USS LAUB (DD-613)

Evidence

10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).

1. [1]research packet fr-packet.md (7 sources cited) [other_primary]

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS Laub | hull: DD-613 | designation: Destroyer | class: Benson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Laub_(DD-613)

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Evidence ID

   uss-laub-dd613-pkt-fr-packet-md

2. [2]DANFS, Laub II (DD-613) (namesake, builder, dates, service narrative, battle stars; verbatim transcription via losthistory.net mirror of hazegray.org - live NHHC page 404s and hazegray.org DNS-fails; identical OCR'd text also carried at globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/dd-613.htm) [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry 'Laub II (DD-613)', specifications block + full service narrative

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS record for this hull: 'The second Laub (DD-613) was laid down 1 May 1941 by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Pedro, Calif.; launched 28 April [19]42; sponsored by Miss Barbara Mohun Handley, a collateral descendent of Henry Laub; and commissioned 24 October 1942, Lt. Comdr. J. F. Gallaher in command.' Spec block: dp. 1,620; l. 348'4"; b. 36'1"; dr. 17'4"; s. 37.6 k.; cpl. 256; a. 5 5", 4 40mm., 7 20mm., 6 dcp., 2 dct., 5 21" tt.; cl. Benson. West coast shakedown; Panama Canal to Norfolk 1 Feb 1943; convoy escort New York-North Africa; Casablanca patrol; Sicily invasion (sailed Oran 5 July screening transports; assisted downing an enemy aircraft 11 July; knocked out four tanks); Mers-el-Kebir 15 July; 6 Nov 1943 convoy torpedo-plane attack - assisted stricken Beatty, Maraix, and Ruys and rescued 341 survivors; Mediterranean escort Nov 1943-Apr 1944 plus transatlantic NY-UK runs; sailed with Philadelphia for Anzio fire support ~12 May 1944; collided with Philadelphia 23 May; repairs at Naples then Boston; back in Oran 22 Dec 1944; escort and fire support off the French-Italian coast for the rest of the European campaign; departed Oran 15 May 1945, Boston 23 May; Caribbean training for Pacific duty; Casco Bay at Japanese surrender; Charleston 2 Nov 1945; decommissioned there 2 Feb 1946 joining the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; 'At present Laub is berthed at Philadelphia'; four battle stars for World War II.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1941-1946

   Population

   Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades 1941-42; wartime crew (accommodations 16 officers + 260 enlisted per BuShips)

   Limitations

   DANFS documents namesake, construction, service chronology, and battle stars - not materials or asbestos content. The entry was written while the ship was extant (postwar reserve fleet) and does not state the 1971 striking or 1975 sale (NHHC Online Library and NavSource supply those - logged in gaps). OCR defects in the transcription ('1842' for 1942, 'Mere-el-Kebir', 'Maraix', 'tour tanks', 'descendent') noted; launch year is plainly 1942. Live NHHC page 404s; verbatim transcription mirrors cited.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-01

3. [3]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (January 1945 edition, marked CONFIDENTIAL; shipscribe.com scan), destroyer tabulated tables - LAUB DD-613 row 237 on the dimensions, machinery, and builder/dates pages [other_primary]

   Locator

   SDB Vol. 1 (Jan 1945) destroyer tables, printed pp. 168-173: LAUB DD-613 row 237 on dimensions (pp. 168-169), machinery (pp. 170-171), and builder/dates (pp. 172-173) pages; roster page lists DD-613 with the No. 421-class destroyer block

   Finding type

   gov_survey

   Finding

   Official Navy Department data-book rows for this hull as of January 1945 (alphabetical destroyer tables, row 237): dimensions - 347'9" overall, 341'0" waterline, 36'1" extreme beam, standard displacement 1,620 tons, full load 2,475 tons, 22 tons/inch immersion, trial speed 37.6 kt, trial displacement 2,007 t, limiting draft 13'4", maximum navigational draft 17'4", total accommodations 16 officers + 260 enlisted; armament (as listed, with the table's footnote that extensive armament changes occurred after 15 Apr 1945) - 4x5-inch/38-cal. D.P., 40-mm AA mounts, 1x21-inch quintuple torpedo mount; machinery - 2 propellers, 'Beth. turb.' (Bethlehem turbines), 50,000 shp, 4 B.&W. boilers at 575 p.s.i./750 deg F, Falk reduction gears, 2 turbo-driven ship's-service generators ~200 kW each 120 V DC, fuel oil 2,912 bbls, diesel oil 199 bbls; builder/dates - Bethlehem Steel Co., San Pedro, Calif., contract price for hull and machinery $5,977,000, contract signed 16 Dec 1940, keel laid 1 May 1941, launched 28 Apr 1942, contract date of completion 1 Dec 1942, preliminary acceptance 24 Oct 1942, first commission 24 Oct 1942.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1940-1945

   Population

   Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades; commissioned crew as of Jan 1945

   Limitations

   Official contemporaneous characteristics tables - documents machinery type/count, dimensions, armament fit, contract price, and dates for this hull; contains no materials or asbestos information. Armament shows 4x5-inch vs DANFS's '5 5-inch' and complement 276 vs DANFS's 256 - variants logged in gaps. Values read from OCR plus direct image inspection of the scanned page (Laub row verified visually); the armament cell shares a merged '2 twin / 2 quad' 40-mm reading with adjacent rows and is not fully resolved - only the 5-inch and torpedo fits are carried with confidence.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-02

4. [4]NHHC Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS Laub (DD-613), 1942-1975' page (verbatim via ibiblio HyperWar mirror; page made 8 Apr 2005) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NHHC Online Library DD-613 page, narrative paragraph + photo box (80-G-237950)

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   Official NHHC photo-catalog page for this hull supplies the postwar record: Laub 'was part of the "mothball fleet" from [February 1946] until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register at the beginning of July 1971. She was sold in mid-January 1975.' The page also recaps her service (Panama Canal January 1943; U.S.-North Africa convoys; Sicily July 1943; 6 Nov 1943 convoy torpedo-plane attack with 'more than three-hundred survivors' rescued; Anzio May 1944 fire support; collision with the light cruiser Philadelphia 23 May 1944; Mediterranean return December 1944; Charleston decommissioning early February 1946) and notes the Naval Historical Center holds no images of her while the National Archives holds 80-G-237950 (underway off the U.S. East Coast, 22 July 1944, photographed from a ZP-11 blimp, Measure 22 camouflage).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1943-1975

   Population

   Reserve-fleet layup period crew/caretakers 1946-1971; disposal-phase workers 1971-1975

   Limitations

   NHHC page documents events and disposition dates ('beginning of July 1971' struck; 'mid-January 1975' sold) but not materials or asbestos content; it names no buyer and gives no breaking site. Day-precision dates (1 July / 14 January) come from NavSource - a secondary compilation - logged as such.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-03

5. [5]NARA Special List 44 named-vessel logbook inventory, 'Laub (DD-613)' row; NARA RG 19 Ship Plan Index, LAUB DD-613 entries; NARA digitized Navy deck-log index (archives.gov navy-online list) [other_primary]

   Locator

   archives.gov Special List 44 'Laub (DD-613)' table row; RG 19 Ship Plan Index 'LAUB DD-613' rows (NAIDs 153714614, 175669692); absence from https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online list

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   NARA holding lists name this hull: (1) Special List 44 lists 'Laub (DD-613)' deck logs covering 10/24/1942-6/30/1945 (the full commission period); (2) the RG 19 Ship Plan Index lists LAUB DD-613 under Hull series of Ship Engineering Drawings NAID 153714614 and Microfilm NAID 175669692; (3) the published list of digitized Navy deck logs in the National Archives Catalog does NOT include Laub - the physical logs exist (SL44) but are not in the published digitized set.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1942-1945 (listed coverage)

   Population

   Crew of record, 1942-1945 commission

   Limitations

   Archival leads only - holdings are undigitized/unpulled in this effort; deck logs would not normally state insulation materials and the drawing sets' content is unexamined. Nothing asserted from them beyond existence and coverage dates.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-04

6. [6]NavSource Destroyer Photo Index DD-613 (chronology, class spec block, commanding-officer list, stricken date, sale detail) - secondary compilation; corroborated on dates by NHHC Online Library [other_primary]

   Locator

   navsource.net/archives/05/613.htm spec block + Operational and Building Data + CO table + Charleston caption

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   NavSource index for this hull: 'Laid down by Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro. May 1 1941. Launched April 28 1942 and commissioned October 24 1942. Decommissioned February 2 1946. Stricken July 1 1971. Sold January 14 1975 to Boston Metals, Baltimore for $160,667.67 and broken up for scrap.' Spec block: Benson class, 2,395 tons full, 348'4" x 36'1", machinery 50,000 shp 'Bethlehem Turbines' 2 screws 35 knots, crew 208. CO list: CDR John Francis Gallaher Oct 1942-Aug 1943; LCDR Alexander Guion Hay Aug 1943-Mar 1944; CDR Anthony Carroll Roessler Mar 1944-Jul 1945; LCDR Moore P. Huffman Jul-Sep 1945; LT David Michael Rubel Sep 1945-Feb 1946 (decommissioning). Photo caption places her entering Charleston Navy Yard piers 2 Nov 1945 for decommissioning with late-war 40-mm additions visible.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1941-1975

   Population

   Crew 1942-1946

   Limitations

   Secondary compilation, not a primary source - used for corroboration and for the exact sale date/buyer/price, which no official source reached states. Day-precision dates (1 July 1971 struck; 14 January 1975 sold) rest on NavSource alone; NHHC independently reads 'beginning of July 1971' and 'mid-January 1975,' which is consistent. Crew 208 vs DANFS 256 vs BuShips 276 accommodations - variants logged in gaps. Contains no asbestos or materials information.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-05

7. [7]SDB Jan 1945 machinery table for this hull (Bethlehem turbines, 4 B&W boilers 575 psi/750 deg F) + Atlas shipyard dataset, Bethlehem Shipbuilding merged record [other_primary]

   Locator

   SDB 1945 machinery table row 237; shipyards.json record 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' (tier 3); class-f worktree benson-gleaves-class.class.json (background only)

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Era/design inference: this hull is a 1941-42 Benson-subclass destroyer built at Bethlehem Steel's San Pedro yard - peak Navy asbestos-construction era - with a documented four-boiler superheated-steam plant (4 B&W boilers, 575 p.s.i./750 deg F, Bethlehem geared turbines, 2 shafts, 50,000 shp per the SDB Jan 1945 machinery row). Steam plants of this era carried asbestos in boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. The Atlas shipyard dataset's merged 'bethlehem-shipbuilding' record (tier 3) documents yard-level asbestos-containing products (asbestos block, cement, insulation, lagging, gaskets, packing, welding blankets) across Bethlehem facilities, though no San Pedro-specific product documentation is separately identified.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1941-1975

   Population

   Bethlehem San Pedro construction trades 1941-42; crew 1942-1946; reserve-fleet caretakers 1946-1971

   Limitations

   Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific asbestos record supports 'documented aboard this hull' wording; establishes no quantities, no locations, and no individual exposure. The yard dataset's Bethlehem record is a merged corporate entry (Quincy/Fore River, Sparrows Point, Union Iron Works); the San Pedro/Terminal Island yard is not separately itemized in the dataset.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-06

8. [8]GAO HRD-80-2, Navy asbestos-protection program context (standing BATCH-01 note: gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches) [gao]

   Locator

   GAO HRD-80-2 product description (standing BATCH-01 citation)

   Finding type

   regulatory

   Finding

   GAO documented that the Navy's standing asbestos-removal policy dates from 1975 (remove asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 toward selective replacement in high-maintenance areas). This hull spent 1946-1971 in reserve-fleet layup and was sold for scrap in January 1975 - essentially coincident with, and preceding, the documented asbestos-control era; no abatement program record for this hull is expected.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   1975-1980 (policy era) vs 1941-1975 (hull life)

   Limitations

   Program-level context only - GAO HRD-80-2 does not name this hull or class; it bounds what U.S.-custody documentation could exist, it does not establish that asbestos was or was not aboard. gao.gov 403 to automated fetches (standing note); full-text pull remains an open lead.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-07

9. [9]CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket sweeps for this hull (authenticated via cl-auth-search.py, fleet-paced) [court_record]

   Locator

   CourtListener API v4 search endpoints (type=o opinions, type=r dockets); per-query counts and dispositions in search_ledger rows sl-uss-laub-dd613-10 and sl-uss-laub-dd613-11

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   No qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS Laub or DD-613 located in CourtListener (API v4, authenticated, fleet-paced, swept 2026-09-27): '"USS Laub"' opinions 0 hits, dockets 0 hits; '"DD-613"' opinions 0 hits; '"DD-613"' dockets 5 hits, all name collisions - 'DD-613' appears as a document/docket-designator string inside unrelated civil and bankruptcy dockets (DC Comics v. Pacific Pictures Corp., C.D. Cal. 2:10-cv-03633; SEC v. Stanford International Bank Ltd., N.D. Tex. 3:09-cv-00298; New York Times Co. v. Microsoft Corp., S.D.N.Y. 1:23-cv-11195; Lyondell Chemical Co. Ch. 11, Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 09-10023; Kochiu v. Collins, N.D. Ill. 1:25-cv-09065); '"Laub" asbestos' opinions 11 hits, all surname collisions at index level - 'Laub' is a person surname throughout (e.g., asbestos plaintiff in Laub v. Honeywell Intl Inc, S.D. Ill. 2001; firm names in captions) and none names a vessel. The '"Laub" asbestos' docket query was blocked by the fleet pacing budget at finalize time - logged as blocked, not as a negative result.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-27

   Study period

   2026-09-27 (sweep date)

   Limitations

   Completed queries returned no qualifying hit, but the sweep does not exclude unindexed dockets, unreported settlements, state-court matters outside coverage, or opinions not indexed by the quoted phrases; one supplemental query ('"Laub" asbestos' dockets) remained blocked by fleet pacing at finalize time. Any bare 'USS Laub' litigation hit must be attributed between two hulls - this DD-613 (in commission 1942-1946) and the Clemson-class DD-263 (out of U.S. service October 1940).

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-laub-dd613-08

10. [10]Search-ledger composite: DANFS via losthistory/hazegray + globalsecurity, BuShips SDB 1945 (shipscribe scan), NHHC Online Library, NavSource, NARA SL44 + RG 19 index + digitized-logs list, NVR probe, CourtListener sweeps [other_primary]

    Locator

    search_ledger rows sl-uss-laub-dd613-01 through sl-uss-laub-dd613-14

    Finding type

    historical_record

    Finding

    No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DD-613: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, disposal hazmat disclosure, or docketed asbestos case naming the vessel was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was stricken July 1971 and sold for scrap January 1975 - before Navy asbestos-control programs and disposal hazmat documentation practices, so a U.S.-custody abatement record is not expected to exist.

    Verification

    verified

    Role

    negative_finding

    Documentation level

    ship_specific

    Accessed

    2026-09-27

    Study period

    1941-1975 (hull life); 2026-09-27 (search)

    Limitations

    Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1941-42 four-boiler steam-plant hull is consistent with retained era materials through its service life and 1975 scrapping. Does not rule out unindexed litigation, unreported claims, or records in unpulled NARA holdings (deck logs 1942-45; RG 19 drawing sets).

    Atlas source

    true

    Evidence ID

    ev-uss-laub-dd613-09