Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]Complaint Exhibit A, Turner v. General Electric Co. et al., MDL-875 Doc. 6548-2 (Jan 4, 2011); refiled MDL-875 Doc. 8596-2 (Apr 2, 2012) (RECAP) [court_record]
- Locator
- MDL-875 Doc. 6548-2, Exhibit A p. 17 of 23 (complaint p. 14), Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard vessel list; refiled version Doc. 8596-2 p. 20 of 22 (complaint p. 17, survival/wrongful-death form) verified 2026-09-18
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Asbestos personal-injury complaint Exhibit A lists SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57) among the vessels at Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard, Bremerton, WA, where plaintiff George W. Turner, a sheetmetal worker (helper), alleges he worked and was exposed to asbestos June 1944-September 1945. The ship's documented Puget Sound Navy Yard overhaul (arrived 10 July 1944, sailed 26 August 1944 per DANFS) corroborates presence within the alleged window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (alleged); 2011-2012 (filings)
- Population
- PSNS sheetmetal worker (helper), 1944-45
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegation; the vessel is named among roughly 25 ships at the yard, not an adjudicated finding. Does not establish which products were aboard, individual exposure, or causation. Exhibit is a scanned image (not text-indexed) - ship names verified by OCR/visual read of RECAP page 17 of 23 (complaint p. 14).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-01
-
[2]U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (January 1945), BATTLESHIPS (BB) machinery table - shipscribe.com scan [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1.pdf, BATTLESHIPS (BB) machinery table, book pp. 20-21, row 20 (SOUTH DAKOTA BB57)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The BuShips Ships' Data 1945 battleship machinery table records this hull explicitly: South Dakota (BB-57) carries 4 propellers, G.E. (General Electric) geared turbines rated 130,000 shp, and 8 B. & W. (Babcock & Wilcox) boilers at 570 psi / 850 deg F, with G.E. double-reduction gears.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- n/a (equipment record)
- Limitations
- Primary record of installed machinery as of January 1945; documents the equipment, not its insulation material - asbestos content of the lagging/packing on this plant is era inference, not stated. Does not record post-delivery machinery changes. Entries read directly from the scanned table (book pp. 20-21, row 20).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-02
-
[3]DANFS, South Dakota II (BB-57) (builder, dates, repair and overhaul periods, disposition; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-09-18) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented yard and repair periods for this hull: built at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden NJ (laid down 5 Jul 1939, launched 7 Jun 1941, commissioned 20 Mar 1942); fitted out at Philadelphia Navy Yard; battle-damage repairs at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard (Sep-Oct 1942, coral-pinnacle grounding) and Noumea (Vestal AR-4, Prometheus AR-3, Oct-Nov 1942); New York overhaul completing battle-damage repairs (18 Dec 1942-25 Feb 1943); Puget Sound Navy Yard overhaul (arrived 10 Jul 1944, sailed 26 Aug 1944); Philadelphia yard overhaul (Jan 1946); in reserve out of commission 31 Jan 1947; stricken 1 Jun 1962; sold 25 Oct 1962 to Lipsett Division, Luria Bros. and Co., Inc. for scrap. 13 battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1939-1962
- Population
- Construction trades (Camden, 1939-42); yard workers at Philadelphia, Pearl Harbor, New York, Puget Sound (1942-46); crew
- Limitations
- Documents events and yard periods only - no asbestos content anywhere in the source. Each yard period is the era-typical insulation-disturbance pathway but scope/materials disturbed are undocumented. Dismantling location (Kearny, NJ) appears in secondary sources only, not in DANFS.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-03
-
[4]DANFS BB-57 spec block + service narrative; consistent with BuShips Ships' Data 1945 machinery table (ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- As built, South Dakota's eight-boiler steam propulsion plant and associated steam piping, valves, and auxiliaries were insulated under WWII Navy specifications; boiler/fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, deck tile, and bulkhead materials were standard class-era asbestos applications.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1939-1947
- Population
- Construction trades (1939-42); overhaul/repair yard workers (1942-46); crew
- Limitations
- Inferred from the documented propulsion plant plus era specifications - no hull-specific insulation survey or material schedule located. Names the era standard, not confirmed installed materials; not a quantity; does not establish what was aboard or what was removed during documented overhauls.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-04
-
[5]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program and that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships, not beginning substitution until the early 1970s - postdating this ship's entire active service (1942-47) and her scrapping (1962-63).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not quantities or presence aboard this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-05
-
[6]NARA RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships), File Unit 'Plans for the Battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57), 1789-1967,' Alphabetical Series of Ship Engineering Drawings - Booklet of General Plans dated 10 Apr 1946, scanned at Internet Archive (ship-design-drawings collection) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archive.org/details/bb57bogp1946; NARA file unit 'Plans for the Battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57), 1789-1967,' RG 19
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A hull-specific Booklet of General Plans (18 sheets, incomplete set, dated 10 Apr 1946) exists in NARA RG 19 for this ship; scans are publicly mirrored on Internet Archive. The set covers general information, profiles, decks, platforms, hold, and cross-sections - arrangement drawings only.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1946
- Population
- n/a (archival record)
- Limitations
- Arrangement drawings do not carry insulation-material specifications; asbestos content, if documented anywhere, would sit in BuShips material/specification correspondence not located online. Scan is a third-party mirror of the NARA file unit; the underlying archival record is verified to exist.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-06
-
[7]Battleship South Dakota Memorial Foundation (est. 1963), Sioux Falls, SD - ship memorial museum; South Dakota Historical Society Press, 'Life Aboard Battleship X: The USS South Dakota in World War II,' South Dakota History vol. 23 no. 2 [museum_official]
- Locator
- southdakotabattleship.org; sdhspress.com journal article
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The hull does not survive: after sale to Lipsett Division of Luria Bros. (25 Oct 1962) the ship was dismantled, and only salvaged artifacts (mainmast, 16-inch gun, anchor, propeller, bell) remain, displayed at the Battleship South Dakota Memorial in Sherman Park, Sioux Falls (dedicated 7 Sep 1969); additional artifacts including a screw and armor-plate section are held by the National Museum of the U.S. Navy. The ship's wartime press pseudonym was 'Battleship X.'
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1962-present
- Population
- n/a (disposition context)
- Limitations
- Documents that no hull or machinery survives - only loose artifacts - bounding where any era material could persist (artifact surfaces only, not installed systems). Memorial and journal sources carry no asbestos information; the Kearny NJ dismantling location and the artifact list derive from secondary reporting (Wikipedia citing NHHC photos, theclio.com) plus the memorial foundation site.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-07
-
[8]This record's search ledger: CourtListener API v4 (throttled), CourtListener web (403), VA BVA corpus (site:va.gov), general web index, NARA/Internet Archive, NVR [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-south-dakota-bb57-01 through -08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No adjudicated asbestos finding naming this hull located: no merits opinion, VA BVA decision, government survey, or abatement record naming USS South Dakota (BB-57) was found in the sources searched. The only litigation record located is the Turner pleading (ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-01). CourtListener API was rate-limited (125/day) and web search returned 403 on 2026-09-18, so the opinion/docket sweep is incomplete.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record does not prove absence - the hull was scrapped 1962-63, before disclosure-era documentation and before most asbestos litigation. The throttled CourtListener sweep means docket coverage is partial; a name match inside scanned complaint exhibits (as with Turner) would not surface in text search anyway.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-south-dakota-bb57-08