Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]DANFS, Dempsey (DE-26) incl. namesake biography (builder, launch/naming sequence, service narrative, decommissioning and disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; identical text on HazeGray/LostHistory mirror) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Dempsey' entry, specifications block + namesake biography + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Lt. (j.g.) Richard John Dempsey, USN (b. 8 February 1919, New York City; commissioned ensign 14 November 1940), killed in the Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942 when Vincennes (CA-44) was sunk. Originally intended for transfer to Great Britain; launched as BDE-26 on 19 February 1943 by Mare Island Navy Yard; retained for U.S. Navy use and assigned the name Dempsey 14 June 1943; commissioned 24 July 1943, Lt. Comdr. H. A. Barnard, Jr., in command. Specifications: 1,140 tons; 289'5"; 35'1"; 8'3"; 21 kt; complement 156; 3x3-inch guns; Evarts class. Service: San Francisco-Pearl Harbor convoys 23 Sep-25 Oct 1943; screened Tangier (AV-8) to Espiritu Santo; Viti Levu, Fiji, 8 Nov; rescued 45 survivors of the torpedoed merchantman San Juan 13 Nov; screened oilers fueling task units during the invasion of the Gilberts; Pearl Harbor for repairs and training 2 Dec; Majuro convoy Jan 1944 arriving 3 Feb; escorted White Plains (CVE-66) to Kwajalein; Noumea 8 Mar; Solomons and adjacent islands escort/patrol 14 Mar-22 Sep 1944; 3d Fleet, Manus 27 Sep; screened transports to the Palaus; harbor entrance control vessel off Peleliu; sank a Japanese patrol craft 28 Oct capturing one prisoner; convoy duty Guam-Eniwetok-Ulithi-Leyte from 20 Nov 1944; based Eniwetok from 15 Apr 1945; convoy duty and air-sea rescue to 5 Jul; arrived San Francisco 18 Jul; decommissioned 22 November 1945; sold 18 April 1947. Three battle stars, WWII.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Mare Island Navy Yard construction trades 1942-43; wartime crew (design complement 156); Pearl Harbor navy-yard availability workers Dec 1943-Jan 1944
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. DANFS does not state a laid-down date for this hull (secondary compilations read 1 October 1942 - carried in gaps) and names the rescued merchantman only as 'San Juan' (the ship's own war history and period records read 'S.S. Cape San Juan'). Decommissioning (22 Nov) differs from NavSource's 23 November - carried in gaps. DANFS does not state a strike date or disposal buyer. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-01
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[2]U.S.S. Dempsey (DE-26), 'Ship's History', letter Serial 328 (DE26/A12-1/(ms)), Commanding Officer to Secretary of the Navy, 4 October 1945; signed W. C. Harris, Jr., Lt. Comdr., USNR; received Navy Dept. Office of Public Relations 15 Oct 1945 (scanned original, NavSource DE-26 archive) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-26 archive image 06026wh.jpg, 4-page letter Serial 328 dated 4 Oct 1945
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The ship's own submitted war history for this hull: 'built and fitted out at the Navy Yard, Mare Island'; commissioned 24 July 1943 (Lt. Comdr. Harry A. Barnard); three-week San Diego shakedown and post-shakedown availability; Cape San Juan rescue detail (arrived 48 hours after the torpedoing; survivors transferred to Dempsey for medical care and taken to Suva; letter of appreciation with commendation endorsement by Adm. Halsey); Hawaiian-Area navy-yard availability and training exercises 2 Dec 1943-24 Jan 1944; Lt. Alban Weber, USNR, relieved Barnard 13 Dec 1943; Majuro arrival 3 Feb; anchored off Roi Island during the 12 Feb 1944 Japanese bomber attack; escorted Fourth Echelon to Emirau (4 Apr); rescued four USMC B-25 survivors 6 Apr and three USN TBF crewmen 7 Apr; drydocked at Espiritu Santo May 1944 for strut and rudder repairs; transferred to Commander South Solomons Sub-Area 15 Jun; departed Solomons 22 Sep with Escort Division TWENTY-SIX; responded with Stadtfeld and Emery to hospital ship Samaritan's underwater-damage distress; Seeadler Harbor, Manus, 27 Sep, Third Fleet; off Peleliu 7 Oct (CTF 32); Harbor Control Ship at eastern Kossol Passage 11-23 Oct; 28 Oct sank a Japanese PT-type patrol craft with LCI-406 (one prisoner taken aboard; twenty .30-caliber holes along starboard side, no injuries); Guam Patrol and Escort Unit 20 Nov 1944-5 Feb 1945 incl. escorting fleet submarines; aided sinking YMS-267 off Guam 30 Dec 1944 until ARS-15 towed it; Marshall-Gilberts Patrol and Escort Group at Eniwetok from 9 Feb 1945; Lt. W. C. Harris relieved Weber 11 Feb; sonar-equipment trouble caused Guam drydockings end-Feb and first week Apr 1945; towed fuel-distressed SC-1273 to Eniwetok 22 Apr (commendation letters); departed Eniwetok 5 Jul, Pearl Harbor 11 Jul, under the Golden Gate Bridge 18 Jul at 10:18:20; to Navy Yard Mare Island for scheduled overhaul; stop-work order 21 Aug 1945; berthed at Sperry Flour Mills dock, Vallejo, then buoy off Tiburon; Sub-Board of Inspection and Survey material inspection 25 Sep 1945; orders received 28 Sep to decommission, remove salvageable equipment, and regard remainder as hulk or scrap.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Wartime crew; Pearl Harbor, Espiritu Santo, Guam, and Mare Island yard/availability workers 1943-45
- Limitations
- Primary document written and signed by the ship's final commanding officer; records yard availabilities (Pearl Harbor, Espiritu Santo, Guam, Mare Island) and a 25 Sep 1945 Sub-Board material inspection but never mentions materials, insulation, or asbestos. Does not mention the 3 Jan 1944 Wintle collision (the Dec 1943-Jan 1944 Hawaiian availability window covers it). Hosted as a scan on NavSource (secondary archive); the document itself is the primary record. Namesake detail and some dates corroborate DANFS.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-02
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[3]DANFS, Wintle (DE-25) service narrative (collision record naming DE-26; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Wintle' entry (Vol. II), service narrative para. on January 1944 collision
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- DANFS entry for sister ship Wintle (DE-25) names this hull: on 3 January 1944 'Wintle and Dempsey (DE-26) came alongside one another to practice fueling at sea'; after transferring about 1,000 gallons of fuel to Wintle, 'Dempsey prepared to leave. Suddenly, she rammed Wintle on her starboard side' - Dempsey's anchor ripped open Wintle's side from the lower platform deck to the main deck at frame 40, broke her degaussing coil, and severed her return steam line; Dempsey then swerved and collided again stern-to-stern, crushing Wintle's propeller guard. Corroborates this hull's Hawaiian-Area availability/training period of 2 Dec 1943-24 Jan 1944 documented in its own war history.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1944-01-03
- Population
- Wartime crews of DE-25 and DE-26; Pearl Harbor repair workers (Wintle)
- Limitations
- The collision is documented in the SISTER ship's DANFS entry; Dempsey's own DANFS entry and its submitted war history omit it. The severed 'return steam line' was aboard Wintle, not DE-26 - no auxiliary steam piping is asserted for this hull. Documents an at-sea event and damage to Wintle; establishes nothing about materials aboard DE-26.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-03
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[4]USNI Naval History, 'Part IV - A Matter of Class' (Aug. 1995): wartime DE machinery symbols - GMT = General Motors tandem drive diesels in short-hull (289 ft) ships = Evarts class (DE-1/50, 256/280, 301/315, 516/530); + DANFS specifications block (Evarts class; 21 kt); + Atlas shipyard dataset, Mare Island Naval Shipyard record (tier-2 asbestos-era yard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History Aug. 1995 GMT symbol description; DANFS specifications block; shipyards.json record 'mare-island-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: an Evarts-class (GMT-type) destroyer escort built 1942-43 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel-electric ship - engine and exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, fireproofing, and deck coverings - but no boiler or turbine lagging; builder Mare Island Navy Yard is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (tier 2: asbestos-era products incl. Unibestos, Marinite, Transite, Kaylo, Careytemp documented in the yard's 1998 disposal EIS/EIR industrial-waste inventory, and a mesothelioma litigation record for a Mare Island welder 1976-94).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Mare Island Navy Yard construction trades 1942-43; crew 1943-45
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The diesel-electric plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line insulation) do not apply to this hull. Yard-level documentation describes the shipyard's materials and later workers, not materials installed on DE-26; does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-04
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[5]NARA Catalog file units 'USS DEMPSEY - Rep of Engagement with & Destruction of Jap Torpedo-carrying Barge off Peleliu Is., Palau Is., Morning of 10/28/44' (NAID 78692864; Micro Serial 96238; Serial 0260) and 'USS DEMPSEY - Report of action and destruction of enemy craft off Peleliu Island, Palau Islands, 10/28/44' (NAID 140067402; Micro Serial 127715; Serial 0262; dated 1944-11-02), both in RG38 'World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories' and indexed via Digital Pasifik/DPLA; + NARA RG24 deck-log series and RG19 General Information Books as unretrieved holdings [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Catalog NAID 78692864; Digital Pasifik item 373378 (DPLA aggregation); archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads for this hull: NARA holds two cataloged DE-26 action reports for the 28 Oct 1944 Peleliu engagement (NAID 78692864 and NAID 140067402); this hull's four-page submitted 'Ship's History' (Serial 328, 4 Oct 1945) survives as a scanned original; WWII-era deck logs are held in NARA RG24 logbook holdings (a portion of this hull's November 1943 war diary is quoted verbatim on the Cape San Juan survivors' site, confirming a war diary exists); NARA RG19 'General Information Books' may hold per-vessel material specifications for this hull.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (record period)
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - the action-report file unit is confirmed cataloged but its contents were not reviewed beyond the catalog title; no war-diary, deck-log, or GIB content was retrieved, and nothing in these holdings is asserted here about asbestos materials aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-05
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[6]CourtListener API v4 litigation sweep for 'Dempsey' / 'DE-26' (type=o opinion index and type=r RECAP dockets), via authenticated fleet helper [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-dempsey-de26-05 and sl-uss-dempsey-de26-06
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep of the opinion index and RECAP dockets located no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull: exact-name queries ('USS Dempsey', 'U.S.S. Dempsey', 'aboard the Dempsey') returned zero hits in both opinions and dockets; hull-number 'DE-26' returned 1,718 opinion hits and 8,181 docket hits, all identifier collisions (predominantly Puerto Rico docket-string matches) with zero ship/asbestos relevance in indexed text; surname 'Dempsey' + asbestos returned 166 opinion hits, all surname collisions (e.g., Dempsey v. Pacor, Inc., Pa. Super. 1993 - asbestos plaintiff surnamed Dempsey; no vessel named).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (sweep)
- Limitations
- A litigation index is not exhaustive: pre-digital pleadings, state-court filings, and sealed/settled matters are outside it; absence of a located opinion does not prove no suit ever named the vessel. 'Dempsey' is a common surname (high collision risk - classified per hit) and 'DE-26' collides with unrelated identifier strings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-06
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[7]Batch-4181 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription (two mirrors); ship-submitted official war history scan; sister-ship DANFS collision record; NARA action-report/war-diary/deck-log/GIB leads; NHHC Online Library photo page; Atlas shipyard dataset; NavSource corroboration; CourtListener sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-dempsey-de26-01 through sl-uss-dempsey-de26-09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-26: no hull ACM survey or abatement disclosure exists in public sources (hull scrapped 1947-48; no museum custodian to publish restoration disclosures), the NHHC Online Library active photo page for DE-26 (80-G-382982) contains no materials documentation, and the CourtListener sweep located no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this vessel. 'USS Dempsey | DE 26' appears on law-firm asbestos marketing ship lists - excluded per source rules and carried as context 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 - era-standard materials would be expected by class/era inference (ev-04) but nothing ship-specific establishes their presence, quantity, or condition; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dempsey-de26-07
