Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 1036-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (thin sourcing
- Evidence ID
- uss-yms-180-yms180-pkt-1036-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-180 page (timeline, YMS-1-class specifications, CO list, transfer entries) [other_primary]
- Locator
- YMS-180 index page, timeline block and Specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- YMS-180 (YMS-1 class auxiliary motor minesweeper): laid down 27 October 1942 by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, IL; launched 5 June 1943; completed 28 August 1943; commissioned USS YMS-180 in May 1944; decommissioned 27 August 1945 and transferred to the Soviet Union at Cold Bay, AK, reclassified T-609; assigned to the Soviet Pacific Fleet 5 September 1945; transferred to the People's Republic of China 2 November 1955; fate unknown. Specs: 270 t, 136' x 24'6" x 8', 13 kt, complement 32, one 3"/50 DP mount + two 20 mm + two depth-charge projectors, two 880 bhp GM 8-268A diesels, Snow & Knobstedt single-reduction gear, two shafts. CO listed: LTJG W. S. Martz, Jr., USNR (1945). Page states no DANFS history exists for YMS-180.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1955
- Population
- Crew (32 per class spec); Soviet and Chinese crews after 1945 transfers
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary index, not official records - the standard English-language hull index for small craft but not itself a primary document. Commissioning/completion framing internally unresolved (see correction row); Soviet-designation and PRC-transfer details trace to Berezhnoi's lend-lease monograph via the photo captions. Does not establish asbestos conditions aboard; no asbestos content on page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-01
-
[3]NHHC, Navy Department Library online reading room: United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945 (scanned official document) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Minecraft, Pacific Fleet - Mine Squadron Twenty, YMS listings, p. 134 of scanned document
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official U.S. Pacific Fleet organization list of 1 May 1945 records 'YMS 180' under Commander Minecraft, Pacific Fleet (Mine Squadron Twenty section, p. 134), with commanding officer Lt. (jg) W. S. Martz, Jr. (USNR) - confirming the hull in active U.S. Navy commission in the Pacific minecraft establishment on that date, with the same CO NavSource lists.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Population
- Ship's company (32 per class spec) under Lt. (jg) W. S. Martz, Jr.
- Limitations
- Confirms administrative assignment and CO only; does not document operations, locations, or material conditions. The marginal '94' notation beside the entry is a division/local-assignment marker not resolved here. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-02
-
[4]National Archives, Special List #44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (ship-number sort), RG 24 entry 118 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PDF p. 116, ship-number sort, 'YMS-180 9/10/1943 8/26/1945'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Special List 44 lists U.S. Navy deck logs for YMS-180 covering 10 September 1943 through 26 August 1945 (PDF p. 116). Coverage ends one day before the documented Soviet transfer (27 August 1945). These logs are not in NARA's public digitized deck-log index - the hull is absent from the navy-online index, which lists only YMS hulls later renamed as AMS/MHC types.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-09-10 to 1945-08-26
- Population
- Crew of record during log period
- Limitations
- Establishes existence and date span of paper logs at NARA, not their contents - log text itself not consulted (not digitized; College Park consultation is the open lead). Log start (1943-09-10) precedes the May 1944 commissioning claimed by NavSource/memoir - consistent with a pre-commissioning in-service period but not stated by the list.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-03
-
[5]"The Wartime Diary" of Edward (Ray) Mitchell, SM1/c, USS YMS-180 (firsthand crew memoir hosted on NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Full diary text, NavSource-hosted (navsource.net/archives/11/19180d.htm)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Ship-specific firsthand operational narrative: commissioned early May 1944 at Naval Station New Orleans; shakedown Little Creek May 1944; Panama transit mid-June; Pearl Harbor 21 July; escorted ~60-ship LST/LCI convoy to Tulagi 8-26 August; Angaur sweep and Kossol Passage mine-disposal duty during Peleliu operation 15-16 September; Ulithi sweeping from 21 September (13 mines cut 23 September); rescued 19 of YMS-385's crew after she was mined at Ulithi 1 October (3 dead recovered aboard; diarist reports final toll 10 dead, 1 missing across all ships); Ulithi pilot vessel; typhoon 3 October; Ngulu sweeping 14-23 October (flagship USS Montgomery DM-17 mined 17 October, 5 killed); Ulithi channel sweeps November-December (Mississinewa AO-59 torpedoed in anchorage 20 November); drydock 19 December; escorted LCT-987/996 to Guam/Saipan 24-31 December; Saipan patrol January 1945 - fouled harbor anti-torpedo net 5 January, lost sonar head and damaged both screws, repaired alongside USS Phaon (ARB-3), new screws fitted by USS Fulton (AS-11) divers 8 February; Ulithi from 12 February, detonated U.S. Mk 12 magnetic mines in atoll channels 15-22 February after degaussing check at YDG-6; mail ship and passenger water taxi March-April (not staged for Okinawa); Fais Island goodwill/inspection run 2-4 April; departed Ulithi 23 April via Eniwetok and Pearl; Mine Sweeping Trial Board inspection 29 May, overhaul at Olsen & Wings Shipyard near Seattle from 30 May through July; departed Seattle 7 August via Inside Passage (Ketchikan 9 August, Juneau 11 August), Kodiak 14 August (V-J Day), Cold Bay 18 August; crew off 21 August; Soviets took over; crew sailed for Seattle ~30 August.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1944-05 to 1945-09
- Population
- Ship's company, USS YMS-180 (diarist was SM1/c signalman)
- Limitations
- Firsthand memoir written decades postwar - names and specific dates rest on the diarist, not official records; several corroborated by NHHC casualty/fleet documents (see ev-02, ev-05) but the day-level itinerary is memoir-only. Mentions no asbestos, insulation, or material condition of the hull; a service-history source only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-04
-
[6]NHHC, Casualties: Navy and Coast Guard Ships (official loss/damage list) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Motor Mine sweepers (YMS) and minecraft sections of casualty list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Officially corroborates the mine-warfare environment the diary describes for this hull's operations: USS Perry (DMS-17) sunk by a mine off Palau 13 September 1944; USS YMS-19 sunk by a mine off Palau 24 September 1944; USS YMS-385 sunk by a mine off Ulithi 1 October 1944; USS Montgomery (DM-17) scrapped after mine damage off Palau 17 October 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Crews of the listed vessels (context)
- Limitations
- Does not name YMS-180 or her role in any event - corroborates the operating area and the losses she operated among per the memoir (including the YMS-385 sinking she responded to); YMS-180's participation in the rescue rests on the memoir only. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-05
-
[7]Richard A. Russell, Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan (Naval Historical Center / U.S. Government Printing Office, ISBN 0-16-049376-5; mirrored full text at generalstaff.org), Appendix: U.S. Navy Combatant Ships Transferred May-September 1945 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Appendix table (YMS section) and Epilogue; mirrored text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official Navy-published Project Hula monograph's transfer table - sourced to Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels, vol. II, 1 January 1949 (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Bureau of Ships - records: 'YMS 180 | T-609 | 27 Aug. | 1955-stricken*', where the appendix asterisk denotes vessels 'subsequently transferred to the People's Republic of China.' The monograph documents Project Hula as the secret program approved by Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King 18 January 1945 that transferred 149 vessels with Soviet crew training at Fort Randall, Cold Bay; the postwar epilogue documents the decades-long U.S. effort to recover the lend-lease fleet, the 1955 recovery of 89 vessels, the 'witnessed destruction' disposals of 1956, and the final U.S.-Soviet lend-lease settlement of 18 October 1972.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-1972
- Population
- U.S. and Soviet transfer crews (context)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific on transfer designation, date, and stricken year only - '1955-stricken' is year-level, and the PRC transfer is flagged by the asterisk without a date (NavSource supplies 2 November 1955). The text records the program and settlement, not this hull's Soviet service record. Citation is to the GPO/NHC edition mirrored at a private site; pagination refers to the printed monograph.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-06
-
[8]DANFS, Capable I (AM-155) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Capable (AM-155) DANFS entry, Cold Bay paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents the identical Project Hula hand-over routine at Cold Bay for another minecraft (Capable, AM-155, transferred 16 August 1945 - eleven days before YMS-180): U.S. crew trained the Soviet crew aboard, U.S. complement reduced to a nucleus, ship fueled to capacity, final decommissioning reports made, then decommissioned from the U.S. Navy and commissioned into the Soviet Navy as a tralshchik (T-339).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Capable crew and Soviet trainees (context)
- Limitations
- Program-level context for the transfer process only - documents AM-155, not YMS-180; used to corroborate the mechanics and setting of the hand-over the memoir and transfer table record for this hull. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-07
-
[9]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 and program under which this 1942-43 naval auxiliary was built. For a diesel-driven wooden motor minesweeper, the era-consistent applications are exhaust/muffler insulation, engine-room gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, and friction material on winch/sweep machinery; no boiler or steam-line lagging pathway exists because no steam plant was fitted.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (class context); Grebe Chicago construction trades; engine-room ratings aboard
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation; does not name this vessel or the YMS-1 class and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. Asbestos aboard this hull is era inference, not ship-proven.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-08
-
[10]uboat.net Allied Warships database, USS YMS-180 (YMS-180) entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship 9602 timeline field
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Secondary sources conflate completion and commissioning for this hull: uboat.net lists 'Commissioned 28 Aug 1943' - the builder's completion date - while the NavSource timeline separates 'Completed 28 August 1943' from 'Commissioned USS YMS-180 in May 1944,' and the crew memoir places the commissioning at Naval Station New Orleans in early May 1944. NARA deck-log coverage beginning 10 September 1943 is consistent with a pre-commissioning in-service/delivery transit from Chicago down the inland rivers to New Orleans, but no located document states that explicitly. The distinction is flagged as unresolved rather than resolved toward either date.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Limitations
- Discrepancy documented, not adjudicated - uboat.net is a secondary database, not an official source, and is cited here as evidence of the competing claim, not as authority for 28 August 1943. No primary commissioning document located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-09
-
[11]Batch-8843 search ledger (this record): NARA Special List 44 and digitized deck-log index; NHHC DANFS/fleet-organization/casualty lists; NavSource hull and memoir pages; Russell Project Hula (NHC/GPO); shipyards.json yard_id check; secondary-web asbestos-litigation screen; CourtListener opinion and docket searches (see search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-180-yms180-01 through sl-uss-yms-180-yms180-18
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming YMS-180 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener: all four base queries returned only name-collision hits - no opinion or docket naming the vessel; the asbestos-qualified docket variant likewise returned only generic asbestos litigation. The hull left U.S. custody 27 August 1945 and its ultimate fate is unknown, so no museum, preservation, or demolition record exists to document residual materials.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2026-10-04
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-consistent construction materials remain a reasonable inference for a 1942-43 naval auxiliary. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Residual: ~60 tail hits on the 80-count 'YMS-180' opinion base were screened by the asbestos-qualified variant query on the docket side but the opinion-side variant was throttled (fleet pace) - logged as blocked, not a negative result.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-180-yms180-10