257-08