Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet li-packet.md (3 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED. Note
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-delong-de684-pkt-li-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, DeLong III (DE-684) - namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative (verbatim transcription; live NHHC page returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Corporal Weldon Fader DeLong, USMCR (born 18 September 1915, Baras Corner, Nova Scotia; killed Point Cruz, Guadalcanal, 3 November 1942; posthumous Navy Cross). Launched 23 November 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., sponsored by Mrs. L.C. DeLong; commissioned 31 December 1943, LCDR R.C. Houston in command. Training duty off Miami from 10 March 1944 to war's end; reclassified APD-137 on 15 August 1945 and sent to Charleston for high-speed-transport conversion, which was canceled; resumed DE-684; arrived St. John's River, Fla., 5 November 1945; out of commission 25 April 1947. Recommissioned 7 February 1951; hunter-killer exercises in the North Atlantic; Fleet Sonar School Key West 4 April-11 July 1952; Operation 'Mainbrace' August-October 1952 (Edinburgh, Arendal, Danish coast); Key West again 5 January 1953; midshipman cruises 1953 (Santos, Willemstad) and 1954 (Dublin, Portsmouth); alternating Sonar School, Norfolk operations, Charleston overhauls, Caribbean exercises; cleared Norfolk 2 January 1958 for New York and served as 3d Naval District reserve training ship through 1962.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1962
- Population
- Bethlehem Fore River construction trades 1943; crew and embarked trainees 1943-1962 (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, builder, dates, and service history - not materials or asbestos content. The DANFS entry ends in 1962 and does not cover the 1969 striking or 1970 target sinking. The 'out of commission 25 April 1947' date conflicts with NavSource's January 1946 - carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC DANFS page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-01
-
[3]NHHC Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS DeLong (DE-684, briefly APD-137 in 1945), 1943-1970' (Naval Historical Center photo-history page; verbatim transcription) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC Online Library page NH 98909 et al., ship-history paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Naval Historical Center page for this hull covering final disposition: after 1958 Naval Reserve training duty in New York, DeLong 'passed out of service in August 1969' and 'was expended as a target during Operation "Springboard 70" on 19 February 1970.' Page also confirms Quincy construction, the March 1944-August 1945 Miami training-ship employment, the canceled APD-137 conversion, the February 1951 recommissioning, and European/South American deployments.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1970
- Population
- Crew and Naval Reserve trainees 1958-1969
- Limitations
- Confirms month of striking (August 1969) and the target-sinking disposal with date; does not give the day-level stricken date (8 August 1969 is NavSource), the sinking position, or any materials/asbestos content. Mirror transcription of official NHHC content cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-02
-
[4]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS DeLong (DE 684) building and operational data (volunteer-maintained secondary archive; compiles official records and contributor logs) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-684 page, 'Building and Operational Data' chronology block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology for this hull supplying detail DANFS does not cover: keel laid 19 October 1943 at the Fore River Yard, Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy (yard hull no. 1561); assigned to Destroyer Escort Division 2 on commissioning; decommissioned 16 July 1958 and placed 'in service' at the New York Naval Shipyard as an NRT unit of the Select Reserve ASW Force, 3d Naval District (Lt. G.H. Weeks OinC); recommissioned October 1961 at Fort Schuyler during the Berlin Crisis (Cmdr. Bryan McCrave, USNR; Escort Squadron 18, Newport, R.I.); decommissioned 1 August 1962 and returned to 'in service' 3d ND NRT duty with Reserve Destroyer Squadron 30; placed 'out of service' at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and struck from the Naval Vessel Register 8 August 1969 with custody to the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia; sunk as target off Puerto Rico 19 February 1970.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1970
- Population
- Crew, reservists, and NRT trainees 1943-1969
- Limitations
- Secondary compiled archive, not a primary Navy publication - day-level dates rest on NavSource alone where DANFS/NHHC are silent. Conflicts with DANFS on the first decommissioning (NavSource: January 1946 at Green Cove Springs; DANFS: out of commission 25 April 1947) - conflict carried in gaps rather than reconciled. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-03
-
[5]Destroyer History Foundation, Rudderow-class TEV design page (class specifications: long-hull TEV, 12,000 shp, 24 kt) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Fore River Shipyard record (tier 3; documented asbestos product categories incl. boilers, pipes, turbines, fireproofing, gaskets, packing) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org Rudderow-class specifications block; shipyards.json record 'fore-river-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: DeLong was a Rudderow-class TEV escort (72 built; turbo-electric 12,000 shp plant with two Combustion Engineering boilers and GE generator/motor drive) constructed in wartime 1943 at Bethlehem Fore River - a period and plant type for which boiler and machinery insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, packing, and fireproofing were standard asbestos applications. The builder yard is a tier-3 record in the project shipyard dataset with documented asbestos product categories.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1970
- Population
- Bethlehem Fore River construction trades 1943; crew 1943-1969
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding for this hull. Destroyerhistory.org is a secondary compiled reference; the yard record documents the yard, not materials installed aboard DE-684. Does not establish quantities, locations, or any crew exposure event aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-04
-
[6]Batch-4461 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC Online Library; NavSource DE-684 archive; NVR (not present - disposed pre-1987); web sweep for ship-specific asbestos documentation; NARA deck-log series lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-delong-de684-01 through sl-uss-delong-de684-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or product-identification document naming DE-684 was found in the public sources searched. The only web material joining 'asbestos' to this hull is generic law-firm marketing boilerplate (asbestos-ships.com, mesotheliomahope.com), an excluded source class containing no documented facts for this vessel. The hull was expended as a target in February 1970, before EPA NESHAP work-practice rules (1973+) and the Navy's mid-1970s asbestos-removal policy - no pre-sinking abatement record would be expected.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - 1943 steam-ship construction is consistent with era-standard ACM. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-05
-
[7]Navy insulation-spec suite identified as controlling era documents in destroyer-escort asbestos litigation: Bureau of Ships Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (24 Aug 1945); Navy Department Specification 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (Oct 1945); BuEng Manual ch.13 - per Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec (W.D. Wash. 2:17-cv-00537) exhibit-list recital, as cataloged in the Atlas john-c-butler-class class profile [other_primary]
- Locator
- john-c-butler-class.class.json class_notes + evidence rows citing Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec exhibit list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The era's controlling Navy insulation specifications - including an explicitly asbestos-named felt spec - are identified in DE-class litigation exhibit lists and cataloged in this dataset's John C. Butler-class profile. These are the correct next-pull targets for class-level asbestos specification documentation applicable to the Rudderow (TEV) class, a sister steam-escort design of the same build era.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1945 (spec dates)
- Limitations
- Identified secondhand via class-level research and a litigation exhibit list for a different DE class; the underlying spec documents were not retrieved in this session, and nothing in this row is specific to DE-684. Retrieval pending - treat as research lead only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-06
-
[8]NARA Record Group 19, Alphabetical Series of Ship Engineering Drawings - Rudderow/Crosley-class Booklets of General Plans (e.g., APD-117/118/119 Crosley class, 25 April 1945, digitized); NARA 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations' deck-log series covers this hull's commissioned periods; RG19 'General Information Books' per-vessel material specifications unexamined [other_primary]
- Locator
- archive.org item apdcrosleybogp1945 (NARA RG19 download provenance noted in item metadata); NARA catalog API not retrievable in-session
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Class-level design drawings for the Rudderow hull form survive in NARA RG19's Alphabetical Series - directly relevant here because the Crosley-class high-speed transports were built on Rudderow-class hulls and DE-684 herself was briefly designated APD-137 for a canceled conversion; a 1945 Crosley BOGP is digitized at archive.org. General-arrangement drawings of this series occasionally carry material/insulation callouts; per-vessel General Information Books and deck logs for DE-684 (commissioned periods 1943-47, 1951-58, 1961-62) were not located in digitized form and are unexamined.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Limitations
- Class-level plan documentation and unexamined NARA holdings only - establishes nothing about DE-684 materials. BOGP sheets are arrangement drawings; whether any sheet specifies insulation fiber content is unverified. Deck-log existence is presumed from standard NARA holdings for commissioned vessels, not confirmed per-hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-delong-de684-07