Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet 1066-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-409-yms409-pkt-1066-packet-md
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[2]NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive, YMS-409 page [museum_official]
- Locator
- YMS-409 entry: timeline block, specifications block, photo-caption blocks (Kenner/Bailey/Gaston collections), 'no DANFS History' notice
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- YMS-409 was a YMS-1 class auxiliary motor minesweeper: laid down 1943-05-12 by Henry C. Grebe and Co., Chicago, IL; launched 1943-10-27; completed 1944-01-01; foundered 1944-09-12 off Cape Hatteras, NC in the Great Atlantic hurricane of 1944 with the loss of all hands; struck from the Navy List 1944-10-14. Specifications: 270 t displacement, 136' length, 24' 6" beam, 8' draft, 13 knots (15.3 on trials), complement 33; armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount, two 20mm mounts, one .30 cal machine gun, two depth charge tracks and two K-guns; propulsion two 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. The page documents U.S. Navy officers and crew serving aboard during 1944 (crew photographs and casualty correspondence from the collections of LTJG Bernard Alexander Kenner, SoM2c Lee M. Bailey USNR, and MoMM2c James Elliot Gaston, including a 1944-09-20 missing-at-sea telegram and Bureau of Naval Personnel letters). NavSource states explicitly: 'There is no DANFS History currently available for YMS-409.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained archival photo/history project, not a government publication; the timeline and specifications are unfootnoted. Contains no asbestos, materials, or insulation information whatsoever - this row establishes identity, construction, Navy service, and loss only, and supports no asbestos claim. Complement 33 is NavSource-only (no DANFS entry exists for cross-check).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-01
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[3]Naval History and Heritage Command, Casualties: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Vessels Sunk or Damaged Beyond Repair during World War II, 7 December 1941-1 October 1945 [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Section 'U.S. Navy Minecraft' > 'Motor Mine sweepers (YMS)', YMS-409 line
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Naval History and Heritage Command's official list 'Casualties: U.S. Navy and Coast Guard Vessels Sunk or Damaged Beyond Repair during World War II, 7 December 1941-1 October 1945' records under Motor Minesweepers (YMS): 'USS YMS-409 foundered in the North Atlantic, 12 September 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- Official NHHC loss record; independently confirms the hull and loss date (1944-09-12) but says 'in the North Atlantic' without naming Cape Hatteras, the hurricane, or a casualty count - those details rest on NavSource (ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-01). Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Auxiliary Minesweeper Photo Archive, YMS/BYMS class index page [museum_official]
- Locator
- Class narrative and characteristics table ('Auxiliary Motor Minesweepers (YMS-1 to YMS-481)'); YMS-409 index line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class context: the YMS-1 class were 136-foot wooden-hulled auxiliary motor minesweepers designed by Henry B. Nevins, Inc. (lead ship YMS-1 laid down 1941-03-04); 561 were built at 35 yacht yards (12 East Coast, 19 West Coast, four Great Lakes - consistent with this hull's builder, Henry C. Grebe and Co. of Chicago). All hulls of the type shared the same general characteristics: GM 8-268A diesel engines on two shafts, designed speed 12 knots, complement 33, one 3"/50 and two 20mm mounts. Surviving YMS hulls were reclassified AMS and given names only in 1947; YMS-409, lost in 1944, was never named. NavSource's class index carries YMS-409 with no name or reclassification annotation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1941-1969
- Limitations
- Class-level documentation: establishes the wooden-hull/diesel design and construction program, not anything aboard this specific hull. The class characteristics table states 320 t displacement and 6' 1" max draft vs 270 t and 8' on the YMS-409 page - class-page and hull-page figures differ (see gaps). No asbestos or materials content; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-03
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[5]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
- DOI resolves to Wiley Online Library, AJIM 11(3):359-373 (Wiley returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch; DOI chain verified resolving 2026-10-05)
- 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 World War II, the era and program under which this 1943-44 naval minesweeper was built at a Great Lakes yacht yard under Navy contract.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel or class, does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. Note the countervailing class fact: the YMS-1 design is wooden-hulled and diesel-powered (no boilers/steam plant), so the era's highest-volume shipboard asbestos applications (boiler and steam-line lagging) did not apply to this type.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-04
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[6]Batch-9047 search ledger (this record): NavSource YMS-409 page and YMS class index; NHHC WWII casualties list; DANFS/NHHC check; NVR fetch; CourtListener pacing-governed attempts; shipyards.json builder check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-yms-409-yms409-01 through sl-uss-yms-409-yms409-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement record, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming YMS-409 was found in the public sources searched. There is no DANFS entry for this hull (NavSource states 'There is no DANFS History currently available for YMS-409'). The hull was a total loss in 1944 and was never raised, converted, or preserved, so no modern survey documentation exists to find. CourtListener base queries (exact-name and hull-number, opinion and docket indexes) were attempted this session; results are recorded in the search ledger - at report time the fleet-wide pacing governor had not yet admitted the queries (blocked, not negative).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 2026-10-05
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - it reflects that the hull was lost in 1944 and generated no postwar survey/abatement record trail. Asbestos presence aboard this specific hull remains unknown, and the wooden diesel design makes the steam-era lagging profile inapplicable. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-05
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[7]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 24 (Bureau of Naval Personnel) and RG 19 (Bureau of Ships); NARA WWII deck-logs guidance [other_primary]
- Locator
- RG 24 and RG 19 record-group descriptions; https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/019.html ; https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead (not retrieved - requires research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): NARA RG 24 (Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel) holds the casualty correspondence of the type reproduced on the NavSource page (Bureau of Naval Personnel letters dated 1944-10-04 and 1947-01-17 and the Secretary of the Navy letter dated 1945-10-15, photographed from crew collections); WWII deck logs (RG 24, Logs of U.S. Naval Ships and Stations) for YMS-409, January-September 1944, would record operations, drills, and any underway maintenance; RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships) holds YMS-1 class plans and contract records that could document specified insulating materials for the type.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-05
- Study period
- 1943-1947 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull or class is unknown until surveyed. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-yms-409-yms409-06