Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet ko-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Stafford · Hull: DE-411 · Designation: destroyer escort · Class: John C. Butler
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-stafford-de411-pkt-ko-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Stafford (DE-411) (builder, dates, specifications block, service narrative, striking and sale; verbatim HyperWar/ibiblio transcription by Patrick Clancey - live NHHC page returns 404 as of 2026-09-28) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (ibiblio HyperWar mirror, de411.html)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 29 November 1943 at Houston, Tex., by Brown Shipbuilding Co.; launched 11 January 1944 (sponsor Miss Flora Stafford); commissioned 19 April 1944, Lt. Comdr. V. H. Craig Jr., USNR. Specifications block: John C. Butler class; dp. 1,350; l. 306'0"; b. 36'7"; dr. 13'4"; s. 24.3 k.; cpl. 222; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 3 21" tt., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.). Service: Bermuda shakedown May 1944; post-shakedown overhaul Boston Navy Yard 13-22 June 1944; Panama Canal transit 3 July; Pacific Fleet duty from 4 July; Pearl Harbor ASW training; Lingayen-bound TF 77 screen. On 5 January 1945 at 1747, northwest of Manila Bay, a kamikaze 'crashed into Stafford's starboard side, amidships, just abaft the stack' while she screened Tulagi (CVE-72) with Goss (DE-444) and Ulvert M. Moore (DE-442); non-nucleus crew transferred to Ulvert M. Moore; topside depth charges, K guns and loading machines jettisoned. Drydock hull repairs San Pedro Bay, Leyte, 19-27 January; further repairs Seeadler Harbor, Manus; then Mare Island Navy Yard repairs 4 March - 6 May 1945. Okinawa ASW screen from 17 June; Nagasaki ex-POW embarkation 15-18 September; Yokosuka departure 4 November; plane-guard with Corregidor (CVE-58); inactivation overhaul at Standard Shipbuilding Corp., San Pedro, from 3 January 1946; reserve fleet San Diego; struck from the Navy list 15 March 1972; hulk sold 13 June 1973 to National Metal and Steel Corp., Terminal Island, Calif. Two battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (design complement 222); Boston Navy Yard and Mare Island Navy Yard repair workers 1944-45
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The transcription reads 'In January 1947, she was decommissioned' - inconsistent with the same narrative's 3 January 1946 inactivation-overhaul start and with Navsource's 16 May 1946 decommissioning; the conflict is carried in gaps, not silently reconciled. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (tried /danfs/s/stafford.html and /danfs/s/stafford-de-411.html).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-01
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[3]NavSource Online, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Stafford (DE-411) - building and operational data block plus U.S. Navy photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-411 page, 'Building and Operational Data' block + photo captions 0641103-0641107
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Operational chronology for this hull: commissioned at the Tennessee Iron and Coal Co. dock, Houston, 19 April 1944 by Cmdr. M. I. Kearns, USNR (Com8thND); decommissioned 16 May 1946 at San Diego 'after 2 years and 1 month of service having steamed 103,000 miles... credited with destroying three Japanese aircraft'; inactivation completed 25 October 1946, assigned Submarine Group Two, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the NVR 15 March 1972; sold for scrapping 13 June 1973 to National Metal and Steel Corp., Terminal Island. U.S. Navy photo captions (e.g., photo DE-411-3078-45) document the ship in overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard April 1945, with one caption dating the yard period 'from 04 March until 30 April 1945.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-1973
- Population
- Wartime crew; Mare Island Navy Yard repair workers March-May 1945; Pacific Reserve Fleet caretakers 1946-1972
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained secondary compilation, not an official record - carried because it supplies the decommissioning date (16 May 1946) and inactivation completion (25 Oct 1946) that the DANFS narrative conflicts with ('January 1947'). Caption date range '04 March until 30 April 1945' differs from the DANFS repair span 4 March - 6 May 1945; DANFS span carried, variance noted. A caption (citing Roscoe, Destroyer Operations in WWII) reads 'only two men were killed' in the kamikaze attack - secondary source, carried in gaps, not asserted here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-02
-
[4]u.s. navy research (usnavyresearch.com), War Damage Reports index, 12th Naval District, P-T page, entries 46-48 (index of NARA-held official naval War Damage Reports) [other_primary]
- Locator
- usnavyresearch.com WDR 12th Naval District P-T index, table rows 46-48
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A Bureau of Ships-era official War Damage Report for this hull exists in the NARA-held 12th Naval District collection: index line 46 - 'USS STAFFORD DE411, War Damage Report, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 5 January 1945, typed by Mare Island, Fifteen (15) Photographs, One (1) plate'; line 47 - a fourteen-photograph supplement (four small); line 48 - 'Battle Damage Repairs Information Concerning.' These reports itemize damaged structure and systems and the repair scope for the 5 January 1945 kamikaze strike (starboard amidships, abaft the stack) repaired at Leyte, Manus, and Mare Island Navy Yard.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945 (reports); index reviewed 2026-09-28
- Population
- Mare Island Navy Yard damage/repair workers 1945 (potential documentary subjects)
- Limitations
- Index-level verification only - the report text and photographs were not retrieved or reviewed (usnavyresearch.com is a commercial NARA-reproduction service; the index establishes the record exists, not its contents). Whether the report identifies insulation or other materials disturbed in the hit zone is unknown until pulled. Establishes nothing about asbestos aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-03
-
[5]Class inference consolidated from: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group 6 (WGT) row (shipscribe.com scan, per john-c-butler-class.class.json); Navypedia WGT page per-block boiler map (Combustion Engineering boilers for the DE-402-424 Brown-built block that includes DE-411); USNI Naval History, 'The Brown Shipbuilding Company's Rise During World War II' (June 2025); shipbuildinghistory yard production table (navalmarinearchive.com/sbh mirror) [other_primary]
- Locator
- john-c-butler-class.class.json (ev-john-c-butler-class-01/-02/-05); Navypedia us_de_tev_wgt boiler block map; USNI Naval History June 2025; shipbuildinghistory Brown production table
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference only: Stafford carried the class's standard WGT steam plant - two superheated 'D' express boilers (Combustion Engineering in the DE-402-424 block per the Navypedia boiler map) and 12,000-shp geared turbines, 435 psi/750F steam - built at Brown Shipbuilding, a wartime emergency yard on Greens Bayou, Houston, which produced 61 destroyer escorts during the war at an average delivery of roughly one per week (USNI; shipbuildinghistory production table). WWII-era steam warships of this type, as a class, carried period-standard boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing of the era - applications that in this era commonly contained asbestos. The class litigation theory is documented at sister-hull level (see ev-05).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-46; Mare Island and Boston Navy Yard workers
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific finding is established by this row. This is not evidence that asbestos-containing material was installed, present, or handled aboard this specific hull; it does not identify products, quantities, or locations aboard USS Stafford. The boiler-builder attribution (Combustion Engineering) rests on Navypedia's block map, unverified against contract documents; the yard production figures are secondary compilations (USNI full text 403 to automated fetch, verified via search excerpt; shipbuildinghistory table). No ship-specific asbestos documentation exists for this hull (see ev-06, litigation sweep; and the negative-finding row ev-07).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-04
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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 (as documented in john-c-butler-class.class.json, ev-03/-04) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF 738.1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list (per class profile ev-03/-04)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec name sister hull 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,' with proposed testimony that 'asbestos was a critical material during WWII when the Navy installed the distiller on Mr. Jack's ship' - while conceding 'on the USS BRANNON this could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the controlling era insulation-spec suite: BuShips Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (1945); Navy Dept spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (1945); BuEng General Specifications for Machinery S39-1 (1939); BuEng Manual ch.13 Instructions Relative to Heat Insulation (1933/1939).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- 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 context only)
- Limitations
- Pretrial-order/exhibit-list recital in a case naming a different hull (DE-446), carried at class_or_era as the documented litigation theory for this DE type - it is not evidence about USS Stafford specifically, establishes no adjudicated exposure finding even for DE-446, and the same materials concede non-asbestos insulation was possible. The spec documents themselves were not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 sweep (authenticated, via fleet helper cl-auth-search.py): exact-name "USS Stafford" (type=o and type=r), hull-number "DE-411" (type=o and type=r), run 2026-09-28 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-stafford-de411-07 through sl-uss-stafford-de411-10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located. Exact-phrase "USS Stafford" returned zero results in both opinions (type=o) and dockets (type=r). Combined-name "Stafford" + "DE-411" returned zero opinion results. Hull-number "DE-411" returned 10 opinion hits and 158 docket hits, all name-collision false positives in the results reviewed: the substring is matched incidentally by docket numbers (e.g., 3:15-de-00411, D. Del. sequence), reporter citations, and party surnames (Stafford, Shipman, Blankenship in a PPI MDL plaintiff list); captions reviewed (all 10 opinions; 40 dockets across the first two pages - United States v. Flemming, Royal West Properties bankruptcy, SKF USA v. United States, Keach v. Canadian Pacific, Proton-Pump Inhibitor MDL, et al.) contain no reference to USS Stafford, a Navy vessel, or asbestos. A Connecticut mesothelioma action found in general search (Stafford v. multiple asbestos defendants) names plaintiff Fred Russel Stafford, a submarine-service veteran - a surname collision, not this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- A public-index sweep confirms no located litigation naming this hull as of 2026-09-28; it does not prove no such litigation exists - PACER-gated dockets, sealed filings, and state-court records outside CourtListener's index are not searched. 'Stafford' is a common surname and place name, so a bare-name sweep without the 'USS'/'DE-411' qualifier was not run (false-positive risk); see search_ledger for exact queries.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-06
-
[8]Batch-4312 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS; Naval Vessel Register; NavSource; NARA-held 12th Naval District War Damage Report index (usnavyresearch.com); Atlas shipyard dataset (37 yard_ids); CourtListener API v4; USNI Naval History; general web search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-stafford-de411-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or government material record naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was sold for scrapping in 1973 and no surviving structure exists to survey - no ship-specific record can be generated by inspection.
- 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 during service - the 1943-44 wartime build and WGT steam plant are consistent with era-standard materials (see ev-04). Does not establish that asbestos was or was not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The structural ceiling (scrapped hull) means no future survey evidence is possible; archival records (War Damage Report, deck logs, BuShips material schedules) remain the only leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stafford-de411-07