Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet kv-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-o-toole-de527-pkt-kv-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, O'Toole I (DE-527) (namesake biography, builder, dates, service narrative, disposal; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry, specifications block + service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: namesake Ensign John Albert O'Toole, USNR (b. Boston 16 May 1916; killed 8 November 1942 leading a boat wave from USS Joseph Hewes (AP-50) during the Fedhala, Morocco assault; posthumous Navy Cross). DE-527 (Evarts class; dp. 1,140; l. 289'5"; b. 35'1"; dr. 8'3"; s. 21 k.; cpl. 156; a. 3 3", 4 1.1", 9 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.)) laid down at the Boston Navy Yard 25 September 1943; launched 2 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. John A. O'Toole; commissioned 22 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. J. G. Enzensperger, Jr. in command. Shakedown off Bermuda; Fleet Sound School training ship, Key West; escorted Tripoli (CVE-64) to Recife and Solomons (CVE-67) on return; CortDiv 80 transatlantic convoy duty (convoy NY 119 to Azores/Falmouth; Abnaki (ATF-96) to Reykjavik; UGS 64 to North Africa; Mediterranean run April 1945). Reported for inactivation at Charleston 10 September 1945; decommissioned 18 October 1945; struck from the Navy List 1 November 1945; scrapped March 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew (DANFS spec complement 156)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. Complement figure (156) differs from the BuShips GMT design-group accommodations (15 officers + 183 enlisted) - carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-01
-
[3]Bureau of Ships, 'Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels' Vol. I (1945), NAVSHIPS 250-010 - DE design-group characteristics table (book pp. 234-235) and DE roster row for DE-527 (book pp. 252-253) (shipscribe.com scan, local OCR) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 Vol. I book pp. 234-235 (design-group characteristics table, group 1/GMT row) and pp. 252-253 (roster row, DE-527)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous official BuShips roster lists DE-527 (O'Toole) in design group GMT, built by Navy Yard, Boston, contract $3,180,000 signed 7 August 1942, keel laid 25 September 1943, launched 2 November 1943, commissioned 22 January 1944 - matching DANFS. The GMT design-group characteristics table (design group 1) lists: 2 propellers, 4 General Motors Model 16-278A diesel engines, 6,000 shp, and 'None' in every boiler column - the official confirmation that this hull's design carried no boilers and no steam plant. Group 1 accommodations: 15 officers, 183 enlisted; trial speed ~21.5 kt.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1942-1945 (publication April 1945)
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943-44; wartime crew
- Limitations
- The roster row is ship-specific to DE-527; the machinery characteristics are per design group (GMT), not per hull - hull-level deviations are not ruled out but none are documented. The design table documents machinery, not insulation materials; 'no boilers' bounds the asbestos-relevant plant but does not itself document asbestos content. OCR of a scanned document - figures verified against DANFS and NavSource where overlapping.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-02
-
[4]DANFS specifications block (Evarts class) + BuShips SDB 1945 GMT design-group machinery table + Atlas shipyard dataset, Boston Naval Shipyard record (tier-3 asbestos-era yard) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS specifications block; SDB 1945 design-group table; shipyards.json record 'boston-naval-shipyard'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a GMT-group destroyer escort built 1943-44 would have carried era-standard asbestos applications appropriate to a diesel-electric ship - exhaust insulation, gaskets and packing, electrical insulation, brake linings on winches and windlass, and deck coverings - but, per the official design table, no boilers or steam lagging; builder Boston Navy Yard is documented as a tier-3 asbestos-era yard in the Atlas dataset (documented John Crane gasket/packing exposure litigation).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943-44; crew 1944-45
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. The diesel-electric plant means the largest asbestos categories of steam ships (boiler and steam-line insulation) do not apply to this design; does not quantify material, does not establish that any specific product aboard contained asbestos, and does not establish any individual's exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-03
-
[5]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 not beginning until the early 1970s - all GMT-group hulls (built 1942-44, including DE-527) fall inside the documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- WWII-1979
- Population
- Navy ship and shipyard workers (program-wide)
- Limitations
- Program-level finding; gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches so the product-page description is relied on. Does not name this hull or any DE; fieldwork concerned then-active Navy programs and yards - context only, not hull evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-04
-
[6]CourtListener API v4 search (this record's search ledger): type=o query "O'Toole" and follow-on exact-name/hull-number queries [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-o-toole-de527-04 through -07
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- CourtListener litigation sweep: exact-name opinion query "USS O'Toole" returns 0 hits; hull-number opinion query "DE-527" returns 11 hits, all identifier collisions (docket numbers, statutory section numbers) in unrelated criminal, commercial, insurance, patent, and tax matters - none vessel-related, none asbestos. The surname query "O'Toole" returns ~8,889 opinion hits, all surname-party cases in the reviewed top results (e.g., People v. O'Toole, N.Y. 2013; People v. O'Toole, N.Y. App. Div. 2025; O'Toole v. Vollmer, N.Y. App. Div. 2015). No qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS O'Toole (DE-527) located. RECAP docket-side queries were attempted and blocked by the fleet pacing limiter - see search_ledger.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28
- Limitations
- Search coverage is limited to the CourtListener opinion index plus executed queries only - RECAP docket queries were pacing-blocked and remain a logged gap, not a negative finding. A ship scrapped in March 1946 predates the asbestos-litigation era, so absence of litigation is expected rather than informative about materials. Any future hit would still require three-hull disambiguation (see ev-06).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-05
-
[7]NavSource DE-527 page (class/type/disposal corroboration) + NavalCoverMuseum DE-327 name-history page + NavSource DE-274/HMS Gardiner page - three-hull name collision [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net/archives/06/527.htm; navsource.org/archives/06/274.htm; navalcovermuseum.org BRISTER DER-327 name-history section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Name-collision disambiguation: three hulls were assigned the name O'Toole. DE-274 (Evarts class, Boston Navy Yard, laid down 20 May 1943) was transferred to the United Kingdom on completion 28 September 1943 and served as HMS Gardiner (K478) - never USN-commissioned. DE-327 (Edsall class, Consolidated Steel, Orange, Tex.) was laid down as O'Toole 14 June 1943 but renamed Brister on 23 July 1943 before launch. DE-527 is the only hull commissioned as USS O'Toole (1944-1945). Any historical or legal reference to 'USS O'Toole' or 'O'Toole' must be resolved against this collision set; pre-1944 builder records and Royal Navy records may concern DE-274/HMS Gardiner.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Limitations
- NavSource and NavalCoverMuseum are secondary compilations cited here as the disambiguation reference; the underlying construction facts (Boston Navy Yard, dates) for DE-274 and the DE-327 rename are consistent across NavSource, uboat.net, and Wikipedia. Does not bear on materials or asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-06
-
[8]Batch-4358 search ledger (this record): DANFS transcription; BuShips SDB 1945 roster + GMT design table; Atlas shipyard dataset; CourtListener sweep; NavSource/uboat.net corroboration; NHHC live-page checks [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-o-toole-de527-01 through -09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-527: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat disclosure, and no qualifying asbestos litigation naming the vessel. The hull was sold and scrapped in March 1946 - before the asbestos-litigation era and before postwar abatement programs - so no postwar documentation pathway (museum surveys, MARAD custody records, yard abatement contracts) exists for this hull.
- 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 - era materials were installed at build in this design per class/era inference; the hull's destruction in 1946 forecloses present-day survey evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-07
-
[9]Library of Congress, Veterans History Project: Dwight Poole Collection (AFC/2001/001/20001) - Boatswain's Mate Second Class, service aboard USS O'Toole (DE-527), 1943-1946 [other_primary]
- Locator
- loc.gov item afc2001001.20001 (collection catalog entry)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Library of Congress Veterans History Project holds the Dwight Poole Collection documenting a crew member's service aboard this hull: Boatswain's Mate Second Class, service dates 1943-1946, locations including Norfolk, Bermuda, Portland (Maine), Atlantic convoy routes, and Algiers - consistent with the DANFS service narrative. A primary-source veteran account naming this hull exists in archival custody; its content was not retrieved.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Crew member (BM2 Dwight Poole), 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Collection-level catalog entry only - the memoir/oral-history contents were not reviewed and contain no known asbestos statement. Archival lead for crew-level detail, not an exposure record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-o-toole-de527-08