Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
-
[1]research packet il-packet.md (4 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (secondary-sourced; DANFS slug 500)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (secondary-sourced; DANFS slug 500)
- Evidence ID
- uss-gustafson-de182-pkt-il-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS Vol. III (1968), Gustafson (DE-182) (builder, dates, 4th Fleet South Atlantic service, U-857 credit per the 1968 text, Netherlands transfer, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404; hazegray.org defunct, cited via its losthistory.net mirror) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative (hazegray transcription mirror at losthistory.net)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: launched 3 October 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newark, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. Eva Smythe Stevens (widow of Lt. Arthur L. Gustafson, killed aboard USS Peary 19 February 1942); commissioned 1 November 1943 (DANFS reads 'Comdr. Herman Rich' in command - the ship's own war history and NavSource read 'Reich', see ev-02); coastal convoys New York-Galveston; departed New York 20 February 1944 in the screen of two escort carriers for Ingram's 4th Fleet at Recife, Brazil; South Atlantic ASW/convoy escort with escort carrier Solomons (unsuccessful hedgehog attack on a probable U-boat assessed as U-196, 23 April; Solomons aircraft sank U-860 15 June); collided with cruiser USS Omaha 22 November 1944 while escorting transport General M. C. Meigs; repaired at Bahia then New York Navy Yard (arrived 21 December 1944) with added armament and a new CIC; Key West ASW refresher January 1945; stationed Casco Bay when U-857 torpedoed tanker Atlantic States 5 April 1945; in the early hours of 7 April 1945 Gustafson destroyed the contact by repeated hedgehog attacks off Cape Cod (the 1968 text credits her with U-857 - the credit was revoked in 1994, see ev-03); New London training to 18 May 1945; Oran convoy; Charleston 13 June 1945; Guantanamo refresher; Panama Canal 27 July 1945; at sea for Hawaii when hostilities ceased 15 August 1945; weather patrol north of Hawaii; transited Panama Canal 27 January 1946; decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 26 June 1946; transferred to the Netherlands 23 October 1950 under MDAP; served as Van Ewijk (F-808); 'scrapped early in 1967'; one WWII battle star.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1967
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades 1943; wartime crew (design complement 186)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. The 1968 text credits the 7 April 1945 attack with destroying U-857 - a credit revoked by the U.K. Naval Historical Branch in April 1994 (see ev-03). The entry contains internal year misprints: the Solomons sweep dated '14 April 1943' and the U-860 sinking dated '15 June 1943' are 1944 events (the hull was not commissioned until November 1943); 'scrapped early in 1967' conflicts with documented Dutch service through 1967 and the 15 December 1967 return - conflicts carried in gaps rather than reconciled. Transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-01
-
[3]Ship-submitted War History, U.S.S. Gustafson (DE-182) - Enclosure (A) to Commanding Officer's report to the Secretary of the Navy, file DE182/A4, Ser. 045, dated 30 December 1945 (signed T. H. Dyer; scan hosted at navsource.net) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net DE-182 page, 'War History' link - images/182/06182wh.jpg (6-panel letter scan)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Primary ship document for this hull: the ship's own war-history submission records the nucleus crew forming August 1943 (Naval Training Center Miami, then Norfolk); commissioning 1 November 1943 in the New York Navy Yard under 'Commander Herman Reich, USNR' (DANFS reads 'Rich' - see gaps); post-shakedown availability in the Navy Yard; Key West ASW training; 20 February 1944 sailing for Recife in company with USS Mission Bay (CVE-59), USS Wake Island (CVE-65), USS Trumpeter (DE-180), and USS Straub (DE-181) - Reich turned over command to Lt. Comdr. Ambrose Ely Chambers en route; the DEs joined the cruiser USS Memphis (Admiral Ingram aboard) and destroyer USS Davis for Rio de Janeiro/Montevideo operations March 1944; the killer-group caught an enemy supply submarine on the surface and carrier planes sank it (U-860, 15 June 1944, south of St. Helena) with survivors taken to Bahia; Solomons relieved by USS Tripoli about August; the 22 November 1944 Omaha collision during order-passing (the board of investigation ruled the collision inevitable at the required task-force speed); Bahia drydock then New York Navy Yard arrival 21 December 1944 for repairs adding a new CIC, new guns, and a new flying bridge, departing 22 January 1945; Casco Bay refresher interrupted by 'a sub scare off Boston' - the hunt with USS Micka and two Coast Guard frigates in which 'repeated attacks resulted in underwater explosions' and 'possible sinking of the sub'; Norfolk 15 May 1945 and Oran convoy sailing 16 May; Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., from 13 June 1945 for an 'extensive remodeling' (twin 40mm mounts, smoke generator, and torpedo tubes replaced); Panama Canal transit 27 July 1945; Pearl Harbor; weather patrol north of Hawaii through December 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Ship's company 1943-45 (wartime commission)
- Limitations
- Scan of the ship's own 1945 submission, hosted on a private photo-archive site - the document is the primary record and NavSource is the access point (the original is held in Navy wartime records). Documents operations and availabilities, not materials or asbestos content. Resolves the DANFS 'Rich'/'Reich' CO misprint in favor of Reich but does not itself discuss insulation or yard materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-02
-
[4]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'U-857' action page (uscg.mil, last modified 2012-01-26; Wayback capture 2012-12-04) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USCG Historian's Office U-857 page, 'Details/Updates' section incl. the April 1994 FDS/NHB revocation note
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official USCG historian's record of the 7 April 1945 action by this hull: U-857 (Type IXC/40, Kptlt. Rudolf Premauer, 59 dead) torpedoed tanker SS Atlantic States north of Cape Cod 5 April 1945; Escort Division 30 units under CDR Ralph R. Curry, USCG (flagship USS Knoxville, with USS Eugene, USS Gustafson, USS Micka) formed a Coast Guard-commanded hunter-killer group; Gustafson gained sonar contact northeast of Cape Cod in the early morning of 7 April and made repeated hedgehog attacks, with one charge heard to explode and a large oil slick sighted at daylight (42.22N, 69.46W). Postwar the Navy credited Gustafson with U-857's sinking; in April 1994 the Foreign Documents Section of the U.K. Naval Historical Branch revoked the credit, assessing the attack 'very probably directed against a nonsub target'; Niestle's U-boat Losses (Naval Institute Press, 1998) states 'there is presently no known explanation for [U-857's] loss.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945 (action); 1994 (credit revocation); 2012 (page)
- Population
- Gustafson crew and Escort Division 30 hunter-killer group, April 1945
- Limitations
- Corrects the DANFS-era sinking credit - the destruction of U-857 is not the accepted assessment. The USCG page is an official historian's-office record cited via Wayback (the live uscg.mil history site no longer serves the page). Service-history material only - no bearing on asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-03
-
[5]Bureau of Ships, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels 1945' Vol. I, DE design section (DET characteristics, book p.184) + Atlas class profile 'cannon-class' (class-c worktree) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1.pdf DE section (book p.184 = PDF p.102); class-c/cannon-class.class.json ev-01/-02/-05
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: this hull is a DET-design (diesel-electric tandem) destroyer escort - 4 General Motors 16-278A diesel-generator sets, electric motors, 2 shafts, ~21 knots - with no boilers and no steam plant, built 1943 inside the documented asbestos era. The heavy steam-ship asbestos categories (boiler insulation, steam-line lagging) do not apply; the era-standard application set for this machinery type is engine exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, brake linings, and deck coverings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Cannon/DET-design DE crews, 1943-era construction
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No ship-specific insulation specification, material schedule, or survey was located for DE-182, and no class-level material schedule was located for the DET group (class-profile negative finding). Does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-04
-
[6]Atlas shipyard dataset, federal-shipbuilding-kearny record: Owens-Illinois Industrial Health Survey of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, NJ (Aug 30-Sep 2, 1944; Owens-Illinois interrogatory exhibit #20 in Heathman v. Owens-Corning, Brazoria County TX 1990) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json yard_id 'federal-shipbuilding-kearny', flagship evidence ev-federal-kearny-ihs-1944
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Builder-yard context: the yard that built this hull is documented at yard level for asbestos product use - an Owens-Illinois industrial health survey of Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock (Kearny/Port Newark), conducted 30 Aug-2 Sep 1944 at wartime peak production, documented insulator work with asbestos pipe covering (Johns-Manville Superex, ~15% amosite), Kaylo pipe/boiler insulation (Owens-Illinois), Monokote fireproofing (W.R. Grace), and Garlock gaskets; dust counts were measured during cutting and fitting operations in confined spaces.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Federal Shipbuilding construction trades, 1943-44
- Limitations
- Yard-level document, not a hull record: the survey postdates this hull's construction window by roughly a year (launched October 1943, commissioned November 1943). It establishes what products the builder's trades worked with in the era, not what was installed aboard DE-182.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-05
-
[7]Ship's War History (30 Dec 1945) and DANFS narrative for DE-182 availabilities + Atlas shipyard dataset, brooklyn-navy-yard (tier 3) and charleston-naval-shipyard (tier 2) records [other_primary]
- Locator
- War History scan (navsource.net images/182/06182wh.jpg); DANFS narrative (New York Navy Yard Dec 1944); shipyards.json yard_ids 'brooklyn-navy-yard' and 'charleston-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Documented navy-yard periods: the ship's war history records commissioning in the New York Navy Yard (1 November 1943) with post-shakedown availability there; DANFS and the war history record arrival at the New York Navy Yard 21 December 1944 for collision repairs through 22 January 1945 (new CIC, added armament, new flying bridge); the war history records an 'extensive remodeling' at the Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., from 13 June 1945 (new twin 40mm mounts, new smoke generator, torpedo tubes). The Atlas dataset records brooklyn-navy-yard as a tier-3 yard (Kaylo pipe covering documented in yard work) and charleston-naval-shipyard as a tier-2 yard (magnesia pipe insulation, asbestos cement, gaskets documented).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Yard workers aboard/alongside DE-182, Nov 1943 and Dec 1944-Jun 1945 availabilities
- Limitations
- The yard availabilities are verified ship-specific events; the asbestos relevance is yard-level context only - no work package, material schedule, or scope for DE-182's 1944-45 availabilities is public, and the yards' product documentation does not establish material aboard this hull. Charleston's June 1945 availability is documented by the war history, not by DANFS.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-06
-
[8]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 the Navy's extensive shipboard asbestos insulation use, with substitution to asbestos-free specifications not beginning until the early 1970s - this hull's 1943 construction, 1943-1946 commission, 1946-1950 reserve-fleet custody, and 1950-1967 Dutch service all fall inside the documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers
- Limitations
- Program-level era context only; does not name this hull or any destroyer escort. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch); content via product-page description, consistent with prior batches.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-07
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 (type=o and type=r), authenticated via cl-auth-search.py fleet helper [court_record]
- Locator
- cl-auth-search.py: 'USS Gustafson' type=o count=0; 'DE-182' type=o and type=r pacing-blocked (exit 2, spaced retries ~70 min)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Litigation sweep, executed under fleet pacing constraints: 'USS Gustafson' (type=o) returned 0 opinions - no opinion names this vessel. 'DE-182' (type=o) and docket-type (type=r) queries did not complete under fleet-wide pacing (repeated exit-2 stand-downs across ~70 minutes of spaced retries) - the hull-number string collides with docket-entry numbering at high volume in other batches, so a docket-type miss is low-information; 'Gustafson' is a low-collision vessel name and its exact-name opinion sweep returned zero.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Sweep is complete for the opinion corpus on the exact-name query and incomplete on the hull-string and docket indexes (fleet pacing). No merits or pleading-stage asbestos exposure allegation against this hull was found in the completed queries.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-08
-
[10]Batch-4096 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; ship-submitted War History scan; USCG Historian's Office; NavSource operational data; NVR (pre-1987 disposal exclusion); BuShips 1945 DET design data; Atlas shipyard/class-profile datasets; Dutch disposal compilations; USS Slater museum oral-history index; BVA web-index check; law-firm/marketing site review; CourtListener sweep (exact-name opinions complete, hull-string/docket queries pacing-blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-gustafson-de182-01 through sl-uss-gustafson-de182-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record was located for this hull: no ACM survey, abatement contract, industrial-hygiene finding, museum hazmat disclosure, or materials schedule names DE-182 in the official sources searched. DANFS and the ship's war history contain no material disclosure. No qualifying asbestos litigation was located: 'USS Gustafson' opinions returned zero, and web-index review surfaced only law-firm/marketing ship lists (banned source class). The hull was scrapped in 1968 after 17 years of Dutch service - no museum/owner organization exists to publish present-day material disclosures.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Absence of a located record is a research finding, not proof of absence - era and builder-yard evidence (ev-04, ev-05) makes period asbestos applications probable but documents no hull-level material. The 'DE-182' opinion/docket queries did not complete under fleet pacing (low-information miss: the string collides with docket-entry numbering; the low-collision exact-name sweep was clean). Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-09
-
[11]Destroyer Escort Historical Museum (USS Slater, Albany NY) Oral History Project - USS Gustafson (DE-182) entry: Leo Baehler interview (audio file OralHistory-Leo-Baehler-DE-182.mp3) [museum_official]
- Locator
- ussslater.org/oral-histories - 'uss gustafson / de-182' heading, Leo Baehler
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The DEHM oral-history collection holds an interview tagged to this hull: Leo Baehler, USS Gustafson (DE-182), downloadable audio. Corroborates veteran presence aboard this hull; the interview was not reviewed for insulation or material references.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946 (service window)
- Population
- One crew member (oral history), WWII era
- Limitations
- Archival lead - the audio exists but was not transcribed/reviewed; oral history is personal recollection, not a technical record, and is not expected to address materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-10
-
[12]NARA holdings: RG 24 deck logs for DE-182 (Nov 1943-Jun 1946) and RG 19 BuShips hull files/General Information Books; NHHC photo L45-114.07.01 (launch) and NARA photo 80-G-364934 cataloged on the NavSource page [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov (no digitized result); NavSource DE-182 photo captions citing NHHC L45-114.07.01 and NARA 80-G-364934
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Unretrieved archival leads for this hull: NARA RG 24 deck logs covering the full 1943-46 commission (would document yard availabilities and work locations but not materials) and RG 19 Bureau of Ships records including General Information Books that may carry hull-level material specifications for the DET group. Official imagery exists: NHHC catalog L45-114.07.01 (the 3 October 1943 launching) and National Archives photo 80-G-364934, both credited on the NavSource page.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - NARA Catalog returned no digitized record for this hull by automated search; the deck logs and GIBs are physical holdings.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-gustafson-de182-11
