Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet jo-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-walke-dd416-pkt-jo-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Walke II (DD-416) - both versions: (a) older Office of the Chief of Naval Operations DANFS transcription (HyperWar/ibiblio mirror); (b) current NHHC DANFS entry via Wayback capture 2021-01-20 of https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/walke-ii.html (live page serves 404 to automated fetch) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Walke II (DD-416)' - spec block + full service narrative + stricken line + battle stars
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull (both versions agree on the core record): second ship named for Rear Admiral Henry A. Walke; Sims-class destroyer laid down 31 May 1938 at Boston Navy Yard; launched 20 October 1939, sponsored by Mrs. Clarence Dillon (grandniece); commissioned 27 April 1940, Lt. Comdr. Carl H. Sanders in command. Caribbean/South American shakedown with Wainwright (DD-419); post-shakedown repairs Boston Navy Yard September-October 1940; DesDiv 4/DesRon 2 Patrol Force; degaussing tests November 1940; Caribbean Patrol off Martinique December 1940 with O'Brien (DD-415); repairs/alterations at Charleston March-May 1941; Newport-based neutrality patrols and Iceland convoy screening July-October 1941; Boston Navy Yard overhaul 25 November-7 December 1941; Pacific via Panama; TF 17 screening Yorktown (CV-5) for Samoa, the Marshalls-Gilberts raids, and the Lae-Salamaua strikes; Coral Sea May 1942 (Tulagi strikes 4 May, Support Force at Jomard Passage under air attack 7 May); Brisbane reduction-gear repairs 12-29 May; Mare Island Navy Yard repairs/alterations 7-25 August 1942; escorted Kankakee to Tongatabu; sortied with TF 64 (Washington, South Dakota; screen Walke, Preston, Gwin, Benham) 13 November 1942; in the night action of 15 November, Walke led the column, opened fire at 0026, took a Long Lance torpedo below mount 52 and a cruiser salvo, lost her bow, and sank about 0041 off Savo Island; depth charges detonated among swimmers; Meade (DD-602, NHHC; ibiblio transcription misprints DD-571) rescued 151, six of whom later died at Tulagi; six officers including Comdr. Thomas E. Fraser and 76 men died; struck from the Navy list 13 January 1943; three battle stars. NHHC spec block: dp. 1,960 (f.); l. 347'11"; dr. 11'5" (mean); s. 35 k.; cpl. 192; a. 5 5", 4 .50-cal. mg., 8 21" tt., 2 dct.; cl. Sims (ibiblio transcription prints '6 5"').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1938-1943
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1938-40; wartime crew (design complement 192; ~225 aboard at loss)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Transcription variants between the two published versions (5 vs 6 five-inch guns; Meade DD-602 vs 'DD-571'; admiral's birth year 1809 vs '1908'; 'Crace' vs 'Grace') are carried in gaps. Live NHHC pages return 404 on every URL pattern tested; NHHC entry cited via Wayback capture 20210120133516, older transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-01
-
[3]NHHC Online Library photo page for USS Walke (DD-416) (verbatim transcription via HyperWar; live NHHC pages 404) - official U.S. Navy photographs incl. BuShips Collection items at NARA [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC Online Library 'USN Ships--USS Walke (DD-416)' page: NH 97912, NH 97911, 19-N-33050, 19-N-33273, 19-N-33274 captions
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official photo record for this hull documenting her final yard period: NH 97911 and BuShips Collection photos 19-N-33273 and 19-N-33274 (NARA RG 19) show Walke off/at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 24 August 1942 'at the end of her last overhaul' with circles marking recent alterations (depth-charge racks, smoke tanks, after 5-inch mounts visible); 19-N-33050 (15 August 1942) shows her alongside at Mare Island; NH 97912 shows her soon after completion circa 1940.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940; 1942-08
- Population
- Mare Island Navy Yard trades, August 1942
- Limitations
- Photographic record establishes the Mare Island yard period (July/August 1942) and visible configuration changes only; no asbestos or materials content is documented. Photos are official Navy images (NHHC collections / NARA BuShips RG 19); mirror cited because live NHHC photo pages return 404 to automated fetch.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-02
-
[4]Bureau of Personnel casualty report for USS Walke (DD-416), chart reproduced by the Destroyer History Foundation and sourced to NARA; Wilde volume 'The U.S.S. Walke (DD-416) in World War II: Documents and Photographs' reproduces the ship's Report of Action 15 November 1942 (Lt. W. J. Collum Jr., senior surviving officer, dated 30 November 1942) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org/goldplater/usswalke casualty chart (416casualties.gif, sourced 'Bureau of Personnel casualty report, NARA'); Wilde volume PDF destroyerhistory.org/assets/pdf/wilde/416walke_wilde.pdf
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuPers casualty accounting for this hull (reproduced chart): officers - 6 killed, 8 wounded; enlisted men - 76 killed, 40 wounded, 95 not wounded. Consistent with DANFS (six officers incl. Comdr. Fraser + 76 men died; 151 rescued by Meade, six later died). The Wilde compilation reproduces the scanned Report of Action for the loss (30 November 1942, senior officer present).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942
- Population
- USS Walke crew at loss, 15 November 1942 (~225 accounted in the BuPers breakdown)
- Limitations
- Establishes the casualty accounting and the existence of the primary loss report; contains no asbestos or materials information. The chart is a photographic reproduction - the underlying BuPers report and the full Collum action report were not retrieved; the Wilde PDF is image-scan only (not text-searchable). Casualty-total variants in secondary sources (NavSource '75', expedition release '84') are carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-03
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[5]Ocean Exploration Trust / E/V Nautilus, expedition NA173 'Maritime Archaeology of Guadalcanal' (July 2025): 'First Ever Exploration of USS Walke' survey page; U.S. Navy press release 'Expedition Reveals Thirteen Shipwrecks from WWII Battles off Guadalcanal' (navy.mil, 1 August 2025) [other_primary]
- Locator
- nautiluslive.org/video/2025/07/19 'First Ever Exploration of USS Walke'; navy.mil Press-Office article 4272152 (1 Aug 2025)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Wreck documentation for this hull: located by a Vulcan Inc. subsea-operations team in 2015; position confirmed by UNH uncrewed surface vessel DriX; first comprehensive archaeological survey by E/V Nautilus ROV, July 2025 (NA173, OET with NOAA Ocean Exploration/OECI, NHHC, Solomon Islands government, UNH CCOM/JHC, URI). The wreck lies in three pieces southwest of Savo Island in Iron Bottom Sound at over 900 m: a detached bridge, approximately 50 m of hull length, and a shaft strut missing the propeller. The official Navy release lists USS Walke (DD 416) among thirteen wrecks surveyed in high resolution.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942 wreck site; survey July 2025
- Limitations
- Archaeological survey only - the expedition reported wreck condition and imagery, not materials or asbestos assessment; establishes wreck location/condition, not exposure evidence. The wreck remains a U.S. sunken military craft (war grave); non-invasive survey only. OET's page states 84 crew lost - official DANFS/BuPers accounting reads 82 killed in the sinking plus six deaths after rescue; variant carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-04
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[6]Destroyer History Foundation, Sims-class general-information page (machinery/design data citing class references) + NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-416 as-built block + Atlas shipyards.json records (boston-naval-shipyard, charleston-naval-shipyard, mare-island-naval-shipyard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org/goldplater/simsclass (propulsion machinery); navsource.org/archives/05/416.htm as-built block; shipyards.json yard records
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Sims-class destroyer built 1938-40 with a three-boiler high-pressure steam plant (3 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, ~600-665 psi/715 deg F superheat; Westinghouse geared turbines; 50,000 shp; 2 shafts; 35 kt per DANFS) would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation - boiler and steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, magnesia-type block insulation, and fireproofing - commonly asbestos-containing in pre-war naval construction. Builder Boston Navy Yard is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (tier 3: litigation product ID for John Crane gaskets/sealing materials at the yard). Documented yard periods on this hull's record (Boston Navy Yard post-shakedown 1940 and November-December 1941 overhaul; Charleston March-May 1941 repairs/alterations; Mare Island August 1942) are all Atlas-listed yards with era asbestos documentation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1938-1942
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1938-40; navy-yard repair workforces (Charleston 1941, Mare Island 1942); crew 1940-42
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding supports this row, and nothing here establishes that any particular material aboard this hull contained asbestos. Destroyer History Foundation is a reputable secondary source compiling class machinery data; the Sims-class General Information Book (NARA RG19; the DD-409/410 GIB is digitized at destroyerhistory.org) and any DD-416 hull-level plans are the archival leads for material specifications and are unretrieved for this hull. Yard-level findings are yard findings, not hull findings. NavSource's '52,000 shp' machinery figure conflicts with the 50,000-shp class standard - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-05
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[7]NARA, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (guide to hull-level asbestos research: RG19 General Information Books Entry P 9, ship engineering drawings incl. possible S39 insulation-and-lagging sheets, BuShips correspondence by hull code 'DD416' and class code 'DD409 Class'); plus WWII deck-log series and the Wilde primary-document compilation for this hull [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos; NARA Catalog search 'Walke DD-416' (no digitized plan file located in surface check); Wilde volume PDF (destroyerhistory.org)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Ship-specific archival route exists for this hull at NARA: the published asbestos-research guide names the record series that could establish hull-level documentation - RG19 General Information Books (Entry P 9), ship engineering drawings filed by hull number (which can include 'S39' insulation-and-lagging sheets), and BuShips general correspondence indexed by hull designation ('DD416'; class correspondence under 'DD409 Class'; destroyer type under 'DD'). BuShips-collection photographs for this hull (19-N-33273/33274/33050, August 1942 Mare Island) confirm RG19 photographic holdings for DD-416. The hull's deck logs (April 1940-November 1942) and the senior-survivor loss report (30 November 1942) are Navy records; the Wilde compilation reproduces the loss report and the BuPers casualty report in scanned form.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1938-1942 records
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - a record-series route and reproduced documents, not proof that any DD-416 GIB, S39 sheet, or correspondence file survives or names asbestos. NARA's guide covers the 1941-1961 correspondence window; this hull was built 1938-40, so hull-level material specs may sit in pre-1941 series not mapped by the guide. No asbestos statement is asserted from these holdings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-06
-
[8]Batch-3402 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 authenticated sweeps - 'USS Walke' opinions (0 hits); 'DD-416' opinions (1 hit, name collision); 'Walke'+asbestos opinions (10 hits, all surname collisions); 'USS Walke' RECAP dockets (1 hit: John Hukkanen v. Air and Liquid Systems Corp., 2:17-cv-02227, C.D. Cal. - asbestos personal-injury removal docket; hull attribution to DD-416 temporally impossible); plus web sweep for hazmat/abatement/survey records naming the hull [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-walke-dd416-07 through sl-uss-walke-dd416-12
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming this hull (DD-416) as an exposure site was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull sank with 82 of her crew in November 1942 - decades before the asbestos-litigation era - so no preserved-hull, museum-disclosure, or veteran-plaintiff litigation surface exists; the rescued cohort (151 per DANFS; the BuPers breakdown accounts 143 = 95 unwounded + 48 wounded) constitutes the only post-sinking crew population. CourtListener sweeps completed: 'USS Walke' opinion search returned zero hits; 'DD-416' returned one name collision (Straughn v. Thompson, Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1978 - 'No. DD-416' is that court's docket number, a property-tax assessment case); 'Walke'+asbestos returned ten opinions, all surname collisions on review (persons named Walke in captions or text - e.g., NRDC counsel John Walke in EPA litigation - none referencing a vessel); 'USS Walke' RECAP docket search returned one hit, John Hukkanen v. Air and Liquid Systems Corp., No. 2:17-cv-02227 (C.D. Cal., filed 2017-03-22, terminated 2017-03-31; cause '28:1441 Notice of Removal - Asbestos Litigation', suit nature '368 P.I.: Asbestos') - 'USS Walke' appears in the indexed docket text but any postwar exposure allegation is temporally impossible for DD-416 (sunk 15 November 1942); the reference can only concern DD-723 (in commission 1944-1970) or an unattributed list entry. Name-collision check: two other hulls share the name - DD-34 (Paulding-class, 1910s-1935) and DD-723 (Allen M. Sumner-class, 1944-1970) - and 'Walke' is a surname in case captions; law-firm marketing lists name 'USS Walke' generically, almost always DD-723, the only hull whose service overlaps the asbestos-litigation era.
- 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 - pre-war steam-ship construction commonly used asbestos, but for this hull that remains era inference, not ship-proven. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. CourtListener coverage completed: 'USS Walke' opinions (0), 'DD-416' opinions (1 collision), 'Walke'+asbestos opinions (10 collisions), 'USS Walke' RECAP dockets (1 hit, temporally impossible for this hull - the referenced vessel, if any exposure vessel, is DD-723; the Hukkanen docket's vessel-list context was not full-text retrieved).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-walke-dd416-07