Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
-
[1]research packet 750-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-osberg-de538-pkt-750-packet-md
-
[2]Naval Historical Center, 'United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995' (Grossnick), Appendix 12 'Ships Named for Naval Aviators' (NHHC publication; live NHHC PDF returns 404 - Wayback capture cited) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Appendix 12 table, 'O' section row (p. 604 of the 1995 edition pagination)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NHHC-published appendix row: 'Osberg (DE 538) - ENS Carl A. Osberg, USNR - 10 Dec 1945' (commissioning-date column). Establishes the hull's identity, its namesake (Ensign Carl A. Osberg, USNR, a naval aviator - Torpedo Squadron 3, USS Yorktown CV-5, missing in action at the Battle of Midway 4 June 1942, posthumous Navy Cross per award-citation reproductions), and its commissioning date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1945 (commissioning); publication 1995
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Official Navy publication but an appendix table only - it confirms ship name, hull number, namesake identity, and commissioning date; it carries no service history, no specifications, and no materials content. Namesake's Midway/VT-3/Navy Cross detail derives from award-citation reproductions and secondary compilations (NavSource bio block; Military Times Hall of Valor), not from this table. Live NHHC URL 404s (standing link-rot issue from batches 01/07); Wayback 2015 capture cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-01
-
[3]Hazegray DANFS-mirror stub for DE-538, transcribed by Michael Hansen, sourcing K. Jack Bauer & Stephen S. Roberts, 'Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy 1775-1990' pp. 243-244, and Conway's 'All The World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946' p.137 [other_primary]
- Locator
- hazegray DANFS-mirror transcription, escorts/de538.txt
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Register-derived data for this hull, transcribed verbatim: 'There is no record of USS OSBERG (DE-538) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.' Specifications: 1,430 t., 306 ft., 37 ft. beam, 11 ft. 2 in. draft (full load), 23 k., complement 156; armament 2x5in., 4x40mm, 10x20mm, 3x21in. torpedo tubes, 8 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks, 1 hedgehog; class John C. Butler. Laid down 3 November 1943 by the Boston Navy Yard; launched 7 December 1943; commissioned 10 December 1945; stricken from the Navy Register 1 August 1972; sold 5 February 1974.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1974
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction trades 1943-45; commissioned crew 1945-47, 1951-58
- Limitations
- Secondary transcription of a reference register (Bauer & Roberts) - the underlying register pages were not directly inspected this session. The stub's explicit note that no DANFS entry exists for this hull is itself a coverage finding: NHHC narrative coverage for DE-538 is absent, so the service chronology rests on register data and secondary compilations. Complement figure (156) conflicts with class figures (see gaps). Armament list reflects the design fit; per the class boiler/armament map DE-537/538 completed to a variant fit (10x40mm, no torpedo tubes) - unverified against contract documents.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-02
-
[4]NavSource Online Destroyer Escort Photo Archive, DE-538 'Building and Operational Data' block, commanding-officer list, and photo captions (incl. NARA/USN photo credits) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 'Osberg (DE 538) Building and Operational Data' block; CO table; photo 0653806 caption (Brooklyn, Oct 1955)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Secondary-compilation chronology for this hull: keel laid 3 November 1943 at Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown; launched 7 December 1943; christened 10 December 1945 by Mrs. Robert H. Hawes (sister of Ensign Osberg) and commissioned the same day by Captain A. R. Marron, CO Boston Navy Yard, Lcdr. V. S. Mauldin in command - christening placed at commissioning after a two-year fitting-out gap on the ways/in reserve status; decommissioned 15 May 1947 after 1 year 5 months; recommissioned 26 February 1951, assigned to Naval Reserve Training, 3rd Naval District, homeported at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn; underway off the Brooklyn Navy Yard October 1955 (photo); decommissioned 25 February 1958 at the U.S. Naval Supply Depot, Bayonne, N.J., custody to CO New York Group, U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet; stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 1 August 1972 with a total of 8 years 5 months commissioned service; sold for scrapping 5 February 1974. CO list includes Mauldin (commissioning), Cdr. C. E. Kemmerer, Lcdr. H. J. Messick (1953-55), Lcdr. V. C. Tuley (1955-56), Lcdr. G. H. Coster Jr. (1956-58).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1974
- Population
- NRT-era crew plus embarked Naval Reserve trainees 1951-58; mothball-fleet maintenance/security personnel 1958-72; shipbreakers 1974
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation - used for custody/event chronology and as a pointer to its cited primaries (USN/NARA photographs, commissioning-program detail); details not independently re-verified, and the live site blocks automated fetch (content captured via search index). The christening-at-commissioning placement is unusual and is NavSource's date assignment, not independently confirmed. Scrapping buyer/yard not identified. 8y5m total-service figure is NavSource's computed total.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-03
-
[5]U.S. Naval Historical Center photo NH 79819 (March 1972, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard inactive facility; captioned ex-USS Hilbert DE-742 with ex-USS Osberg DE-538 at right) plus Heilenday Collection photo II 0204A (October 1973, ex-Osberg nested with ex-Hilbert, ex-Stockdale DE-399, ex-Janssen DE-396) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NH 79819 caption ('March 1972: Philadelphia, Pa.'); Heilenday II 0204A caption (October 1973)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official USN still photo NH 79819 documents ex-USS Osberg (DE-538) laid up at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, in March 1972; a second photograph (Heilenday Collection II 0204A) shows her in mothballs there in October 1973 nested with other reserve destroyer escorts. Documents her reserve-fleet custody location 1958-1974 before striking and sale.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1972-1973 (photographs)
- Population
- Inactive-ship maintenance and security personnel, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 1958-1974
- Limitations
- Photographs document custody location and external layup condition only - they carry no materials, survey, or asbestos content. NH 79819 is an official Naval Historical Center photo (cataloged via NavSource caption and Wikimedia Commons copy); the Heilenday photo is a private-collection image. Transfer date from New York Group custody to Philadelphia is not stated in located sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-04
-
[6]John C. Butler-class (WGT) design data - BuShips Ships' Data Vol. 1 (1945) design group 6: 2 'D' express boilers (435 psi/750F; Babcock & Wilcox for the DE 531-554 block per navypedia block map), Westinghouse geared turbines, 12,000 shp, 2 shafts, 24.3 kt, accommodations 15 officers/207 enlisted; navypedia DE-537/538 armament-variant note (10x40mm fit, no torpedo tubes) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 design-group table row 6; navypedia us_de_tev_wgt member table DE-537/538 row
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: a 1943-45-built WGT destroyer escort with a full steam plant (2 superheated boilers feeding geared turbines at 435 psi/750F) sits in the peak period of Navy asbestos use - era-standard applications would include boiler and turbine insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, deck coverings, and bulkhead/accommodation insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1943-1958 (build + in-service periods)
- Population
- Boston Navy Yard construction and fitting-out trades 1943-45; engineering watchstanders and maintenance crews 1945-47, 1951-58
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - NOT a hull-specific finding. No material schedule, insulation list, or survey for this hull was located; does not quantify material or establish any individual's exposure. Plant description derives from official BuShips design data plus secondary compilations (navypedia block map and armament-variant table), not contract documents. Postwar completion (commissioned Dec 1945) does not remove the era-standard insulation assumption for a wartime-spec hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-05
-
[7]Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec (W.D. Wash. 2:17-cv-00537) pretrial exhibit list - Navy insulation-spec suite identified for sister hull USS Brannon (DE-446, same class): BuShips Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (24 Aug 1945); Navy Dept Specification 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (15 Oct 1945); BuEng General Specs for Machinery S39-1 (3 Feb 1939); BuEng Manual ch.13 Instructions Relative to Heat Insulation (rev. 1933, repr. May 1939); BUMED Code-55 memo 'Occupational Health Issues for POM-80' (9 Jun 1977) [court_record]
- Locator
- Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec exhibit/expert-witness lists (as catalogued in the john-c-butler class profile, ev-john-c-butler-class-03/-04)
- Finding type
- litigation_product_id
- Finding
- Litigation on a sister John C. Butler-class hull identifies the controlling Navy thermal-insulation specification suite applicable to a 1943-45 Navy-yard destroyer-escort build, including a spec expressly titled 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (32F3a) - the correct primary-document pull targets for establishing class-level material documentation.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 1933-1977 (documents); litigation 2017-2019
- Limitations
- Exhibit-list identifications only, from litigation concerning a different hull (DE-446); the spec documents themselves were not retrieved this session, and their content is not here asserted to describe DE-538's fitted material. Class-level pointer, not a ship-specific finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-06
-
[8]CourtListener API v4 opinion and RECAP docket searches, exact-name query (authenticated, fleet-paced) [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4, queries '"USS Osberg"' type=o (0 results) and type=r (0 results), 2026-09-28
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying litigation names this hull. CourtListener '"USS Osberg"' returned 0 results in both the opinion index (type=o) and the RECAP docket index (type=r). The residual hull-number ('"DE-538"') and bare-name ('Osberg') queries were deferred when the fleet pacing budget exhausted mid-sweep.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-28
- Study period
- 2026-09-28 (sweep)
- Limitations
- The exact-name query is the highest-precision sweep and returned literally zero in both indexes - stronger than a collision-only result; the deferred residual queries carry some residual uncertainty (hull-number strings can collide with reporter pagination, and bare surnames collide with party names). Absence of a docketed case does not prove no claimant ever alleged exposure aboard; it establishes only that no opinion or located docket names this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-07
-
[9]Batch-4370 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS coverage check; NHHC aviation-history appendix; Naval Vessel Register detail page; hazegray register-derived stub; NavSource photo/operational archive; NARA deck-log series check; CourtListener exact-name queries [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-osberg-de538-01 through -09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-538: no hull ACM survey, no abatement contract, no hazmat or disposal-condition disclosure, and no docketed case naming the vessel was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). Additionally, no DANFS entry exists for this hull (hazegray transcription states so explicitly; NHHC slug returns 404 with no Wayback capture).
- 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 - a 1943-45 Navy-yard steam build of this class carried era-standard insulation, and the hull was scrapped in 1974 before the Navy's documented asbestos-management regime (policy from 1975 onward) produced public hull records. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-osberg-de538-08