Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet iu-packet.md (7 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-leary-dd158-pkt-iu-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Leary I (DD-158)' (Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division) - live NHHC page returns 404; verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio mirror [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, namesake paragraph + specifications block + construction paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: named for Lieut. Clarence F. Leary, USNRF (born Fowey, England, 11 January 1894; commissioned lieutenant 12 June 1918; executive officer of Charlton Hall; died 20 July 1918 of burns and smoke inhalation after entering the ship's burning hold; posthumous Navy Cross). DD-158 laid down 6 March 1918 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; launched 18 December 1918 (sponsor Mrs. Anne Leary, the lieutenant's mother); commissioned 5 December 1919, Comdr. F. C. Martin in command. Specifications: Wickes class, 1,090 tons, 314 ft., 35 knots, complement 176, armament 6 3-inch, 6 21-inch torpedo tubes, 2 depth-charge tracks, 1 Y-gun (wartime fit).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1917-1943
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding construction trades 1917-1919; crew 1919-1943
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, construction, service, and loss; it contains no materials, insulation, or asbestos information. The ibiblio transcription reads 'Keyes' for the commanding officer; the hazegray DANFS mirror and NavSource/DD-787 namesake records read 'Kyes' - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-01
-
[3]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'Leary I (DD-158)' - verbatim transcription via HyperWar/ibiblio mirror [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, service paragraphs 2-6 and loss paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS service narrative: shakedown January 1920; Pacific Battle Fleet 1921; out of commission in reserve at Philadelphia Navy Yard 29 June 1922; recommissioned 1 May 1930, Atlantic Fleet, Newport home port; September 1939 continuous antisubmarine patrol off lower New England with Hamilton (DD-141); Iceland escort missions from 9 September 1941; on 19 November 1941 'Leary became the first American ship to make radar contact with a U-boat'; convoy escort to Icelandic ports 1942; Boston drydock February 1943; Trinidad convoys March-June 1943; transatlantic escort voyages to Algiers July-October 1943; departed late November 1943 with escort carrier Card (CVE-11) on hunter-killer operation; early 24 December 1943 in a German submarine pack, took two torpedoes and a third that sank her; 97 of the ship's company lost including commanding officer Comdr. James E. Kyes; one battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1919-1943
- Population
- Crew 1939-1943 (wartime complement); survivors rescued by USS Schenck (DD-159)
- Limitations
- Operational history only - does not document materials or asbestos. DANFS does not name the attacking submarine(s); U-275 attribution comes from the U.S. Navy Memorial log and secondary compilations (see ev-05). DANFS gives no stricken date and no casualty figure beyond the 97 lost.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-02
-
[4]Bureau of Ships, Navy Department, 'Summary of War Damage to U.S. Battleships, Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts, 8 December 1943 to 7 December 1944,' NAVSHIPS A-3(420), Preliminary Design Section, 1 June 1945 (HyperWar/ibiblio scan) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Section III, 'Ships Lost During Third Year of War,' LEARY (DD158) row
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Bureau of Ships official war-damage summary names this hull and describes the loss in engineering detail: 'LEARY (DD158) 12/24/43 North Atlantic Submarine Torpedo - 3 Sank by the stern. Struck by two German submarine torpedoes on the starboard side in way of after engine room and storeroom just forward of propellers. All power lost. Severe structural damage. Struck by third torpedo starboard side in forward engineroom, after ship had been abandoned. Sank bodily by the stern with 30-degree starboard list' minutes after the third hit. Documents that both hits that doomed the ship were in the machinery spaces (after engine room; forward engine room).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-12-24 (event); 1945 (report)
- Population
- Crew aboard at loss, including engine-room watch (97 lost total per DANFS)
- Limitations
- Contemporaneous official engineering summary of battle damage; contains no asbestos or materials content. Scan OCR garbles the survival interval ('within 5 minutes' is the apparent reading); quoted text verified against the PDF's Leary row. Relevant to exposure history only in that the fatal damage was to boiler/engine-room spaces - it does not establish what materials were present in them.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-03
-
[5]U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, 'NRL History - RADAR' (nrl.navy.mil), photo caption Ref. 60834(H-105); and NRL, 'The Fleet's First Radar Turns 75' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NRL radar-history photo caption (c. 1937 Leary installation); DANFS service narrative for the 19 November 1941 contact
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Naval Research Laboratory official history records that a compact transmit/receive antenna enabled by the duplexer circuit 'was installed aboard the Navy destroyer, USS Leary (DD-158), for sea trial tests. (c. 1937)' - Leary hosted NRL's early shipboard radar sea trials years before the fleet's first operational radar (XAF, USS New York, December 1938). DANFS independently records that on 19 November 1941 Leary became 'the first American ship to make radar contact with a U-boat.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- c. 1937; 1941
- Population
- Crew and NRL test personnel, c. 1937 sea trials
- Limitations
- Documents experimental radar work aboard this hull circa 1937 - relevant to hull history and to identifying a documented interwar shipyard availability period, but contains no materials or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-04
-
[6]United States Navy Memorial, Navy Log, 'Leary' ship page (ship designation DD-158) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Navy Log ship tribute narrative + Lost At Sea sailor count (97)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- U.S. Navy Memorial Navy Log entry for Leary (DD-158): date lost Friday, December 24, 1943; Task Group 21.14 led by USS Card (CVE-11) on its third hunter-killer operation; U-275 attacked Leary first, 'striking her with a torpedo near the aft engine room'; U-382 also attacked and missed; Leary was 'the third and last American destroyer to be sunk by a German U-boat'; commanding officer CDR James E. Kyes was lost with his ship; survivors were picked up by USS Schenck (DD-159), which sank U-645 later the same day; the task group returned to Norfolk 2 January 1944; the Memorial's Lost At Sea log lists 97 sailors for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-12-24 to 1944-01-02
- Population
- 97 lost (Lost At Sea log); survivors picked up by USS Schenck (DD-159)
- Limitations
- Memorial-site compilation, consistent with DANFS (97 lost) and the BuShips damage summary; supplies the U-275 attribution that DANFS omits. Not a materials or asbestos source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-05
-
[7]Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1924 Edition (U.S. Navy Department, Government Printing Office), destroyer tables row 136 and namesake notes (shipscribe.com Google-Books scan, SDB1924.pdf) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Destroyers First Line data tables (row 136): dimensions, trial figures, machinery, armament/contract, and date rows; 'Destroyer No. 158 - LEARY' namesake paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, 1924 edition (Navy Department / GPO) carries a per-hull row for Destroyer No. 158 (row 136): length overall about 314 ft 4 in (310 ft waterline), beam 30 ft 11.5 in, normal displacement 1,211 tons (about 1,304 full load); 2 Parsons geared turbines; 4 Thornycroft oil-burning boilers; 27,048 designed shaft horsepower, 25,525 shp on trial; trial speed 35.16 knots on 1,175 tons trial displacement; armament as built four 4-inch/50, one 3-inch/23 AA, four 21-inch triple torpedo tubes; builder New York S.B. Co. on a cost-plus-10-percent contract dated March 4, 1917; keel March 6, 1918; launch December 18, 1918; commission December 5, 1919; out of commission June 29, 1922; namesake note identifies Lieut. Clarence F. Leary, USNRF, 'died on the Charlton Hall July 20, 1918.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1917-1924 (data); published 1924
- Population
- New York Shipbuilding trades 1917-1919; crew from 1919
- Limitations
- Official per-hull machinery and contract data published five years into this ship's life. Establishes the boiler/turbine installation (Thornycroft boilers, Parsons turbines) but lists no insulation materials - 1924 data tables predate systematic asbestos documentation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-06
-
[8]Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Ships' Technical Manual, Chapter 050, 'Readiness and Care of Inactive Ships,' section 050-7.2.7 (2005); Atlas shipyard dataset record 'new-york-shipbuilding' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NSTM 050-7.2.7 'Handling and Removal of Asbestos Materials'; shipyards.json record 'new-york-shipbuilding'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Fleet-level asbestos context: a NAVSEA inactive-ships manual states that past naval shipbuilding programs included extensive use of asbestos materials for shipboard thermal insulation and deck tile, and lists pipe covering and gaskets among possible asbestos forms. Builder-level context: New York Shipbuilding Corp. (Camden) is a Tier-1 asbestos-documented yard in the Atlas shipyard dataset (documented products include 85% magnesia insulation and 15% chrysotile block insulation). A four-Thornycroft-boiler Parsons-turbine steam plant of 1918-1919 would have carried era-standard boiler, steam-line, gasket, packing, and fireproofing insulation - materials that in this period commonly contained asbestos.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1917-1943 (ship life); manual 2005
- Population
- Construction trades (Camden, 1917-1919); crew and yard workers 1919-1943
- Limitations
- Fleet-level manual plus yard-level dataset - neither names this hull. WWI-era construction predates the heavier WWII asbestos loading; the presence, product types, quantities, and locations of any asbestos aboard DD-158 are unverified. Yard-level documentation does not establish asbestos work on this specific hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-07
-
[9]National Archives and Records Administration, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' [other_primary]
- Locator
- General Information Books; Specifications and Standards; Cartographic Branch sections
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's Navy asbestos research guide directs ship-level research to RG 19 General Information Books (Entry P 9 per-vessel material specifications), Bureau of Ships correspondence, specifications, and hull/microfilm engineering drawings - notably the S39 (insulation and lagging) and S48 (piping) drawing series. These are unexamined archival leads for DD-158, not retrieved hull records.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26 (lead identification)
- Limitations
- NARA describes record series and research methods, not a specific Leary item. Holdings have not been examined; the guide does not prove asbestos aboard this ship.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-08
-
[10]Batch-3164 public-source search ledger, rows sl-uss-leary-dd158-01 through sl-uss-leary-dd158-08 [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-leary-dd158-01 through sl-uss-leary-dd158-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, shipyard work package, hazmat disclosure, materials inventory, or asbestos-litigation reference naming DD-158 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was lost at sea in 1943, so no museum, disposal, or modern survey record can exist for the structure itself. Completed CourtListener sweep: exact-phrase "USS Leary" returned 0 opinion and 0 docket hits; "DD-158" returned 0 opinion hits and 10 docket hits, all reviewed and classified as name collisions (civil-rights, water-rights, bankruptcy, promissory-note, and declaratory-judgment dockets where 'DD-158' or 'DD 158' appears as a non-vessel reference) - none maritime, none asbestos.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2026-09-26
- Limitations
- Bounded negative search result, not proof that asbestos was absent. Non-digitized Navy construction, overhaul, and court records are unresolved. A ship sunk in combat has no surviving structure to survey; the engineering-space damage documented in ev-03 describes where crew-era exposure could concentrate but does not document materials. CourtListener coverage: exact-name and hull-number opinion/docket queries completed 2026-09-26; RECAP full-text attachment bodies are not exhaustively indexed, so a docket-sheet-only mention could remain unindexed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-leary-dd158-09