USS WALLER (DD-466)

Evidence

8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).

1. [1]DANFS, Waller (DD-466) (namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative, designations, disposition authorization; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/DD/dd466.html)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS record for this hull: laid down 12 February 1942 at Kearny, N.J., by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched 15 August 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Littleton W. T. Waller (the general's widow); commissioned 1 October 1942, Lt. Comdr. Lawrence H. Frost in command. Spec block: dp 2,940 (f.), l. 376'5", b. 39'7", dr. 17'9", s. 35.2 k., a. 5 5", 10 40mm., 7 20mm., 10 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct.; cl. Fletcher (no complement figure given). Service: shakedown Casco Bay; departed New York Navy Yard late Nov 1942 for the Pacific; TF 18 screen; Battle of Rennell Island 29-30 Jan 1943 (claimed one Betty destroyed, two damaged; with Navajo, Sands, Edwards collected 1,049 Chicago CA-29 survivors); Arleigh Burke broad pennant Mar 1943; led 5 Mar Kula Gulf/Blackett Strait action sinking Murasame and Minegumo, then Vila bombardment (Nimitz: 'creditable performance'); 29-30 Jun Vila-Stanmore/Shortlands bombardment; Helena rescue-force cover 6 Jul; Vella Lavella cover Aug (17 Aug collision with Philip DD-498); 1-2 Oct barge sweep; 17-18 Nov Empress Augusta Bay (eight Japanese aviators recovered); 23 Nov Marine Island; 1 Feb 1944 Buka/Choiseul Bay; Green Island ops (Cape St. George, Borpop, Namatanai); Marianas Jun-Aug 1944 (TG 51.18 Saipan escort, 18 Jun Magicienne Bay shore-battery duel with Pringle, Guam screen, Tinian support); west-coast refit through early fall 1944 (yard unnamed); 7th Fleet 27 Nov (15-plane suicide raid repelled); led DesDiv 43 Ormoc Bay night sweep 27-28 Nov - sank submarine I-46 by gunfire; second Camotes Sea sweep (six barges); Mindoro covering force 15 Dec Sulu Sea kamikaze attack; Lingayen Gulf Jan 1945 (two suicide boats hit, ~3,000 rounds); Basilan flagship, Tawi Tawi/Jolo Apr; Borneo May-Jul (Tarakan, Brunei Bay, Balikpapan; Miri-Lulong minesweep cover); 3d Fleet Aug 1945; Shanghai 19 Sep (Yangtze Patrol; Tinghai disarmament); fouled Japanese contact mine 9 Oct (3 officers, 22 men wounded) - drydocked at Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai; supervised minesweeping (~60 mines); departed China 12 Dec, San Diego 30 Dec; placed out of commission, reserve at Charleston, S.C. (6th Naval District); redesignated DDE-466 26 Mar 1949; recommissioned Charleston 5 Jul 1950; flagship Escort Destroyer Squadron 2, 28 Jan 1951; Korea May-Oct 1951 (TF 95 Wonsan bombardment ~1,700 rounds; 7th Fleet Okinawa exercises; blockade tour); ASW exercises and Med/Caribbean deployments 1951-late 1956; Norfolk Naval Shipyard late 1956 - extensive ASW-battery alterations; DesRon 28 (ASW TF Alpha) 1957; DesRon 36 from 1 Jul 1964; departed Norfolk 6 Sep 1968 with DesDiv 362 for Vietnam - gunline off Qui Nhon, Phan Thiet (173d Airborne support, 2,400 rounds, 'well done' TU 70.8.9); Yankee Station escort for Intrepid CVS-11 and Ranger CVA-61 (109 consecutive days); departed 2 Mar 1969; brief Naval Reserve training tour; decommissioned and struck from the Navy list 15 July 1969; authorized for disposal as a target 2 February 1970. Twelve battle stars WWII; two each Korea and Vietnam.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1942-1970

   Population

   Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1942; wartime and postwar crew (complement not stated in DANFS for this hull); Norfolk Naval Shipyard workers 1956; Kiangnan Dock workers 1945

   Limitations

   DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Internal errors: '31 November' 1942 departure is an impossible date (November has 30 days); the Rennell Island narrative's 'by early on the 24th' is inconsistent with the battle's 29-30 January dates; the reversion to DD-466 (30 June 1962) and the actual sinking are not in this entry - DANFS ends at the 2 Feb 1970 disposal authorization. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC DANFS page returns 404.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-01

2. [2]NavSource Online, Destroyer Photo Archive - USS Waller (DD-466 / DDE-466) page (volunteer archival compilation, not an official record) [other_primary]

   Locator

   Operational/building data block, navsource.org/archives/05/466.htm (search-snippet verified; webfetch returned error)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   NavSource operational/building data block (search-snippet verified; direct fetch blocked): 'Laid down by Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny NJ. February 12 1942. Launched August 15 1942 and commissioned October 1 1942. Decommissioned June 10 1946 and recommissioned July 5 1950. Reclassified DDE-466 March 26 1949, Reverted To DD-466 June 30 1962. Decommissioned July 15 1969. Stricken July 15 1969. Fate: Sunk as target off Rhode Island June 17 1970.' Wikipedia's infobox corroborates the same dates and fate.

   Verification

   partial

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1942-1970

   Population

   Crew; disposal/sinking exercise participants 1970

   Limitations

   Volunteer archival compilation, not an official record. Supplies three data points absent from DANFS - the 10 June 1946 first decommissioning, the 30 June 1962 reversion to DD-466, and the 17 June 1970 sinking off Rhode Island - all secondary-sourced only; no primary register page located (hull disposal predates the online Naval Vessel Register). No asbestos or materials information.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-02

3. [3]DANFS spec block + Fletcher-class machinery spec (class profile: navypedia + BuShips Ships' Data 1945) + Atlas shipyard dataset record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (tier 2; documented Superex pipe covering, Kaylo boiler insulation, Monokote fireproofing, Garlock gaskets; Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of the yard, Aug. 30 - Sep. 2, 1944) [other_primary]

   Locator

   DANFS spec block + service narrative (yard references); shipyards.json record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny'; fletcher-class.class.json propulsion spec

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Era/yard inference: a Fletcher-class destroyer built 1942 at Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock, Kearny, with a four-boiler steam plant (class spec: 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 GE geared steam-turbine sets, 60,000 shp, 2 shafts) would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation - boiler and turbine lagging, steam-line insulation, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing - as documented for WWII-era naval construction generally. The builder yard is tier 2 in the Atlas dataset with documented asbestos products (Johns-Manville Superex pipe covering, Owens-Illinois Kaylo, W.R. Grace Monokote fireproofing, Garlock gaskets) and a 1944 Owens-Illinois industrial-health survey of insulation work at the yard. Documented Navy-yard touchpoints for this hull - New York Navy Yard (Nov 1942 departure) and Norfolk Naval Shipyard (late-1956 ASW alterations) - are tier 2-3 yards with their own asbestos records; a fall-1944 west-coast refit yard is unnamed in DANFS; the Oct 1945 drydocking was at Kiangnan Dock and Engineering Works, Shanghai (commercial, not an Atlas yard).

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1942-1969

   Population

   Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1942; crew 1942-1969; yard workers at documented availabilities

   Limitations

   Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The Kearny Owens-Illinois survey (Aug 30-Sep 2, 1944) postdates this hull's August 1942 launch by two years and documents yard practice, not materials aboard DD-466. Yard-presence at New York Navy Yard and Charleston is documented by DANFS place names only; whether yard work was performed there is unstated. Does not establish presence, absence, exposure, or causation for any individual.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-03

4. [4]Batch-3449 search ledger (this record): DANFS verbatim transcription; NavSource/Wikipedia secondary compilations; NARA asbestos research guide + SL-44 ship-number index; Atlas shipyard dataset; CourtListener API v4 sweep; ship-association page (usswaller.com); web-level litigation/material check [other_primary]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-waller-dd466-01 through sl-uss-waller-dd466-08

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No materials-level ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-466: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat disclosure, and no museum record (the hull is a sunken target wreck off Rhode Island). Litigation naming this hull does exist - Petteys v. Georgia Pacific Corp. (N.Y. App. Div. 1995) names USS Waller as the alleged exposure site at a Norfolk Naval Shipyard drydocking (ev-06) - but no product, survey, or inventory record for this hull was located in the public sources searched (see search_ledger).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   2026-09-27

   Limitations

   Absence of a located materials-level public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull's 1942 construction inside the documented peak naval-asbestos era and her 27-year service (including named Norfolk Naval Shipyard availabilities and a postwar reserve period) are consistent with era-standard insulation, but that is inference, not a ship-specific documentation finding. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-04

5. [5]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (research guide: VA-claims context; RG 19 Bureau of Ships correspondence path; RG 24 logbooks) + NARA SL-44 ship-number index + NARA cartographic ship-plans guide [other_primary]

   Locator

   archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos; archives.gov/files/research/military/logbooks/sl-44-ship-number.pdf (grep-verified, no DD-466 row); archives.gov/research/cartographic/ship-plans

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   NARA's official research guide maps the record path for ship-level asbestos inquiry for this hull: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) correspondence series (1940-1961) filed by hull code DD466; Fletcher-class correspondence under DD445 Class (the guide itself uses a Fletcher-class hull, USS Kidd DD-661, as its worked example); type correspondence under DD as last resort; and private-yard correspondence under QM/Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock. Unlike prewar-built hulls, this hull's construction (1942) and her documented 1956 Norfolk Naval Shipyard modification both fall inside the guide's mapped window. The SL-44 ship-number index carries no DD-466 row (checked 2026-09-27; '466' hits are LCI(L)(G)-466, LST-466, PC-466, PT-466, SC-1466, YMS-466, YP-466 only) - WWII destroyer deck logs live in RG 24 Entry 118 (NAID 581208). RG 19 hull-series engineering drawings for DD-466 are requestable via the NARA Cartographic Branch ship-plan index.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   Records path for 1942-1969 service

   Limitations

   Research-path guide only - establishes where ship-specific asbestos documentation would live, not that any exists for this hull. No NARA records were retrieved; all paths are leads.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-05

6. [6]Petteys v. Georgia Pacific Corp., 214 A.D.2d 363, 625 N.Y.S.2d 156 (N.Y. App. Div. 1st Dept. 1995) - CourtListener opinion 6123396 / API opinion 5988438 (full text verified) [court_record]

   Locator

   CourtListener opinion 6123396 (xml_harvard full text); 214 A.D.2d 363-364

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   Published appellate decision naming this hull as the alleged asbestos-exposure site: order of Supreme Court, New York County (Helen Freedman, J.), entered on or about December 20, 1994, denying defendant Rapid-American Corporation's motion for summary judgment, unanimously affirmed (Wallach, J.P., Asch, Nardelli, Tom, Mazzarelli, JJ.). 'An issue of fact exists whether the decedent was exposed to defendant's predecessor's asbestos-containing products in 1963 while aboard The USS Waller in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.' Evidence recited: testimony of a worker with 30+ years at Norfolk Shipyard that the predecessor's products were customarily used at that shipyard in the relevant time, plus testimony of the decedent's brother and shipmate that decedent Scott Petteys was exposed to asbestos in 1963 when USS Waller was drydocked for overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard - held to set forth 'facts and conditions from which defendants' liability may be reasonably inferred' under the Brooklyn Navy Yard Cases standard (188 A.D.2d 214, aff'd 82 N.Y.2d 821).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1963 (alleged exposure); 1994-1995 (litigation)

   Population

   Scott Petteys (decedent; aboard USS Waller 1963 per brother/shipmate testimony); Norfolk Naval Shipyard workers 1963

   Limitations

   Stage discipline: an appellate affirmance of a summary-judgment DENIAL - the court held the exposure claim triable, it did not adjudicate exposure. Stronger than a bare pleading (a published court evaluated the proffered testimony and found a triable issue of fact) but below a trial finding; subsequent merits history not located (typical NYCAL cases settle). Product attribution is to 'defendant's predecessor's' asbestos-containing products (Rapid-American lineage), not a hull inventory. The 1963 NNSY drydock overhaul is a litigation-record fact recited from witness testimony; DANFS documents a different NNSY availability (late 1956) and does not document the 1963 drydocking. Does not quantify material aboard or establish causation or legal eligibility for any other individual.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-06

7. [7]CourtListener API v4 search (authenticated, cl-auth-search.py fleet meter) - exact-name and hull-number sweep results [court_record]

   Locator

   cl-auth-search.py 2026-09-27: '"USS Waller"' o count=1 = Petteys; '"USS Waller"' r count=1 = Stallings (kywd 3:12-cv-00724); '"DD-466"' o count=1 = Marion County PERC collision; '"Waller" asbestos ship' o count=45 = all collisions (Justice Waller/attorney surnames, unrelated)

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   Litigation sweep results for this hull (2026-09-27, authenticated API v4): '"USS Waller"' type=o returned count 1 - the qualifying Petteys opinion (ev-06). '"USS Waller"' type=r (docket) returned count 1 - Stallings v. Georgia Pacific Corp., No. 3:12-cv-00724 (W.D. Ky., filed 2012-11-01, terminated 2015-11-17), nature of suit 'P.I.: Asbestos', removal under 28:1441 - an asbestos personal-injury docket in which 'USS Waller' appears in indexed docket text; the vessel's role in the allegations is not retrievable from the public index (archival lead; see ev-08). '"DD-466"' type=o returned count 1 - School Board of Marion County v. Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (Fla. 1st DCA 1977), a docket-number collision (the case bears docket 'Nos. DD-466, EE-24'); not a hull reference, non-qualifying. '"Waller" asbestos ship' type=o returned count 45 - all hits are surname collisions (Justice Waller of the Mississippi Supreme Court; attorney John D. Waller in Indiana asbestos litigation) plus unrelated asbestos matters (Fleet Factors); no second ship-name hit. 'Waller' is a common surname and Texas county name - name-matched hits require vessel-context review.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   2026-09-27 (sweep)

   Population

   N/A

   Limitations

   Opinion- and docket-level sweeps are complete authenticated results. Hull-number queries match docket numbers as well as ship numbers - collisions are expected and were classified. The Stallings docket hit is an indexed-text reference whose vessel role is unverified (recap document review not performed); it is carried as an archival lead, not a qualifying finding. A docketed case naming the vessel beyond the checked surface remains possible.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-07

8. [8]Stallings v. Georgia Pacific Corporation, No. 3:12-cv-00724 (W.D. Ky.), Petition for Removal - asbestos personal injury (nature of suit 368), filed 2012-11-01, terminated 2015-11-17; Judge David J. Hale [court_record]

   Locator

   CourtListener docket 5036072 index (kywd 3:12-cv-00724); RECAP archive gov.uscourts.kywd.83213

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   Asbestos personal-injury docket (removal posture) in which 'USS Waller' appears in indexed CourtListener docket text. Docket metadata confirms an asbestos P.I. case (Stallings v. Georgia Pacific Corp., W.D. Ky., filed 2012, terminated 2015); the vessel's role in the allegations - exposure vessel, ship list, or incidental reference - is not retrievable from the public index and the RECAP docket-entry pull was fleet-throttled at research time.

   Verification

   unverified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   2012-2015 (litigation)

   Population

   Stallings plaintiff(s) - details unverified from index

   Limitations

   Indexed docket-text reference only; unadjudicated pleading-stage artifact at most. Does not establish exposure aboard this hull, asbestos presence, product identity, quantities, or legal eligibility. Whether the plaintiff's service actually placed him aboard DD-466 is unverified - Kentucky asbestos plaintiffs typically list multiple vessels; the name match is probable (DD-466 is the only USS Waller) but the vessel role is unresolved.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-waller-dd466-08