Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet jn-packet.md (5 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-sterett-dd407-pkt-jn-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Sterett II (DD-407) (builder, dates, service narrative, striking, disposal; verbatim transcription at Destroyer History Foundation sourced to the Naval Historical Center; HazeGray transcription at hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd407txt.htm also indexed; live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Sterett II' - specifications block plus service narrative; mirror pages fetched live 2026-09-27
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: second Sterett (DD-407; Benham class, dp. 1,500; l. 341'3 5/8"; b. 35'6"; dr. 17'8"; s. 40.7 k. trial; cpl. 251; a. 4 5", 4 40mm., 8 21" tt.) - laid down 2 December 1936 at the Charleston Navy Yard; launched 27 October 1938 (sponsor Mrs. Camilla Ridgely Simpson); commissioned 15 August 1939, Lt. Comdr. Atherton Macondray in command. Shakedown Gulf of Mexico; Destroyer Division 15; Pearl Harbor 1940-41; Atlantic neutrality patrols with Wasp (CV-7); Iceland convoy escort January 1942; Scapa Flow with British Home Fleet April-May 1942; Pacific from July 1942. Guadalcanal campaign from August 1942; Naval Battle of Guadalcanal night of 12-13 November 1942 - torpedo hits on battleship Hiei and a sinking enemy destroyer, while taking heavy return fire; emergency repairs at Espiritu Santo, then two months at Mare Island Naval Shipyard (to February 1943). Battle of Vella Gulf 6-7 August 1943; Bougainville and Rabaul operations November 1943; Marshalls and Marianas January-July 1944; yard work at Puget Sound Navy Yard 24-30 April 1944 and overhaul from 20 August 1944; Mindoro convoy December 1944; Okinawa radar picket duty - kamikaze hit at starboard waterline on 9 April 1945, emergency repairs at Kerama Retto, then repairs at Bremerton (Puget Sound Navy Yard) May through August 1945. Decommissioned at New York 2 November 1945; stricken from the Navy list 25 February 1947; sold 10 August 1947 to Northern Metal Co., Philadelphia, for scrapping. Earned the Presidential Unit Citation, 12 battle stars, and the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1936-1947
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades 1936-39; wartime crew (design complement 251)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content - no insulation, lagging, or ACM detail. Battle-star count varies across transcriptions and secondary compilations (12 in the DANFS/HazeGray text and the ship association; a Destroyer History link label reads 13; NavSource reads 14) - 12 is carried and the conflict is in gaps. Live NHHC DANFS URL returned 404 on all /danfs/s/sterett* variants tried 2026-09-27; transcription mirrors cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-01
-
[3]STERETT Association official ship page and DD-407 chronological history (sterett.net) [museum_official]
- Locator
- sterett.net 'DD-407' ship page (Ship Characteristics block) and 'DD-407 Chronological History' page (May 1942 entry)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Ship association record for this hull: one of ten Benham-class destroyers (Gibbs & Cox design, last of the 1,500-ton classes) built at six different yards - DD-407 was the only one built at the Charleston Navy Yard; keel laid 2 December 1936; launched 27 October 1938; commissioned 15 August 1939. Machinery: three Babcock & Wilcox boilers with uptakes to a single stack, Westinghouse steam turbines developing 50,000 shp on two screws; 483-ton fuel oil capacity; 8,730 nm at 12 knots; as-built armament four 5-inch/38 base-ring mounts, sixteen 21-inch torpedo tubes in four quad mounts, four .50-caliber machine guns, two depth-charge racks. Chronology records that on return from British Home Fleet duty (Norfolk, 27 May 1942) the ship entered Portsmouth Navy Yard for repairs and installation of her first radar.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1936-1947
- Population
- Wartime and postwar crew; association members
- Limitations
- Association-compiled secondary detail, not an official record - machinery and yard details corroborate class references and DANFS but are not independently primary. 'Portsmouth Navy Yard' in the association chronology refers to the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, VA (the yard serving the Norfolk arrival DANFS records), not Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-02
-
[4]USS Sterett (DD-407) action report, serial DD407/A16-3 (005), 'Report of Action on Night of November 12-13, 1942,' dated 20 November 1942, Commanding Officer to CINCPAC (scanned original hosted by the STERETT Association); NHHC Online Library selected-images page for DD-407 (ibiblio transcription) incl. BuShips photo 19-N-40926 'off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 6 February 1943' [other_primary]
- Locator
- Action report sections III (chronological log), V (damage), and (j) 'Casualties to Personnel' (named DEAD and SERIOUSLY INJURED lists); ibiblio HyperWar 'USN Ships - USS Sterett (DD-407)' selected-images page
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous primary document for this hull: the commanding officer's action report for the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (12-13 November 1942) itemizes damage - after guns and starboard torpedo tubes out of commission, steering gear damaged, fires on the after deck - and lists the ship's casualties by name: 28 dead, approximately 20 seriously injured and transferred to hospital, and 4 burned men who jumped overboard to extinguish flames. The damage documented in this report drove the two-month Mare Island Naval Shipyard repair availability (November 1942 - February 1943) recorded by DANFS and corroborated by BuShips photo 19-N-40926 dated 6 February 1943. NARA holds the originals (RG 38 action reports and war diaries); the ECU Joyner Library holds the Thomas McWhorter USS Sterett (DD-407) Collection (finding aid, digital.lib.ecu.edu).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Crew aboard at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12-13 November 1942
- Limitations
- Documents combat damage, casualties, and the repair availability - not materials, insulation, or asbestos content; asbestos involvement in the repair scope is inference only. Casualty count reads 28 dead on the report's own list; the U.S. Navy Memorial narrative reads 26 killed and 18 seriously injured (lost-at-sea log lists 30) - conflict carried in gaps. Scan hosted by the ship association; originals at NARA.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-03
-
[5]Presidential Unit Citation to USS Sterett (DD-407), Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal (transcription sourced to NARA Modern Military Records, NECTM, Textual Archives Services Division) [other_primary]
- Locator
- PUC citation text, signed James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Presidential Unit Citation text for this hull (NARA-held document): 'For outstanding performance in combat against enemy surface units of the Japanese fleet in the Battle of Guadalcanal and in the Battle of Vella Gulf' - crediting torpedo hits on a battleship at 3,000 yards and sinking a destroyer on the night of 12-13 November 1942, and sinking one destroyer and assisting on a cruiser on the night of 6-7 August 1943.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Crew during the cited actions
- Limitations
- Unit award citation documents combat service only - no materials or asbestos content. Transcription hosted by Destroyer History Foundation citing NARA NECTM as source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-04
-
[6]STERETT Association machinery data (3 Babcock & Wilcox boilers; Westinghouse steam turbines, 50,000 shp, 2 screws) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Charleston Naval Shipyard record (yard-level asbestos product documentation incl. sprayed inorganic fiber insulation, pipe insulation, boiler coatings) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sterett.net ship characteristics block; shipyards.json records 'charleston-naval-shipyard', 'mare-island-naval-shipyard', 'puget-sound-naval-shipyard', 'norfolk-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Benham-class destroyer built 1936-38 with a three-boiler geared-steam-turbine plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation, lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing; the builder (Charleston Navy Yard / Charleston Naval Shipyard) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset for asbestos products in period ship work (including spray-on insulation for walls and ship interiors, pipe insulation at 5-50% asbestos content, boiler external coatings at 15% asbestos), and her documented repair availabilities at Norfolk (Portsmouth, 1942), Mare Island (1942-43), and Puget Sound (1944, 1945) navy yards are all yards with yard-level asbestos documentation in the dataset. NARA RG 19 '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
- 1936-1947
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades 1936-39; repair-yard workers 1942-45; crew 1939-45
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. Yard-level asbestos documentation for Charleston and the repair yards does not establish what was installed aboard or disturbed on DD-407; repair-scope asbestos content is inference. NARA GIB retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-05
-
[7]CourtListener 'USS Sterett' opinion results: United States v. Neely, NMCCA 201400309 (2014); United States v. Salad, 779 F. Supp. 2d 509 (E.D. Va. 2011); United States v. Abukar Beyle, 782 F.3d 159 (4th Cir. 2015). Reviewed-off-index asbestos case: Hasenberg v. Asbestos Corp. Ltd., No. 3:13-cv-01325 (S.D. Ill.), Mem. & Order (Mar. 18, 2015) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener opinion search 'USS Sterett' (3 hits, all classified); Hasenberg Mem. & Order recital of service dates (Doc. 342-1, 372-2) via leagle.com decision text
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Verified name collisions: every 'USS Sterett' litigation hit located refers to a later hull, not DD-407. United States v. Salad (E.D. Va.) and United States v. Abukar Beyle (4th Cir.) are the Somali-piracy prosecutions arising from the Quest hijacking response involving USS Sterett (DDG-104, commissioned 2008); United States v. Neely (NMCCA) is a 2014-era court-martial appeal in the DDG-104 era. The one asbestos case surfaced, Hasenberg v. Asbestos Corp. (S.D. Ill. 3:13-cv-01325), names 'the destroyer USS Sterett' as an exposure site - but the plaintiff's service aboard ran September 1970/1971 through July 1972, a window in which the only commissioned USS Sterett was CG-31 (guided-missile cruiser, in service 1967-1994); DD-407 had been scrapped for 23 years. Hasenberg is qualifying asbestos litigation for CG-31, not for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Limitations
- Carried as a correction row because exact-name searches return these records; none documents DD-407. Hasenberg's summary-judgment posture (both motions denied, 2015) concerns CG-31 pump products - no adjudication of any exposure aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-06
-
[8]Batch-3393 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcriptions (Destroyer History Foundation, HazeGray); STERETT Association pages and scanned primary documents; NHHC Online Library image page (ibiblio); CourtListener exact-name opinion sweep; Atlas shipyard dataset [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-sterett-dd407-01 through sl-uss-sterett-dd407-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-407: the hull was sold for scrapping in 1947 so no extant-hull ACM survey, museum disclosure, or abatement record can exist; no hull-level materials specification, insulation inventory, or repair-scope asbestos documentation was located; and no qualifying asbestos litigation names this hull - every 'USS Sterett' hit located classifies as a name collision with CG-31 (1967-1994) or DDG-104 (2008- ), or as unrelated litigation.
- 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 1936-38 steam destroyer would on era inference have carried period-standard ACM, but nothing ship-specific documents it. The scrapped-hull status forecloses the museum-survey/abatement evidence channel that Tier-3 destroyer records (e.g., Laffey DD-724) rely on. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-sterett-dd407-07