Evidence
14 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-14).
-
[1]research packet 974-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-pkt-974-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Eagle No. 51 Through Eagle No. 60' (NHHC, updated 22 June 2005; entry text reflects the post-2001 corrected cause of loss) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS combined entry, 'Eagle No. 56' block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'Keel laid 3/25/19. Launched 8/15/19. Commissioned 10/26/19. Classified as PE-56 7/17/20. Torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-853 off Portland, Maine, 4/23/45.' Footnote: 'All Eagle Boats were built at Detroit, Mich., by the Ford Motor Co.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1919-1945
- Population
- Ford River Rouge construction workforce (1919); crew (1919-1945)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific milestones only; terse tabular entry with no narrative, no asbestos or material content. The 'torpedoed by U-853' wording reflects the corrected post-2001 record; the original DANFS Vol. VI text read only 'Exploded and sank' (see ev-05).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-01
-
[3]DANFS, Vol. VI, pp. 744-747, Appendix II 'Eagle-Class Patrol Craft (PE)' - class design and construction program (verbatim transcription via losthistory.net hazegray mirror; hazegray.org DNS dead) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Appendix II narrative and 'GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS' block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Eagle-class program context: late-1917 design for a steel patrol craft mass-producible by inexperienced yards; Henry Ford accepted the task in January 1918; contract grew to 112 then cut to 60 after the Armistice; built at a purpose-built Rouge River plant and sent via Great Lakes and St. Lawrence to the Atlantic; flat hull plates and steam turbines adopted at Ford's insistence; none saw WWI service; surplus sold through the 1930s-40s. Class characteristics: length overall 200'9", beam 33'1", maximum draft 8'6", maximum speed 18.32 k., displacement 615 t., complement 5 officers + 56 enlisted, propulsion 1 shaft / 2,500 shp Poole geared turbine, armament 2 x 4"/50, 1 x 3"/50, 2 x .50 cal. mg (plus Y-gun on Eagles 4-7).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1917-1945
- Population
- Ford River Rouge production workforce (~4,380-8,000 at peak, 1918-19); Eagle-class crews
- Limitations
- Class-level documentation: describes the Eagle class design and build program, not this specific hull beyond the shared spec block. No asbestos or material content. Transcription is verbatim DANFS text hosted on a private mirror - transcription fidelity assumed, page verified live 2026-10-04.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-02
-
[4]NHHC H-Gram 047, 'The Last Battle of the Atlantic - Operation Teardrop' (Office of the Director, NHHC) - loss of PE-56 and the 2001 reclassification [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- H-Gram 047 PDF pp. 8-9, 'Loss of Eagle Boat 56 (PE-56), 23 April 1945'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC narrative: PE-56, one of 60 WWI Eagle boats of which only eight remained by WWII, was assigned to Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, and was towing targets for dive-bomber practice three nautical miles off Cape Elizabeth on 23 April 1945 when she suffered a massive explosion amidships. 'Only 13 of PE-56's crew of 67 survived the sinking.' Survivors reported a torpedo; five described a submarine conning tower with a gold-and-red emblem (U-853's emblem: red horse on gold shield). Selfridge (DD-357) gained solid sonar contact and dropped nine depth charges; Muskegon (PF-24) also gained contact - both unsuccessful. The court of inquiry nonetheless concluded boiler explosion. In response to outside researchers, the Naval Historical Center reviewed all documentation and concluded U-853 was responsible; in 2001 CNO Vernon Clark and Secretary of the Navy Gordon England concurred - 'the only time the U.S. Navy has overturned a court of inquiry.' Purple Hearts were awarded to the three living survivors and next of kin. PE-56 became 'the second-to-last U.S. Navy vessel sunk in the Atlantic Theater in World War II.' In 2019 a civilian dive expedition found the wreck 'with the boilers intact.' U-853: Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Fromsdorf [sic - Froemsdorf], departed Norway 23 February 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945; reclassification 1998-2001; wreck 2018-2019
- Population
- 62-67 crew aboard at loss (conflicting figures - see gaps); 13 survivors; 49 lost
- Limitations
- Authoritative Navy narrative, but it is a staff history article, not the underlying record - the crew count it states (67 aboard, 13 survivors) conflicts with the 49-dead accounting used elsewhere in the same Navy materials (see gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-03
-
[5]Frank A. Cianflone, 'The Eagle Boats of World War I,' U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 99/6/844 (June 1973), pp. 76-80 - drawn from declassified Combat Intelligence reports and ship action reports [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Proceedings June 1973 article, service-history and sinking sections
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented wartime service and loss detail for this hull: January 1942 - assigned to the Delaware Capes during the 'Second Happy Time,' remaining almost constantly at sea (armament then: one 4"/50 forward, two .30-cal Lewis machine guns, one .50-cal Browning AA, stern depth-charge rack). 28 February 1942 - rescued the last survivors of USS Jacob Jones (DD-130), landed them at Cape May. 1 March 1942 - multiple depth-charge attacks on sound contacts, replenished at sea by USS Roller. 4 March 1942 - collided keel-to-keel with the submerged wreck of Gypsum Prince in the Delaware Bay channel, lost her propeller, towed to Philadelphia Navy Yard by Allegheny (AT-19); repaired alongside the dock in under a week using parts cannibalized from a stricken Eagle boat at Boston Navy Yard. May 1942 - assigned to the Fleet Sonar School, Key West, combining training with occasional convoy/ASW work. 28 June 1944 - assigned to Naval Air Station at [New] Brunswick, Maine. 23 April 1945 - exploded and sank at estimated position 43deg29'2"N 70deg05'6"W; Selfridge observed her dead in the water 1157, heavy explosion astern 1214, on scene 1245 picking up survivors; stern sank in two minutes, bow sank vertically at 1228; 49 men lost, exposure in 42degF water the main killer; all but one of 13 survivors were engineering department, 'which would seem to eliminate a possible boiler explosion.' Selfridge gained a sharp sonar contact at 1248 and dropped nine Mark IX Mod 2 depth charges at 1253 with negative results, then turned the search over to Woolsey (DD-437) and carried the survivors to the Naval Dispensary at Portland.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Eagle 56 crew (1941-1945); Philadelphia Navy Yard repair trades (March 1942); rescued Jacob Jones survivors (11 landed at Cape May)
- Limitations
- Secondary professional-journal account (1973) quoting official reports - not itself the primary record. The article renders NAS 'Brunswick' as 'New Brunswick.' No asbestos content; the repair episodes describe machinery/propeller work only, no material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-04
-
[6]Navy News Service NNS030423-01, 'Navy Senior Archivist Helps Solve 57 Year Old USS Eagle 56 Mystery,' by Jack A. Green, Naval Historical Center Public Affairs, 25 April 2003 (ARCHIVED - live navy.mil page removed; Wayback capture used) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NNS030423-01 story text and photo caption 030415-N-0000X-001
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION OF OFFICIAL RECORD: NHC public-affairs account documents that the Navy's original determination - boiler explosion - was reversed in 2001 after research by historian Paul Lawton and NHC senior archivist Bernard 'Cal' Cavalcante (who had worked with Jurgen Rohwer and knew declassified records placing U-853 off Maine). In May 2001 Cavalcante recommended to CNO Adm. Vern Clark [sic - Clark] that the record be changed; the CNO concurred, SECNAV Gordon R. England agreed, and 'the Navy reclassified the sinking as a combat loss and recommended that Purple Hearts be awarded to its 49 dead and 12 survivors.' Purple Hearts were presented at a June [year stated 2001 in text; 8 June 2002 per other sources - see gaps] ceremony aboard museum ship USS Salem (CA-139) at Quincy, Mass., 'to the three survivors and next of kin of those lost.' Postscript: U-853 'was sunk with all hands by USS Atherton (DE 169) and USS Moberly (PF 63) south of New London, Conn., May 6, 1945.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2001-2003 (account of 1945-2002 events)
- Population
- 49 dead + survivors + next of kin (Purple Heart recipients); three living survivors at ceremony
- Limitations
- Official Navy public-affairs release, internally inconsistent on numbers - it states both '13 of its 67-man crew' and '49 dead and 12 survivors' (i.e., 61 aboard). The ceremony-year wording ('June 2001') conflicts with the 8 June 2002 date given by the wreck-search leader's account (see gaps). Cited via Wayback capture - original navy.mil URL no longer serves. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-05
-
[7]NavSource Online: Eagle-Class Patrol Craft Photo Archive, PE-56 (ex-Eagle No. 56) - timeline, wartime-era specifications, commanding-officer roster (verified live 2026-10-04; navsource.net, not defunct .org) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/0456.htm header, specifications block, commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline matches DANFS: laid down 25 March 1919 by Ford Motor Co., Rouge Plant, Detroit; launched 15 August 1919; commissioned USS Eagle No. 56 26 October 1919; designated PE-56 17 July 1920; 'Torpedoed 23 April 1945 by the German submarine U-853 off Portland, ME.' Specifications carried: displacement 710 t., length 200'9", beam 25'9", draft 13'6", speed 18.32 kts, complement 68, armament one 4"/50 and two .50 cal. machine guns; propulsion two Thornycroft 'Bureau Model' 250 psi boilers, one 2,500 shp Poole geared turbine, single reduction gear, one shaft. Commanding officers: LT Edward William Wunch (26 Oct 1919); LTJG Charles Joseph Starkus (1936); LTJG Robert Nicholson Scott Clark (1936); CDR Frank W. Parsons, USNR (Nov 1940 - 3 Apr 1943); LT James W. Roddy, USNR (3 Apr 1943 - Mar 1944); LCDR John L. Barr, Jr., USNR (Mar 1944 - 23 Jan 1945); LT James G. Early, USNR (23 Jan - 23 Apr 1945); LTJG John P. Scagnelli, USNR (senior surviving officer).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1919-1945
- Population
- Ford Rouge builders (1919); successive crews and commanding officers (1919-1945)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation - the spec block conflicts with DANFS class characteristics on displacement (710 vs 615 t), beam (25'9" vs 33'1"), draft (13'6" vs 8'6"), and complement (68 vs 61); carried as documented with conflicts flagged in gaps. CO roster sourced to researchers Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-06
-
[8]NHHC, 'Casualties Navy and Coast Guard Ships' listing [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- casualties listing, 'Eagle (PE)' section
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official NHHC casualties listing records, under Eagle (PE): 'USS PE-56 sunk by German submarine U-853 off Portland, Maine, 23 April 1945' - the corrected combat-loss attribution carried in the standing casualty list.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- crew lost at sinking
- Limitations
- One-line listing - confirms the corrected attribution and date only; no casualty count, no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-07
-
[9]Helen O'Neill, Associated Press, 'Historian Brings Honor in Tragedy' - the investigation that overturned the boiler-explosion finding (hosted on NavSource 12/0456a.htm) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/0456a.htm full article text
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- AP account of the re-investigation: 49 men died in the sinking; survivors described a conning tower 'painted with a mischievous red horse trotting on a yellow shield.' Historian Paul Lawton obtained the court of inquiry report - a 76-page document dated 1 June 1945 - which records that survivors saw a submarine and states the blast 'might have been an enemy mine or an enemy torpedo,' yet concludes it 'was the result of a boiler explosion, the cause of which could not be determined.' Rep. Joseph Moakley petitioned the Navy in late fall 2000; Naval Historical Center archivist Bernard Cavalcante confirmed U-853's presence from his Rohwer research and declassified records; in May 2001 Cavalcante recommended to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England that the record state the ship 'was sunk as a result of enemy action.' Named survivors: John Breeze, Harold Petersen, John Scagnelli; WAVE Alice Hultgren was stenographer at the inquiry. 'Forty-nine men died in the Eagle disaster.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1945; investigation 1998-2002
- Population
- 49 dead; 13 survivors (three living at time of article: Breeze, Petersen, Scagnelli)
- Limitations
- Newspaper account documenting the research trail and quoting the inquiry's own language; not the inquiry document itself. AP dispatch republished on NavSource - content verified, host is secondary. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-08
-
[10]Garry Kozak, 'US Navy Ship, USS Eagle PE-56, Lost in Action during WW II Found Off New England,' Ocean News & Technology, 21 August 2019 - first-person account by the leader of the sonar search effort [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Ocean News article body, 2018 dive confirmation and sonar-image sections
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Wreck discovery documented by the search lead: side-scan searches began summer 2000 (Lawton/Kozak); 37 sq. mi. eventually covered; the target was identified in a 5 May 2011 re-analysis of 21 March 2005 sonar data; June 2018 - New Hampshire technical divers made the 82-meter dive and confirmed the bow of PE-56, with the stern section nearby to the northeast; the wreck lies about one-third of a mile from the Navy's official sinking position. 'The boilers are both intact conclusively confirming it was not a boiler explosion.' Re-surveyed 27 July 2019 with 600 kHz side-scan imaging bow, stern, and the two boilers that 'fell out of the broken ship before it sank.' Also documented: 13 survivors and 49 lost; the Purple Heart ceremony 'onboard the USS Salem in Quincy Massachusetts' dated 8 June 2002; memorial plaque at Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine; U-853 depth-charged and sunk off Block Island 6 May 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2000-2019 (search/discovery); event 1945
- Population
- 49 dead (wreck is a war grave)
- Limitations
- Trade-press account, but authored by the sonar-search principal - participant-level detail. The '82-meter' depth and 2018 dive date differ in detail from NHHC's '2019' find date (see gaps). No asbestos or material-content reporting on the wreck.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-09
-
[11]NARA Catalog, 'USS EAGLE-56 - War Diary' file units, RG 38 (Office of the Chief of Naval Operations), series 'World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories' (NAID 4697018) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov search 'Eagle 56' - 255 results; file units NAID 78406304, 134018241, 78313463, 78479487 et al.
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized monthly war-diary file units for USS EAGLE-56 covering at least November 1942 (NAID 134018241, 'War Diary, 11/17-30/42') through mid-1944 (NAID 78479487, 'War Diary, 6/1-30/44'; representative April 1944 unit NAID 78406304) - 20+ file units returned on a 'Eagle 56' catalog search, most flagged available online with Fold3 imagery. These are the ship's own operational reports: daily positions, assignments, exercises, and material-condition events - the likeliest primary documentation for her Key West and Brunswick service periods and for any repair/alteration work packages.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- ship's company and attached personnel (diary authors/subjects), 1942-1944
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: catalog records verified (NAID, series, RG), but diary page content was not reviewed this session - no asbestos content asserted. The April 1945 diary covering the loss month was not confirmed present in the first page of results; the 1 June 1945 court of inquiry report itself (76 pp., obtained by Lawton in 1999) has no located repository citation - separate open lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-10
-
[12]Era inference built on: DANFS class characteristics (steam plant: 2 boilers + 2,500-shp Poole geared turbine, 1 shaft); NavSource specifications (two Thornycroft Bureau Model 250 psi boilers, Poole geared turbine); USNI Proceedings (Bureau Express boilers; wartime fits); GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-12) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS class characteristics block; NavSource specifications; USNI Proceedings propulsion data
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A steam-turbine patrol craft built in 1919 sits squarely inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a steam vessel of this type and period were boiler and steam-line lagging, machinery thermal insulation, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation - concentrated in the compact machinery spaces of a 200-foot hull where the engineering department worked (all but one of her 13 survivors were engineering personnel).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1919-1945
- Population
- Ford Rouge construction trades (1919); crew, especially engineering department (1919-1945); Philadelphia Navy Yard repair trades (March 1942)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for PE-56. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. The 1945 sinking destroyed the ship intact; wreck imagery shows boilers but no insulation survey exists.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-11
-
[13]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - encompassing this hull's entire construction (1919) and service era (1919-1945).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved this session (gao.gov historically blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-12
-
[14]Batch-8407 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS combined entry and casualties listing; DANFS Vol. VI Appendix II transcription; NHHC H-Gram 047 full text; Navy News Service NNS030423-01 (Wayback); USNI Proceedings June 1973 full text; NavSource PE-56 pages; AP account via NavSource; Ocean News (Kozak); NARA catalog war-diary series; NVR check; CourtListener [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-01 through -16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no insulation survey, material list, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS Eagle No. 56 / PE-56 was found in the public sources searched. The only 'asbestos aboard' material surfacing in web sweeps is law-firm marketing content (mesothelioma-adjacent ship listicles) asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet-wide request pacing budget was momentarily spent on all five attempts across ~45 minutes; logged as blocked in search_ledger rows sl-13 through sl-16, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2026-10-04
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (paced, not run). RG 38 war diaries and the 1 June 1945 court of inquiry report are digitized/extant leads whose content was not reviewed page-by-page; no deck-log, repair-package, or material-survey holdings were located beyond them. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-eagle-no-56-pe56-13