Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet jd-packet.md (4 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Worden (DD-288), destroyer, Clemson-class — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Worden_(DD-288) (DANFS text, mirror-sourced)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-worden-dd288-pkt-jd-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Worden II (DD-288) (builder, dates, service narrative, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Worden II', specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: Clemson-class destroyer; second ship named for Rear Admiral John Lorimer Worden; laid down 30 June 1919 at Squantum, Mass., by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp.; launched 24 October 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Emilie Neilson Worden; commissioned 24 February 1920 at Boston Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. David H. Stuart in command; shakedown to Key West and Cuba; Destroyer Division 42, 3d Squadron, Atlantic Fleet; Charleston base 1920-21; Fleet Problems I (Panama, 1923), VI (1926), VII (1927); June 1924-July 1925 European deployment incl. Adriatic during the Albanian crisis; June 1927 Fleet Review for President Coolidge; repeated repairs at Boston, Philadelphia (incl. a ruptured boiler Nov 1923), and Norfolk navy yards (turbines, Jan 1929); arrived Philadelphia 21 September 1929 and remained until decommissioned 1 May 1930; stricken 22 October 1930; sold for scrapping 17 January 1931. Spec block: 1,215 t; 314'4.5" x 30'11.5" x 9'9.25"; 34.47 kt trial; complement 120; 4x4", 1x3", 12x21" tt; cl. Clemson.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1931
- Population
- Bethlehem Squantum construction trades 1919-20; crew 1920-1930; navy-yard repair workforces (Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk) across repeated overhaul periods
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Its 'sold for scrapping' wording is compressed - NavSource and a USNI Proceedings retrospective document resale to Standard Fruit Co. and conversion to the banana carrier Tabasco (ev-02, ev-03). Live NHHC page returns 404 on every URL pattern tested; verbatim text cited via the hazegray/losthistory DANFS transcription mirror. Transcription contains minor OCR artifacts.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History Destroyer Photo Index, USS Worden (DD-288) entry + reproduced NHHC photograph NH 67789 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DD-288 index page, Operational and Building Data block + photo captions + CO roster
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Destroyer Photo Index record for this hull: Clemson class; laid down by Bethlehem Shipbuilding, Squantum, Mass., 30 June 1919; launched 24 October 1919; commissioned 24 February 1920; decommissioned 1 May 1930; stricken 22 October 1930; sold 17 January 1931 to Standard Fruit Co. (Vaccaro Brothers), New Orleans, as a banana carrier 1931-1932; wrecked on Alacran Reef in the Gulf of Mexico. Machinery 26,500 shp geared turbines, 2 screws; crew 114; call sign NUNM. Reproduces official NHHC photograph NH 67789 (DD-288 underway, mid/late 1920s) and a partial commanding-officer roster.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1933
- Population
- Crew and yard workers, 1919-1930; merchant crew 1931-1933
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-run photographic-history archive, not an official repository; all overlapping dates match DANFS exactly, but its crew figure (114) conflicts with the DANFS spec block (120) and its merchant-fate detail extends beyond what DANFS records. The NHHC photo it reproduces (NH 67789) is an official record. Retrieved via 2024 Wayback capture; live navsource.org fetch timed out.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-02
-
[4]Cdr. John D. Alden, USN (Ret.), 'Banana Boats and Blockade Runners,' U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, April 1971, Vol. 97/4/818 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Proceedings April 1971 article, paragraphs on the Standard Fruit conversions (live page 403s to automated fetches; text verified via Wayback capture 20241210062250)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Professional-journal retrospective naming this hull: 'the Putnam and her sisters Worden (DD-288), Dale (DD-290), and Osborne (DD-295) had served with the active fleet until 1930, when the prospective expense of refitting worn-out boilers led the Navy to replace 60 of the four-pipers with others from the reserve fleet... These four, however, were stripped down to bare hulls, sold to the Standard Fruit Company, given economical diesel engines in place of their original 26,000-h.p. steam turbines, and converted to banana carriers... The Worden became the Tabasco... In 1933, the Tabasco piled up on a reef in the Gulf of Mexico.' Documents the post-Navy conversion (steam plant removed with the strip-out) and final loss of this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1930-1933
- Population
- Standard Fruit conversion-yard workers 1931 (strip-out of the steam plant); merchant crew 1931-1933
- Limitations
- A 1971 retrospective in a professional service journal - secondary reporting, not a primary record; the wreck's exact date (18 May 1933, with all 19 aboard surviving per historyofwar.org) rests on weaker secondary sources and is not in this source. 'Stripped down to bare hulls' implies removal of the original machinery spaces' contents during conversion - relevant to residual-material scope - but the article documents no materials content and nothing about asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-03
-
[5]DANFS specifications block + NavSource machinery line (geared steam turbines, 2 screws, 26,500 shp) + Atlas shipyard dataset 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' record (documented period asbestos products at Bethlehem yards) + NARA RG19 General Information Books archival lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block (s. 34.47 k.; cl. Clemson); NavSource machinery line; shipyards.json record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Clemson-class destroyer built 1919 with a geared steam-turbine plant would have carried period-standard asbestos insulation - boiler and steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and magnesia-type block insulation, which were commonly asbestos-containing in WWI-era naval construction. The Atlas yard dataset's 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' record documents period asbestos products at the builder's corporate yards (85% magnesia block, Marinite, Transite, Aircell pipe covering, Unibestos, asbestos lagging, gaskets and packing). NARA RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications are an archival lead for hull-level specs.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1919-1930
- Population
- Bethlehem Squantum construction trades 1919-20; crew 1920-1930
- 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. Important weakening: the yard dataset's underlying asbestos findings derive mainly from Bethlehem's Sparrows Point (Baltimore) yard and ship-repair workforce, not the Squantum Victory Plant specifically; corporate-yard inference, not a Squantum-specific study. NARA GIB retrieval not performed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-04
-
[6]U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 'Squantum, The Victory Plant' (February 1921, Vol. 47/2/216); NPS, 'Boston Navy Yard and the Great War, 1914-1918' (nps.gov/articles/bny_wwi.htm); Destroyer History Foundation yard profile [other_primary]
- Locator
- USNI Proceedings Feb 1921 article; nps.gov Boston Navy Yard WWI article; NavSource NH 67789 caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The builder yard is documented: Bethlehem's Victory Destroyer Plant at Squantum, Quincy, Mass. was a purpose-built WWI emergency destroyer-construction yard on a 730-acre tract on the Neponset River/Dorchester Bay, broken ground 6 October 1917, ceased work 14 February 1920; it built 35 destroyers beginning with Delphy (DD-261) and closed after delivering Osborne (DD-295). Together with the nearby Fore River yard the two Bethlehem Quincy plants employed ~15,000 and delivered 71 destroyers; destroyer outfitting/commissioning ran under Boston Navy Yard oversight (NPS). NHHC photo NH 67789 (DD-288 underway, mid/late 1920s) is reproduced via NavSource.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1917-1920
- Population
- Squantum Victory Plant workforce (yard-level context)
- Limitations
- Documents the builder yard's existence, scale, and program context - not materials used aboard this hull, and no asbestos content. The 1921 Proceedings article is a near-contemporaneous service-journal account; no industrial-hygiene or materials study of Squantum was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-05
-
[7]Batch-3282 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS live site and hazegray/losthistory mirror; NavSource destroyer index; CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP sweeps; NARA RG24 deck-log availability; NPS/NHL applicability; web sweep for hazmat/abatement/survey records naming the hull [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-worden-dd288-01 through sl-uss-worden-dd288-08
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS Worden or DD-288 as an exposure site was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull left Navy service in 1930 and was wrecked in merchant service 1933 - before the asbestos-litigation era - so no preserved-hull or museum-disclosure surface exists. The only published asbestos opinion naming 'USS Worden' (McIndoe v. Huntington Ingalls, 817 F.3d 1170, 9th Cir. 2016) refers to the guided-missile cruiser CG-18, a different hull - see ev-07. Name-collision check performed: other same-name hulls are DD-16 (1903-1919), DD-352 (sunk 1943), and DLG/CG-18 (1963-2000).
- 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 - 1919-era 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 sweeps this session were repeatedly rate-limit stand-downed (fleet pacing); the name-collision and negative findings rest on the indexed searches completed - see search_ledger rows for per-query status.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-06
-
[8]McIndoe v. Huntington Ingalls Inc., 817 F.3d 1170 (9th Cir. 2016), Nos. 13-56762/13-56764 (consolidated), opinion by O'Scannlain, J. [court_record]
- Locator
- 817 F.3d 1170, Part I factual recital (9th Cir. 2016); official PDF at cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Name-collision correction: the published asbestos opinion that most prominently names 'USS Worden' is NOT about this hull. In McIndoe, the Ninth Circuit recites that James McIndoe served 1966-1967 aboard 'the USS Worden, a guided missile cruiser built by Bath Iron Works Corporation (Bath) and commissioned in 1963' - i.e., USS Worden (CG-18, ex-DLG-18), a different vessel than DD-288 (Bethlehem Squantum, 1919-1930). The opinion affirms summary judgment for the shipbuilders: warships are not 'products' for strict liability, and exposure to originally installed asbestos was held genuinely disputed but not shown to be a substantial contributing factor. Any consumer matching 'USS Worden' + asbestos to DD-288 from this opinion would be a misattribution.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1966-1967 (alleged exposure aboard CG-18); 2012-2016 (litigation)
- Population
- James McIndoe (USN officer; Coral Sea 1961-63, Worden CG-18 1966-67; mesothelioma death 2011)
- Limitations
- Classified at the opinion's own stage: affirmed summary judgment for defendants on strict-liability (ships not 'products') and on negligence (exposure genuinely disputed but substantial-factor causation not shown). The collision determination rests on the opinion's own description (guided-missile cruiser, Bath-built, commissioned 1963) versus DD-288's record (destroyer, Bethlehem-built, commissioned 1920). Says nothing about DD-288's materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-worden-dd288-07