Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
-
[1]research packet kl-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-willis-de395-pkt-kl-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Willis' entry (DE-395) - live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim transcription via losthistory.net/hazegray mirror (transcribed from the official DANFS text) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Willis' entry - namesake paragraph, specifications block '(DE-395: dp. 1,200; l. 306'; b. 36'7"; dr. 8'7" (mean); s. 21 k; cpl. 186; ...; cl. Edsall)', and full service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Walter Michael Willis, born 14 January 1917 at Minneapolis, Minn.; Naval Reserve seaman 2d class; reserve aviation cadet 22 December 1939; aviator's wings 14 August 1940; commissioned ensign 10 September; joined Bombing Squadron (VB) 6 aboard Enterprise (CV-6); killed with his gunner 7 December 1941 when his SBD scouting flight arrived at Ford Island during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Hull data: laid down 17 July 1943 at Houston, Tex., by Brown Shipbuilding Co.; launched 14 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Marie E. Willis (mother of Ens. Willis); commissioned 10 December 1943, Lt. Comdr. G. R. Atterbury, USNR. Service: shakedown Bermuda; post-shakedown availability Charleston navy yard February 1944; CortDiv 51; hunter-killer screen for Bogue (CVE-9) in TG 21.11 / TG 22.2 / TG 22.3 (Casablanca visits; U-575 sunk 13 March 1944; I-52 sunk 24 June 1944; U-1229 sunk 20 August 1944); repairs at Bayonne, N.J. 4-14 July 1944 and again May 1945; New York Navy Yard repairs 25 September 1944, emergency availability late November 1944, and early-1945 availability; Boston Navy Yard unscheduled availability March 1945; Presidential Unit Citation for service with Bogue task groups 26 February-19 April 1944 and 4 May-3 July 1944; Operation 'Teardrop' barrier patrol April 1945 (U-546 sank Frederick C. Davis DE-136 on 24 April); Norfolk Navy Yard month-long availability then Pacific transfer via Panama Canal July 1945; Pearl Harbor 7 August 1945; Marianas/Marshalls and Guam operations through end of 1945; returned via Panama Canal February 1946 to Houston then Green Cove Springs, Fla. Decommissioned 14 June 1946, placed in reserve, berthed Mayport, Fla.; transferred to Philadelphia group of the Reserve Fleet 29 August 1957; 'Never modernized'; declared 'unessential to the defense of the United States'; struck from the Navy list 1 July 1972; stripped and sold 17 August 1973 to Edward O. Sanchez of New Bedford, Mass., and scrapped. One battle star plus the Presidential Unit Citation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime crew (DANFS design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, namesake, build/yard availability/service chronology, and disposal - no asbestos, insulation, or materials information and supports no asbestos claim. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page 404s (standing NHHC link rot); transcription agrees verbatim with the NavSource-hosted copy of the same entry.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-01
-
[3]United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995 (NHHC publication), Appendix 12 'Ships Named for Naval Aviators', p.601 - row 'Willis (DE 395) / ENS Walter M. Willis, USNR / 10 Dec 1943' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- app12.pdf p.601 (PDF text line block under 'W' entries: Willis (DE 395) / ENS Walter M. Willis, USNR / 10 Dec 1943)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NHHC-hosted reference corroborates this hull's namesake and commissioning: 'United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995', Appendix 12 'Ships Named for Naval Aviators' lists 'Willis (DE 395) | ENS Walter M. Willis, USNR | 10 Dec 1943' - the date column being the ship's commissioning date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943
- Limitations
- Official roster corroborates namesake identity and commissioning date only; carries no service, materials, or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, DE-395 USS Willis page (compiled archival data + contributed photos; page references the NHHC DANFS entry and the ship's official war history) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-395 page - class/type/spec block, 'Building and Operational Data' block, commanding-officer table, awards block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource Destroyer Escort Photo Archive page 'USS Willis (DE 395)': class Edsall, type FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3-inch guns); displacement 1,200 t light / 1,590 t full; length 300' wl / 306' oa; machinery '4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38d81/8 geared diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6000 shp, 2 screws'; 21 kts; complement '8 / 201'; building data matches DANFS (keel 17 July 1943, launched 14 September 1943, commissioned 10 December 1943); commanding-officer table ends 14 June 1946 with Lt.(jg) Paul J. Boeke, USNR marked '(Decomm. CO)'; '12 September 1947: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 3 years and 9 months of service'; struck 1 July 1972; sold for scrapping 17 August 1973 to Edward O. Sanchez, New Bedford, Mass.; call sign NHVJ; awards block lists Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive), Presidential Unit Citation, American, Asiatic-Pacific, and European-Africa-Middle East (1 star) campaign medals, and WWII Victory Medal.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; USN crew 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled archival reference, not an official record - corroborated where it matches DANFS (build dates, commissioning, striking, disposal buyer/date). Its '12 September 1947 decommissioned at Green Cove Springs after 3 years and 9 months' conflicts with DANFS's 'Decommissioned on 14 June 1946' and with its own CO table ending 14 June 1946 with a decommissioning CO - conflict carried in gaps; DANFS's date is carried as controlling. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-03
-
[5]Class/design inference - Destroyer History Foundation Edsall-class page (FMR machinery description, class data; sources cited: Bauer & Roberts, Friedman, Whitley, DESA) + NavSource DE-395 machinery block + Atlas shipyards.json (Brown Shipbuilding absent) + GAO HRD-80-2 era finding [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org/de/edsallclass/ - 'FMR (Fairbanks Morse diesel with reversible gear drive)' machinery note + class spec block; NavSource DE-395 spec block; shipyards.json 37 yard_ids (no Brown Shipbuilding/Houston entry); https://www.gao.gov/products/hrd-80-2
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DE-395 is an Edsall-class (FMR-design) destroyer escort built at Brown Shipbuilding, Houston in 1943 - four Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38D-8-1/8 diesel engines with a compact reduction-gear (reverse-gear) drive, 6,000 shp, 2 screws; the FMR plant is a geared-diesel arrangement (engines of the same submarine type), not diesel-electric and not steam - so no boilers and no steam system existed aboard. The heavy asbestos categories of steam warships (boiler insulation, steam-line lagging) therefore do not apply to this hull; the era-consistent application set for a geared-diesel escort of 1943 construction is exhaust-system insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, winch/windlass brake linings, and deck coverings, inside the documented Navy asbestos era (GAO HRD-80-2). Builder-yard inference: Brown Shipbuilding built 38 Edsall-class hulls at its Green's Bayou fabrication yard; the yard is not in the Atlas shipyards.json dataset (yard-level documentation gap logged).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; USN crew 1943-1946; reserve-fleet/mothball workers 1946-1972; scrapping workforce 1973
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The geared-diesel plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships do not apply; this row establishes era plausibility, not installed materials. Establishes no quantity, no location, no individual exposure, no causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-04
-
[6]U.S. General Accounting Office, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (published 18 October 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page description; full text blocked to automated fetch (HTTP 403) - usage consistent with Batch-01 and the Batch-4001 record
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Program-level context: GAO's 1979 report on Navy asbestos protection conveys the Navy's statement that 'thermal insulation for machinery, equipment and piping systems has been the major application of asbestos' and that substitution of asbestos-free materials did not begin until the early 1970s - placing this hull's 1943 construction squarely inside the documented asbestos-use era for U.S. Navy ships.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979 (report); practices described span the construction era
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and ship crews (program context)
- Limitations
- Navy-wide program-level context only - the report's fieldwork covered Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards and its quoted language describes the fleet generally; it names no DE-395 or Brown Shipbuilding record and establishes nothing about materials aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 searches: '"USS Willis"' type=o (0 hits); '"DE-395"' type=o (13 hits, all docket-citation/identifier collisions); '"USS Willis"' type=r (2 docket hits - Fuoco v. 3M 1:13-cv-07054 and Vesper v. 3M 1:15-cv-01322, resolved to USS Willis A. Lee DL-4 via fetched opinion text); '"Willis" asbestos' type=o (pacing-blocked at collection - fleet rate budget spent; logged honestly rather than retried) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search results, queries as listed; DE-395 hit screening by case name + snippet review (all 13 results reviewed); type=r hits resolved by fetching Fuoco doc. 96 opinion (p.2 - 'asbestos-containing gaskets and packing were used on circulating pumps on board the USS Willis A. Lee') and Vesper opinion ('a condenser circulating pump, later installed on the naval ship USS Willis A. Lee, included asbestos components')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep (authenticated API v4, 2026-09-28): '"USS Willis"' (type=o) returned 0 hits - no published opinion in the case-law corpus contains that exact phrase. '"DE-395"' (type=o) returned 13 hits, all identifier collisions - 'DE 395'/'DE-395' occurs inside docket-entry citations and unrelated matter text (Kaiser v. Johnson & Johnson/Ethicon - mesh product liability; United States v. DeMarco - wire fraud; Boca Raton Community Hospital v. Tenet Healthcare - protective order; Commonwealth v. Hernandez - criminal; Morgante - family law; US v. Viefhaus, US v. Ashby, Panetta v. Crowley, J.G. v. Briarcliff Manor, US v. Robinson & Daniels, and Puerto Rico civil matters); zero asbestos mentions and zero vessel references in screened results. '"USS Willis"' (type=r, RECAP dockets) returned 2 asbestos dockets - Fuoco v. 3M Company, D.N.J. 1:13-cv-07054, and Vesper v. 3M Company, D.N.J. 1:15-cv-01322 - but full-text fetch of both filed opinions resolved every 'USS Willis' match to 'USS Willis A. Lee' (DL-4, Mitscher-class destroyer leader, built New York Shipbuilding Camden, commissioned 1954): both courts cite the same 2007 Warren Pumps corporate-representative deposition (Doktor) stating asbestos-containing gaskets/packing were used on Warren circulating pumps aboard USS Willis A. Lee - a name collision, not DE-395. Fuoco's decedent served aboard USS Ammen (DD-527); Vesper's exposure allegations concern New York Shipbuilding hulls. Classification: NO qualifying asbestos litigation located for DE-395; 2 name collisions resolved and excluded.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- sweep 2026-09-28
- Population
- none - no qualifying plaintiff/service linkage located
- Limitations
- Sweep result, not a merits finding: opinion-index coverage supports 'no published opinion names USS Willis', and the RECAP docket sweep completed - both 'USS Willis' docket hits were fetched in full text and resolve to USS Willis A. Lee (DL-4), a different ship; 'USS Willis A. Lee' tokenizes to contain 'USS Willis', so any future docket-text hit for 'USS Willis' must be re-resolved against DL-4. Residual gap: the broad '"Willis" asbestos' opinion query was pacing-blocked this session, and pleadings naming the hull without a published opinion or RECAP filing would not surface at either completed level - unscreened in-document mentions cannot be fully ruled out.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-06
-
[8]Cross-source reconciliation: DANFS (losthistory.net/hazegray transcription) vs. NavSource DE-395 page vs. Destroyer History Foundation Edsall-class page vs. en.wikipedia compilation [other_primary]
- Locator
- Row-by-row as listed; locators are the per-row citation values of ev-01 through ev-04
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Source discrepancies resolved or logged: (a) Decommissioning - DANFS reads 'Decommissioned on 14 June 1946, Willis was placed in reserve and berthed at Mayport, Fla.'; NavSource's data block reads '12 September 1947: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 3 years and 9 months of service' while its own commanding-officer table ends 14 June 1946 with a '(Decomm. CO)' annotation - DANFS's 14 June 1946 is carried; the NavSource September 1947 date is internally consistent with its own service-length figure and may reflect a reserve-fleet administrative milestone, but is logged as a conflict rather than reconciled. (b) Complement - DANFS spec block reads 'cpl. 186'; NavSource reads '8 / 201' (=209); the Destroyer History Foundation class page reads 'Officers, 15; Enlisted, 201' (=216); carried as DANFS 186 with divergence noted. (c) Displacement/draft - DANFS reads dp. 1,200 and dr. 8'7" (mean); class sources read 1,253 standard / 1,590 full load and ~10-11' draft - DANFS figures carried; divergence noted. (d) Shakedown grounding anecdote (steering-gear failure, grounded in shipyard channel on departure) circulates in secondary retellings (Wikipedia) but does not appear in the DANFS text - excluded from the record as unverified. (e) Wikipedia's 'Sold and scrapped in 1972' is a year off DANFS's documented sale date of 17 August 1973 - DANFS carried.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973
- Limitations
- Reconciles publication-level discrepancies among official, archival-compilation, and secondary sources; none of the sources contains asbestos information, and none of the variances affects the identity or the custody timeline that the asbestos record depends on.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-07
-
[9]Batch-4294 search ledger (this record): DANFS via losthistory.net/hazegray mirror; NHHC Appendix 12 official PDF; NavSource DE-395 page; Destroyer History Foundation Edsall-class page; National Hellenic Museum Sotos collection; Atlas shipyards.json builder check; CourtListener name/hull sweeps; general-web asbestos-mention check; NVR check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-willis-de395-01 through sl-uss-willis-de395-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-395: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, materials schedule, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming this hull was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The service pattern is consistent with the absence: decommissioned into the reserve fleet in June 1946 after only ~2.5 years of commission, never modernized or reactivated, berthed at Mayport and then Philadelphia reserve groups for 26 years, stricken 1972 and scrapped 1973 - a short operational life with no postwar overhaul, conversion, or museum phase that would typically generate hull-level asbestos documentation in public sources.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 Brown-built geared-diesel escort is era-consistent with asbestos-containing exhaust insulation, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, brake linings, and deck coverings. This row records that no ship-specific documentation was located; it does not establish presence or absence, exposure, or legal eligibility, and the NARA archival leads are unsurveyed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-08
-
[10]National Hellenic Museum Collections & Archives online catalog, object 1998.42.15.A (accession 1998.42, 'George's Collection', donor Capt. George P. Sotos USN), plus related objects 1998.42.1 through 1998.42.16 and diary 1998.42.17.1-4 [museum_official]
- Locator
- NHM catalog object record 1998.42.15.A - Object Description and Origin fields; related-items list and 'uss willis' access point
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Crew-papers archival collection verified for this hull: the National Hellenic Museum (Chicago) holds accession series 1998.42 ('George's Collection'), donated by Capt. George P. Sotos, USN - who served as Executive Officer/Navigator aboard USS Willis in her WWII Bogue hunter-killer operations and commanded her 27 October 1945-20 April 1946 (per the NavSource CO table). The cataloged series includes at least 16 photographs tagged 'uss willis' dated 1943-1946 (e.g., object 1998.42.15.A, 'The USS Willis (DE395) being refueled by the USS Bogue ... in the North Atlantic') and a diary (1998.42.17.1-4). This is the only located crew-member archival collection documented for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (collection dates)
- Population
- Capt. George P. Sotos USN collection - Willis XO/Navigator, later CO
- Limitations
- Catalog-level verification only - the collection exists and is tagged to this hull, but no item was read; the diary (1943-46 window per collection dates) is a plausible source of operational detail but any materials/insulation content is unknown. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-09
-
[11]Miller v. Brown Shipbuilding Co., 71 F. Supp. 672 (S.D. Tex. 1947), Kennerly, D.J. - Civil Action No. 2553, dismissed for want of jurisdiction; aff'd per curiam, 165 F.2d 956 (5th Cir. 1948) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener cluster 8912378 (71 F. Supp. 672 - caption, parties, jurisdictional analysis and dismissal holding); appeal at CourtListener cluster 6999158 (165 F.2d 956 per curiam - 'The judgment of dismissal for this cause is affirmed', verified against reproduced reporter text)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Builder-yard litigation context (non-asbestos): Miller v. Brown Shipbuilding Co., 71 F. Supp. 672 (S.D. Tex. 1947), Kennerly, D.J. - former employees sued the builder of this hull for themselves and ~800 others, alleging wartime misclassification and sub-prevailing wages for work performed in building and repairing ships under U.S. government contracts; on the defendant partnership's motion the district court dismissed for want of jurisdiction (plaintiffs abandoned diversity; asserted War Powers Act/Executive Order federal-question jurisdiction rejected). The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal per curiam - 'the judgment of dismissal for this cause is affirmed' (165 F.2d 956, 5th Cir. 1948). The decisions document the yard's wartime shipbuilding workforce context; neither is an asbestos or exposure case and neither names any vessel.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1947 (opinion); wartime work period alleged
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding wartime workforce (~800 plaintiffs' class)
- Limitations
- Yard-level labor litigation, not asbestos litigation - included solely to document that the only docketed case located against the builder is not an exposure record. Establishes nothing about materials aboard this hull or at the yard; names no vessel. A dismissal for want of jurisdiction is a jurisdictional disposition, not a merits ruling on the wage allegations.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-10
-
[12]NARA Guide to Federal Records, RG 24 (Navy deck logs), RG 19 (BuShips construction/General Information Books), RG 38 (CNO war diaries/ship histories); NavSource DE-395 'War History' link (cover image only, document unreviewed) [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/024.html and /019.html; NavSource DE-395 page image 06395wh.jpg (war-history cover reference)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): (a) NARA RG 24 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy ships and stations, 1801-1946' - DE-395 deck logs would span December 1943 through early 1946 (the digitized-logs program covered many WWII hulls but DE-395 coverage is unverified); (b) NARA RG 19 (BuShips/BuC&R) construction records and any DE-395 General Information Book (Brown Shipbuilding contract documentation); (c) the ship's own 'official War History' submitted at war's end - NavSource references and hosts a cover image for it; the underlying document is an NHHC/NARA-held record (likely RG 38); (d) Atlantic Reserve Fleet / Philadelphia-group inactivation and mothballing records 1946-1972 (RG 181-era fleet records).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1973 records
- Limitations
- Collection-level mapping only - these record groups exist and are the plausible repositories for hull-level materials/insulation documentation (General Information Books carried material specifications); none was read this session and whether any contains asbestos information for this hull is unknown. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-willis-de395-11