Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet if-packet.md (10 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Fessenden; hull DE-142 (later DER-142); type: Edsall-class destroyer escort — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Fessenden (page incorporates the public-domain DANFS entry; "Edsall-class destroyer escort")
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-fessenden-de142-pkt-if-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Fessenden (DE-142), Vol. 2 p.403 (1969) (namesake biography, specifications block, full service narrative, disposition; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404 site-wide) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Vol. 2 p.403 (1969), Fessenden entry, namesake biography + specification block + service narrative + bracketed addendum (losthistory.net/hazegray transcription)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (born 6 October 1866, Milton, Quebec; head chemist at Edison's East Orange laboratories; radio pioneer, died 22 July 1932 Bermuda); launched 9 March 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex., sponsored by Mrs. R. K. Fessenden, daughter-in-law of Professor Fessenden; commissioned 25 August 1943, Lt. Comdr. W. A. Dobbs, USNR; reclassified DER-142 on 1 October 1951. Norfolk training-ship period; Canal Zone escort mission, returned Norfolk 5 November 1943; two convoy voyages to Casablanca 23 November 1943 - 18 March 1944; Bizerte convoy from 3 April 1944 - heavy air attack off Bone 20 April (one escorting destroyer sunk), two more screen destroyers lost to submarine attack on the homeward passage, returned New York 21 May; convoy to Gibraltar 12 June 1944, detached to escort two captured Italian submarines to Bermuda (one returned with engine trouble 2 July; Fessenden reached Bermuda with the other 16 July); New London submarine training 3 August - 2 September; joined the Mission Bay (CVE-59) hunter-killer group; on 30 September 1944 south of the Cape Verde Islands Fessenden and two other ships made a depth-charge attack sinking U-1062 at 11d36m N, 34d44m W; South Atlantic patrols refueling at Dakar, Bahia, Recife, Capetown; New York 26 November; Miami school ship from 19 January 1945; rejoined the Mission Bay group at Guantanamo 12 February 1945 for air cover of the convoy carrying President Roosevelt home from Yalta; Argentia barrier patrol; New London and Quonset Point May-June 1945; sailed 28 June 1945 via Guantanamo and Pearl Harbor to the Marshalls; from 17 September 1945 at Wotje supervising demilitarization and evacuation of the Japanese garrison until 4 December; decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs 24 June 1946; converted for radar picket duty at Boston, recommissioned 4 March 1952; Newport R.I. homeport from 25 September 1952 for North Atlantic radar picket stations; sailed 15 July 1957 for Pearl Harbor homeport, Pacific early-warning picket duty 18 August 1957 - 18 March 1960; decommissioned and placed in reserve at Stockton, Calif., 30 June 1960. Two battle stars WWII. Spec block: 1,200 t, 306', beam 36'7", draft 8'7", 21 kt, cpl. 186, Edsall class. Bracketed addendum (Bauer & Roberts, Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy 1775-1990, p.224): stricken from the Navy Register 1 September 1966, sunk as a target off Pearl Harbor 20 December 1967.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1967
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943; wartime crew 1943-46; DER-era crew 1952-60 (DANFS complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents namesake, construction, and service history - not materials or asbestos content; contains no asbestos information. Live NHHC pages (fessenden.html and fessenden-de-142.html) return 404 (site-wide outage); verbatim LostHistory/HazeGray transcription cited. The stricken/sunk dates come from the transcription's bracketed Bauer & Roberts addendum, not the 1969 DANFS text proper. DANFS does not state a laid-down date; the 1943-01-04 keel date is sourced to NavSource/navypedia/uboat.net. DANFS names neither the Boston yard nor the facilities for the New York overhauls.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, USS Fessenden (DE-142) page - specifications block, dated building/operational data, commanding-officer table, USN photo captions (Internet Archive capture 2025-01-09) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-142 page: specifications block, 'Building and Operational Data' dated entries, photo captions, commanding-officer table (Wayback capture 2025-01-09)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: class Edsall, type FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3-inch guns); keel laid 4 January 1943 at Consolidated Steel, Orange, Tex.; launched/christened 9 March 1943, sponsor Mrs. R. K. Fessenden; commissioned 25 August 1943 at the City Dock, Orange, Lcdr. W. A. Dobbs USNR in command; decommissioned 24 June 1946 at Green Cove Springs, Fla., after 2 years and 10 months of service; reclassified DER-142 1 October 1951 with conversion carried out at the Boston Naval Shipyard; recommissioned 4 March 1952 at Boston, assigned to Newport, R.I., as a unit of Escort Squadron 18, Atlantic Barrier Patrol; homeport changed to Pearl Harbor 15 July 1957 as a unit of Escort Squadron 7; decommissioned 30 June 1960 at the U.S. Naval Supply Center Annex, Stockton, Cal., after 8 years and 4 months of service, custody to CO Stockton Group, U.S. Pacific Reserve Fleet; struck from the NVR 1 September 1966 with 11 years and 2 months total naval service; sunk as a target off the Hawaiian coast near Pearl Harbor 20 December 1967. Specifications: 1,200 tons light / 1,590 full; 300 ft wl / 306 ft oa; beam 36 ft 10 in extreme; draft 20 ft 6 in limit; four Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38D8-1/8 geared diesels plus four diesel-generators, 6,000 shp, two screws; 21 kt; 9,100 nm at 12 kt; complement 8 officers / 201 enlisted; armament 3x3"/50 Mk22, 1 twin 40mm, 8x20mm, 3x21" TT, Hedgehog Mk10, 8 Mk6 DCP, 2 Mk9 DCT. USN photo captions document: an overhaul in the Brooklyn Navy Yard (28 June 1945, NARA photos 19-N-85804/85805), escorting the sailing replica Mayflower II (1957), and alongside USS Kawishiwi (AO-146) in the Pacific (28 October 1958). Commanding-officer table gives nine COs across both commissions (Dobbs 1943-45, Poulsen, Gavey; Burgess recomm. 1952, Baldridge, Smith, Glover, Ploss, Collister decomm. 1960).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1967
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943; commissioned crews 1943-46 and 1952-60
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled archive drawing on official records - authoritative secondary, not a primary document; details corroborated against DANFS where overlapping. Complement (8/201) conflicts with the DANFS spec block (186) - carried in gaps. The recommissioning CO's middle initial differs between the building-data entry (Henry A. Burgess) and the CO table (Henry L. Burgess) - noted in gaps. Live navsource.org DNS-unreachable from the research machine; 2025-01-09 Wayback capture cited. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-02
-
[4]U.S.S. Fessenden (DE-142) official ship-submitted War History, cover letter serial 02 of 5 January 1946 signed H. N. Poulsen, Lt. Comdr., USNR, Commanding Officer, to the Secretary of the Navy (Public Information Section) in response to ALPAC 53-45 / 'My Ship's History' program (NARA-derived scan hosted by NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-142 page, 'View the official War History of USS Fessenden as submitted by the ship at war's end' link (image 06142wh.jpg)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Ship-authored primary document: the vessel's official war history, a three-page typed report submitted by the commanding officer at war's end (cover letter dated 5 January 1946, Fleet Post Office San Francisco). The narrative is broadly consistent with the DANFS account - commissioning at the Orange City Dock 25 August 1943 under Lt. Comdr. W. A. Dobbs, shakedown off Bermuda, Norfolk training-ship duty, Canal Zone escort, Casablanca and Bizerte convoys, Mission Bay hunter-killer operations and the U-1062 action of 30 September 1944, Miami school-ship duty, and the Wotje demilitarization detail.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (coverage); document dated 1946-01-05
- Population
- Wartime crew 1943-45
- Limitations
- The scan (4104x1170, single sheet of three typed pages) is legible for broad strokes and the cover letter but marginal for verbatim transcription of body text at available resolution - no wording quoted; used as a corroborating primary record of the service narrative rather than a source of new detail. Contains no materials or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-03
-
[5]Navypedia FMR-type (Edsall-class) destroyer escort member table (row DE142 Fessenden: Consolidated Orange yard no. 265, laid 1.1943, launched 9.3.1943, comm. 8.1943, DER-142 from 10.1951, stricken 9.1966) + NavSource FMR design specification block [other_primary]
- Locator
- navypedia us_de_det_fmr.htm member table row DE142 Fessenden; NavSource specifications block (FMR type label, propulsion figures); shipyards.json records 'boston-naval-shipyard', 'brooklyn-navy-yard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: an Edsall-class (FMR-design) destroyer escort built in 1943 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel ship - exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, brake linings, and deck coverings - but no boiler insulation or steam-line lagging, since the FMR plant (four Fairbanks-Morse 38D8-1/8 geared diesels plus four diesel-generators, 6,000 shp, 21 kt) has no steam system. Two documented asbestos-era yard events attach to this hull: the June 1945 overhaul at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York Naval Shipyard, Atlas yard tier 3, documented asbestos products; photo-documented 28 June 1945, NARA 19-N-85804/85805) and the 1951-52 radar-picket conversion at the Boston Naval Shipyard (Atlas yard tier 3, documented asbestos products). The navypedia member table confirms DE-142 as Consolidated Steel Orange yard no. 265 with matching build dates, DER-142 conversion 10.1951, and stricken 9.1966.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1967
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades 1943; Brooklyn Navy Yard workers June 1945; Boston NSY conversion workers 1951-52; crews 1943-46 and 1952-60; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-51 and 1960-66
- Limitations
- Class/era and design inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No hull-level material schedule, insulation specification, or survey was located for DE-142; the geared-diesel plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships do not apply; yard-tier status evidences asbestos use AT the yards, not aboard this hull; the conversion insulation scope is undocumented. Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. Builder Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex. is not in the Atlas shipyard dataset - no yard-level asbestos record carried for construction.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-04
-
[6]GAO HRD-80-2, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure' (18 Oct 1979), incl. enclosed CNO letter Ser 4542/318054 (5 Jan 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- HRD-80-2 report body (Navy's policy on use of asbestos) + CNO letter Enclosure I paragraphs on specification changes and non-insulation applications
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- Program-level era context: per GAO HRD-80-2 and the enclosed 5 Jan 1979 CNO letter, asbestos was the Navy's standard thermal insulation until insulation product specifications were revised to asbestos-free in 1971-73 (formal no-asbestos policy NAVSEAINST 5100.2 issued 24 Oct 1975), and asbestos also served in non-insulation applications such as pipe hanger liners, gaskets, clutches, and electric cables. DE-142's 1943 construction, both commissions (1943-46, 1952-60), and her 1967 disposal as a target all fall inside the pre-policy era; nothing in the program record touches this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979 (report); policy era 1943-1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and fleet (program-level)
- Limitations
- Program-level era evidence - does not name or inspect this hull; establishes standard-practice era context, not asbestos presence aboard DE-142. gao.gov returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch in prior sessions; product-page description and prior batch verbatim passages via the Justia GAO mirror used.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 opinion (type=o) and RECAP docket (type=r) searches, authenticated via cl-auth-search.py fleet helper, 2026-09-28 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener search API results, queries logged in search_ledger rows sl-uss-fessenden-de142-08/09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener sweep returned no qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull: exact-name queries "USS Fessenden" returned zero results in both the opinion and RECAP docket indexes. The bare-name opinion query "Fessenden" returned 2,917 hits dominated by surname collisions (State v. Fessenden, Fessenden v. Fessenden, bankruptcy-trustee Peter C. Fessenden matters, Fessenden School litigation); no reviewed hit references the vessel. Hull-number queries "DE-142" (45 hits) and "DER-142" (2 hits) are exhibit/page-number and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources collisions respectively - none vessel-related. The RECAP docket query "Fessenden" + asbestos returned 46 dockets, all attorney/party surname collisions (e.g., James C. Fessenden, Carl L. Fessenden, Fisher & Phillips matters) - none name the vessel. Hull-attribution rule for any future hit: DE-142 is the only U.S. Navy ship of the name, so a vessel reference attaches unambiguously - but 'Fessenden' as surname and place name is the dominant collision pattern.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (sweep)
- Population
- Navy veterans 1943-1946 and 1952-1960 (hypothetical exposure population)
- Limitations
- A zero-qualifying-result sweep is not proof no case exists - CourtListener coverage is incomplete for state trial courts and older dockets, and RECAP coverage is docket-driven. The bare-name opinion corpus (2,917 hits) was reviewed at ranked-list depth rather than exhaustively; a deep-corpus mention of the ship without 'USS' or the hull number cannot be fully excluded.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-06
-
[8]Batch-4052 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS transcription; NavSource (Wayback) incl. ship-submitted war history scan; navypedia member table; uboat.net U-1062 and warship records; NVR detail check; VA Board of Veterans' Appeals full-text search; Atlas shipyard dataset check; CourtListener opinion + RECAP sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-fessenden-de142-01 through sl-uss-fessenden-de142-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-142/DER-142: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, conversion insulation scope, museum or donation-condition hazmat disclosure, or ship-specific industrial-hygiene document was found in the public sources searched; no VA Board of Veterans' Appeals decision names this hull; the Naval Vessel Register carries no detail entry (pre-1987 disposal); the hull was expended as a target off Pearl Harbor in December 1967, foreclosing any extant-hull survey. A lead-gen 'asbestos-ships' aggregator page exists for this hull but is excluded per source policy (marketing site, not citable; its complement figure is also inconsistent with both DANFS and NavSource).
- 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 - a 1943 hull sunk as a target in 1967 predates disclosure-era surveys entirely, so non-location is expected rather than exculpatory. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. NARA RG 19 BuShips records for this hull (material specifications, General Information Book) and deck logs (RG 24) remain unretrieved archival leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fessenden-de142-07
