Evidence
14 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-14).
-
[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-326-yms326-pkt-1052-packet-md
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 3 (1945 edition), Motor Mine Sweepers (YMS) table (scan via shipscribe.com) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 v3, Motor Mine Sweepers (YMS) table, printed p. 540, YMS326 row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Bureau of Ships' wartime registry lists this hull: 'YMS326 - 136 ft. 0 in. length, 24 ft. 6 in. breadth, 1,000 shaft horsepower, Ballard Marine Ry. Co., Inc., Seattle, Wash.,' remarks 'Diesel reduction' - official confirmation of identity, dimensions, diesel propulsion, and builder.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Registry-line documentation: confirms identity/specs/builder but contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or service-station statement. The 1,000 shp figure conflicts with NavSource's 2 x 880 bhp engine listing (see gaps); 'Allocation (district)' column blank for this hull. OCR extraction of the scan was used for reading; the underlying scan is the record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-326, file 11/19326 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19326 - timeline block, spec block, and photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: laid down 2 June 1942 by Ballard Marine Railway Co., Inc., Seattle, WA; launched 17 November 1942; completed 15 March 1943; transferred to the War Shipping Administration 8 April 1947 and sold; struck from the Naval Register 10 June 1947; fate unknown. Spec block: 270 t displacement, 136 ft length, 24 ft 6 in beam, 8 ft draft, 13 kts, complement 50; armament one 3-inch/50 dual-purpose mount and two 20mm mounts; propulsion two 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesels with Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear on two shafts. Page notes explicitly that no DANFS history exists for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary archive, not a Navy record - corroborated against BuShips SDB 1945 (builder, dimensions, diesel) and uboat.net (dates). 'Completed' 15 March 1943 matches the NARA deck-log start date for this hull. Contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement. Complement (50) and speed (13 kts) conflict with class-standard secondary figures (32; 15 kts) - flagged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-02
-
[4]Naval History and Heritage Command, photograph NH 84980, 'USS YMS-326' [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC NH-series numerical image list, NH 84980 catalog entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC photograph NH 84980 documents this hull 'In San Francisco Bay circa 1945,' noting a 'Ghost or snowman insignia on bridge'; courtesy of Donald McPherson, 1976. Official museum record placing the vessel in Navy service on the U.S. West Coast late in WWII.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- circa 1945
- Limitations
- Photographic record only - establishes the hull's existence in Navy service circa 1945 in San Francisco Bay; says nothing about asbestos, materials, station assignments, or crew. Date is 'circa 1945,' not exact.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-03
-
[5]National Archives and Records Administration, Special List 44 - List by Ship Number (sl-44-ship-number.pdf), YMS-326 row [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, p. 118, YMS-326 row (verified by pdftotext extraction this session)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List 44 (List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947) inventories U.S. Navy deck logs for YMS-326 covering 3/15/1943 - 12/31/1945, documenting continuous WWII Navy service within the coverage window. The log holdings themselves (RG 24, NARA College Park) are the primary source for this hull's stations, movements, and operations; they are not digitized.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-03-15 to 1945-12-31
- Population
- WWII crew (1943-1945 service window)
- Limitations
- The dates are deck-log coverage, not asserted commissioning or decommissioning dates - the completion date (1943-03-15) coincides with the log start but commissioning terminology rests on secondary sources. Log contents (stations, operations, any material records) were not reviewed; they are undigitized and require research-room or reproduction access.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-04
-
[6]shipbuildinghistory.com (T. Colton), 'Ballard Marine Railway, Seattle WA' yard page - WWII production table [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ballard Marine Railway production table, 'YMS 326' row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The compiled production table for Ballard Marine Railway, Seattle WA lists 'YMS 326 - US Navy - Minesweeper - 278d tons - 136 ft - 15-Mar-43 - Struck 1946' among the yard's 16 WWII Navy hulls (4 BYMS, 8 YMS, 2 PCS, 2 YP, built 1942-45) - confirming builder and completion date from a shipyard-history source, and noting the yard was taken over in 1946 by Pacific Fishermen, a fishermen's cooperative that still operates on the site.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Compiled secondary research table, not an original yard record. Its 'Struck 1946' disposition conflicts with NavSource/uboat.net 'struck 10 June 1947' - the 1947 date is carried and the variant flagged in gaps. Contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement; yard asbestos-use history is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-05
-
[7]uboat.net, Allied Warships of WWII - USS YMS-326 (YMS-326), ship ID 9746 [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net warship record table for YMS-326
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net Allied Warships record for USS YMS-326 corroborates: built by Ballard Marine Railway Co., Seattle; ordered 13 April 1942; laid down 2 June 1942; launched 17 November 1942; commissioned 15 March 1943; stricken 10 June 1947.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Limitations
- Secondary compiled database; the 'Commissioned 15 Mar 1943' wording conflicts with NavSource's 'Completed' (same date) - terminology variant flagged in gaps. 'Ordered 13 Apr 1942' rests on this source alone. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-06
-
[8]NavSource Online: YMS/BYMS index (11/19idx) class narrative and YMS-135 photo archive (Dutch Harbor photo); NHHC, 'Damn the Torpedoes: Naval Mine Countermeasures, 1777-1991' (class-level) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19idx class narrative; NavSource 11/19135 Dutch Harbor photo caption; torpedoes.pdf pp. ~62, 77 (YMS role text)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Class and unit context: the wood-hulled YMS-1 class of auxiliary motor minesweepers (481 completed at 35 yacht yards - 12 East Coast, 19 West Coast, 4 Great Lakes) was designed by Henry B. Nevins, Inc. for inshore sweeping ahead of amphibious assaults; YMS-135 through -445, -480, -481 form the single-stack subclass to which this hull belongs; surviving YMS were reclassified AMS and named in 1947 - the same window in which this hull was transferred out of Navy custody (April 1947), so she never received an AMS designation. NHHC's official mine-warfare history documents the class's WWII role (mostly-YMS sweep groups at Iwo Jima, degaussed wooden hulls for magnetic-mine work). Sister-unit photography places YMS-130 and YMS-135 at Dutch Harbor, Aleutians c. 1943-45, and crew-family accounts place this hull in the Aleutians 1943-44 - unofficial corroboration only.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Aleutian YMS detachment crews (unit context)
- Limitations
- Class/unit-level context, not a ship-specific record: the class narrative and NHHC history describe the type; the Dutch Harbor photo names YMS-130/135, not this hull; the Aleutians association for YMS-326 rests on crew-family accounts and a model-builder's compiled documents (forum-level, not citable under source policy) - held as an unverified lead, not asserted as fact.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-07
-
[9]Consolidated era/design inference - BuShips SDB 1945 v3 machinery/diesel row for this hull (ev-01) + NavSource spec block and YMS class narrative (wood-hulled, GM 8-268A diesels) + wartime naval-construction asbestos documentation (Fleischer 1946 ev-10; Corn & Starr 1987 ev-09; GAO HRD-80-2 ev-11) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 v3 p. 540 YMS326 row; NavSource 11/19326 and 11/19idx
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: a wood-hulled diesel-driven auxiliary motor minesweeper completed March 1943 inside the WWII naval-construction asbestos era would have carried the period's standard small-craft applications - diesel-exhaust and machinery lagging, flange and valve gaskets, machinery packing, electrical insulation, and joiner/accommodation insulation - commonly manufactured with asbestos fiber in this period. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant: the boiler, fireroom, and steam-line lagging pathway documented for larger Navy vessels does not apply, and a 270-ton wooden hull carried far less installed thermal insulation than steel steam vessels.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Ballard Marine Railway construction trades (1942-43); WWII crew (1943-45); repair/maintenance trades at west-coast and Aleutian bases; 1947 purchaser and any subsequent conversion or breaking workforce
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, specification, or material list located for YMS-326. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity, no manufacturer attribution, no present-day presence. The diesel plant and wooden hull bound the plausible asbestos-relevant scope well below steam-vessel norms.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-08
-
[10]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
- Wiley Online Library, AJIM 11(3):359-373 abstract page (verified live 2026-10-04)
- 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 auxiliary motor minesweeper was built - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization in shipbuilding.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- 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)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel or class and does not establish that asbestos was aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-09
-
[11]Fleischer, W.E., Viles, F.J. Jr., Gade, R.L., and Drinker, P., 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 28(1):9-16 (Jan 1946), PMID 21016030 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed record PMID 21016030 (citation verified via Europe PMC REST record - PubMed HTML is reCAPTCHA-gated to automated fetches this session)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- The U.S. Maritime Commission-commissioned industrial-hygiene survey of WWII pipe-covering operations at Navy and Navy-contract yards documented that 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels is amosite' - i.e., asbestos insulation was standard material in wartime naval-vessel construction of exactly this hull's era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- survey ~1944-45; published 1946
- Population
- WWII pipe coverers and insulators at Navy and contract yards (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level documentation of asbestos use in naval construction generally; does not name this vessel, class, or builder yard. Pipe covering is a smaller system aboard a diesel-driven wood-hulled minesweeper than aboard steam vessels - the amosite finding bounds the era's materials, not this hull's content. Establishes nothing about this hull's materials, condition, or any individual exposure. (The study's exculpatory 'not a dangerous occupation' conclusion has since been heavily criticized - see the 2026 critique at DOI 10.1177/10482911261446696.)
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-10
-
[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 (1943-47).
- 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, confirmed 2026-10-04) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-11
-
[13]Batch-8955 search ledger (this record): NARA Special List 44 PDF; BuShips SDB 1945 v3; NHHC NH 84980; NavSource 11/19326 and 11/19idx; uboat.net 9746; shipbuildinghistory.com Ballard; MARAD ShipHistory keyword search; NVR; HyperWar minecraft list; NHHC mine-warfare history; indexed-web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-326-01 through sl-uss-yms-326-16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, court finding, or docketed asbestos case naming USS YMS-326 / YMS-326 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). No asbestos-marketing content was found for this hull at all - unlike larger vessels, even law-firm listicle coverage is absent. The one litigation repository search (CourtListener) was rate-limited this session and is logged blocked, not negative.
- 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 - a 1943 naval auxiliary is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials even in a limited diesel/wood fit. Undigitized deck logs (RG 24), BuShips contract plans (RG 19), and WSA disposal files are the open primary leads. CourtListener status is recorded separately in the ledger; litigation coverage may be incomplete if those queries could not be run. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-12
-
[14]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 24 (Bureau of Naval Personnel - deck logs), RG 19 (Bureau of Ships), RG 178/RG 357 (Maritime Commission/MARAD); MARAD ShipHistory database search; Mariners' Museum photo catalog [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov record-group guides; vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov ShipList keyword search 'YMS-326' (zero hits; control query 'YMS-140' returned Detail/11825, confirming the search works)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction access): deck logs for YMS-326 1943-1945 (RG 24, Entry 118, NARA College Park - SL44 confirms coverage 3/15/1943-12/31/1945); BuShips contract plans and any Booklet of General Plans for the YMS-135-subclass design (RG 19); War Shipping Administration surplus-vessel disposal file for the April 1947 transfer and sale (RG 178/RG 357 successor custody records); the Mariners' Museum photograph of this hull (catalog 17074STN, credited on NavSource); MARAD ShipHistory returned 'No results found' for this hull - no status card digitized.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1947 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. The WSA disposal file is the most promising post-Navy hazmat lead. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-326-13