Evidence
15 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-15).
-
[1]research packet 1052-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-320-yms320-pkt-1052-packet-md
-
[2]National Archives, Special List #44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947, ship-number ordering [other_primary]
- Locator
- Special List #44 ship-number PDF, p. 118 (YMS-320: two entries, 8/18/1943-10/31/1945 and 12/1/1945-1/31/1946); digitization status per https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List 44 inventories TWO deck-log volumes held for YMS-320: 8/18/1943 - 10/31/1945 and 12/1/1945 - 1/31/1946 (RG 24, Bureau of Naval Personnel records, National Archives at College Park). The first coverage window opens on her completion/commissioning date (18 August 1943); the second extends coverage to 31 January 1946 - these are log-coverage dates, not asserted commissioning/decommissioning dates. YMS-320 does not appear on NARA's list of digitized deck logs in the National Archives Catalog (the digitized YMS entries are hulls later named under the AMS/MSCO program - e.g., Grouse/YMS-321, Gull/YMS-324); the logs are an undigitized primary record of her full commissioned career.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Crew and officers keeping the logs (1943-1946)
- Limitations
- Inventory listing only - establishes that deck logs exist and their date coverage, not their content. Log coverage is not proof of commissioning/decommissioning dates. The deck logs themselves are undigitized (not on the NARA online list); no page-level content reviewed this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-320 - construction/milestone timeline, specifications, commanding officers, photographs, and host page for the Etchegaray memoir [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19320.htm header block, specifications block, commanding-officer list, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: 'Laid down 20 July 1942 by the Al Larson Boat Shop, Inc., Terminal Island, CA; Launched 9 January 1943; Completed 18 August 1943; Struck from the Naval Register 19 June 1946; Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission 29 December 1947 and sold; Fate unknown.' Call sign Nan-Peter-Xray-Zebra. Specifications: displacement 270 t.; length 136'; beam 24'6"; draft 8'; speed 15 kts.; complement 32; armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount, two 20mm mounts, two depth-charge projectors; propulsion two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Commanding officers listed: LTJG Herbert S. Etchegaray, USNR (18 August 1943); LTJG Arthur L. Luebke, USNR (1945). Photographs: trial runs c. 1943 (from the collection of LT Herbert S. Etchegaray, USNR Ret., via contributor Cliff Schroff); two crew photographs at Olongapo Dock, Subic Bay, PI, 21 May 1946 (Lenor Art Studio, Subic City). Page states: 'There is no DANFS History currently available for YMS-320.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Construction trades at Al Larson Boat Shop (1942-43); crew (1943-46); COs Etchegaray and Luebke; crewman Homer L. Graff Jr. and others named in 1946 photo captions
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track NVR-style data. Contains no asbestos or material content. The May 1946 photographs document presence at Subic Bay with crew aboard, not activity status or decommissioning state.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-02
-
[4]uboat.net Allied Warships of WWII, USS YMS-320 (YMS-320) - build/milestone data [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship/9745 data block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net data block: built by Al Larson Boat Shop Inc. (Terminal Island, California); ordered 11 April 1942; laid down 20 July 1942; launched 9 January 1943; commissioned 18 August 1943; stricken 19 June 1946; sold 29 December 1947. No operations/events entries are listed for this hull (the page's 'commands' section is empty - unlike sister-hull entries carrying transcribed task-group operations).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Crew (1943-46)
- Limitations
- uboat.net is a specialist secondary database compiling official records - milestone data only here; no war-diary transcriptions exist for this hull on the site, so operational detail comes from other rows. No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-03
-
[5]Shipbuilding History (Tim Colton), 'Al Larson Boat Shop, Terminal Island CA' yard vessel list - builder's production record [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com Al Larson Boat Shop table, YMS 320 row; navalmarinearchive.com/sbh/smallships/ym.html YMS 320 row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The builder's production table lists YMS-320 as a U.S. Navy minesweeper, 320 tons deadweight, 136 feet, delivered 18-Aug-43, disposition 'Struck 1946' - consistent with the 19 June 1946 strike date in NavSource/uboat.net. Al Larson Boat Shop was established 1903 by Peter Adolph (Al) Larson, a Swedish immigrant, building and repairing boats on Terminal Island; the yard also built sister minesweepers YMS-86, YMS-87, and YMS-321 through YMS-325, plus subchasers SC-734 and SC-735. Yard record verified independently at navalmarinearchive.com's YMS/BYMS builder table (same delivery data, 'San Pedro CA' location variant).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Al Larson Boat Shop construction trades (1942-43)
- Limitations
- Independent secondary yard register compiled from yard and government records, not a primary construction file. The 320-ton figure is deadweight per the table's convention and differs from the 270-ton displacement on the NavSource hull page - different measures, not necessarily a conflict (see gaps). No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-04
-
[6]NHHC online reading room, 'United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945' - official wartime fleet organization document [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC US Pacific Fleet Organization 1 May 1945, 'MINECRAFT, PACIFIC FLEET' section, YMS roster, 'YMS 320 - Lt. (jg) A. L. Luebke (USNR)'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- An official Navy organization document places this hull in service as of 1 May 1945: YMS-320 appears in the 'MINECRAFT, PACIFIC FLEET' section (Commander Minecraft, Pacific Fleet: R. Adm. A. Sharp) within the yard-minesweeper roster, listed with commanding officer 'Lt. (jg) A. L. Luebke (USNR)' - matching NavSource's second commanding officer - and a prefix-column code '96' whose legend is not transcribed in the online text. The roster places her among approximately 170 YMS on the Pacific Fleet minecraft list at that date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Population
- Crew under Lt.(jg) A. L. Luebke USNR (May 1945)
- Limitations
- Roster entry only - establishes ship, commander, and fleet-echelon assignment on one date; no locations, operations, or material content. The '96' prefix code's meaning is not stated in the transcribed page (likely an operational-assignment or location code in the original printed document). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-05
-
[7]Lt. Herbert S. Etchegaray, USNR Ret., 'How The U.S. Navy Almost Lost The Pacific War' - firsthand memoir of his command of YMS-320, written 1997-98, ~80 scanned pages hosted on the NavSource YMS-320 page (contributed by Cliff Schroff) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19320.htm memoir image series 111932004-111932080 (front cover, preface, 'NAVY No. 1-23'); sampled pages verified 2026-10-04
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A firsthand memoir by this hull's first commanding officer (Lt.(jg), later Lt., Herbert S. Etchegaray, USNR) documents her service narrative: post-commissioning alterations at the Newport Beach yacht repair shops; a Long Beach harbor stop and transit to Pearl Harbor; minesweeping ahead of the Marshalls invasion ('we had made our sweep and had emerged unscathed'); loss of the towed sonic-boom cable rig - 'that ton-plus boom tore itself off the ship,' holing the hull at its attachment points, patched by chief engineer Shirley - during patrol near islands the author codes as 'Ivan and Jacob' pending a daylight lagoon entry; and post-Etchegaray episodes reported to him by XO/successor Arthur Luebke, including late-war patrol in company with YMS-100, 3-inch-gun practice against an unoccupied atoll beach, and a fuel-cargo call at Avila Beach bound for San Diego. The memoir gives the crew as 'our 35' and states the ship emerged without battle casualties. Seven of roughly eighty scanned pages were read directly this session (cover, preface, and pages 6, 34, 54, 66, 69); the remainder is cataloged by NavSource captions as a continuous memoir (sections labeled 'NAVY No. 1' through 'NAVY No. 23' plus supplements).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Crew under Etchegaray (1943-c.1944) and Luebke (1944/45-46); named hands include chief engineer Shirley, bosun 'Johnny', Jim Lytle; crew ~35 per the author
- Limitations
- A veteran memoir written half a century after the events - firsthand but informal, not an official record; specific dates and details inside it are unverified against the (undigitized) deck logs. Establishes service narrative only; contains no asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-06
-
[8]Official Military Ribbons (commercial vendor), WWII U.S. Navy ships campaign/battle-star table - campaign-participation entries transcribed for YMS-320 [other_primary]
- Locator
- officialmilitaryribbons.com USS YMS-207 to YMS-361 page, 'YMS 320' entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A transcription of Navy campaign-participation data lists YMS-320 for two Asiatic-Pacific engagements: '31 Jan 44 - 8 Feb 44, P26-2, Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls' and '19 Feb 44 - 23 Feb 44, P26-3, Occupation of Eniwetok Atoll' - the Marshall Islands operations. Corroborated independently by the first-CO memoir (minesweeping ahead of the invasion; the 'Ivan and Jacob' island patrol episode) and by the George Edward Stevenson obituary ('Quartermaster aboard a mine sweeper YMS 320 during the Marshall islands invasion').
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Crew during Marshalls operations (Jan-Feb 1944)
- Limitations
- Commercial vendor page transcribing official CNO/NAVPERS campaign-participation lists - the underlying official list entry was not independently located this session, so verification is partial; the memoir and obituary corroborate Marshalls service but not the formal P26-2/P26-3 credit codes. No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-07
-
[9]Bakersfield Californian, 10 October 2008, p. 16 - obituary of George Edward Stevenson (1924-2008), YMS-320 quartermaster (page accessed via publisher-archive OCR text; page image paywalled) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Bakersfield Californian 10 Oct 2008 p.16, 'George Edward Stevenson 1924-2008' obituary (newspaperarchive.com OCR text)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A paid obituary documents a named crew member aboard this hull: George Edward Stevenson (b. 7 April 1924, Hollywood CA - d. 5 October 2008, Bakersfield) 'enlisted in the Navy in 1942, where he patrolled the California coast in a sub Chaser PC 816, was a Quartermaster aboard a mine sweeper YMS 320 during the Marshall islands invasion and was aboard an attack transport Clermont APA 143 during the final Battle in Okinawa,' and in 1946 was aboard the ship that returned the 100,000th soldier to Long Beach. This is a ship-specific crew record placing a rated quartermaster aboard during the January-February 1944 Marshalls operations.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- QM George E. Stevenson and shipmates (1943-45)
- Limitations
- Family-supplied paid obituary, OCR-transcribed and partially garbled - dates and spellings carry OCR noise. Establishes one individual's service aboard the hull, not material content. IMPORTANT disambiguation: the same newspaper page carries an unrelated obituary (John B. Antonino, a Southern California shipyard welder) whose asbestos-illness text surfaced alongside this hull in search snippets - the asbestos passage does NOT pertain to YMS-320 or Stevenson (see correction row ev-13).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-08
-
[10]NavSource Online: Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper (YMS) / British Motor Minesweeper (BYMS) Index - class description and class-level specifications [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19idx.htm class narrative and 'Auxiliary Motor Minesweepers (YMS-1 to YMS-481)' specification block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class context for this hull: 'The wood-hulled YMS proved to be one of the U.S. Navy's more durable and versatile types' - 561 yard minesweepers were built at 35 U.S. yacht yards (12 East Coast, 19 West Coast, 4 Great Lakes) beginning with YMS-1, laid down 4 March 1941 at Henry B. Nevins, Inc., City Island, NY. YMS-135 through -445, 480 and 481 (which includes this hull) carried one stack. Class-level specifications on the index: length overall 136', extreme beam 24'6", displacement 320 tons, max draft 6'1", complement 33, one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount and two 20mm mounts, designed speed 12 knots, General Motors 8-268A diesel engines on two shafts, designed shaft horsepower 880. Surviving YMS were reclassified as AMS and given bird names in 1947 - YMS-320, struck in 1946 and disposed overseas, never received one.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1947
- Population
- Class-wide construction and crew populations (1941-1969)
- Limitations
- Class-level description only - names the type's shared characteristics, not anything specific to hull 320 beyond her place in the single-stack production group. Spec figures differ from the hull-page values (320t/33/12 kts here vs 270t/32/15 kts on the hull page; see gaps). No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-09
-
[11]Era inference built on: NavSource class index (wood-hulled YMS type); NavSource/uboat.net hull data (two GM 8-268A diesels, reduction gear, two shafts - no steam plant); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy-wide asbestos-use documentation (ev-11); NARA asbestos research guide record-pathway (ev-12) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19idx.htm class description; NavSource 11/19320.htm propulsion spec; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; NARA asbestos guided-topic page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wood-hulled, diesel-driven minesweeper delivered in August 1943 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era. Era-standard applications on a small wooden diesel combatant of this type and period were diesel-exhaust and muffler lagging, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, machinery gaskets and valve packing, and electrical insulation. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply - and her wood hull and small machinery spaces imply a substantially smaller insulation footprint than a steam combatant.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Al Larson Boat Shop construction trades (1942-43); engine-room and maintenance crew (1943-46); any yard/base trades during availabilities (Newport Beach repair-shop alterations per memoir); unknown post-sale handlers (1947+)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for YMS-320. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity, no manufacturer attribution, no ship-proven presence. The small craft's reduced systems footprint makes the inference weaker than for steam-powered hulls of the same era.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-10
-
[12]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's entire construction (1942-43) and service era (1943-46).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, re-confirmed 2026-10-04 - same standing defect as Batches 01/98/8941) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-11
-
[13]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' - official NARA research guide to Navy asbestos records [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/navy/guided-topics/asbestos - 'Beginning Research' and RG 19 correspondence sections
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's official asbestos research guide identifies the record series where hull-specific asbestos material would be documented: RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) general/confidential/secret correspondence 1940-1961, filed by hull designation - for this hull, 'YMS320' - with ship-class correspondence under the namesake's code and type-level correspondence under 'YMS'; plus private-yard correspondence filed 'QM/<yard name>' - for this hull's builder, QM/Al Larson Boat Shop - which 'should include the correspondence between the Bureau of Ships and the particular yard.' These series are undigitized physical holdings; none were retrieved or reviewed this session.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1940-1961 (coverage of cited series)
- Limitations
- A research pathway, not a finding - the guide documents where hull-level BuShips material records would live; it does not state that any asbestos document exists for YMS-320. RG 19/YMS320 and QM/Al Larson Boat Shop files unreviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-12
-
[14]Bakersfield Californian, 10 October 2008, p. 16 - obituary page containing BOTH the George E. Stevenson (YMS-320) obituary and the unrelated John B. Antonino shipyard-welder obituary [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Bakersfield Californian 10 Oct 2008 p.16 - 'George Edward Stevenson 1924-2008' and 'John Batista Antonino 1923-2008' obituaries (newspaperarchive.com OCR text)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: search results for this hull surface the asbestos illness of a Southern California shipyard welder (John Batista Antonino, 1923-2008, certified welder in Southern California shipbuilding yards, WWII-era naval service ending in medical discharge) because his paid obituary shares the same newspaper page as the obituary of YMS-320 quartermaster George E. Stevenson. The asbestos passage ('did not know the risk of being exposed to Asbestos and in the later years of his life it began to take its toll') belongs to Antonino's obituary - a shipyard-welder exposure narrative unrelated to this hull - NOT to Stevenson or YMS-320. No published source located attributes an asbestos illness to a YMS-320 crew member.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2008
- Limitations
- Corrects a plausible conflation in search/snippet output, not a documented claim in the record. Antonino's exposure history is occupational (shipyard welding), his naval service brief and hull unstated; it should not be cited as YMS-320 exposure evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-13
-
[15]Batch-8949 search ledger (this record): NARA Special List 44 and digitized-log list; NHHC DANFS (no entry exists); NavSource hull page, class index, and hosted memoir; uboat.net; shipbuildinghistory and navalmarinearchive yard tables; NHHC Pacific Fleet organization roster; NARA asbestos research guide; NVR; VA Board of Veterans' Appeals search; CourtListener base queries (partial - fleet pacing); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-320-01 through sl-uss-yms-320-15
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, VA/BVA decision, or docketed case naming YMS-320 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener status is PARTIAL: three of four base queries completed - exact-name opinion returned zero hits; exact-name docket returned 973 loose-match results and hull-number opinion 48 loose-match results, all 40 first-page hits read and classified as unrelated (the search engine tokenizes the phrase; only false positives were the digit string '320' inside docket-ID arrays - none mention this hull); the hull-number docket base query was blocked by fleet pacing at session end - logged blocked, not negative. The only 'asbestos aboard' material for YMS-class hulls is law-firm marketing listicle content asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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 - it is consistent with both genuinely light insulation fit and simple non-digitization of small-craft records. CourtListener coverage is incomplete this session (fleet pacing); undigitized deck logs (RG 24), RG 19 BuShips hull/class correspondence, and QM/Al Larson Boat Shop yard files remain open archival leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-320-14