USS Barry (APD-29)

Evidence

7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).

1. [1]DANFS, Barry II (DD-248/APD-29) (construction, interwar service, WWII escort and TG 21.14 service, APD conversion, southern France, Okinawa loss; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative; parallel current text on surfpac.navy.mil/Ships/USS-Barry-DDG-52/About

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS record for this hull: launched 28 October 1920 by New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. Shelton E. Martin, great-grandniece of Commodore Barry; commissioned with 50-percent complement 28 December 1920, LTjg A. H. Bamberger, USNR; held in reserve commission until full commission 15 November 1921, Atlantic Fleet. Mediterranean 1922-23 (U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters); Destroyer Squadron 14, Scouting Fleet from August 1923; Pacific maneuvers early 1925 and February 1932; assigned to Rotating Reserve Destroyer Squadron 19 at Norfolk 20 December 1932; recommissioned at Norfolk 20 June 1933; Destroyer Division 7 Scouting Force (San Diego) 1933-36; brief flagship of Destroyer Division 8 (Atlantic, 1936); Destroyer Division 22 Battle Force (Pacific, late 1936); Hawaiian waters January-April 1938; Destroyer Division 21 (Atlantic) from 21 May 1938; Destroyer Division 67, Canal Zone, from 18 October 1940. WWII: Caribbean escort (Guantanamo-Panama, Curacao-Trinidad) early 1942; South Atlantic escort from Trinidad into mid-1943; TG 21.14 hunter-killer group (Card CVE-11) July-November 1943, two sweeps (30 Jul-10 Sep; 28 Sep-8 Nov) during which Card aircraft sank eight German submarines; Barry and Goff (DD-247) rescued Borie (DD-215) survivors after the 1 November 1943 U-405 ramming. Converted to high-speed transport at Charleston Navy Yard 31 December 1943-17 February 1944, reclassified APD-29 15 January 1944. Departed for Mers-el-Kebir 13 April 1944; southern France landings (Levant, Port Cros, mainland) 16-20 August; western Mediterranean escort to December; Norfolk 23 December 1944; Pearl Harbor 24 March 1945; arrived off Okinawa 16 May 1945. Kamikaze hit below the bridge 25 May 1945 (28 wounded; abandon ship 1340; fires out 0630 next day with Sims APD-50 and Roper APD-20 parties); towed to Kerama Retto 26 May; decommissioned 21 June 1945; sunk under tow as a kamikaze decoy the same day, her escort LSM-59 sinking with her. Presidential Unit Citation (TG 21.14) and four battle stars. Specs block: dp. 1,215; l. 314'4"; b. 31'8"; dr. 9'10"; s. 36 k.; cpl. 122; a. 4 4", 1 3", 12 21" tt.; cl. Clemson.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1919-1945

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1919-20; interwar and wartime crew (design complement 122 as DD-248)

   Limitations

   DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The current NHHC DANFS text (carried on the navy.mil USS Barry DDG-52 page, HTTP 403 to automated fetch - verified via search index) adds a 1924 'plane guard' detail for the Army Around the World Flight absent from the HyperWar transcription's older edition; both are DANFS. Live NHHC DANFS page returns 404; verbatim HyperWar transcription cited.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-01

2. [2]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Barry (APD-29) ex USS Barry (DD-248) (chronology, campaign/awards table, APD specifications, commanding officers, NARA photo references) + NavSource Destroyer Archive DD-248 page (as-built specs) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NavSource APD-29 page - chronology, campaign table, specifications block, CO table; NavSource DD-248 destroyer archive page (05/248)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   NavSource record for this hull: laid down 26 July 1919 at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J. (YN 237); launched 28 October 1920; partially commissioned 28 December 1920; decommissioned and assigned to Rotating Reserve, Norfolk, 20 December 1932; recommissioned 20 June 1933; designated APD-29 15 January 1944; converted at Charleston Navy Yard 31 December 1943-17 February 1944. WWII campaigns: TG 21.14 (American Campaign 27 Jul-10 Sep 1943; EAME 25 Sep-9 Nov 1943); Invasion of southern France 14 Aug-2 Sep 1944; Okinawa Gunto 10 May-30 Jun 1945. Awards: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive 25 May 1945), Presidential Unit Citation, American Defense Service Medal with bronze star, campaign medals as listed; 28 Purple Hearts for 25 May 1945. Severely damaged by kamikaze NW of Okinawa 25 May 1945; towed to Kerama Retto; stripped, decommissioned, and struck from the Naval Register 21 June 1945; sunk by kamikaze attack with USS LSM-59 while under tow as a decoy, 21 June 1945. APD-29 specs: 2,130 t (fl); 314'4" x 30'8" x 9'10"; complement 8 officers + 98 enlisted, troop accommodations 8 officers + 144 enlisted; 4 LCP(L); armament 3x 3"/50, 2x 40mm, 5x 20mm, 1 depth-charge track, 4 depth-charge projectors; propulsion two Westinghouse geared turbines, two Foster Wheeler boilers 250 psi sat, twin screws, listed 26,000 shp. DD-248 as-built specs (NavSource destroyer page): 1,215 t; 314'5" x 31'8" x 9'10"; 4x 4"/50, 1x 3"/23AA, 12x 21" tt; 26,500 shp Westinghouse turbines, 2 screws; 35 kt; crew 114. Commanding officers include LT Forrest P. Sherman (later Admiral) June-July 1921 and final CO Clemens Francis Hand, USNR (listed LT on the APD-29 page and LCDR on the DD-248 page - minor rank discrepancy noted), 5 September 1944-21 June 1945. NARA photo holdings referenced: 80-G-307337 and companions (APD-29 off Norfolk, 9 February 1945); 80-G-302954 (hulk stripped at Kerama Retto before the decoy tow).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1919-1945

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding trades 1919-20; Charleston Navy Yard conversion workers 1943-44; crew and embarked troops 1944-45

   Limitations

   NavSource is a curated secondary compilation, not a primary document; consistent with DANFS where they overlap. Documents machinery and operations, not materials or asbestos content. Its APD-29 block lists 2 boilers yet repeats the ~26,000-shp figure - internally inconsistent (the as-built 26,500-shp figure belongs to the four-boiler destroyer plant); HyperWar's APD-29 listing reads 13,000 shp/35 kt. Discrepancy carried in gaps.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-02

3. [3]Naval Historical Center (NHHC) Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS Barry (DD-248, later APD-29), 1920-1945' (ship summary + official photo catalog NH 56349, NH 52423, NH 64560, NH 73277, NH 56355) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NHHC Online Library page usnsh-b/dd248.htm (ship summary + photo index)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Official Naval Historical Center ship page (transcribed on ibiblio/HyperWar) corroborates this hull's record: 'a 1190-ton Clemson class destroyer built at Camden, New Jersey, commissioned in late December 1920'; reserve status until Atlantic Fleet service November 1921; Mediterranean 1922-23; Pacific operations 1925 and 1932; San Diego base from July 1933; Canal Zone assignment autumn 1940; Caribbean/South Atlantic convoy escort into mid-1943; Card (CVE-11) hunter-killer group whose two North Atlantic cruises 'sank eight German U-boats'; conversion to high-speed transport end of 1943, reclassified APD-29 January 1944; southern France landings August 1944; western Mediterranean escort; Pacific; Okinawa mid-May 1945; gravely damaged by suicide plane 25 May; towed into port; decommissioned a few weeks later; on 21 June 1945 the unmanned hulk 'was sunk by Kamikaze attack while under tow on a mission to divert enemy suicide pilots from more valuable targets.'

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1920-1945

   Population

   Crew 1920-1945

   Limitations

   NHHC summary documentation - corroborates DANFS and catalogs official photographs; contains no materials or asbestos information. Displacement figure (1,190 t) differs slightly from DANFS specs (1,215 t) - both official NHHC texts; not merged.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-03

4. [4]George A. Hinckley, 'Kamikaze Decoy,' Naval History 12(4), U.S. Naval Institute, August 1998 - first-person account by the lieutenant ordered to prepare the hulk [reputable_press]

   Locator

   Naval History vol. 12 no. 4 (August 1998), 'Kamikaze Decoy' article body

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Contemporaneous first-person account of this hull's final disposition: the author, a Naval Reserve lieutenant on VADM Harry W. Hill's Fifth Amphibious Force staff, records that Task Force 51 selected the damaged Barry (APD-29) at Kerama Retto to be used as a kamikaze decoy and ordered him to prepare her; Beach Jumper Unit Nine assisted. Describes the 25 May attack: two kamikazes at 1300, one shot down, the second striking below the bridge 'tearing a 28-by-10-foot hole in her hull,' with LT C. F. Hand ordering abandon ship at 1340; while in tow after the hit a party from Roper manned her 40-mm guns and shot down an attacker. Records the decoy mission and the hulk's sinking under tow.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1945 (events); 1998 (publication)

   Population

   Crew aboard Barry (APD-29) May-June 1945; Beach Jumper Unit Nine; LSM-59 crew

   Limitations

   Published memoir-style account (reputable; U.S. Naval Institute) - documents the loss, not materials or asbestos. Conflicts logged rather than merged: arrival off Okinawa 15 May (DANFS 16 May); 'ten U-boats' claimed for TG 21.14 (DANFS eight). Live usni.org page returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch; content verified via search-index excerpts and the magazine's own August 1998 issue index; no Wayback capture located.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-04

5. [5]Batch-2424 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 exact-name and hull-number sweeps for USS Barry / DD-248 / APD-29 (opinion and docket indexes) [court_record]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-barry-apd29-05 through sl-uss-barry-apd29-08

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located. CourtListener sweeps (2026-09-25, authenticated API v4): exact-name "USS Barry" opinion search returned a single hit - Marine Hydraulics International, Inc. v. United States, 43 Fed. Cl. 664 (1999), a ship-repair contract dispute (other litigation, non-qualifying; a 1999 repair contract cannot concern a hull sunk in 1945). Hull-number opinion queries "DD-248"/"APD-29"/"APD 29" returned one hit - Tays v. Robinson (Kan. 1903) - an identifier collision predating the hull. Docket-index sweeps: three asbestos personal-injury dockets contain 'USS Barry' in indexed text - Carolan v. GE (N.D. Cal. 3:07-cv-04352, 2007), McIsaac v. GE (D. Mass. 1:19-cv-10282, 2019), Maynard v. Air & Liquid Systems (N.D. Cal. 3:24-cv-07252, 2024) - none verified to name this hull (the same three dockets surfaced in batch-15's review of the DD-933 record's shared name space, where the 'USS Barry'/'DD-933' references were unresolvable to a specific hull from public index text; McIsaac in particular carried 'USS Barry' text only); the remaining 'USS Barry' docket hits are name collisions or other litigation (Kelly v. Hegseth, Talbott v. Trump, Hecker v. Rucker Krepp, Sanders v. Allison Engine, Northwest Territorial Mint bankruptcy) plus MDL-875 JPML index noise; all 19 hull-number docket hits are identifier collisions or MDL-875 noise. No hit located names DD-248 or APD-29.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   2026-09-25

   Limitations

   Absence of located litigation does not prove absence of exposure or of asbestos aboard. Public court indexes do not cover non-indexed state-court filings, settled cases, or asbestos bankruptcy-trust claims. Index-level classification only: the three asbestos dockets' 'USS Barry' references could not be resolved to a specific hull from public index text (documents auth-walled); any post-1945 alleged exposure window cannot be this hull, which sank 21 June 1945 - classified down to unverified references, consistent with litigation-stage discipline. 'USS Barry' is a high-collision name shared with DD-2 (1902-19) and DD-933 (1956-82).

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-05

6. [6]DANFS specifications (Clemson-class destroyer plant; Charleston Navy Yard conversion record) + Atlas shipyard dataset entries for new-york-shipbuilding (tier 1) and charleston-naval-shipyard (tier 2) [other_primary]

   Locator

   DANFS specifications block and conversion passage; shipyards.json records 'new-york-shipbuilding' (tier 1) and 'charleston-naval-shipyard' (tier 2)

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Era/yard inference: a Clemson-class flush-deck destroyer built 1919-20 with a multi-boiler geared-turbine steam plant would have carried period-standard insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing - materials of that construction era commonly containing asbestos - and her 31 December 1943-17 February 1944 conversion to a high-speed transport at Charleston Navy Yard was a peak-era naval-yard event during which era insulation was disturbed and reapplied. Builder New York Shipbuilding (Camden) is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (tier 1: Pabco Caltemp block, 85% magnesia, Transite panels, asbestos gaskets and packing among documented products), as is conversion yard Charleston Naval Shipyard (tier 2: magnesia pipe insulation, boiler coatings, spray-on insulation, gaskets, packing). NARA RG 19 Bureau of Ships 'General Information Books' and RG 181 Charleston Navy Yard records are archival leads for hull-level material specifications.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1919-1945

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1919-20; Charleston Navy Yard conversion workers 1943-44; crew and embarked troops 1920-45

   Limitations

   Class/era and builder/conversion-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding; no ship-specific asbestos row exists in this record. The yard-level product documentation for both yards derives primarily from later (WWII and postwar) records; application to this 1919-20 hull is era inference, not ship-proven. NARA GIB and yard work-package records not retrieved. The hull lies sunk off Okinawa - no surviving fabric to survey.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-06

7. [7]National Archives leads: RG 24 deck logs for Barry (DD-248/APD-29) 1920-1945; RG 19 Bureau of Ships General Information Books; RG 181 Charleston Navy Yard records (1943-44 conversion); NARA 80-G photo series (80-G-307337 et seq., off Norfolk 9 Feb 1945; 80-G-302954, hulk at Kerama Retto) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NARA catalog.archives.gov (RG 24 / RG 19 / RG 181); photo numbers per NavSource APD-29 image captions

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Archival holdings relevant to this hull exist at NARA: the 80-G photo series images cataloged on NavSource (80-G-307331 through -307337 taken by NAS Norfolk 9 February 1945 showing the post-conversion APD-29; 80-G-302954 showing the stripped hulk at Kerama Retto between Sims APD-50 and LST-53 in early June 1945) document her configuration and damage state; RG 24 deck logs (1920-1945), RG 19 Bureau of Ships records, and RG 181 Charleston Navy Yard conversion work packages are the material-specification leads. No digitized deck-log coverage for this hull was located in the National Archives Catalog.

   Verification

   unverified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-25

   Study period

   1919-1945 (records); 2026-09-25 (search)

   Population

   New York Shipbuilding trades 1919-20; Charleston Navy Yard workers 1943-44; crew 1920-45

   Limitations

   Archival leads, not reviewed: deck logs record operations/positions, not materials; build and conversion records could resolve material schedules but were not retrieved (no spend authorized). Catalog API queries for 'Barry (APD-29)' returned no result via automated fetch - holdings asserted from the NavSource-cited photo numbers and standing RG coverage, not from a catalog itemization for this hull.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-barry-apd29-07