Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet 1039-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-yms-215-yms215-pkt-1039-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online, Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, Crow (MSC[O] 7), ex-Crow (AMS 7), ex-YMS-215 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Crow (MSC[O] 7) page, chronology/specifications block and commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity and chronology: laid down 18 August 1942 as YMS-215 by Robert Jacob Inc., City Island, NY; launched 22 February 1943; completed 22 July 1943 and commissioned USS YMS-215; reclassified Motor Minesweeper AMS-7 on 17 February 1947; named Crow 18 February 1947; Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as February 1947; reclassified Coastal Minesweeper (Old) MSC(O)-7 on 7 February 1955; struck from the Navy Register 1 November 1959; fate unknown. Specifications listed: displacement 270 t., length 136 ft, beam 24 ft 6 in, draft 8 ft, speed 15 kts, complement 32, armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount, two 20mm mounts, two depth charge projectors; propulsion two 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Commanding officers listed: LT J. J. Blair, USNR (1945); LT Charles Eugene Little, USN (March 1947 - October 1948); LTJG Robert Leonard Starkweather, USN (1950-1952); LT Thomas Dominic Pfundstein, USN (May 1952); LT Richard L. Alford, USN (1953-1954); LT Ernest Carl Castle, USN (1956); LCDR Roger Leonard Buck, USN (dates not given). NHHC photographs referenced: 19-N-43816 (fitting out at the Robert Jacob yard, circa March 1943), NH 81012 (c. 1945, San Francisco Bay), NH 103516 and NH 103517 (c. early 1950s, probably off San Diego).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1959
- Population
- Ship's complement (32 per ship-page specification)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled archive of record for hull data and official photographs; it is a compilation, not itself a primary document - each cited date is nonetheless consistent with DANFS, the Shipbuilding History yard table, and NARA Special List 44. Contains no asbestos information. The February 1947 reserve note (from the 1 January 1949 NVR) sits unresolved against the documented March 1947 - 1956 commanding-officer sequence; see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-01
-
[3]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), entry Crow (II), via Haze Gray & Underway transcription [ARCHIVED COPY - live hazegray.org unreachable 2026-10-04; Wayback capture 2025-04-06] [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry text, Crow (II), one paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS entry for the second Crow: "YMS-215 (q.v.) was reclassified AMS-7 on 17 February 1947 and name[d] Crow the following day." This is the entirety of the DANFS Crow (II) narrative; no operational history is published for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1947
- Limitations
- DANFS published nothing beyond the reclassification/name sentence - there is no DANFS narrative of YMS-215's WWII or postwar service. Cited via a Wayback capture of the Haze Gray transcription because the live hazegray.org domain did not resolve at research time and no current history.navy.mil DANFS page for this vessel was located (NHHC DANFS coverage for minor numbered craft is incomplete online).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-02
-
[4]National Archives, Special List 44: List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (Bradley, Kurtz, et al., comp.), printed page 516 - Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center page scan (display page 548) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SL44 printed p. 516, Ships with Symbol and Number Designations, YMS block; ACPL scan image 548
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List 44 lists 7 logbooks for YMS-215 covering two date spans: July 23, 1943 - June 30, 1945, and October 12-23, 1946. These are the vessel's deck logs held in the National Archives; they are the primary un-digitized source for her operational movements, personnel, and any onboard conditions entries.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Ship's complement (33 class design / 32 ship-page figure)
- Limitations
- Log-coverage finding only - Special List 44 records that the logs exist and their date spans; it does not describe contents, and none of the spans is a commissioning or decommissioning date. The logs themselves were not reviewed (NARA custody, Washington DC; the wartime span may additionally be digitized in the National Archives Catalog). No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-03
-
[5]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, NAVSHIPS 250-012, Vol. III (Auxiliary, District Craft and Unclassified Vessels), 15 April 1945, printed page 538 - digitized scan via Shipscribe [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAVSHIPS 250-012 Vol. III, MOTOR MINE SWEEPERS (YMS) table, printed p. 538, row YMS215 (PDF p. 557 of the Shipscribe scan)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- The official April 1945 BuShips tabulation lists YMS-215 by hull number: length 136 ft 0 in, breadth 24 ft 6 in, shaft horsepower 1,000, built by "Robert Jacob, Inc., City Island, N. Y.", remark "Diesel reduction" (diesel machinery with reduction gear), footnote dagger = "Wood construction." No district allocation is entered for YMS-215 (the Allocation (district) cell is blank; contiguous sister hulls carry entries such as "Solomons, Md."). This is an official contemporaneous document confirming, hull-specifically, diesel propulsion and wooden construction for YMS-215 as of 15 April 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- As of 1945-04-15
- Population
- Ship's complement (complement not tabulated in this volume)
- Limitations
- Documents machinery type and hull material only. The table names no insulation or other materials and says nothing about asbestos; it establishes that the exposure-relevant systems on this hull were diesel-mechanical, not steam - bounding, not establishing, the asbestos profile. Blank allocation cell means no district assignment is recorded in this edition; it does not establish where she served.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-04
-
[6]Shipbuilding History (Colton), Yard Minesweepers (YMS and BYMS) construction table and program description; companion Robert Jacob Shipyard page, City Island NY [other_primary]
- Locator
- ym/ table row YMS-215; us-yacht-small/jacob/ table row YMS-215 and yard-history paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Construction-table corroboration: "YMS-215 | Robert Jacob | City Island NY | 136 | 320 | 22 Jul 1943 | reclassified 1947 as Crow (AMS-7)" and, on the builder's yard page, "YMS-215 | US Navy | minesweeper | 22 Jul 1943 | reclassified 1947 as Crow (AMS-7), struck 1959". Program context stated by the same source: 561 wooden-hulled minesweepers of essentially one design (136 ft, 13 knots) built by 35 boatyards 1942-1945; the Mk. II variant (YMS-135 through YMS-445, which includes this hull) carried a single stack. Robert Jacob yard history: established in the 1850s, bought by Robert Jacob in 1900, sold to Consolidated Shipbuilding in 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1943 (construction); 1942-1945 (program)
- Population
- Shipyard workforce, Robert Jacob Inc., City Island NY (construction period)
- Limitations
- Shipbuilding History is a researcher-compiled construction database (secondary compilation of contract/builder records), consistent here with NavSource and DANFS; its light-displacement figure (320 t) conflicts with the NavSource ship-page figure (270 t) - see gaps. Yard history is context for the builder only; the source contains no asbestos information, and no Robert Jacob / City Island yard entry exists in the Atlas shipyards.json dataset (see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-05
-
[7]Hobart Hughes, "Saga of a YMS," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 74/1/539 (January 1948) - firsthand account by an officer of YMS-238, a same-class Robert Jacob-built boat [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Proceedings Vol. 74/1/539, paragraphs 4-5 (crew and power-plant description)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Contemporaneous firsthand description of the class plant: "a wooden one at that" (wooden hull); "The power plant consisted of two General Motors Diesels for main propulsion which were electro-pneumatically controlled from the bridge. There was a similar Diesel direct-connected to a generator for magnetic minesweeping, while two Hercules 30-KW Diesels furnished electric power for the galley, for ventilating, and for other auxiliary equipment." Crew was thirty enlisted men and four officers. For the class, the machinery was all-diesel - no boilers, no steam plant, hence no boiler/steam-pipe lagging population of the kind documented on steam vessels.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (account period); published 1948
- Population
- Engine-room crew of a YMS-class boat (30 enlisted, 4 officers aboard YMS-238)
- Limitations
- Class account of a sister hull (YMS-238), not this vessel; it documents machinery type only. It does not state whether exhaust lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, or any other material aboard contained asbestos, and it does not establish presence or absence of asbestos aboard YMS-215 - it bounds the exposure-relevant machinery profile by ruling out a steam plant.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-06
-
[8]Batch-8861 search ledger (this record): NARA Special List 44 scan; DANFS via Haze Gray (archived) and NHHC site; NavSource; BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vols. II-III; Shipbuilding History; USNI Proceedings; CourtListener API v4 opinion/docket ship-name searches (4 base queries executed, all zero hits) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-215-yms215-01 through sl-uss-yms-215-yms215-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, environmental record, or class-level materials document naming the YMS-1 class was found in the public sources searched, and no litigation naming YMS-215, USS Crow, AMS-7, or MSC(O)-7 was identified - all four CourtListener base queries ("USS Crow" opinion and docket, "YMS-215" opinion and docket) executed and returned zero results (see search_ledger).
- 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 - wooden hull and all-diesel machinery bound but do not eliminate era-consistent applications (exhaust lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation). Zero-result CourtListener coverage is limited to the REST v4 search indexes for opinion and RECAP docket text; it does not reach state-court filings or cases that name the class rather than the hull. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-215-yms215-07