Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]DANFS, Turner II (DD-648) (builder, dates, specifications, service narrative, sinking, striking; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404, hazegray.org direct unreachable to automated fetch) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (hazegray transcription via Wayback capture 2024-12-09)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: the second Turner (DD-648) laid down 16 November 1942 at Kearny, N.J., by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched 28 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Louis E. Denfeld; commissioned 15 April 1943 at the New York Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. Henry S. Wygant in command. Spec block: Gleaves class; dp. 1,630; l. 348'4"; b. 36'1"; dr. 17'6"; s. 37 k.; cpl. 261. Outfitting at New York Navy Yard; shakedown and ASW training out of Casco Bay, Maine; training cruise with newly commissioned carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17); then three transatlantic convoy-escort cycles New York/Norfolk-Casablanca-Gibraltar; on 23 October 1943 engaged a surfaced German submarine (one gun hit and depth-charge attack - probably heavily damaged, sinking unconfirmed). Third convoy returned toward New York; Turner anchored off Ambrose Light late 2 January 1944. Early 3 January she suffered a series of internal explosions; by 0650 (transcription prints '0660') a 16-degree starboard list; at about 0750 a violent explosion capsized and sank her; bow tip above water until about 0827, 'taking with her 15 officers and 123 crewmen.' Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 flown by Lt. Comdr. F. A. Erickson, USCG - 'in the first use of a helicopter in a life saving role' - flew two cases of blood plasma from New York to Sandy Hook. Struck from the Navy list 8 April 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock construction trades Nov 1942-Feb 1943; New York Navy Yard workforce during commissioning/outfitting; crew 1943-44 (DANFS design complement 261)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The hazegray transcription prints the armament line as '4 6"' guns and describes '6-inch' gunfire against the U-boat - a transcription oddity (the Gleaves class carried 5-inch/38 main batteries); armament detail is not carried into this record for that reason. Mirror transcription cited via Wayback capture 2024-12-09 because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing link-rot defect since batch-01) and hazegray.org did not answer a direct fetch.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-01
-
[2]Extracts from USS Swasey (DE-248) war diary dated 1-3 January 1944, distributed by CominCh Headquarters (F-48), Navy Department, 13 January 1944 - verbatim transcription hosted at maritimequest.com [other_primary]
- Locator
- maritimequest.com USS Turner DD-648 'Report of the Sinking' page - Swasey war-diary extracts paragraphs 1-5
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous Navy eyewitness record of this hull's loss: Swasey anchored at 0134 on 3 January 1944 in 34 feet of water off Ambrose Light (position 40 30'15" N, 73 53'24" W), 3,000 yards at 330 degrees true from Turner. The original explosion aboard Turner was observed at 0618 - 'a rumbling, rather then a sharp noise ... flames leaping above the TURNER in a volcanic effect,' with three rocket-like projectiles arcing outward. A 'V'-shaped hole blew open the port side abreast of No. 2 turret/gun house (No. 2 turret 'appeared to have been blown completely away'); a second violent explosion at ~0650 forced a ~15-degree starboard list; at 0750 'a terrific explosion occurred aft of #2 smokestack and TURNER immediately capsized to starboard and sank,' the bow tip remaining ~3 feet above water until 0827 when she disappeared. Swasey dropped a marker buoy; at 1440 a buoy tender placed a buoy 50 yards 215 true from the wreck. Small explosions (5-inch ammunition; constant 20mm/40mm cook-off) continued through the fire; no depth charges believed to have exploded.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-01-03 (loss); 1944-01-13 (CominCh distribution)
- Population
- Turner crew at loss (138 dead per DANFS; survivors rescued by nearby ships and Coast Guard craft); Swasey DE-248 and other TF-64 escorts during rescue
- Limitations
- Faithful-text transcription hosted on a private website of a document distributed by CominCh in January 1944; the underlying original is an official Navy record (NARA-era material). Documents loss mechanics, timeline, casualty-adjacent scene detail, and the buoyed wreck location - not materials or asbestos content. Establishes nothing about fiber aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-02
-
[3]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, Chronology of Coast Guard History (1944 entry); companion 'Long Blue Line' biography of Lt. Cmdr. Frank A. Erickson (history.uscg.mil, Art. 2931772) [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil/research/chronology (1944 entry); history.uscg.mil Long Blue Line article 2931772
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official USCG record naming this hull: '1944 - CDR Frank Erickson received an official commendation after he piloted a Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter that carried two cases of blood plasma lashed to the helicopter's floats from New York City to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, for the treatment of Navy crewmen of the Navy destroyer USS Turner, which had exploded and burned off New York harbor ... It was also the first "lifesaving flight" ever performed by a helicopter.' The Long Blue Line biography adds that Turner was anchored near Ambrose Light in Lower New York Bay, that survivors were brought to the Sandy Hook hospital, that a nor'easter grounded all fixed-wing aircraft, and that the plasma delivery was flown under those conditions.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-01-03
- Population
- Turner survivors treated at Sandy Hook hospital; USCG Air Station Brooklyn personnel
- Limitations
- Official service-historian source documenting the rescue and the hull's loss scene; corroborates the DANFS account. Not a materials or asbestos document.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-03
-
[4]U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, December 1995 (Vol. 121/12/1,114), 'Special: Tragedy Strikes in New York Harbor' - account of the Turner sinking drawing on the Judge Advocate General court of inquiry and Bureau of Ordnance assessments [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Proceedings Dec 1995 article text (search-index extracts: opening paragraphs, court-of-inquiry passage, damage description)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Professional-institution account of this hull's loss and its investigation: the JAG court of inquiry 'states that no evidence is obtainable in any form that would indicate the exact cause of the first explosion,' concluded it was 'not due to enemy action or sabotage,' and that subsequent explosions were caused by the spread of fires to spaces not originally affected; the Bureau of Ordnance 'felt that the loss was due to improper defusing of the Mark 131 rockets.' The explosion occurred in the vicinity of the No. 2 Upper Handling Room; before the loss a torpedoman's mate had discussed defusing ready Mark 22 projector ammunition in the Antisubmarine Projector Ready Stowage Room adjacent to the No. 2 Upper Handling Room. The article gives the loss as 153 men of a crew of 292 (conflicts with DANFS - carried in gaps).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944 (loss and inquiries); 1995 (account)
- Population
- Turner crew 1943-44
- Limitations
- usni.org returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch; content verified at the level of verbatim search-index extracts only - figures and quotes carried are limited to material seen in those extracts. Secondary analysis quoting official findings; not a materials or asbestos source. Casualty figure conflicts with DANFS (138) and is not adopted.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-04
-
[5]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index, DD-648 USS Turner - operational/building data block, machinery line, fate line, military-cemetery note, photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-648 page - 'Operational and Building Data,' 'Fate,' 'Note,' machinery line, photo captions (search-index extracts)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource index data for this hull: laid down by Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny NJ, 15 November 1942 (DANFS reads 16 November - conflict carried in gaps); launched 28 February 1943; commissioned 16 April 1943 (DANFS reads 15 April); fate: 'Exploded and sank off New York January 3 1944,' with '138 of her crew ... lost with the ship.' Machinery: 50,000 shp Westinghouse geared turbines, 2 screws; displacement 2,395 t full; crew 208. Site note: 'Efforts are underway to have the area where the Turner lies declared a Military Cemetery as her resting place almost became a site to be dredged.' Photo captions document the retouched wartime-censor image and the Coast Guard HNS-1 plasma flight.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Federal Kearny construction trades 1942-43; crew 1943-44
- Limitations
- NavSource is a secondary compilation indexing official records, not a primary document; navsource.net blocks automated fetch (Mod_Security) - content verified at search-index extract level. Its laid-down and commissioned dates each differ from DANFS by one day, and its crew figure (208) is the Gleaves class design figure rather than a wartime complement - all conflicts carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-05
-
[6]Associated Press, 'WWII mystery: Are "missing" sailors actually in NY cemetery?' - reporting on researcher Ted Darcy's casualty accounting for the Turner loss [reputable_press]
- Locator
- AP article text (search-index extracts)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- AP reporting on the postwar accounting for this hull's dead: documents show that remains of four of the missing sailors were recovered and buried as unknowns in a Long Island veterans cemetery; researcher Ted Darcy counts 136 missing sailors from the explosion and sinking, with more than 150 men rescued. The ship 'was anchored a few miles off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, when an explosion erupted below deck,' with further explosions following, 'the last breaking the ship in two.'
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944 (loss); ~2019-2021 (Darcy research and reporting)
- Population
- Turner crew at loss; families of the missing
- Limitations
- apnews.com is Cloudflare-gated to automated fetch; content verified at search-index extract level. AP reporting of a private researcher's accounting is secondary to official records; the 136-missing figure differs from DANFS (138 lost: 15 officers + 123 crewmen) and USNI (153 of 292) - all figures carried, none adjudicated (see gaps). Documents casualty accounting only; not a materials or asbestos source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-06
-
[7]Atlas shipyard dataset, 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' record (tier 2): Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny NJ (Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944; Heathman v. Owens-Corning exhibit) + yard product records (Johns-Manville Superex pipe covering 1940-48; Owens-Illinois Kaylo 1948-58; W.R. Grace Monokote 1950s+; Garlock gaskets 1930-75) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (evidence row ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944; products pd-federal-kearny-01 through -04)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Builder-yard context: Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock, Kearny NJ, where this hull was built November 1942-April 1943, is documented at yard level as an asbestos site - an Owens-Illinois industrial health survey of the yard (30 Aug-2 Sep 1944, wartime production peak) documented insulators cutting and fitting Johns-Manville Superex asbestos pipe covering and boiler insulation in confined spaces, with dust counts measured during cutting/fitting operations. Yard product records period-bound the documented materials: Superex pipe covering 1940-48 overlaps this hull's build window; Kaylo (1948-58) and Monokote (1950s+) postdate it; Garlock gaskets 1930-75 span it.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-43 (hull build); 1944 (yard survey)
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock insulators/pipefitters and construction trades, wartime peak (~35,000)
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation only - establishes that the builder was a documented asbestos site during the wartime era, not that specific materials went aboard this hull. The 1944 survey postdates DD-648's construction by ~1.5 years (same yard, same production regime, not the same work). Manufacturer-conducted survey introduced as a litigation exhibit. Read as context for ev-08, not as ship-specific evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-07
-
[8]DANFS/NavSource specifications (Gleaves class; 50,000 shp Westinghouse geared turbines) + Destroyer History Foundation class design data + NARA RG19 General Information Books archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org Gleaves general-information table; NavSource DD-648 machinery line; NARA RG19 archival lead
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Gleaves-class destroyer built November 1942-April 1943 at a wartime commercial yard with a 50,000-shp geared steam-turbine plant would have carried the period-standard insulated fit - boiler and steam-line insulation, turbine lagging, gaskets and packing, fireproofing, bulkhead/compartment insulation, and deck coverings - the insulated-steam-plant configuration documented as asbestos-bearing across the WWII destroyer fleet. The hull sank less than nine months after commissioning with no overhaul, modernization, or disposal phase; the wartime fit went down with the ship. NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications are the archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Federal Kearny construction trades 1942-43; engineering crew 1943-44
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; no source documents an asbestos product aboard DD-648. NARA GIB retrieval not performed. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure; specifically, it makes no claim about the crew or the 138 men lost with the ship.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-08
-
[9]Lemen RA, Landrigan PJ. 'Sailors and the Risk of Asbestos-Related Cancer.' Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(16):8417. PMID 34444165 [other_primary]
- Locator
- IJERPH 2021;18(16):8417, ship-construction passages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed review documenting that chrysotile and amphibole asbestos were used extensively in ship construction of the era - insulation, joiner bulkhead systems, pipe coverings, boilers, machinery parts, bulkhead panels - and that sailors both worked and lived at their exposure site. Establishes the era-level background against which a 1942-43 commercial-yard steam destroyer must be read.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 20th-century naval construction era
- Population
- Naval/merchant sailors generally (era context)
- Limitations
- Fleet-era epidemiology review; does not name this hull or class. Cannot be read as evidence of asbestos aboard DD-648 - included as background context only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-09
-
[10]CourtListener API v4 authenticated search sweep (opinion index type=o and RECAP docket index type=r) for this vessel's exact name and hull number [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-turner-dd648-07 through -10; DeVries v. GE docket 5285397 (order entered 2020-10-27); DeVries v. GE, MDL-875 memorandum of 7 July 2021 (decedent served 1957-60 'on the U.S.S. Turner, a Gearing class destroyer')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Completed sweep with no qualifying hit for this hull. Opinion index: "USS Turner" returned 0 opinions; "DD-648" returned 0 opinions (2026-09-27, authenticated). Docket index: "USS Turner" returned 8 dockets - full-text review of indexed documents found the literal string 'USS TURNER' in exactly one, an order in DeVries v. General Electric Co., No. 5:13-cv-00474 (E.D. Pa., MDL-875, Robreno, J., entered 27 October 2020) concerning 'GE TURBINES INSTALLED ON THE USS TURNER'; that case's decedent served 1957-1960 aboard the Gearing-class USS Turner - i.e., DD/DDR-834, commissioned June 1945 - making it a name collision for DD-648, which sank January 1944. The other seven "USS Turner" dockets matched the surname Turner in party/attorney fields. "DD-648" returned 2 dockets, both numeric collisions (the string appears inside phone-record/billing exhibits, not as a hull number). No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- none identified for this hull
- Limitations
- CourtListener indexes opinions and PACER dockets, not state trial filings, VA claims, asbestos trust claims, or settled/unreported matters - absence here does not prove no claim was ever filed. Sunk January 1944 with 138 lost; any survivor-era claim would be decades old and largely outside indexed coverage. 'USS Turner' is a high-collision name: DD/DDR-834 (commissioned June 1945) absorbs essentially all postwar service allegations - any unindexed 'USS Turner' hit with an alleged exposure window after January 1944 cannot be this hull and requires hull-number screening.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-turner-dd648-10