Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet lf-packet.md (9 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-fieberling-de640-pkt-lf-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Fieberling (DE-640) (namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative; verbatim NHHC text via Wayback capture 2025-02-02 - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS entry 'Fieberling (DE-640)' (Wayback capture 2025-02-02), spec block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: spec block '(DE-640: dp. 1,400; l. 306'; b. 37'; dr. 9'5"; s. 24 k.; cpl. 186; a. 3 3"; cl. Buckley)'. Namesake Langdon Kellogg Fieberling (b. 3 Jan 1910, Oakland), USNR aviator, helped establish Torpedo Squadron Eight, killed leading a VT-8 flight at Midway 4 June 1942, posthumous Navy Cross. Launched 2 April 1944 by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Francisco, sponsored by Mrs. C. A. Fieberling; commissioned 11 April 1944, Lt. Comdr. E. E. Lull, USNR. Service: Pearl Harbor 27 June 1944; three escort voyages to Eniwetok (Marianas staging) to 3 September; Manus and Purvis Bay from 27 September; escort and air-sea rescue out of Port Purvis to 15 December; station ship Funafuti to 17 February 1945; Guadalcanal rehearsals; Ulithi 21 March 1945; off Okinawa 31 March, covered 1 April landings; damaged by near miss in the mass kamikaze raids of 6 April; convoy of unloaded assault ships to Saipan 9-29 April; Okinawa patrol/escort/radar picket to 28 June; escort duty Okinawa-Guam-Saipan to 22 October 1945; escorted transport Saipan to Japan; returned Portland, Oreg. 22 November; post-overhaul sailed San Diego 15 March 1946 for occupation duty off the Chinese coast; San Diego 13 August; west-coast/Hawaiian operations testing experimental equipment; decommissioned 13 March 1948, reserve San Diego. One battle star, World War II.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel San Francisco construction trades Mar-Apr 1944; wartime and postwar crew (design complement 186 per spec block)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. DANFS gives no keel-laying date (19 March 1944 comes from secondary/museum sources). Live NHHC page 404s on the access date; verbatim text carried from the 2025-02-02 Wayback capture.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-01
-
[3]NavSource Destroyer Escort Photo Index DE-640 (building/operational chronology, NH 85190 official photo, namesake biography, awards) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/06/640.htm 'Fieberling (DE 640) Building and Operational Data' + specifications block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Volunteer-archive compilation for this hull: keel laid 19 March 1944 by the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard Corp., San Francisco; launched and christened 2 April 1944, sponsored by Mrs. C. A. Fieberling; commissioned 11 April 1944, Lcdr. E. E. Lull, USNR; decommissioned at San Diego 13 March 1948 'after 3 years and 11 months of service'; struck from the NVR 1 March 1972; sold for scrapping 20 November 1972. Page carries NHHC photo NH 85190 and awards list (American Campaign; Asiatic-Pacific w/ 1 star; WWII Victory; Navy Occupation Service).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1972
- Population
- Construction trades; wartime and postwar crew
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained compilation - secondary transcription, not an official record; items carried only where corroborated (keel date is corroborated by the Pier 70/Colton yard table and the Slater museum clipping's 23-day-build framing). Adds namesake biographical detail and crew-contributed anecdotes beyond DANFS; neither documents materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-02
-
[4]Destroyer Escort Historical Museum (USS Slater) CatalogIt archive entry 2001.26.1, 'DESTROYER-ESCORT BUILT IN 23 1/3 DAYS' - framed San Francisco News clipping, 11 May 1944, collection 'USS Fieberling DE 640' [museum_official]
- Locator
- CatalogIt entry 2001.26.1, collection 'USS Fieberling DE 640', scope-and-content field
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Museum archive record describing a framed 11 May 1944 San Francisco News clipping documenting that Fieberling was built by the Bethlehem Steel Company's San Francisco shipyard 'in just over three weeks' (23 1/3 days per the headline), describing her armament and anti-aircraft/anti-submarine role, and noting the yard built 380 ships in 1943. Corroborates the 19 March-11 April 1944 keel-to-commissioning chronology.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel San Francisco construction trades Mar-Apr 1944
- Limitations
- Museum catalog description of a period newspaper clipping - documents construction speed only; no materials or asbestos content. The underlying clipping text was not independently retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-03
-
[5]The Colton Company / shipbuildinghistory.com, 'Bethlehem San Francisco (Union Iron Works)' construction table + pier70sf.org WWII ships-built table [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com bethsanfrancisco.htm table row '5406 DE 640 Fieberling'; pier70sf.org ShipsBuiltWW2 row (keel 3/19/44, launched 4/2/44, delivered 4/11/44)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Yard-table record for this hull: shipbuildinghistory lists Bethlehem hull no. 5406 = 'DE 640 Fieberling', Escort, 1,400 displacement tons, delivered 11 April 1944, scrapped 1972. The Pier 70 (San Francisco) historical-site table (Colton source) lists keel 3/19/44, launch 4/2/44, delivery 4/11/44 - 14 days on the ways + 9 days fitting out = 23 days total - 'Scrapped 1972'. Establishes this hull's builder yard as Bethlehem's San Francisco plant (Union Iron Works/Risdon site, Pier 70).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Bethlehem Steel San Francisco yard workforce 1944
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation (Tim Colton's yard tables, also source R337 for the Naval Marine Archive entry) - not a primary contract record. Yard hull-number conflict: shipbuildinghistory assigns 5406 to Fieberling while the Pier 70 table shows 5407 - carried in gaps. Construction chronology only; no materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-04
-
[6]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (Jan 1945), DE design-group table (shipscribe.com scan, OCR) + Navypedia 'Buckley (TE) class destroyer escorts' boiler-block map + Atlas buckley-class class profile [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 design-group table; navypedia.org us_de_te.htm technical data + member table; shipyards.json (absence of Bethlehem San Francisco entry)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference only: Fieberling is a TE-design (turbo-electric) Buckley-class escort with a full steam plant - two 'D' express boilers at 435 psi/750 F superheat (BuShips SDB 1945 design-group 2/3 table; the DE-633-644 block is assigned Combustion Engineering boilers in the Navypedia block map) driving General Electric turbo-electric machinery at 12,000 shp. A 1944 steam plant of this type implies period-standard asbestos applications - boiler and fireroom insulation, steam-line and turbine lagging, gaskets, packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings - but no hull-level material schedule, specification, or survey was located for DE-640.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-1972
- Population
- Construction trades (Bethlehem San Francisco) 1944; crew 1944-1948; reserve fleet 1948-1972
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - establishes what the design called for, not what was installed, renewed, or removed aboard this specific hull; no quantities; no individual exposure. The boiler-manufacturer block assignment is secondary-compilation data (Navypedia), unverified against contract documents. Builder-yard inference is limited: Bethlehem Steel's San Francisco yard is not in the Atlas yard dataset, so no yard-level asbestos record is joined to this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-05
-
[7]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked to automated fetch, HTTP 403; content via product-page description)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place aboard steam-era hulls for decades unless a yard period disturbed it.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not hull-specific; the documented policy period (1975-1979) postdates this hull's disposal (scrapped 1972), so the finding frames general context only and does not describe any material state aboard DE-640. gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches - content taken from the product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 search (type=o and type=r) for 'USS Fieberling', 'Fieberling', and 'DE-640' (this record's search ledger); companion class-level Buckley sweep 2026-09-16 [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-fieberling-de640-09 through sl-uss-fieberling-de640-12b
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located: the opinion-index query 'USS Fieberling' returned zero results; 'Fieberling' returned one hit - Walters v. Weed, 45 Cal. 3d 1 (1988), a California voting-domicile case (name collision, not vessel- or asbestos-related); 'DE-640' returned eight opinion hits, all identifier collisions in non-vessel cases (United States v. Coffman, E.D. Ky. 2014; Berger v. Secretary of HHS, 6th Cir. 1987; Blanco Romano v. Capital de Puerto Rico, P.R. 1954; Central Alabama Fair Housing Center v. Lowder Realty, 11th Cir. 2000; New Orleans & Great Northern R.R. v. Cousin, La. App. 1926; United States v. LULAC, 5th Cir. 1986; Stella Rodriguez v. Municipio de Guayanilla, P.R. 1954; Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn., 489 U.S. 602 (1989)). Docket-level: 'Fieberling' returned one hit - a document-text match inside the W.R. Grace & Co. Chapter 11 mega-docket (Bankr. D. Del. 01-01139, an asbestos bankruptcy; the match is in indexed exhibit/deposition text, not a pleading naming the vessel); 'DE-640' returned 55 docket hits, all PACER 'DE ###' docket-entry-number collisions in unrelated cases (bankruptcies, criminal, contract matters) - none vessel- or asbestos-related. A class-level sweep for the Buckley class profile (2026-09-16) likewise located no asbestos docket naming any of the 148 class hulls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- A finding about indexed public dockets only, not proof that no claims exist - pleading-stage complaints naming the hull in unindexed filings would not appear; the W.R. Grace docket-text match does not establish that any claimant alleged exposure aboard this hull. No abatement, survey, or exposure finding is asserted or defeated by this row.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-fieberling-de640-07