Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
-
[1]research packet gg-packet.md (2 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-william-m-wood-dd715-pkt-gg-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'William M. Wood I (DD-715)' entry (live NHHC page returns HTTP 404 on both candidate URLs; verbatim transcription via ibiblio.org HyperWar; hazegray.org transcription preserves the original 'sold for scrap sometime in 1977' closing) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'William M. Wood I (DD-715)' entry, spec block and full service narrative; ibiblio https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/dafs/DD/dd715.html ; hazegray mirror https://hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd715txt.htm (unreachable this session; excerpted text via search-index snippet)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS entry 'William M. Wood I (DD-715)': Gearing-class destroyer (spec block: dp 2,425; l. 390'6"; b. 40'10"; dr. 18'6"; s. 34.6 k. tl.; cpl. 345; a. 6 5", 12 40mm, 4 20mm, 5 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct.; cl. Gearing) named for William Maxwell Wood (ca. 1809-1880), Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 1870. Laid down 2 November 1944 at Newark, N.J., by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched 29 July 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph P. Tracy; commissioned at New York Naval Shipyard 24 November 1945, Comdr. George R. Wilson. Shakedown Guantanamo Bay; Caribbean April-June 1946; Pacific Fleet (San Diego, Pearl Harbor); Yellow Sea anti-smuggling patrols from Tsingtao October 1946-February 1947; DesDiv 131 screening Valley Forge (CV-45) October 1947-May 1948 (Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tsingtao, Yokosuka); two-month Mare Island Naval Shipyard overhaul 1948; reassigned Atlantic Fleet 1 April 1949, Newport R.I. homeport from October 1949, DesLant school ship; plane-guard for Monterey (CVL-26) at Pensacola; entered Boston Naval Shipyard September 1952 for radar-picket conversion - out of commission 2 October 1952, redesignated DDR-715 (DANFS text prints 'DRR-715'); recommissioned 6 June 1953, Comdr. J. S. Slaughter; Volos earthquake relief April 1955; major overhaul Philadelphia Naval Shipyard summer 1955; TF-26 Suez crisis response November 1956; escorted Canberra (CA-70) for Eisenhower's Bermuda conference March 1957; three-month Norfolk Naval Shipyard overhaul June 1957; 40 days off Lebanon 14 July-3 September 1958; 57 days Cuban quarantine October 1962; Anzoategui search February 1963; Philadelphia Naval Shipyard FRAM overhaul 18 May 1964 to 11 March 1965, redesignated DD-715 1 July 1964; Dominican Republic intervention April-May 1965 (evacuated 13 foreign nationals to Pawcatuck AO-108); Scorpion (SSN-589) search May-June 1968; year-end overhaul at Norfolk 1968; shadowed Moskva and Leningrad 12 November 1969-22 May 1970; Mediterranean deployment 8 February-23 July 1971; extended 6th Fleet assignment with homeport Athens, Greece, 18 August 1972-June 1975 (Black Sea forays; Crete patrols during the July-August 1974 Cyprus crisis); final Mediterranean deployment January 1976; placed out of commission at Norfolk and name struck from the Navy list 1 December 1976; stripped at Norfolk; bracketed transcriber's note: sunk as a target in a Harpoon anti-ship missile test in March 1983 (the hazegray transcription of the original text reads 'sold for scrap sometime in 1977' - conflict logged in correction row).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Population
- Construction trades at Federal Shipbuilding Kearny 1944-45; ship's company ~345 complement (DANFS spec block); yard workers at Mare Island (1948), Boston Naval Shipyard (1952-53), Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (1955, 1964-65), Norfolk Naval Shipyard (1957), Norfolk (1968)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, construction, service history, yard periods, and disposition; it contains no asbestos, insulation, or materials information and supports no asbestos claim beyond establishing this hull's steam-plant class and the dated yard periods to which era practice applies. Live NHHC DANFS URLs 404 (standing link-rot per Batch-01 report); mirror transcription cited. The transcription prints 'DRR-715' - a typo for DDR-715 (confirmed by NavSource and class-level designations).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-01
-
[3]Owens-Illinois, Inc., Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, NJ (Aug. 30-Sep. 2, 1944); introduced as Owens-Illinois interrogatory exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., Brazoria County TX (1990); Atlas shipyards.json yard record 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' [other_primary]
- Locator
- ToxicDocs scan of the August 1944 survey; shipyards.json yard_id 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny' (evidence_tier 2, flagship ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Builder-yard documentation at the time this hull was under construction: an Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J., conducted 30 August - 2 September 1944 - ten weeks before this keel was laid (2 November 1944) and while Gearing-class sisters DD-710 through DD-721 were building at the same yard - documents insulator work with asbestos pipe covering (Johns-Manville Superex) and boiler insulation in confined shipyard spaces, with dust counts measured during cutting and fitting operations. The Atlas shipyards dataset carries federal-shipbuilding-kearny at evidence_tier 2 with documented products: Superex pipe covering (Johns-Manville, ~15% amosite), Kaylo pipe/boiler insulation (Owens-Illinois, 13-20% chrysotile/amosite), Monokote fireproofing (W.R. Grace), and Garlock gaskets.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944 (survey Aug 30-Sep 2); hull construction Nov 1944-Nov 1945
- Population
- Shipyard insulators and pipefitters at Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, NJ (wartime peak ~35,000 employment per Atlas yard record)
- Limitations
- Builder-yard documentation, not a hull record - the survey documents asbestos products in use at the yard where this hull was built during its construction era, but does not name DD-715 or any specific hull, and does not establish that particular asbestos products were installed aboard it, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. Survey conducted by a manufacturer with commercial interest in the findings; dust counts in mppcf (pre-fiber-count era).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-02
-
[4]Goodrich v. John Crane, Inc. / Air & Liquid Systems Corp., Omnibus Opinion and Order, ECF No. 171, E.D. Va. No. 4:17-cv-00009 (Sept. 28, 2018); companion R&R ECF No. 154 (Aug. 24, 2018) and district order Sept. 27, 2018 (vLex index); CourtListener docket 6360247 [court_record]
- Locator
- Omnibus Opinion and Order, ECF No. 171 (engineering-drawing and expert-report recitals); CourtListener docket 6360247; vLex entries for the Aug. 24 R&R and Sept. 27 district order (case-law.vlex.com/vid/goodrich-v-john-crane-889890754 and -892633563)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class-level litigation recital covering machinery shared by this hull's class: the published omnibus opinion and order in Goodrich v. John Crane, Inc./Air & Liquid Systems Corp. (E.D. Va. No. 4:17cv9, Sept. 2018 - case existence and decision dates independently verified via vLex this session; CourtListener docket per Gearing class profile) recites that 'an engineering drawing for the insulation and lagging of forced draft blower turbines for the class of destroyers (DD 692, USS Allen M. Sumner class), within which the USS Harlan Dickson fell, specifies the use of amosite felts and asbestos cloths' and quotes a report estimating 'a partial tally of the weight of the asbestos-containing thermal insulation and lagging products in the fire ... and engine rooms of a ship belonging to the USS Allen M. Sumner (DD 692) and USS Gearing (DD 710) classes of destroyers is 30.3 tons.' DD-715 is a Gearing-class member; the Gearing design was a 14-foot hull-plug lengthening of the Sumner design sharing its machinery arrangement.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1940s design documents; litigation 2017-2018
- Population
- Sumner/Gearing-class engineering crews (class context); plaintiff Harry L. Goodrich, USN 1959-1963 (USS Harlan R. Dickson)
- Limitations
- Litigation-record recital, class level - the drawing covers forced-draft-blower-turbine insulation for the Sumner DD-692 design group whose machinery the Gearing class shares; the 30.3-ton figure is an expert's partial tally for fire and engine rooms, not a classwide inventory and not an adjudicated quantity. The opinion treated portions of the related exposure case as speculative. Neither the drawing nor the report names DD-715; underlying exhibits not retrieved from RECAP (per the class profile's open lead). Establishes no asbestos content aboard this specific hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-03
-
[5]Consolidated era/design inference - DANFS-documented machinery class and yard periods (this hull) + Gearing class technical data (Tin Can Sailors class table: 4 boilers, 2 GE turbines, 60,000 hp) + Destroyer History Foundation Gearing/FRAM class page [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block and yard-period narrative for this hull; destroyerhistory.org Gearing class page (DDR conversion at Boston/Norfolk yards; 44 FRAM Mk I conversions); destroyers.org DD-715 class data block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for this hull: a Gearing-class destroyer built November 1944 - November 1945 at the peak of Navy asbestos use, with a four-Babcock-&-Wilcox-boiler superheated steam plant driving 60,000-shp GE geared turbines (class-level data), would have carried the period-standard asbestos applications - boiler casing and fireroom insulation, main and auxiliary steam-line lagging, turbine and reduction-gear lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, accommodation insulation, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Documented yard periods with insulation-disturbance potential (DANFS): Mare Island 1948 (two months); Boston Naval Shipyard radar-picket conversion October 1952 - June 1953 (DDR conversions replaced the forward torpedo mount with a tripod mast for height-finding radar per the Destroyer History Foundation); Philadelphia Naval Shipyard overhaul summer 1955; Norfolk Naval Shipyard overhaul June-September 1957; Philadelphia Naval Shipyard FRAM Mk I conversion 18 May 1964 - 11 March 1965 (44 Gearings received FRAM I conversions per destroyerhistory.org); Norfolk overhaul end-1968; stripping at Norfolk and Philadelphia lay-up 1977-1983.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Population
- Federal Kearny construction trades 1944-45; crew ~345 across 31 years; yard workers at Boston (1952-53), Philadelphia (1955, 1964-65 FRAM), Norfolk (1957, 1968), Mare Island (1948); strippers/disposal crews 1977-83
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no survey, specification, material schedule, or abatement contract naming DD-715 was located. 'Typical of the class/era' is never 'installed on this hull.' FRAM Mk I involvement is per secondary compilations (Wikipedia infobox reads 'FRAM IB'; destroyerhistory.org 'FRAM Mk I'; DANFS says only 'FRAM overhaul'). Establishes no quantities, no asbestos content, and no individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-04
-
[6]DANFS bracketed disposition note (ibiblio transcription) + hazegray transcription's 'sold for scrap sometime in 1977' + NavSource DD-715 page (fate line: 'Sunk as target in SINKEX, May 15 1983 in Readiex 1-83 off Vieques, Puerto Rico') + Tin Can Sailors (National Association of Destroyer Veterans) DD-715 disposition line + UPI Archives, 'Grenada, firing a return shot' (March 31, 1983) fixing the ReadEx 1-83 exercise window [other_primary]
- Locator
- ibiblio DANFS bracketed final paragraph; NavSource navsource.org/archives/05/715.htm fate line (via search-index snippet; page fetch failed twice this session); destroyers.org/ships/dd-715 disposition line; UPI archive 1983-03-31 and 1983-03-18 articles
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposal record for this hull: stripped at Norfolk after the 1 December 1976 decommissioning/stricken; the original DANFS text (hazegray transcription) reads 'sold for scrap sometime in 1977,' while the ibiblio transcription's bracketed note, Wikipedia, navysite.de, and usnfleet.us agree she was laid up at the Philadelphia naval facility 1977-1983 - with parts removed for the restoration of museum ship USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (DD-850, Battleship Cove) - and sunk as a target off Puerto Rico during exercise ReadEx 1-83. UPI archive independently confirms ReadEx 1-83 ran 10 March - early April 1983 in the western Atlantic near Puerto Rico ('the service's largest readiness exercise ever'; 36 ships, 300 aircraft). Reported detail (secondary): eight Harpoon missile hits, the ship went neutrally buoyant at ~200 feet, and the sinking was finished by a submarine-fired torpedo. NavSource and the ship association's written history give the sinking date as 15 May 1983 - after the exercise window; conflict logged in the correction row and gaps.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1976-1983
- Population
- Inactivation/stripping workforce at Norfolk and Philadelphia 1976-1983; ReadEx 1-83 participants
- Limitations
- Disposal events corroborated across DANFS, NavSource, a destroyer-veterans association, and contemporaneous UPI reporting on the exercise window, but the precise sinking date conflicts (March 1983 vs. 15 May 1983) and the 'sold for scrap 1977' vs. 'laid up Philadelphia then sunk' sequence is not fully resolved - the scrapping sale may have been contracted but not executed as breaking. No government SINKEX hazmat/environmental record was located (modern removal regimes postdate 1983). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-05
-
[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page description (full text returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches - standing defect per Batch-01 report)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place for decades unless a yard period disturbed it. Frames this hull's documented overhauls (Mare Island 1948; Boston 1952-53; Philadelphia 1955 and 1964-65 FRAM; Norfolk 1957 and 1968) as the windows when in-place material would most plausibly have been disturbed or replaced.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1975-1979 policy documented; applies retrospectively as context
- Population
- Navy ship and yard workforce (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not class- or hull-specific; supports era context only. Full text not retrieved (HTTP 403); content via product-page description. Establishes nothing about materials aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-06
-
[8]NARA catalog, 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations' file units for William M. Wood (DD-715) (VA Navy Deck Log digitization; e.g., NAID 219047737); USS William M. Wood Association site (dd715.org) 'The Last Deck Log' and 1952 cruise book scans [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov query '"William M. Wood" DD-715' (~1,251 hits, file units titled 'William M. Wood (DD-715) - <month year>'); dd715.org history page links
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival records located for this hull (not retrieved): NARA's catalog carries digitized deck logs for William M. Wood (DD-715) in the series 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations' (VA Navy Deck Log / Blue Water Navy project digitization) - query '"William M. Wood" DD-715' returns ~1,251 file-unit hits including 'William M. Wood (DD-715) - April 1965' (NAID 219047737), February 1965 (NAID 219047607), October 1964 (NAID 219047341), and 1967-1969 months. The ship association (dd715.org) holds a scanned copy of the ship's final deck log obtained from the National Archives and a 1952 cruise book. BuShips (RG 19) and Boston/Philadelphia/Norfolk naval-shipyard work packages for the 1952-53 conversion and 1964-65 FRAM are unsurveyed.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1964-1969 digitized coverage observed; full run unknown
- Limitations
- Record existence verified via catalog hits; contents not opened. Deck logs record operational events and almost never name insulation materials - value is as corroborating detail for yard periods and casualties, not asbestos content. No hull-level material specification or abatement file located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-07
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 authenticated searches 2026-09-27 (type=o and type=r) via the fleet pacing helper; query set itemized in search_ledger sl-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-03 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger row sl-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-03 (six queries, counts and per-hit classification)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener authenticated API v4 sweep completed 2026-09-27 (opinions type=o and RECAP dockets type=r): NO qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull. 'USS William M. Wood' returned 0 opinion hits and 0 docket hits; 'DD-715'/'DD 715' returned 0 opinion hits; 'William M. Wood' + asbestos returned 0 opinion hits; 'William M. Wood' (unqualified) returned 174 opinion hits - first-page results reviewed are name collisions for a California Deputy Attorney General of the same name appearing as counsel of record in Ninth Circuit and California appellate criminal matters (the zero-hit qualified queries above are the controlling results; unqualified-name results remaining beyond page 1 are unreviewed); 'William M. Wood' + ship returned 3 docket hits, all name collisions (Hospitality Investors Trust bankruptcy D. Del. 2021; Motors Liquidation bankruptcy S.D.N.Y. 2009; NYT v. Microsoft S.D.N.Y. 2023 copyright) - no asbestos case names the ship.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27 (search date)
- Limitations
- A zero-hit litigation sweep is a negative finding about the public docket record, not about asbestos aboard the hull - asbestos-era naval service produced claims decades later, and a ship with no indexed opinion or docket naming it may still appear in unindexed pleadings, settled dockets, or records behind RECAP paywalls. Name collision was low for the exact ship name (DE-287 and DE-557 were never built) but extreme for the bare personal name; all hits were classified individually. The navyshipexposure.com claim of a litigation-derived equipment manifest for DD-715 could not be corroborated - if such exhibits exist they are not in CourtListener's indexed corpus.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-08
-
[10]Cross-source reconciliation: ibiblio vs. hazegray DANFS transcriptions; NavSource timeline; navysite.de; Tin Can Sailors disposition; UPI ReadEx 1-83 window; Wikipedia infobox (lead only); NavalCoverMuseum postmark catalog [other_primary]
- Locator
- Per-item locators in the finding text (ibiblio dd715.html bracketed note; hazegray dd715txt.htm; navsource.org/archives/05/715.htm; navysite.de/dd/dd715.htm; destroyers.org/ships/dd-715; upi.com 1983-03-31; navalcovermuseum.org)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Source discrepancies resolved or logged: (a) Redesignation - DANFS narrates 'placed out of commission on 2 October 1952 and redesignated DRR-715' conflating the administrative events; NavSource and navysite.de give the formal reclassification effective 9 April 1953 (while out of commission), and 'DRR-715' is a transcription typo for DDR-715 - carried as: out of commission 1952-10-02, redesignated DDR-715 effective 1953-04-09, recommissioned 1953-06-06. (b) Sinking date - March 1983 (DANFS bracketed note, Wikipedia, usnfleet.us, navysite.de) vs. 15 May 1983 (NavSource fate line; dd715.org 'Written History'), the latter falling after the UPI-documented ReadEx 1-83 window of 10 March - early April 1983; the 'neutrally buoyant, finished by torpedo' detail offers a possible reconciliation (Harpoon attack in March, hulk finished later) but no primary record confirms it - both dates carried. (c) Disposal sequence - hazegray's original DANFS text 'sold for scrap sometime in 1977' vs. the bracketed-note/navysite/Wikipedia sequence 'laid up at Philadelphia, parts to JPK restoration, sunk 1983'; Tin Can Sailors carries both ('sold for scrap in 1977. Sunk as target 3/1983') - treated as a documented conflict, not silently reconciled. (d) Complement - DANFS spec block 345 vs. class-level compilations 336-355; DANFS controls. (e) Builder location - DANFS 'Newark, N.J.' vs. yard-record 'Kearny, N.J.' for Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock (the Port Newark/Kearny yard); name-form variance, both carried. (f) Wikipedia infobox prints 'Hull number: DDG-715' - an error; DD-715/DDR-715 only, never DDG. (g) NavalCoverMuseum gives '1st Commissioning ... to September 30 1952' vs. DANFS/NavSource October 2, 1952 decommissioning - minor variance, DANFS controls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Limitations
- Reconciles publication-level discrepancies among sources; does not affect identity or the asbestos posture materially. None of the underlying sources contains asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-09
-
[11]Batch-3689 search ledger (this record): DANFS via ibiblio mirror; hazegray transcription; NavSource; navysite.de; Tin Can Sailors/destroyers.org; UPI archive; NARA catalog; dd715.org association site; shipyards.json yard record; Gearing class profile (background); general-web asbestos-mention check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-01 through -09; litigation sweep row ev-08 carries the CourtListener status
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located in the non-litigation sources searched: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, material specification, hazmat disclosure, or court finding naming USS William M. Wood, DD-715, or DDR-715 was found in the public sources checked (see search_ledger). General-web asbestos mentions of this ship exist only on law-firm marketing pages and a litigation-data aggregator site (shepardlawfirm.com, mesothelioma.net, asbestos-ships.com, navyshipexposure.com) - excluded as non-authoritative per batch rules; the aggregator's claim of a 15-entry litigation-derived equipment manifest for this hull is noted as an unverified lead, not evidence.
- 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 - a 1944-45 Gearing-class destroyer built at a documented asbestos yard with five-plus yard periods in the insulation-disturbance era is class-consistent with asbestos materials, and the hull's 1983 sinking means no survey or abatement record can exist today. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-william-m-wood-dd715-10