Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, Traw (DE-350) (namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative, striking and disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake biography + spec block + full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Sgt. London Lewis Traw, USMC (b. 1 Apr 1903, Pocahontas, Ark.; enlisted 15 Dec 1924; marine detachment USS Oklahoma BB-37 in the 1920s; China Aug 1936-Feb 1938; platoon sergeant with 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal; killed in action near Lunga 27 Oct 1942; posthumous Silver Star). Laid down 19 December 1943 at Orange, Tex., by Consolidated Steel Corp.; launched 12 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Jennie Traw, mother of Sgt. Traw; commissioned 20 June 1944, Lt. Comdr. James T. Kilbreth, Jr., USNR. Galveston drydocking then Bermuda shakedown (July 1944, with DE-420 and DE-347); repairs/trials at Boston Navy Yard; Norfolk training-ship duty Aug-Sep 1944; Escort Division 78 convoy escort UGF-15 and UGF-17B to the Mediterranean Oct-Dec 1944; New York Navy Yard overhauls; Pacific via Canal Zone Jan 1945; Manus Feb 1945; convoy escort New Guinea-Philippines, Palau voyage May, Leyte patrols, Ulithi/Subic Bay/Okinawa convoys Jul-Aug 1945; Hawaii Nov-Dec 1945; west coast Apr 1946; decommissioned San Diego 7 June 1946; struck from the Navy list 1 August 1967; hulk sunk as a target off Baja California, Mexico, 17 August 1968. Spec block: dp. 1,350; l. 306'; b. 36'7"; dr. 9'5" mean; s. 24.3 k.; cpl. 222; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (h.h.), 3 21" tt.; cl. John C. Butler.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (DANFS spec complement 222)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Transcription cited because live NHHC DANFS pages 404 (three URL patterns tried). hazegray.org mirror unreachable this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-01
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[2]USS Traw (DE-350) war history, CO to SecNav, 21 Sep 1945, serial DE-350/A4-3/Pla (120) - ship-generated document scan, NavSource DE-350 page [other_primary]
- Locator
- War-history scan, cover letter (p.1) and diary pp. 1-4; boiler-casualty entry 4 March (dated 1944 in error, contextually 1945) and 'Availability for boiler repairs' 5-25 March 1945
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The ship's own war-history submission (primary source): 'History of the U.S.S. TRAW (DE-350),' Commanding Officer to Secretary of the Navy, 21 September 1945, serial DE-350/A4-3/Pla (120), submitted per AlNav 202-45 and signed by Lcdr. R. A. Norelius, USNR - a diary-form operational record from commissioning through 4 September 1945. Documents ship-specific maintenance events: post-shakedown availability at Boston 13-26 Aug 1944; New York Navy Yard availabilities 9-18 Nov 1944 and 24 Dec 1944-7 Jan 1945; a boiler casualty on departure from Manus 4 March 1945 (diary misprints the year as 1944) followed by 'Availability for boiler repairs' 5-25 March 1945; and anti-submarine exercises with USS Tuna on 21 June 1945. Cover letter states: 'No enemy action has been reported by this vessel.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-06-20 through 1945-09-04 (submission 1945-09-21)
- Population
- Ship's company 1944-45; naval shipyard workers at Boston and New York Navy Yard availabilities; Manus base repair personnel
- Limitations
- Ship-generated operational record confirming assignments, movements, and machinery-maintenance events aboard this hull at primary-source level; contains no materials or asbestos content - the boiler-casualty and boiler-repair entries do not state what materials were disturbed. The diary entry '4 March 1944' is an internal typo for 1945 (the ship was not yet built in March 1944; the sequence is between 2 March and 5 March 1945 entries).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-02
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[3]NavSource Online DE-350 operational-data block (decommissioning 1946-06-07; stricken 1967-08-01; sunk 1968-08-17 StrikEx 3-68 by USS Bausell DD-845); commanding-officer list; awards display [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-350 'Building and Operational Data' block, CO table, and awards/ribbons display
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposal record: decommissioned at San Diego 7 June 1946 after 1 year and 11-2/3 months of service; struck from the Naval Vessel Register 1 August 1967; sunk as a target during Operation StrikEx 3-68 by gunfire from USS Bausell (DD-845) off Baja California, Mexico, 17 August 1968 (NavSource building/operational-data block; the strike and sinking dates concur with DANFS). Commanding officers per NavSource: Lcdr. James T. Kilbreth, Jr., USNR (20 Jun 1944-1945); Lcdr. R. A. Norelius, USNR (1945-7 Jun 1946).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1946-1968
- Population
- Pacific Reserve Fleet custody personnel 1946-1967; StrikEx 3-68 firing-ship and prep personnel 1968
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer photographic archive - the decommissioning/stricken/sinking dates are concordant with DANFS but are not verified against an official disposition document (NVR does not cover pre-1987 disposals; DANFS predates the strike). Whether any stripping or material removal preceded target use is undocumented; the 1968 sinking predates EPA/Navy ship-sinking environmental review, so no pre-sinking abatement record is expected to exist.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-03
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[4]BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 1 design-group-6 row (shipscribe scan) + NavSource machinery line; insulation-spec suite identified via Jack v. Borg-Warner exhibit list (class-profile archival lead, class-f/john-c-butler-class.class.json) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 (design group 6); Jack v. Borg-Warner ECF 738 att. 1 exhibit-list items Honeywell-160 through -167 (spec suite identification)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-350 is a BuShips design-group-6 (WGT) destroyer escort built Dec 1943-Jun 1944 with 2 superheated 'D' express boilers and Westinghouse geared turbines (12,000 shp) - inside the peak naval asbestos era, when the documented insulation suite (BuShips Manual ch.39 'Thermal Insulation' NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) 1945; Navy Dept spec 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' Oct 1945; BuEng ch.13 heat-insulation instructions 1933/39) covered thermal pipe covering, block insulation, asbestos felt, lagging cloth/tape, millboard, finishing cement, gaskets and packing aboard steam-driven hulls. Builder Consolidated Steel Corp. (Orange, Tex.) is not in the Atlas yard dataset, so no yard-level record tempers the inference.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1968
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-46; reserve-fleet and target-prep personnel 1946-1968
- Limitations
- Class/era and specification inference only - does NOT establish that any asbestos-containing material was installed aboard this hull, and establishes no quantity and no individual exposure. The controlling spec suite is identified from a sister-hull litigation exhibit list; the spec documents themselves were not retrieved this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-04
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[5]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537 - pretrial order materials and exhibit list, ECF 738 att. 1 (verified in class-profile record john-c-butler-class, 2026-09-16) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF 738.1 pp. 12, 26-27 + exhibit list
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level litigation context: pretrial materials in Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC (W.D. Wash. No. 2:17-cv-00537) name USS Brannon (DE-446), a John C. Butler-class sister of this hull, and recite the plaintiff's theory that a Griscom-Russell evaporator was supplied to Navy specification 'without insulation' and that asbestos was 'a critical material' when the Navy insulated it aboard - while the same materials concede the insulation 'could have included fiberglass, mineral wool or other non-asbestos insulation.' The exhibit list identifies the era's controlling Navy insulation documents as evidence in that case.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- WWII/postwar service era; litigation 2017-2019
- Population
- Machinist's mate aboard USS Brannon (DE-446)
- Limitations
- Names sister hull DE-446, NOT this hull - included to document the class's known litigation posture and the insulation-spec theory; it is a pleading/exhibit-list-level recital, not an adjudicated finding, and transfers nothing ship-specific to DE-350.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-05
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[6]Authenticated CourtListener v4 litigation sweep via cl-auth-search.py, 2026-09-28: type=o queries "USS Traw", "USS Traw" asbestos, "Traw DE-350", "DE-350", "Traw"; type=r queries blocked by fleet pacing [court_record]
- Locator
- Helper request/response diagnostics 2026-09-28; opinion hits classified case-by-case from returned metadata and snippets
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener v4 litigation sweep via authenticated fleet helper cl-auth-search.py, 2026-09-28. Opinion layer complete on planned queries: "USS Traw" 0 hits; "USS Traw" asbestos 0 hits; "Traw DE-350" 0 hits; "DE-350" 29 hits all classified name collisions/tokenization noise (matches inside docket-entry numbers 'DE 360', citations, and Puerto Rican Spanish text - e.g., Fauss v. Messerly Neb. 1978; VTS Transportation v. Palm Beach County S.D. Fla. 2017; Harrison v. Nissan 3d Cir. 1997; Puerto Rico appellate matters); bare "Traw" 150 hits, first page (20) all surname/law-firm collisions (litigant surnames: Lawrence Traw v. Walden Town House Assn Tex. App.-Beaumont 2025/2026, McClaran v. Traw Ark. App. 2011, Copper River School Dist. v. Traw Alaska 2000, State v. Traw Wash. App. 1983; attorney/firm matches: Charles T. Traw and Leff, Haupert, Traw & Willman of Iowa City across Iowa opinions; hyphenated 'Traw-ick' in IBP v. Hady Enterprises N.D. Fla. 2002). Docket layer not queried: every type=r attempt ("USS Traw", four spaced calls over ~2.5 hours) returned the helper's fleet-wide pacing stand-down before the query could be submitted - stand-down obeyed without retry loop, per protocol. No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- through 2026-09-28
- Population
- None located naming this hull
- Limitations
- CourtListener coverage is not the full federal/state docket universe; RECAP docket-text indexing is OCR-dependent; the bare-"Traw" opinion set (150 hits) was classified at first-page granularity only; and the entire RECAP docket layer went unqueried under the fleet pacing stand-down - this is a partial negative finding, not proof no case exists. No merits-stage or pleading-stage asbestos adjudication naming this hull was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-06
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[7]Batch-4254 search ledger (this record): live NHHC DANFS probes; ibiblio DANFS transcription; ship war-history scan; NVR coverage check; NavSource; shipyards.json yard-dataset check; CourtListener API v4; law-firm listicle sweep (excluded) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-traw-de350-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-350: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, materials inventory, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming THIS hull was found in the sources searched. 'USS Traw (DE-350)' content circulates on mesothelioma law-firm/lead-gen ship lists (mesotheliomahelp.org destroyer-escort list, mesotheliomabook.com destroyer list, shepardlawfirm.com Navy-veteran list) - excluded per source rules; none cites underlying documentation. The hull was stricken 1967 and sunk as a target in 1968, predating EPA/Navy ship-sinking environmental review - no pre-sinking abatement documentation is expected to exist.
- 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 or of filings - state-court and non-digitized records are not covered and the CourtListener docket layer could not be queried under fleet pacing (see ev-06). Law-firm ship lists repeat the hull name without documentation and were not usable as evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-traw-de350-07
