Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet jw-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Deede — https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/deede.html
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-deede-de263-pkt-jw-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, Deede (DE-263) (Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division; verbatim hazegray DANFS transcription - live NHHC page returns 404 on both current and legacy URL patterns) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'Deede (DE-263)' - namesake biography, spec block, service narrative, disposition
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 6 April 1943 by Boston Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. M. B. Deede, mother of the namesake; commissioned 29 July 1943, Lt. Cmdr. J. W. Whaley in command. Spec block: Evarts class, 1,140 t, 289 ft 5 in, 35 ft 1 in beam, 8 ft 3 in draft, 21 kt, complement 156, 3x3-in + 8 dcp + 1 hedgehog + 2 dct. Service: arrived Pearl Harbor 17 November 1943; Gilberts invasion - convoy screen to Tarawa and patrol off Makin to 23 December; Majuro 3 February 1944 as harbor pilot and patrol vessel during the occupation; convoy escort Majuro-Pearl Harbor to 26 May; Eniwetok base from 14 June, escorted oiler task unit refueling TF 53 on 20 June (close of the Battle of the Philippine Sea) and TF 58 during the Bonins raid 24 June; screening and patrol during the Marianas assault and capture 6 July-1 September; escorted Crater (AK-70) to Guadalcanal; convoy escort to Peleliu from 2 October and Palaus duty to 17 November; Pearl Harbor submarine-training escort/target to 6 February 1945; Iwo Jima reinforcement convoy arriving 23 February, patrol off Iwo Jima to 20 March; screened transports returning the 4th Marines to Pearl Harbor 4 April; overhaul at San Francisco and training at San Diego and Pearl Harbor; replenishment group for the 3d Fleet at Ulithi from 21 July during the final air raids and bombardments on Japan; communications linking ship between Benevolence (AH-13) and Tranquillity (AH-14) 16-21 August; entered Tokyo Bay 2 October; Hawaiian Sea Frontier 17 October-19 November; arrived San Francisco 25 November; decommissioned there 9 January 1946 and sold 12 June 1947. Awarded six battle stars. Namesake: Lt.(jg) LeRoy Clifford Deede, USNR, born 5 February 1916 Woodworth, N.D.; Naval Aviator 21 September 1938; DFC for the 27 December 1941 PBY bombing attack on a Japanese naval force in Jolo Harbor, Sulu, P.I.; killed 17 June 1942 in the Asiatic area.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; USN crew 1943-46 (DANFS complement 156)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents construction, specifications, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. No keel-laying date or striking date is stated in the entry (NavSource supplies 23 February 1943 and 21 January 1946 respectively - lead-level). 'Decommissioned there 9 January 1946' refers to San Francisco; NavSource gives the specific berth at Richmond Kaiser Yard No. 2 - consistent, both on San Francisco Bay. Live NHHC page returns 404 on both URL patterns; verbatim mirror transcription cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-01
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[3]Ship's History of the U.S.S. DEEDE (DE-263), ship-submitted official war history forwarded by Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CinCPac file A7-1(P), serial 40098, received stamp 26 OCT 1945) to the Secretary of the Navy; facsimile scan hosted by NavSource [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-263 page, 'War History' link (06263wh.jpg, 3-panel scan): cover letter + narrative + operations/ports table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Primary document submitted by the ship at war's end: commissioned at Boston 29 July 1943; six weeks' shakedown at Bermuda; final repairs and training at Boston and Norfolk; departed New York for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal, San Diego, and San Francisco. Operations table (official dates): (1) Gilbert Islands Operation 13 November-8 December 1943 - escort/screening and radar guard ship at Tarawa and Makin, 'under numerous air attacks', including night attention by a Betty bomber off Makin; (2) Marshall Islands Operations - occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro atolls 29 January-8 February 1944; (3) Marianas Operation - capture and occupation of Saipan 11 June-10 August 1944, first Bonins raid June 1944 (table shows '6/25/44-6/16/44', an internal typographical error), capture and occupation of Tinian 12 July-15 August 1944 and Guam 21 July-10 August 1944 - anti-submarine screening and night bombardment duties at Saipan, Guam, and Tinian, 'straddles' from Japanese shore batteries off Tinian Town without hits; (4) Western Carolines Operation - Southern Palaus 6 September-14 October 1944 after a 15-day overhaul and rest at Purvis Bay, Florida Island; (5) Leyte Operation 10 October-29 November 1944 - sole escort of Kossol Roads/Leyte Convoy No. 1 from 12 November; (6) Iwo Jima Operation 15 February-16 March 1945 - anti-submarine screen around the island; (7) operations against the Japanese Empire with Task Force 30, 29 July-15 August 1945 - within 500 miles of Tokyo at the surrender, arrived Tokyo Bay 2 October. Returned to Pearl Harbor for rest/overhaul/refresher training after Leyte; left the Volcano Islands late March 1945 for overhaul and rehabilitation leave at San Francisco plus refresher training at San Diego; at Pearl Harbor early June to July. Departed Tokyo Bay 7 October 1945 for home.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- USN crew 1943-45; Boston Navy Yard and Norfolk post-shakedown trades 1943; Purvis Bay repair personnel 1944; San Francisco overhaul workforce spring 1945
- Limitations
- Facsimile of an official document hosted on a volunteer archive - content is the ship's own submission but the scan was read at image level; minor table transcription ('6/25/44-6/16/44' for the first Bonins raid) is internally inconsistent and carried verbatim rather than corrected. Documents yard-period events (Boston/Norfolk post-shakedown availability, Purvis Bay overhaul, San Francisco overhaul) but no materials or asbestos content. Differs from DANFS in granularity, not in substance; DANFS's Eniwetok overhaul and Crater escort legs are not contradicted.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-02
-
[4]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Deede (DE-263) page (volunteer archive; lead-level): building/operational data block, captioned USN/NHHC photographs, commanding-officers roster [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-263 page, 'Building and Operational Data' block, photo captions 0626302/0626305/0626306/0626307, commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Photo-archive detail corroborating and extending DANFS: keel laid 23 February 1943 at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Mass.; launched and christened 6 April 1943 (sponsor Mrs. M. B. Deede); commissioned 29 July 1943 under Lcdr. J. W. Whaley; decommissioned 9 January 1946 at Richmond Kaiser Yard No. 2, Victory Dock No. 2, Berth 12, Richmond, Cal. 'after 2 years and 5-1/3 months of service'; struck from the NVR 21 January 1946; sold 12 June 1947, scrapped. Captioned USN photographs (credited to the Naval Historical Center/NHHC): NH 91593 and NH 91594 - '21 May 1945: San Francisco, Cal. - Two views of USS Deede (DE 263) at the Hunter's Point Naval dry-docks, San Francisco, California. Circles mark recent alterations'; NH 91630 - Mark 52 gun director with attached Mark 26 fire-control radar at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard (Hunter's Point), same date. A fourth caption (0626302) dates the same 21 May 1945 but reads 'at Mare Island Navy Yard' - a caption conflict carried in gaps. Crew photographs dated 6 December 1945 at Mare Island Navy Yard. Command roster: Lcdr. James William Whaley, USN (29 Jul 1943 - 17 Jan 1944); Lt./Lcdr. Murdock M. Maxwell, USNR (17 Jan 1944 - 27 Oct 1945); Lt. James D. Camp, USNR (27 Oct 1945 - 9 Jan 1946, through decommissioning). Class spec block: GMT (diesel-electric tandem motor drive, short hull); 1,140 t light / 1,430 t full; 4 GM 16-278A diesels with electric drive, 6,000 shp, 2 screws; 19 kt; range 4,150 nm at 12 kt; complement 15/183. Awards ribbons: American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific w/ 6 stars, WWII Victory.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; Hunter's Point drydock workforce May 1945; Kaiser Richmond decommissioning workforce January 1946; USN crew 1943-46
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained photo archive - lead-level documentation, not an official record; dates, roster, and photo captions are unverified against the underlying USN/NHHC/NARA originals (the NHHC photo numbers NH 91593/91594/91630 are credited but the NHHC photo pages were not independently located). The 21 May 1945 yard-name conflict between captions (Mare Island vs Hunter's Point) and the complement conflict (class spec 15/183 vs DANFS 156) are carried in gaps. Nothing on materials aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-03
-
[5]Evarts-class GMT design data (DANFS spec block + NavSource class spec block: 4 GM 16-278A diesel engines, tandem-motor electric drive, 6,000 shp, no propulsion boilers or steam plant) + Atlas shipyards.json record 'boston-naval-shipyard' (tier 3; John Crane gasket litigation-allegation row; WWII peak employment 50,128 in 1943) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS spec block (cl. Evarts, 21 kt); NavSource DE-263 spec block (GMT drive, 4 GM 16-278A, 6,000 shp); shipyards.json 'boston-naval-shipyard' record
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for a diesel-electric escort built at a U.S. Navy yard in 1943: the GMT machinery plant - four General Motors 16-278A diesel engines in tandem with electric drive, 2 shafts, 6,000 shp - has NO propulsion boilers and no steam system, so the heavy steam-ship asbestos categories (boiler lagging, steam-line insulation) do not apply. Plausible period applications concentrate in diesel exhaust/muffler insulation, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical insulation (a full diesel-electric drive plant), deck coverings, accommodation insulation, and friction linings on deck machinery. Builder-yard context: Boston Navy Yard was one of four navy yards building Evarts-class DEs (with Mare Island, Puget Sound, and Philadelphia); the Atlas yard dataset documents the yard at tier 3 with a litigation-allegation row for John Crane gaskets/sealing materials and 1943 peak employment of 50,128.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943 (construction); 1943-46 (service)
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943; USN engineering crew 1943-46
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - not a ship-specific finding. No BuShips materials specification or General Information Book page for DE-263 was retrieved; the product list is an era inference and does not establish asbestos presence, quantity, or location aboard this hull. The yard dataset's product row is a litigation allegation (In re John Crane, Tex. App. 2003), not a survey of the yard's wartime stock.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-04
-
[6]CourtListener API v4 sweep (opinion index type=o; RECAP docket index type=r) for exact name 'USS Deede' and hull number 'DE-263' via cl-auth-search.py (authenticated, fleet-paced) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-deede-de263-06 through -09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep: exact-name query '"USS Deede"' (type=o) returned 0 results - no opinion naming this vessel located in the opinion index. Hull-number query '"DE-263"' (type=o) returned 12 hits, all name-collision strings on review - the case names are ERISA, bankruptcy, SEC-enforcement, family-law, NLRB, and Puerto Rico matters; a refined query '"DE-263" (asbestos OR ship OR vessel OR navy OR destroyer)' returned 0 results, confirming none of the 12 has vessel or asbestos context. The two RECAP-docket queries ('"USS Deede"' and '"DE-263"', type=r) remained pending at drafting - the fleet-wide pacing budget returned 'momentarily spent' on spaced retries across the session; final status in search_ledger rows sl-uss-deede-de263-08/-09. No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located in the completed portion of the sweep.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Opinion index swept for both name and hull number (complete); docket index pending pacer at drafting - see search_ledger for final status. The sweep does not cover state-court records, asbestos trust claims, VA claims, or non-U.S. jurisdictions. 'Deede' is a distinctive surname with a low collision surface, but any future hit still requires collision classification rather than automatic attribution.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-05
-
[7]Batch-4185 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS + hazegray/HyperWar mirrors, NVR, NavSource, the ship-submitted war history scan, NARA catalog (muster rolls and war diaries), Atlas shipyard dataset, CourtListener API v4 [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-deede-de263-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no ACM survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, material-condition report, or litigation naming this hull was found in the public sources searched. No preservation-era documentation can exist - the hull was sold for scrapping in June 1947 and was never a museum, memorial, or reserve-fleet asset after disposal. Marketing ship lists maintained by law firms do name USS Deede (DE-263) among Navy hulls (e.g., asbestos-ships.com, mesotheliomahope.com, Shepard O'Donnell, freeasbestostesting.com) - those are non-citable marketing pages, not evidence, and are logged as exclusions only.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard. The hull was scrapped in 1947, so no present-day survey is possible; whether era materials aboard contained asbestos is undocumented in either direction. Construction-era yard records and per-vessel BuShips specifications are paper leads only (ev-07).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-06
-
[8]NARA catalog records for DE-263: muster rolls file unit 'Deede (DE-263), 7/29/43-12/1/45' (NARA ID 125666276, RG 24 microfilm roll 1309, digitized via the Ancestry partnership) + monthly war-diary file units 'DEEDE - War Diary' covering 12/1-31/43, 1/1-31/44, 2/1-29/44, 3/1-31/44, 4/1-30/44, 5/1-31/44, 6/1-30/44, 7/1-31/44, 8/1-31/44, 9/1-30/44, 10/1-31/44, 11/1-30/44, 2/1-28/45, 4/1-30/45, 7/1/45-8/31/45, 10/1-31/45 in the WWII War Diaries series [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog: muster-roll unit NARA ID 125666276 (RG 24, roll 1309); war-diary file units incl. NARA IDs 78275079 (12/43), 78316743 (1/44), 78636142, 77502492, 78564106, 78576745 (1944 months) and others in the WWII War Diaries series
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Hull-specific federal records exist and are retrievable: (1) RG 24 muster rolls for DE-263 spanning 29 July 1943-1 December 1945 (the full commissioned life), digitized on NARA microfilm roll 1309 - a personnel roster source for reconstructing the exposed population; (2) monthly war-diary file units for DEEDE covering December 1943-October 1945 in the WWII War Diaries series - contemporaneous operational records including yard-period dates; (3) not yet located in digitized form: RG 19 BuShips contract specifications / General Information Books covering DE-263's construction at Boston Navy Yard, RG 24 deck logs for the hull, and Boston Navy Yard production records (RG 181 Boston entry series) - paper leads for hull-level material specifications.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (records); 2026 (catalog enumeration)
- Population
- USN enlisted crew 1943-45 (muster-roll population); construction workforce (Boston Navy Yard, RG 181 lead)
- Limitations
- The catalog entries were enumerated via the NARA catalog search endpoint; the individual war-diary file units were not opened and their contents are unknown. Muster rolls and war diaries document personnel and operations - they contain no materials data themselves and establish nothing about asbestos aboard. RG 19/RG 181 holdings were identified as series-level leads, not pulled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-deede-de263-07
