Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Waxbill' entry (verbatim transcription via hazegray.org DANFS mirror, Wayback capture 2024-05-26; live NHHC page unavailable) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- hazegray.org/danfs/mine/amc15.htm full entry (Wayback 20240526123615)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS 'Waxbill' entry: 'Leslie J. Fulton a wooden-hulled purse seiner built in 1936 at Antioch, Calif., by F. L. Fulton was purchased by the Navy on 19 November 1940 for eventual conversion to a coastal minesweeper. Taken over on that day at Yerba Buena, San Francisco, Calif., the ship was placed in commission as AMc-15 on 26 November, Ens. Edward L. Holtz, USNR, in command. The name Waxbill first appears as the ship's name the following day.' Stat line: '(AMc-15: dp. 195; l. 83'2"; b. 20'11"; dr. 5'0", dph. 10'0"; s. 10.0 k.; cpl. 11; a. 1 .30-cal. mg.)' Entry further records 12th Naval District reservist training, inshore patrol forces from 1941-01-01, conversion at General Engineering & Dry Dock Co., Alameda (entered 1941-01-20), decommissioned and simultaneously placed in service 1941-02-19, successive attachment to Patrol Force/Local Defense Forces/Mine Force, Western Sea Frontier Force 1942-08, local defense forces 1943-03-12, out of service 1944-09-12, struck 1944-10-14, transferred to WSA 1945-01-06 and sold to original owner.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Ship's crew (complement 11) and personnel serving aboard 1940-1944
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, acquisition, commissioning/in-service chronology, district assignments, stat line, and disposal - contains no asbestos or materials information. Live history.navy.mil DANFS URL 404s (standing NHHC link-rot defect from Batch-01); verbatim text cited via Wayback capture of the hazegray transcription.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-01
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[2]Naval Historical Center Online Library, 'Civilian Ships - Leslie J. Fulton (Fishing Boat, 1936)' page with photos NH 102017 and NH 102018 (ibiblio/HyperWar mirror of official NHC text) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHC Online Library page text + photo captions NH 102017/102018
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Naval Historical Center Online Library entry for Leslie J. Fulton (U.S. Fishing Boat, 1936): 'a 195-ton purse seiner, was built in 1936 at Antioch, California... purchased by the Navy in November 1940 and commissioned late in that month as USS Waxbill (AMc-15). She operated along the California coast on training and patrol duty until mid-January 1941, when she began full conversion for minesweeping. The following month, Waxbill was decommissioned and thereafter her operating status was "in service".' Photo captions (NH 102017, NH 102018) add: acquired 19 November 1940, commissioned 26 November 1940, 'completed conversion to a coastal minesweeper on 14 July 1941', stricken 14 October 1944, transferred to the U.S. Maritime Commission January 1945; original prints held in National Archives Record Group 19-LCM.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Conversion-yard workers at General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. (1941) - presence documented by the conversion event, materials undocumented
- Limitations
- Official NHC descriptive text and caption record - supplies conversion-completion date (1941-07-14) and archival photo location (NARA RG 19-LCM). Contains no asbestos or materials information; does not state conversion scope.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-02
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[3]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, 'Waxbill (AMc-15)' vessel page (secondary compilation from official and contributed records) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource AMc-15 page, specifications block and service-history bullets
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Secondary compilation (NavSource Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, 'Waxbill (AMc-15)' page): call sign November-India-Quebec-Whiskey; built 1936 as the wooden-hulled purse seiner Leslie J. Fulton by F. L. Fulton, Antioch; purchased by Navy 19 November 1940; commissioned as USS AMc-15 26 November 1940; named Waxbill 27 November 1940; decommissioned 20 January 1941 and entered General Engineering and Drydock Co., Alameda for conversion; recommissioned and placed in service 19 February 1941; decommissioned 12 September 1944; struck from the Naval Register 14 October 1944; transferred 6 January 1945 to the Maritime Commission's War Shipping Administration and sold to original owner F. L. Fulton; 'Fate unknown.' Specifications: 195 t., 83'2" x 20'11", draft 5', depth of hold 10', 10 knots, complement 11, armament one .30-cal machine gun, propulsion one diesel engine one shaft.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1936-1945
- Population
- Crew and conversion-yard personnel (1940-1944)
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation - useful detail not confirmed against primary records. Adds the 20 January 1941 decommissioning date (DANFS ties decommissioning to 19 February - conflict carried in gaps) and the only propulsion description (one diesel, one shaft - plausible for the type, not DANFS-verified). No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-03
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[4]National Archives and Records Administration, Special List No. 44, 'List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947' (by ship number) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Special List #44, ship-number sequence: 'AMC-15 (Baxbill) 11/19/1940 7/31/1944'; digitized-log index at archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List No. 44 (official inventory of U.S. Navy deck-log holdings) lists 'AMC-15 (Baxbill)' with log coverage 11/19/1940 - 7/31/1944, essentially her entire Navy period from takeover to within weeks of going out of service. The logs sit in Record Group 24 (Bureau of Naval Personnel), series 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1978' (NAID 594258). They are not in NARA's digitized deck-log index - that index's 'Waxbill' entry is the later hull (MHC/AMCU-50/AMS-39/YMS-479), a name collision.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1940-11-19 to 1944-07-31 (coverage)
- Limitations
- Confirms primary deck-log coverage exists for the full service period but is not digitized - contents unexamined; the logs are the leading ship-specific lead for conversion work, yard availabilities, and any repair/materials entries bearing on asbestos. Printed name '(Baxbill)' treated as a type/OCR garble for Waxbill - the hull number is unambiguous. Log contents themselves not yet reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-04
-
[5]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II, and that federal wartime policy reserved asbestos supply for shipbuilding - the era and program under which this 1936-built fishing vessel was acquired and converted to a coastal minesweeper in 1940-41. For a small diesel-driven auxiliary, era-consistent asbestos applications would have been confined to machinery gaskets and packing, possible exhaust lagging, electrical insulation, and friction materials rather than the boiler/steam-line thermal insulation of steam vessels.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- Conversion-yard workers at General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. (1941) and crew (class context)
- Limitations
- Era/program-level scholarship; does not name this vessel or vessel type and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. The article's emphasis is steam-driven production shipbuilding; application to a converted diesel purse seiner is weaker still. Absence of a steam plant narrows but does not eliminate era-typical asbestos pathways.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-05
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[6]City of Alameda, Historic Resource Evaluation - Alameda Marina (2017), General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. site history; corroborated by shipbuildinghistory.com GE&DCo yard table (Navy hull list) [other_primary]
- Locator
- City of Alameda HRE, General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. site-history paragraphs; shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/small/general.htm Navy build list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The conversion site is a documented working yard: General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. acquired the former Barnes & Tibbitts shipyard (est. 1917) on Clement Avenue, Alameda, in 1922 and expanded it; in 1940, with U.S. Maritime Commission financial assistance, the yard was entirely rebuilt with a dry dock and roughly 30 new shops, warehouses, and office buildings - the facility Waxbill entered on 20 January 1941 for conversion. The same yard built Navy small combatants under contract (Auk/Admirable-class minesweepers AM-62 through AM-340 series, YN/AN net layers) before closing in 1948.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1917-1948 (yard); 1941 (conversion)
- Population
- General Engineering & Dry Dock Co. trades (1941 conversion)
- Limitations
- Documents the conversion yard's existence, capability, and wartime Navy work - it does not document this hull's conversion scope or materials. Yard history is municipal survey documentation plus a specialist compilation; the January-February 1941 conversion event itself is DANFS-documented. No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-06
-
[7]shipbuildinghistory.com, Fulton Shipyard (Antioch, CA) build table - specialist compilation of merchant-vessel registry data [other_primary]
- Locator
- Fulton Shipyard yard table, row for O.N. 235369 Leslie J. Fulton
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Specialist build-table documentation (shipbuildinghistory.com Fulton Shipyard yard table): official number 235369, Leslie J. Fulton, owner 'A. L. Fulton', type 'tug', 195 tons, built 1936, 'To USN 1941 as Waxbill (AMc 15), returned 1945, later Fulpac One' - the post-Navy identity not carried in official sources. The Fulton yard was founded 1924 by Frank Fulton and Angeline Fulton Fredericks on the San Joaquin River site at Antioch and closed in 1999.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1936-post-1945
- Population
- Post-1945 merchant crew (undocumented)
- Limitations
- Specialist compilation, not an official record - the 'Fulpac One' post-Navy identity, the 'tug' type designation (vs DANFS 'purse seiner'), and owner 'A. L. Fulton' (vs DANFS 'F. L. Fulton') are registry-level variants not resolved against primary sources; carried as secondary detail and gaps. The 'To USN 1941' year conflicts with the DANFS-documented 19 November 1940 purchase - DANFS controls. No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-07
-
[8]Batch-1496 search ledger (this record): hazegray/Wayback DANFS; NHC Online Library (ibiblio); NARA SL-44 and digitized-log index; NavSource; shipbuildinghistory.com; City of Alameda HRE; shipyards.json cross-check; CourtListener API v4 (throttled) + site-restricted web search fallback [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-waxbill-amc15-01 through sl-uss-waxbill-amc15-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum record, or docketed case naming USS Waxbill or AMc-15 was found in the authoritative sources searched (DANFS full entry; NHC Online Library; NARA Special List 44 and digitized-log index; NavSource; yard compilations; site-restricted CourtListener/web search). CourtListener's authenticated API v4 was rate-limited at time of search (shared-key daily cap consumed by other batch activity) - the full opinion-index sweep is pending and carried as a ledger gap.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a wooden-hulled diesel auxiliary could still have carried era gaskets, packing, exhaust lagging, electrical insulation, and friction materials installed during the 1940-41 naval conversion or wartime upkeep. The undigitized NARA deck logs (1940-1944) and any surviving GE&DCo/12th Naval District records are the open ship-specific leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-waxbill-amc15-08