Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
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[1]CourtListener opinion search: 'USS Wrangell' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'USS Wrangell' returned 2 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed; name query may match same-named vessels
- Evidence ID
- uss-wrangell-ae12-cl-name-opinion
-
[2]CourtListener docket search: 'USS Wrangell' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'USS Wrangell' returned 22 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed; name query may match same-named vessels
- Evidence ID
- uss-wrangell-ae12-cl-name-docket
-
[3]CourtListener opinion search: 'AE-12' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener opinion search 'AE-12' returned 5000 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-wrangell-ae12-cl-hull-opinion
-
[4]CourtListener docket search: 'AE-12' [court_record]
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener docket search 'AE-12' returned 215686 result(s) (2026-10-07); individual records not reviewed
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- hit count only — underlying dockets/opinions not individually reviewed
- Evidence ID
- uss-wrangell-ae12-cl-hull-docket
-
[5]John Crane, Inc. v. Hardick, 283 Va. 358, 722 S.E.2d 610, 2012 A.M.C. 1027 (Va. Mar. 2, 2012) (Record No. 101909), modified on rehearing, opinion of Sept. 14, 2012 (same Record No.), cert. denied 133 S. Ct. 1263 (2013) - official Virginia Courts opinion PDFs [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion of Mar. 2, 2012, sections I-II (facts/proceedings, seaman-status and damages holdings); rehearing opinion https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1101909r.pdf; Justia/vLex report of 283 Va. 358; SFBBG note for cert. denied 133 S. Ct. 1263 (2013)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Trial finding, affirmed as to liability: Robert Eugene Hardick (USN 1957-1976) sued John Crane, Inc. (JCI) and 22 other defendants under general maritime law, alleging asbestos exposure from JCI products and resulting mesothelioma; he died before trial and the action continued as a wrongful-death/survival action by his widow. The published opinion recites that from 1958 to 1962 Hardick worked as a shipfitter reporting for duty upon USS Newport News, USS Tutuila, and USS Wrangell, repairing and replacing valves and gaskets that contained asbestos, and that while aboard Wrangell the vessel sailed a Mediterranean-Cuba voyage during which he performed his duties on the high seas. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, apportioning fault 50% to JCI and 50% to Garlock, and judgment of $2,988,741 entered against JCI. On appeal the Virginia Supreme Court held Hardick was a 'seaman,' so nonpecuniary wrongful-death damages (loss of society) were barred under Miles v. Apex Marine - it reversed in part and remanded without disturbing the exposure/liability finding. On rehearing (September 14, 2012) the court reinstated the jury's $2 million award for Hardick's pre-death pain and suffering as a survival-type recovery under the Jones Act/Miles framework. Certiorari denied, 133 S. Ct. 1263 (2013).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1958-1962 (exposure period); 2010-2013 (litigation through cert. denial)
- Population
- Navy shipfitter Robert E. Hardick, assigned aboard Wrangell during 1958-1962 (plus USS Newport News, USS Tutuila)
- Limitations
- Stage discipline: this is a jury verdict affirmed on the merits of liability - the appellate reversal was on damages law only (seaman status barring nonpecuniary wrongful-death damages), not on exposure, and the $2M pre-death pain-and-suffering award was reinstated on rehearing; final disposition is affirmed liability plus pecuniary/survival damages. Multi-ship record: the opinion names three vessels and does not apportion Hardick's exposure among them, so the valve/gasket work is established aboard Wrangell as part of an unapportioned 1958-1962 set. The opinion's '13-month voyage' framing for the Wrangell tour does not reconcile cleanly with DANFS's Mediterranean deployment chronology and is the court's recitation of testimony, not a verified itinerary. Does not establish exposure for any other crew member, the ship's total asbestos inventory, or legal eligibility of any other claimant.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-01
-
[6]John Crane, Inc. v. Hardick, 283 Va. 358, 722 S.E.2d 610 (Va. 2012) - facts and jury apportionment sections [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion of Mar. 2, 2012, section I (shipfitter valve/gasket work; complaint allegations; verdict and 50/50 JCI-Garlock apportionment)
- Finding type
- litigation_product_id
- Finding
- Products adjudicated in Hardick: asbestos-containing valves and gaskets that shipfitter Hardick repaired and replaced aboard the named vessels. Plaintiff proceeded at trial solely against John Crane, Inc. (valve/gasket packing and sealing products); the jury apportioned 50% responsibility to JCI and 50% to Garlock (a settled/nonsuited co-defendant). The complaint also alleged exposure to asbestos dust, fibers, and particles in products manufactured by JCI generally.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1958-1962
- Population
- Navy shipfitter performing valve/gasket repair aboard (1958-1962)
- Limitations
- Product identification is at the product-category level (asbestos-containing valves and gaskets) with manufacturer attribution to JCI at trial and Garlock by apportionment; the opinion does not name specific product lines, quantities, or locations aboard Wrangell specifically versus the two other ships. No other manufacturers' products aboard were adjudicated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-02
-
[7]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'Wrangell (AE-12),' Vol. 8 pp. 477-479 (1981) - hazegray/losthistory transcription of the Naval History Division text [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS AE-12 full entry incl. spec block (dp. 11,295 t.; cpl. 267; cl. Mount Hood; T. C2-S-AJ1) and NVR footnote
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Full official service record: laid down February 1944 as SS Midnight (MC hull 1375, C2-S-AJ1) by North Carolina Shipbuilding Corp., Wilmington, N.C.; launched April 14, 1944; delivered incomplete to the Navy May 28, 1944; converted to an ammunition ship by Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; commissioned October 10, 1944, Comdr. Haskell C. Todd. WWII: Ulithi-based ammunition support for Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and home-island operations (>10,000 tons transferred in five months; up to a dozen ships rearmed per day; 700-ton single-day peak); Tokyo Bay occupation phase; decommissioned Orange, TX, November 19, 1946. Recommissioned November 14, 1951; Atlantic Fleet ammunition duty - Mediterranean deployments (Suez 1956 evacuation support; Lebanon 1958 with four Beirut calls), underway-rearming experiments with Forrestal and Boston, first nuclear-powered rearming (Enterprise CVAN-65, August 17, 1962), 35 days supporting the Cuban blockade force (autumn 1962). WestPac/Vietnam: 1965-66 deployment (7 line periods, >6,800 tons, 74 underway replenishments, circumnavigation home); 1968-69 deployment (Yankee Station/Tonkin Gulf; rearmed New Jersey, Constellation, Ranger, Hancock; Winnebago 'smallest rearming'; Cam Ranh Bay rearming of George K. MacKenzie under antiswimmer cover; ~12,000 tons); EC-121 crisis ammunition shuttles. Decommissioned Norfolk December 21, 1970; reserve Charleston; Inactive Ship Facility Norfolk February 1971; NDRF James River temporary MARAD custody April 29, 1971; stricken October 1, 1976; 'disposed of by Maritime Administration exchange' November 1, 1983. Three battle stars WWII, five Vietnam.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Population
- Ship's company (complement 267 per DANFS spec block); alongside units receiving underway rearming
- Limitations
- Authoritative identity, construction, service, and disposition history; contains no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material information. Live NHHC DANFS page for Wrangell returned 404 during research - consistent with documented NHHC link rot (Batch-01 finding); transcription mirror used. DANFS prints the 1968 repair period and September departure as '1967' and the Ajax availability as 'January 1970' - internal inconsistencies flagged in the correction row, not propagated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-03
-
[8]U.S. Maritime Administration, ShipHistory database - WRANGELL (AE-12), Ship History Detail 5394 (milestones table; status-card scans) [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- ShipHistory Detail 5394 - History, Milestones, Status Cards tabs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MARAD ShipHistory database record for WRANGELL (AE-12): year built 1944; builder North Carolina Shipbuilding Company; MARAD type C2-S-AJ1; AE Ammunition Ship; length 459.50 ft; gross 8,258 tons; displacement 15,295 t summer; vessel name history MIDNIGHT -> WRANGELL (AE-12); fate 'Sold - Scrap'. Custody milestones: NDRF Entry 4/29/1971; Acquisition 7/1/1972 'MARAD takes title'; Withdrawal 4/29/1982 'Departed fleet to be stripped by US Navy'; Sale 9/7/1983 'Departed Navy facility under scrap sale.' Five digitized status-card scans exist for the hull (image-only).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Limitations
- Authoritative for government custody milestones and disposition; milestone table contains no asbestos, hazmat, or materials-condition information, and the status-card scans are image-only (not text-searchable) - any stripping/hazmat annotation on the cards is unexamined. 'Sale' milestone is physical departure under a scrap contract, distinct from award/signing dates; reconciliations with NavSource and DANFS disposition variants are in the correction row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-04
-
[9]NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, USS Wrangell (AE-12), page 09/05/0512 - specification block, campaign tables, commanding-officer list, disposition chronology [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 09/05/0512, Specifications block, campaign tables, and chronology entries
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Specification block, campaign list, and disposition detail: displacement 15,296 t (lim); 459'2" x 63' x 28'3"; speed 16.4 kts; complement 23 officers + 244 enlisted; cargo 7,700 DWT / 400,000 cu ft non-refrigerated; largest boom 36 tons; armament 1x5"/38 DP, 4x3"/50 DP, 2 twin 40mm, 10 single 20mm; fuel 10,935 bbls NSFO; propulsion 1 GE geared turbine, 3 Combustion Engineering header-type boilers 450 psi/750 deg F, double GE main reduction gear, 3x360 kW turbo-drive ship's-service generators, single propeller 6,000 shp. Campaign tables: Asiatic-Pacific (Iwo Jima operation; Okinawa Gunto; 3rd Fleet operations against Japan), Navy Occupation Service Medal Europe periods (1953-54), and Vietnam campaign periods 1965-66 and 1968-69. Disposition chain recorded: withdrawn by Navy for stripping 4/29/1982; sold 8/1/1983 to Waterman Steamship Corp, simultaneously resold to Isaac Manuel Varela Davalillo for scrapping in Spain, scrapping completed 12/15/1983. Also records call sign NUWF and the ferry-command-crew delivery detail (LT. Elmer E. Guyon, USNR, 5/28-5/30/1944).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Population
- Ship's company (267 per spec block)
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled archival page quoting Navy/DANFS material and the ship's command histories; authoritative-looking detail (propulsion plant, disposition chain) is corroborated in type by the DANFS spec block and MARAD milestones but the Waterman/Davalillo/Spain sale chain and campaign-date tables are NavSource-compiled. Its 'Newport Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.' converter attribution conflicts with DANFS (see correction row). No asbestos content stated or implied - equipment and event listing only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-05
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[10]DANFS AE-12 (internal date inconsistencies); NavSource 09/05/0512 (converter attribution, disposition chain); damagecontrolmuseums.org casualty-history compilation and navysite.de CV-62 chronology (collision); VA BVA decision A25020082 (veteran statement corroborating the collision); MARAD ShipHistory 5394 milestones [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS AE-12 paragraphs covering 1967-1970; NavSource chronology; http://www.damagecontrolmuseums.org/Ship_Cas_history/INDEPENDENCE/INDEPENDENCE_n.html ; https://www.navysite.de/cvn/cv62.htm ; https://www.va.gov/vetapp25/Files3/A25020082.txt
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Source discrepancies resolved: (a) Conversion yard - DANFS names Norfolk Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. (Norfolk); NavSource prints 'Newport Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, VA.' - DANFS adopted (there is no documented 'Newport Shipbuilding and Drydock'; likely a NavSource garble of either Norfolk Shipbuilding or Newport News Shipbuilding). (b) Disposition dates - MARAD milestone 'Departed Navy facility under scrap sale' 9/7/1983; NavSource records sale 8/1/1983 to Waterman Steamship Corp. resold to Davalillo for Spanish scrapping completed 12/15/1983; DANFS records 'disposal by Maritime Administration exchange' 11/1/1983 - all three carried distinctly, none adjudicated. (c) DANFS internal dates - DANFS prints the pre-WestPac Charleston Naval Shipyard repair period and the September 4 departure as '1967,' and the Ajax (AR-6) Sasebo tender availability as 'end of January 1970'; the deployment sequence (returned Charleston 6/10/1969; final Med deployment from 10/6/1969; decommissioned 12/21/1970) and the documented 4/13/1968 collision with USS Independence during underway replenishment off the Carolina coast (damage-control casualty-history compilation; navysite.de CV-62 chronology; corroborated by a veteran's statement in BVA decision A25020082) support 1968 and January 1969 respectively - printed dates treated as typographical, not propagated.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1944-1983
- Limitations
- Resolves publication-level discrepancies; the collision itself is documented only in secondary casualty compilations and an unadjudicated veteran statement (sources differ on 'off South Carolina' vs 'off North Carolina') - treated as documented-but-secondary history. None of these sources contains asbestos information; the collision damage was reported as slight with no injuries.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-06
-
[11]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 historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the era covering both this hull's Maritime Commission C2-S-AJ1 construction (Wilmington, N.C., 1944) and her naval conversion to an ammunition ship at Norfolk (1944). The documented C2-S-AJ1 steam plant (three 450-psi header-type boilers feeding a geared turbine) implies era-typical asbestos-relevant applications aboard a ship of this type: boiler and steam-drum insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII-era shipyard workers and ship crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Era-level scholarship; does not name this vessel or class and does not establish that any specific material aboard this hull contained asbestos. Machinery-listing applications are era inference from the documented steam plant, not ship-proven - the only ship-specifically documented products are the valve/gasket materials of the Hardick record (ev-01, ev-02). Does not establish quantity, present-day condition, exposure, or causation for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-07
-
[12]Batch-479 search ledger (this record): DANFS/hazegray; NHHC live page (404); MARAD ShipHistory 5394; NavSource 0512; vacourts.gov opinions; CourtListener API and HTML (both blocked); VA BVA fulltext search; web litigation sweep; NVR detail page; shipbuildinghistory MC hull table [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-wrangell-ae12-01 through sl-uss-wrangell-ae12-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Negative finding within its scope: beyond the Hardick adjudicated record, no hull asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, specification itemization, or additional qualifying litigation naming this hull was located in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The Naval Vessel Register carries no detail record for AE-12 (ships disposed before 1987 are not in the live register - the detail URL returns only the site shell). The 1982 Navy stripping and 1983 Spanish scrapping left no public hazmat/abatement documentation. Law-firm marketing ship-list pages naming the hull were excluded as non-authoritative per batch rules.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 2026-09-19
- Limitations
- Scope-limited: 'no record located' covers hull surveys, abatement, hazmat, and additional litigation in the sources searched - it does not negate the affirmative Hardick finding, and absence of a located survey does not prove absence of other asbestos aboard (a 1944 steam hull is era-consistent with installed ACM beyond the adjudicated valve/gasket set). The CourtListener docket-level check could not be completed (API HTTP 429, 125/day limit already exhausted; HTML HTTP 403) and is logged as a gap - additional docketed cases naming the hull cannot be excluded. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-08
-
[13]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships), RG 24 (deck logs), RG 178 (U.S. Maritime Commission); NHHC command-history holdings; MARAD status-card scans [other_primary]
- Locator
- RG guides 019/024/178; https://vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/5394 Status Cards tab
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction orders; no spend authorized): NARA RG 24 deck logs cover the commissioned periods 1944-46 and 1951-70; NHHC archive holds the ship's post-1951 command histories (DANFS itself quotes the 1968-69 command history, e.g., 'history's smallest rearming' and the Cam Ranh Bay passage); NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) may hold the C2-S-AJ1-to-AE conversion package for MC hull 1375 including outfitting/materials specifications; RG 178 (U.S. Maritime Commission) Construction Division records may hold the North Carolina Shipbuilding contract/hull file; MARAD's five digitized status-card scans for this hull (ShipHistory 5394) are image-only and unexamined for stripping/scrapping annotations.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-19
- Study period
- 1944-1983 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for MC hull 1375 / AE-12 is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-wrangell-ae12-09