Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet eu-packet.md (6 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-swanson-dd443-pkt-eu-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Swanson (DD-443) (builder, dates, service narrative, striking; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 15 November 1939 by Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.; launched 2 November 1940 (sponsored by Mrs. Claude A. Swanson, widow of Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, d. in office 3 March 1939); commissioned 29 May 1941, Lt. Comdr. M. P. Kingsley. Spec block: dp. 1,630; 348'4" x 36'1" x 17'6"; 37.4 kt; cpl. 276; 4x5" guns, 10x21" tt.; class Gleaves. Service: shakedown then escort/convoy duty New England-Bermuda-Iceland; escorted Washington, North Carolina, and Hornet on 1941 trial runs; post-Pearl Harbor three runs to Scotland plus Nova Scotia and Greenland; October 1942 amphibious training then Torch - 8 November 1942 Fedhala beach guide, duelled French shore batteries and engaged French destroyers with Ludlow and Wilkes; 16 November joined Woolsey and Quick on a U-boat contact evaluated as sunk (the transcription identifies U-178). Atlantic convoy duty to July 1943; Sicily invasion force - 10 July 1943 collision with Roe (DD-418) while investigating radar contacts, dead in the water with flooded fireroom, temporary repairs at Malta, then Brooklyn Navy Yard repairs; Atlantic escort resumed; sailed 7 January 1944 for 7th Fleet off New Guinea - Seeadler Harbor gunfire support 3-7 March, command ship Hollandia 22 April, Noemfoor 2 July, command ship Sansapor 30 July; 19 August joined Fast Carrier TF 38 screening Franklin, Enterprise, San Jacinto through Bonins/Ulithi/Yap/Palau/Okinawa/Taiwan strikes and Philippine landings; 24 October San Bernardino Strait action (Musashi), Cape Engano pursuit; 26 October detached to Saipan escort patrol group (air-sea rescue, ASW, radar picket Iwo Jima-Saipan; group HQ); detached April 1945 for overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard; refresher at San Diego, resumed Iwo Jima-area patrol; departed 9 September 1945 for inactivation; decommissioned 10 December 1945, reserve at Charleston, S.C.; struck from the Navy list 1 March 1971. Eight battle stars for WWII.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1971
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction workforce 1939-41; wartime crew (design complement 276)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The transcription identifies the 16 November 1942 victim as 'U-178'; uboat.net's Allied Warships log records U-173 sunk that day off Casablanca by depth charges from Woolsey, Swanson, and Quick (destroyerhistory.org's DANFS transcription likewise reads U-173) - identifier discrepancy carried in gaps, not silently reconciled. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-01
-
[3]ConvoyWeb (Arnold Hague convoy database, compiled from Admiralty records), vessel search 'SWANSON' [other_primary]
- Locator
- convoyweb.org.uk Hague search results for 'SWANSON' (18 convoy listings)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Independent convoy-level documentation of this hull's wartime employment: the Hague database lists USS Swanson in 18 convoys - HX.158/165/172 and ON.37/51/65/115 (1941-42 North Atlantic escort cycles), BX.26 (Jun 1942 Boston-Halifax), AT.17 (Jul 1942 NYC-Clyde troop convoy, matching DANFS's 'runs to Scotland'), UGF.1 (Oct 1942 Hampton Roads-Casablanca - the Operation Torch assault convoy, independently confirming the 8 November Fedhala landing deployment), UGF.4 + UGS.6 + GUF.6 (Jan-Mar 1943 North Africa shuttle), UGF.9A (Jun 1943 Hampton Roads-Oran - the Sicily positioning voyage ahead of the July landings), GUS.17 (Sep 1943 Alexandria-Hampton Roads), UGS.24 (Nov 1943 Hampton Roads-Port Said).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- Wartime crew 1941-1944
- Limitations
- Database lists convoy membership; it does not describe activity within each convoy and contains no material/asbestos data. It corroborates dates and theater assignments only. GUS.17 (Sep 1943 Alexandria-Hampton Roads) overlaps the post-collision Brooklyn repair window - whether she sailed with the convoy or the listing reflects planned assignment is unresolved; DANFS does not date her repair completion.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-02
-
[4]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index, USS Swanson (DD-443) - Operational and Building Data block (compiled from Naval Vessel Register data); corroborated by uboat.net Allied Warships DD-443 entry (allies/warships/1829.html) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-443 'Operational and Building Data' block (decommissioned/stricken/sold lines) and June 1945 PSNY photo caption; NVR ship-detail lookup returned no record for DD-443
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Post-1945 disposition beyond the DANFS entry: stricken 1 March 1971 (consistent with DANFS); sold 29 June 1972 and broken up for scrap. NavSource gives decommissioned 6 March 1946 against DANFS's 10 December 1945 - a date conflict documented in gaps, not resolved. A NavSource photo caption documents the hull at Puget Sound Navy Yard in June 1945 after inclining, following an anti-kamikaze AA upgrade (torpedo tubes removed, 40mm mounts rearranged/added, Ms-22 repaint) - corroborating the April-1945 Puget Sound overhaul as a substantive yard availability. The hull was never converted to DMS, never recommissioned, and was not preserved.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Population
- Puget Sound Navy Yard overhaul workforce 1945; reserve-fleet maintenance and 1972 dismantlement workforce
- Limitations
- Secondary compilations consistent with NVR data; the underlying pre-1987 NVR disposal record is not digitized (NVR ship-detail lookup returns no record for DD-443). navsource.org unreachable to automated fetch at check time; data confirmed via search index and uboat.net. Scrapping buyer/yard not documented. No asbestos survey or dismantlement hazmat record located for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-03
-
[5]Lowcountry Digital Library catalog, 'USS Swanson' - U.S. Navy keel-laying photograph (Charleston Naval Shipyard Photographs collection, Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum) [museum_official]
- Locator
- LCDL catalog record lcdl:1025 (title, description, collection metadata)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- An official U.S. Navy photograph in the Charleston Naval Shipyard Photographs collection (held by Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, digitized 2010) is inscribed: '651-39 US Navy Yard, Charleston, SC 15 November 1939. USS Swanson, DD 443. Keel laid 15 November 1939. File 9001.' Independently corroborates the builder venue and keel-laying date in DANFS.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction workforce 1939
- Limitations
- A cataloged-image record only; corroborates builder, venue, and date. Contains no material, insulation, or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-04
-
[6]NARA Cartographic Branch Ship Plan Index (archives.gov) - SWANSON DD-443 entries in RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Ship Plan Index rows: SWANSON | DD-443 | RG 19 | Hull series NAID 153714496; Portfolio Plans NAID 175662448; Microfilm NAID 175670843
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Ship-specific engineering-drawing holdings for DD-443 exist in NARA RG 19 under three series entries per the official Ship Plan Index: Hull series of Ship Engineering Drawings (NAID 153714496), Portfolio Plans (NAID 175662448), and Microfilm (NAID 175670843). None located in digitized form (no archive.org DD-443 booklet-of-general-plans item exists, unlike sister DD-423).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1972
- Population
- Design/drafting (BuShips); shipyard planning trades 1939-1945
- Limitations
- Holdings confirmed by the NARA index; contents not inspected - the files may contain machinery, piping, or insulation drawings for DD-443, and that pull is the open archival lead. Asbestos content is NOT established by this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-05
-
[7]Consolidated era inference - Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels Vol. 1 (Jan 1945) destroyer machinery table (shipscribe.com scan) + Atlas shipyard dataset Charleston Naval Shipyard record (evidence_tier 2) + class profile benson-gleaves-class [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 DD machinery table (No. 421 class rows); shipyards.json record 'charleston-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DD-443 is a 1939-41 Charleston Navy Yard-built destroyer of the peak Navy asbestos era, with 4 Babcock & Wilcox superheated boilers (575 psi/700 deg F class figures) and geared steam turbines of ~50,000 shp (DANFS-type figure; BuShips table lists 47,000 shp for lead Benson DD-421 - discrepancy unresolved). Typical period applications for this plant: boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, valve/flange gaskets and packing, deck tile, accommodation insulation, fireproofing. Builder Charleston Navy Yard is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (magnesia pipe insulation, pipe insulation 5-50% asbestos, boiler external coatings ~15% asbestos, spray-on insulation for ship interiors, gaskets and packing, steam-system thermal insulation, fireproofing in living quarters, electrical insulation throughout vessels). Documented yard periods on this hull: Brooklyn Navy Yard collision repairs (Jul-Oct 1943, including flooded fireroom damage) and Puget Sound Navy Yard overhaul/anti-kamikaze upgrade (Apr-Jun 1945) - the kind of availabilities that disturbed machinery-space insulation; asbestos scope at each is inference.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1972
- Population
- Charleston Navy Yard construction trades 1939-41; Brooklyn Navy Yard repair workforce 1943; Puget Sound Navy Yard overhaul workforce 1945; wartime and reserve-era crews/maintenance personnel 1941-1972
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding. Typical applications establish typicality of design, not installation aboard this hull; no quantities, no individual exposure, and no product identification for DD-443. The July 1943 collision flooded a fireroom - machinery-space repair work is documented, but disturbance of insulation is inference, not record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 litigation sweep, 2026-09-27 (this record's search ledger); corroborated by class-profile sweeps 2026-09-16 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger sl-uss-swanson-dd443-08/09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation located naming this hull. Exact-name sweeps: 'USS Swanson' returned 0 hits in the opinion index (type=o) and 0 hits / 0 documents in the RECAP docket index (type=r). Hull-number sweeps: 'DD-443' returned 3 opinion hits, all the same case - G & B of Jacksonville, Inc. v. State, Dept. of Business Regulation (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1978), where 'No. DD-443' (with DD-444/DD-445) is that court's docket number on a beverage-license appeal: identifier collision, not qualifying. 'DD-443' returned 34 RECAP docket hits, all unrelated case types (FDCPA collections, forfeiture, civil rights, patent, trademark, securities, tax, prisoner petitions, contract, environmental, Camp Lejeune water litigation) - the string appears as an in-document identifier (account/file/exhibit code), not a vessel reference; no asbestos docket among them. The 2026-09-16 class-profile sweeps on 'USS Benson'/'USS Gleaves' likewise produced no asbestos-litigation hits for any class member. Law-firm 'Navy ship asbestos lists' do name USS Swanson (DD-443) - excluded per source policy; such lists are marketing claims asserting no adjudicated fact.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Negative finding bounded by index coverage: RECAP/opinion indexes are not exhaustive, and un-digitized state or federal records are outside coverage; absence of located litigation does not mean none exists. 'Swanson' is also a common surname and brand name - the exact-phrase 'USS Swanson' queries carry no collision risk; bare-name sweeps were not run because the exact-phrase sweeps are the qualifying search per batch contract.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-swanson-dd443-07