Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 1064-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (thin sourcing disclosed)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (thin sourcing disclosed)
- Evidence ID
- uss-yms-40-yms40-pkt-1064-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-40 - construction, specifications, disposal timeline (verified live 2026-10-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19040.htm - vessel header block, timeline, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'Laid down 19 June 1941 by Robert Jacobs, Inc., City Island, NY; Launched 14 March 1942; Completed 23 April 1942; Struck from the Naval Register 1 May 1946; Transferred to the War Shipping Administration in March 1948; Registered in 1950 to Gladys L. Salveson of Shaw, WA as the yacht Sea Tramp out of Bellingham, WA; Fate unknown.' Call sign Nan-Baker-Victor-Able. Specifications: displacement 270 t. (251 t. in 1950 registry); length 136 ft (126.2 ft 1950); beam 24 ft 6 in (25 ft 1950); draft 8 ft (11.3 ft 1950); speed 15 kts; complement 32 (three in 1950); armament one 3-inch/50 dual-purpose mount, two 20mm mounts, two depth-charge projectors; propulsion two General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow & Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. No DANFS history exists for this vessel; no photograph is held.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1950 (documentation coverage)
- Population
- Robert Jacob yard trades (1941-42); wartime crew ~32 (1942-45); WSA/civilian transfer and yacht-conversion trades (1946-50)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track NVR/DANFS-era records but carry no citation per line. Contains no asbestos or material content. The 'Completed 23 April 1942' wording (vs 'commissioned' in some secondary sources) is preserved; the 880-bhp figure printed for the engines conflicts with class literature (~440 bhp each) - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-01
-
[3]Department of the Navy, Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual NAVPERS 15,790 (Rev. 1953), Part IV - Asiatic-Pacific Area engagement-star credit (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAVPERS 15,790 Part IV, Asiatic-Pacific Area ship list, 'YMS 40:' line (HyperWar Awards-IV-16.html)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official Navy awards manual credits 'YMS 40' with one Asiatic-Pacific engagement star: '4 Jan 45 - 10 Jan 45, P32-2' - the Lingayen Gulf landing phase of the Luzon operation (P32). This places the hull in the Philippine Islands for the January 1945 Lingayen Gulf invasion, sweeping for the amphibious force. It is the vessel's only listed campaign credit in the manual.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-01-04 to 1945-01-10 (credit window)
- Population
- Wartime crew ~32 during Lingayen Gulf operations, 4-10 Jan 1945
- Limitations
- Documents a battle-star credit window, not day-by-day movements: the manual awards the credit for participation during 4-10 Jan 1945 without specifying sweep areas or units alongside. Establishes Pacific presence Jan 1945 only - her 1942-44 stations are not covered (deck logs are the open lead). No asbestos content. HyperWar is a verbatim transcription of the government manual; NAVPERS 15,790 is the underlying authority.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-02
-
[4]National Archives, Special List 44: List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 - ship-number inventory (1978) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, PDF page 120, 'YMS-40 5/1/1942 8/9/1945' (RG 24, Entry 118, NARA II College Park)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The National Archives deck-log inventory lists 'YMS-40' with logbook coverage 5/1/1942 - 8/9/1945 (PDF page 120 of the ship-number list, verified against the downloaded document this session). The logs - in RG 24 (Bureau of Naval Personnel), Entry 118 - are the primary record of her day-by-day stations from shortly after completion through nine days before V-J Day; they are not publicly digitized.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-05-01 to 1945-08-09 (log coverage)
- Population
- Crew across the coverage span (1942-45)
- Limitations
- Inventories the existence and date span of the deck logs only - their contents (stations, availabilities, personnel) are unexamined and undigitized, so her 1942-44 assignments remain undocumented here. Log coverage 5/1/1942-8/9/1945 is a coverage span, not commissioning/decommissioning dates. No asbestos content. NARA catalog is JS-rendered and could not be searched for digital copies this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-03
-
[5]National Museum of the Pacific War / Admiral Nimitz Foundation, Oral History Interview with Richard Scharlach (interviewed 17 June 2009; Portal to Texas History, UNT Libraries) [museum_official]
- Locator
- Portal to Texas History metapth1609473 item page + abstract
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A veteran's oral-history interview names this hull at the end of the war: Richard Scharlach, an electronics technician who had served aboard USS Ramsay (DM-16) in Hawaiian waters in early 1945, 'was assigned to USS YMS-40' after the war ended, and 'it was immediately decommissioned. So he returned home and was discharged in May of 1946.' The account corroborates that the vessel was decommissioned in the post-surrender drawdown and supports the May 1946 stricken/closure window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945-1946
- Population
- Post-war crew including Electronics Technician Richard Scharlach (1945-46)
- Limitations
- A recollection recorded 64 years after the fact; the interview abstract does not give the decommissioning location or exact date. It is a personnel/vessel-history data point only - no exposure or material content, and no exposure claim is made for Scharlach or any individual. UNT portal page verified live (HTTP 200); item description corroborated via the DPLA record (dp.la/item/04c5410c4805e160164ecbe632217afe).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-04
-
[6]Shipbuilding History (shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net): Robert Jacob Shipyard, City Island NY - yard history and build list; corroborated by the site's Yard Minesweepers (YMS/BYMS) production list [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net/us-yacht-small/jacob/ build table (YMS-40 row) and yard-history header; /us-navy-small/ym/ production list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The builder's documented yard list includes 'YMS-40, US Navy, minesweeper, delivered 23 Apr 1942, struck 1946.' The yard history: established in the 1850s, owned by Robert Jacob from 1900, a WWI subchaser and interwar yacht builder that produced WWII minesweepers (the YMS-38 through YMS-41 block among them), PT boats, tugs, and subchasers from City Island; sold to Consolidated Shipbuilding in 1946; the yard closed in 1958 and survives as the Consolidated Yacht Yard. The four-hull block's sisters: YMS-38 to the USSR 1945, YMS-39 mined off Borneo and lost 1945, YMS-41 struck 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1942 (build); yard timeline through 1958
- Population
- Robert Jacob yard workforce (1941-42 build window)
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary reference compiled from government and yard records - corroborates the delivery date and builder, but is not itself a primary document. No asbestos or material content; the yard's wartime material practices are undocumented here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-05
-
[7]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications (wooden-hulled YMS-1 class, GM 8-268A diesel direct drive, no steam plant); YMS-1 class design record (481 wooden-hulled motor minesweepers built by ~35 yacht yards); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era documentation (see ev-07) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 11/19040.htm specifications block; YMS-1 class design record; GAO HRD-80-2 (ev-07)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wooden-hulled diesel-powered minesweeper built 1941-42 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, but the construction type sharply bounds the inference: with no boilers, turbines, or steam lines aboard, the dominant shipboard asbestos pathway does not apply. Era-standard applications consistent with a wooden motor minesweeper of this period were diesel exhaust and muffler lagging, localized engine-space thermal insulation, machinery gaskets and valve packing, electrical insulation, and friction materials (winch/windlass brake linings). Wooden-hull construction further reduced the insulated piping and lagged bulkhead surface area found on steel combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Robert Jacob yard trades (1941-42); wartime crew ~32 (1942-45); repair/availability trades undocumented
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for YMS-40. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity; no manufacturer attribution for this hull. Wooden small craft of this class carried materially less asbestos than steam-driven steel vessels - the inference is bounded, not eliminated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-06
-
[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 (1941-42) and service era (1942-46).
- 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 or type. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch, re-confirmed 2026-10-04) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-07
-
[9]Batch-9037 search ledger (this record): NavSource YMS-40 page; shipbuildinghistory yard and YMS production lists; NAVPERS 15,790 awards credit; NARA Special List 44; NMPW oral-history collection; NHHC DANFS; NVR; CourtListener (opinion and docket indexes); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-40-yms40-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming YMS-40 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero results on three of the four base queries - '"USS YMS-40"' opinion, '"USS YMS-40"' docket, and '"YMS-40"' opinion - while the '"YMS-40"' docket query could not be completed this session (fleet pacing 429s across repeated attempts; logged blocked, see gaps). No DANFS entry exists (NHHC URL 404; NavSource confirms none). No Naval Vessel Register entry exists (NVR excludes ships disposed prior to 1987; this hull was disposed 1948).
- 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 one of four CourtListener queries is a genuine open gap (the '"YMS-40"' docket search was throttled, not run to completion; the completed queries cover the opinion index where asbestos decisions appear). The deck logs - the likeliest source of availability/repair detail - are inventoried but undigitized (RG 24, Entry 118); no material survey was located for the 1948 WSA transfer or the 1950 yacht conversion. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-40-yms40-08