Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-370 - construction, disposal, specs, call sign, photo record (live page verified 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19370.htm header block, specifications block, and photo captions (Kohl)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: YMS-1 Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper; laid down 23 January 1943 by the Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, NY; launched 7 August 1943; completed 19 October 1943; 'Decommissioned at Subic Bay, Philippines'; struck from the Navy Register 19 June 1946; 'Destroyed 7 April 1948'; call sign NCVR (Nan-Charlie-Victor-Roger). Spec block: displacement 270 t.; length 136'; beam 24'6"; draft 8'; speed 13 kts.; complement 50; armament one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount; propulsion two 880bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Photo captions document: the ship in the Whangpoo River, Shanghai, China, 16 February 1946; and officers and crew at Olongapo Dock, Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines, 16 May 1946 (both credited to Clarence Clayton Kohl, S 1/c USNR). Page states explicitly: 'There is no DANFS History currently available for YMS-370.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- Wheeler yard construction trades (1943); commissioning crew (Oct 1943); wartime and postwar crew (1943-46)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestone dates generally track NVR/NHC-era data and here agree with uboat.net and the Wheeler yard table. The spec block's complement figure of 50 conflicts with the YMS-1 class standard of 32 and with the firsthand officer account of ~34 (see gaps); 'decommissioned' and 'destroyed' entries carry no dates for the former and no mechanism/location for the latter. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-01
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[2]uboat.net Allied Warships, USS YMS-370 (YMS-370), ship 9789 - milestones table (live page verified 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship page 9789, milestones table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net documents for this hull: ordered 13 April 1942; built by Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp. (Whitestone, Long Island, NY); laid down 23 January 1943; launched 7 August 1943; commissioned 19 October 1943; stricken 19 June 1946. The commands table is empty ('We don't have any commands listed') and no notable-events entries are recorded for this hull; the 'End service' field is blank.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Limitations
- uboat.net is a curated secondary database (Gudmundur Helgason) - milestone data generally tracks official records; the empty commands and events tables mean this page corroborates milestones only, not operations. 'End service' blank - no decommissioning date given. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-02
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[3]National Archives Special List #44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (ship-number ordering), PDF page 120 [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf p. 120, entry 'YMS-370 10/20/1943 - 6/30/1945'; RG 24 deck-log series per archives.gov logbook pages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's official inventory lists one deck-log entry for YMS-370: coverage 10/20/1943 - 6/30/1945 - spanning her commissioned career from the day after completion (19 Oct 1943) through the middle of 1945, covering the Key West minesweeping period and the Pacific transit toward the Philippines. The logs are held at NARA (Record Group 24 deck-log series).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-10-20 to 1945-06-30
- Population
- Crew (1943-1945); names and daily movements inside the undigitized log
- Limitations
- Inventory entry only - the logbook itself is not digitized on the National Archives 'Navy Deck Logs Available Online' listing (checked 2026-10-04; only named ex-YMS vessels - AMS/MSCO conversions - appear there), so its contents are an unexamined primary source. Coverage ends 6/30/1945: the inventoried volume does not cover her Philippine, Korean, or China postwar sweeping service, her decommissioning at Subic Bay, or her striking (19 Jun 1946); later logbooks presumably exist but are not listed in SL-44. The coverage dates document log spans, not asserted commissioning or decommissioning dates. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-03
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[4]Rutgers Oral History Archives, interview with Hugh McLeod Maxwell (Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ, conducted May 2005 by Nicholas Molnar and David D'Onofrio; transcript reviewed by Maxwell December 2005) - firsthand officer account of YMS-370 service (full text verified live 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- maxwell_hugh_mcleod.pdf transcript pp. 9-16 (Key West assignment; Pacific transit; Philippines; Okinawa typhoon; Jinsen/Tsingtao/Pusan; Shanghai); p. 10 (crew and armament detail)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A former officer of this hull narrates her service firsthand: assigned aboard YMS-370 at Key West, Florida, in the fall of 1944, where she swept the American defensive minefield laid to protect the convoy-assembly area - 'we cleaned up all the mines that were down [there], that we had put out' - daily sweeping until about February-March 1945. Reassigned to the Pacific: Miami - Key West - Panama Canal - Corinto, Nicaragua - Manzanillo, Mexico - San Diego - Honolulu - Johnston Island - Eniwetok - Ulithi - Tacloban, Leyte - Lamon Bay, Luzon, escorting two tugs towing barges at ~6 knots ('We were the smallest [type of] ship to cross the Pacific under its own power. It was wooden-hulled.'). Swept Japanese minefields in the Philippines around Leyte and Lamon Bay; heard of the Japanese surrender by radio in an isolated Philippine bay. Rode out the October 1945 Okinawa typhoon at sea with a destroyer escort and four or five other YMSs (rolls to ~70 degrees, three days), en route to Jinsen (Inchon), Korea. Then Tsingtao, China - encountered a Japanese cruiser waiting to surrender (an American cruiser was summoned to accept). Then about two months sweeping American B-29-dropped mines (magnetic, acoustic, contact) off Pusan, Korea. Then months sweeping the Yangtze and Whangpoo (Huangpu) Rivers at Shanghai, from which Maxwell rotated home (via Japan and San Francisco, stateside by ~Memorial Day 1946). Ship's company per his account: 'thirty men and four officers' (a Black steward's mate named Penick among the crew; the skipper - unnamed - had served on the invasion of Italy). Armament per his account: one 3"/50 on the bow, two 20mm antiaircraft, .50-caliber machine guns, depth charges; 1903 Springfield rifles used for mine destruction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (service narrated); interview 2005
- Population
- YMS-370 officers and crew, 1944-46 (Maxwell: gunnery, supply, communications, minesweeping officer; Penick, steward's mate; unnamed skipper); Wheeler construction trades (1943)
- Limitations
- Oral-history recollection ~60 years after the events - dates and counts are approximate (e.g., he places Tsingtao in 'September of '45' yet narrates it after the 9 October 1945 typhoon; his 'eleven ships of our type sunk' exceeds the seven U.S. YMS losses NavSource records for the 9 October 1945 Okinawa typhoon); the interviewer supplies bracketed clarifications and the transcript was subject-reviewed by Maxwell in December 2005. It establishes firsthand what the ship did and where, not official dates. The skipper is never named. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-04
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[5]Secondary reproduction of U.S. Navy WWII campaign/battle-star data (officialmilitaryribbons.com, 'Navy Ship World War 2 Campaign Battle Stars, YMS 362 to YMS 481') [other_primary]
- Locator
- Page block 'YMS 370:' - two credit rows (P207, P207-28)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A secondary compilation of Navy WWII campaign-credit data lists two engagement/operation credits for YMS-370, both postwar minesweeping: P207 Minesweeping Operations Pacific (14 October 1945 - 1 February 1946) and P207-28 Yangtze River Approaches (22 February - 8 March 1946). No wartime (pre-surrender) campaign credits are listed - consistent with the firsthand account of stateside Key West sweeping followed by a late-war Pacific transit that reached the Philippines around V-J Day.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-10-14 to 1946-03-08
- Population
- Crew (Oct 1945 - Mar 1946 postwar operations)
- Limitations
- Commercial vendor page reproducing official Navy campaign-credit data - not itself an authoritative source; unverified against the OPNAV source document. The two-credit record is consistent with (a) the Maxwell narrative and (b) the Whangpoo River photo of 16 February 1946 - the Yangtze credit window (22 Feb - 8 Mar 1946) brackets the ship's documented Shanghai presence. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-05
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[6]shipbuildinghistory.com (Tim Colton yard compilation), Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp. Whitestone NY yard table and yard history (live page verified 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- wheelerw yard table row 'YMS 370 ... 19-Oct-43 ... Struck 1946'; yard-history narrative paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Builder corroboration: the Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp. (Whitestone NY) yard table lists 'YMS 370 | US Navy | Minesweeper | 278 LDT | 136 ft | delivered 19-Oct-43 | Struck 1946' - matching NavSource and uboat.net on builder, delivery/completion date, and striking year. YMS-370 was the last of the yard's eight-boat YMS block (YMS-363 through YMS-370). The yard-history narrative describes Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp., Whitestone, as the second yard of the Wheeler Yacht Company (founded Brooklyn, NY), which 'started out building minesweepers but went on to build tugs and coastal freighters' and closed in 1948.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943 (build); yard closed 1948
- Population
- Wheeler Whitestone construction trades (1943)
- Limitations
- Secondary yard compilation - valuable for build data, fallible on dispositions (it carries only 'struck 1946,' omitting the 1948 destruction NavSource records). Delivered date corroborates the 19 Oct 1943 completion/commissioning. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-06
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[7]HyperWar 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' YMS-370 page - photographs credited to Clarence Clayton Kohl, S 1/c (ship and crew) (live page verified 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar USN/ships/YMS/YMS-370.html - spec block vs photo captions (Kohl)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: the HyperWar page titled 'YMS-370' embeds a specification block headed 'YMS-374' - it reads '136-foot class Motor Minesweeper: Displacement 286 tons (full)... Complement: 4 officers, 29 crew... Built at Weaver Shipyards, Orange, Tex. and commissioned 7 August 1944,' data matching the Weaver-built YMS-374 line, not this hull (Wheeler Shipbuilding, Whitestone NY; commissioned 19 October 1943). The page's photographs - credited to Clarence Clayton Kohl, Seaman 1st class ('front row, with cap, next to dog') - are correctly identified to this vessel. Only the photographs should be associated with YMS-370; the embedded YMS-374 data block is a wrong-hull block and must not be propagated.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- page last updated 2008
- Limitations
- Corrects a mislabeled data block on an otherwise reliable transcription mirror - the photographs (same Kohl images as NavSource) are genuine for this hull while the spec block belongs to a Weaver-built sister number. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-07
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[8]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 (1943) and U.S. 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, confirmed 2026-10-04) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-08
-
[9]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block (2 x GM 8-268A diesels, 880 bhp; wooden YMS-1-class hull per NavSource YMS/BYMS index - built at 35 yacht yards; class designed by Henry B. Nevins, Inc.); uboat.net class data; firsthand 'wooden-hulled' confirmation (ev-04); GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-08) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19370.htm spec block and 11/19idx.htm class description; uboat.net YMS class data; Maxwell firsthand 'wooden-hulled' statement
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wooden-hulled diesel-powered motor minesweeper built in 1943 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a small diesel combatant of this type and period were exhaust-system lagging, machinery and engine gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and brake linings on winch and sweep gear. As a diesel vessel she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply - and her wooden hull lacked the pipe runs and hull insulation typical of steel steam ships, narrowing (not eliminating) the era-typical asbestos applications.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- Wheeler construction trades (1943); crew (1943-46); disposal crews (1948)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for YMS-370. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-09
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[10]Batch-9004 search ledger (this record): NavSource; uboat.net; NARA Special List 44 PDF; NARA digitized-deck-log listing; NHHC DANFS probe; NHC Online Library index; NVR live probe; HyperWar page; Cressman official chronology (4 chapters, zero mentions); officialmilitaryribbons battle-star compilation; shipbuildinghistory Wheeler yard table; Rutgers Oral History Archives; GAO product page; wrecksite.eu probe; secondary web litigation sweep; CourtListener (partially run - status per search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-370-yms370-01 through -17
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS YMS-370 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener status: the hull-number docket base query ('YMS-370', type=r) completed and verified zero results; the other three base queries (exact-name opinion, exact-name docket, hull-number opinion) could not be completed - the fleet-wide pacing budget was spent on repeated attempts - logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced only generic mesothelioma law-firm content not specific to this hull - excluded by source policy. No DANFS entry exists (NHHC URL 404 confirmed; NavSource states none available); NVR carries no entry (disposed 1946-48, pre-1987 coverage); no NHC Online Library page exists for this hull; the Cressman official Navy chronology contains zero mentions of YMS-370 across its 1943-1946 chapters; no Wheeler-yard asbestos documentation was located.
- 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 - and the litigation repository search is incomplete (one of four base queries run; three blocked this session). The 10/20/1943-6/30/1945 deck log, later logbooks covering the postwar Korea/China service and Subic decommissioning, Wheeler work packages, and the 1948 destruction/disposal file are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-370-yms370-10