Evidence
5 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-5).
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[1]research packet ef-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: Queue: USS SOUTHARD DD-207
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-southard-dd207-pkt-ef-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Southard (Destroyer No. 207) - NHHC ship-history page via Wayback capture 2025-12-31 (live NHHC URL returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 18 August 1918 at Philadelphia by William Cramp & Sons; launched 31 March 1919, sponsored by Miss Francesca Lewis Steward; commissioned 24 September 1919 (Comdr. Richard Willson). Post-shakedown escort of HMS Renown; departed Newport 19 November 1919 for the eastern Mediterranean, about a year in the Adriatic; transited Suez and put in at Cavite 16 February 1921, repairs at the navy yard there until 21 March; returned to the United States (San Francisco, 2 October) and decommissioned at San Diego 7 February 1922. Recommissioned 6 January 1930; west-coast and Panama Canal operations, then nine years with the Pacific Battle Force (short Atlantic cruises 1934 and 1939); converted to a high-speed destroyer minesweeper and reclassified DMS-10 on 19 October 1940. WWII: at sea near Johnston Island during the 7 December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack; Hawaii patrols and San Francisco convoys into mid-1942; Guadalcanal opening bombardment of Florida Island and minesweeping south of Gavutu and through Lengo Channel from 7 August 1942; eight months of Solomons convoy screening; probable sinking of a Japanese submarine off San Cristobal 10 November 1942 (kill never confirmed); Bougainville bombardment and Empress Augusta Bay minesweeping October-November 1943; covered torpedoed oiler Cache (AO-67) to Espiritu Santo 22 January 1944; Peleliu/Anguar minesweeping September 1944; Leyte Gulf sweeps 18-20 October 1944 and Carrier Group 77.4 screen 24-26 October; Lingayen Gulf minesweeping from 6 January 1945, when a kamikaze crashed abaft her stacks (engine embedded in the ship, six-foot trough torn in the deck) - back sweeping within 14 hours; extensive repairs at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard February-May 1945; Okinawa minesweeping and screening May-August 1945. Grounded on a pinnacle reef off Tsuken Shima during a typhoon 17 September 1945 (floated clear); wrecked on another reef about 1,000 yards southwest of Tsuken Shima 9 October 1945; declared a total loss; decommissioned 5 December 1945; struck from the Navy list 8 January 1946; hulk destroyed 14 January 1946. Ten battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1946
- Population
- William Cramp & Sons construction trades 1918-19; interwar crew; wartime crew 1941-45 (design complement 122); navy-yard workers at Cavite, Sydney, Mare Island, and Pearl Harbor
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Internal date inconsistency: the text reads 'On 27 August 1922, she sailed for the United States' yet records decommissioning 7 February 1922 - the return must have been 1921; carried in gaps rather than silently reconciled. Live NHHC page returns 404; Wayback capture cited. Documented yard periods relevant to material disturbance: Cavite navy yard repairs February-March 1921; six days dry-dock at Sydney circa December 1942; Mare Island Navy Yard restricted availability 31 May-10 June 1942, yard period 19 April-8 June 1943, and overhaul from 1 June 1944 (about two months); Pearl Harbor Navy Yard extensive repairs late February-4 May 1945.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-southard-dd207-01
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[3]DANFS specifications block (Clemson class; 1,215 t; 35 k.; cpl. 122) + NavSource destroyer-archive class/machinery data for DD-207 (26,500 SHP, geared turbines, 2 screws) + Atlas shipyards.json records for mare-island-naval-shipyard and pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard (yard-level asbestos documentation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; NavSource DD-207 class data block (Wayback capture); shipyards.json records 'mare-island-naval-shipyard' and 'pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: a Clemson-class flush-deck destroyer built 1918-19 with a four-boiler 300-psi saturated-steam plant (class spec) driving geared turbines would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation on boilers, steam drums, and steam lines, plus turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing. Her documented WWII yard periods sit at yards with their own asbestos records in the Atlas yard dataset: three Mare Island Navy Yard availabilities (June 1942 restricted availability; April-June 1943; June-August 1944 overhaul) and a roughly ten-week Pearl Harbor Navy Yard post-kamikaze repair (late February-4 May 1945). Builder William Cramp & Sons (Philadelphia) is not in the Atlas yard dataset - noted in gaps; NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications are an archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1918-1946
- Population
- William Cramp & Sons construction trades 1918-19; crew 1919-22 and 1930-45; Mare Island and Pearl Harbor yard workers 1942-45
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no located source names this hull's materials, and WWI-era insulation practice varied by builder and hull. The yard records document the yards, not this ship's scope of work. NARA GIB retrieval not performed. Does not establish quantities, individual crew exposure, or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-southard-dd207-02
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[4]CourtListener API v4 search sweep, 2026-09-27 (authenticated; opinion type=o and RECAP docket type=r indexes) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-southard-dd207-02 and sl-uss-southard-dd207-03
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located. Exact-phrase opinion queries "USS Southard" and "aboard the Southard" returned zero results; "DD-207" returned a single Florida criminal appeal (Siplin v. State, Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1977) - a docket/identifier fragment collision, not the ship; "DMS-10" asbestos returned zero; "Southard" navy asbestos returned zero. RECAP docket queries returned only name collisions: the 71 loose-match 'USS Southard' dockets match party surnames plus unrelated 'USS' strings; 155 'Southard asbestos' hits are asbestos plaintiffs surnamed Southard (e.g., Southard v. Asbestos Corp., D.N.J. 1992; Charlotte Southard v. Asbestos Corp., JPML 1993; Southard v. Fibreboard, E.D. Pa. 2010) - plaintiff surnames, not the vessel; 11 "DD-207" docket hits are exhibit/docket-number fragments.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Sweep covers CourtListener's opinion and RECAP docket indexes only - state-court filings outside RECAP, settled/unfiled claims, and VA claims are not indexed there. Absence of a located case does not prove no exposure occurred or that no claim was ever filed; it establishes only that no qualifying docketed record naming this hull was found on 2026-09-27.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-southard-dd207-03
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[5]Batch-3205 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS via Wayback capture; NavSource photographic archive via Wayback; NPS NRHP/NHL check; CourtListener opinion + RECAP sweeps; Atlas shipyards.json yard lookup [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-southard-dd207-01 through sl-uss-southard-dd207-06
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum or donation hazmat disclosure, GAO/MARAD environmental record, or docketed case naming USS Southard (DD-207/DMS-10) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was declared a total loss off Okinawa in October 1945 and demolished in place in January 1946 - there is no surviving museum hull, reserve-fleet record, or disposal file to produce modern-era disclosures.
- 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 1918-19 steam destroyer is consistent with era-standard asbestos insulation. Establishes only the search result as of 2026-09-27; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-southard-dd207-04