Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]research packet li-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (Wikipedia corroborated by NavSource DE-
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-underhill-de682-pkt-li-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Underhill (DE-682), current NHHC online edition (published 2021-02-04; Wayback capture 2025-12-09 - the live NHHC page serves 404; verbatim print-edition transcription at ibiblio reads launch/commission one day later) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS entry (online edition), specifications block + namesake biography + full service narrative; Wayback ts 20251209193305
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull, a Buckley-class (TE) destroyer escort: laid down 16 September 1943 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Shipyard; launched 15 October 1943 (sponsor Mrs. Bertha Underhill, aunt of the namesake); commissioned 15 November 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Sidney R. Jackson, USNR. Specs: dp. 1,400; l. 306'0"; b. 37'; dr. 13'6"; s. 24 k.; cpl. 213; class Buckley. Namesake Ensign Samuel Jackson Underhill, USNR, naval aviator (VS-5, USS Yorktown CV-5), killed 8 May 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea, posthumous Navy Cross. Shakedown Bermuda; Caribbean Sea Frontier convoy escort Jan-May 1944; repairs/alterations at Boston; UGS-47 screening July 1944 - struck submerged object at Bizerte 24 July 1944, port propeller/shaft damaged, temporary repairs Oran; GUS-47 return to New York 18 August; Lt. Cmdr. Robert M. Newcomb relieved Jackson 24 August; UGS-54 Plymouth (Sept), UGS-60 Mers el Kebir (Nov), ASW exercises with French submarine Doris, GUS-60 return 21 December; New London submarine-training assignment Jan 1945; departed 8 Feb escorting HMS Patroller to Canal Zone, then Panama/Galapagos/Bora Bora to Seeadler Harbor (15 Mar); Philippine/Admiralty/New Guinea convoy escort; Okinawa ASW patrol mid-July; departed Ryukyus 22 July as largest/lead escort of convoy (7 LSTs + merchant) carrying 96th Division to Leyte; 24 July 1945 mine sighting, sound contacts, depth-charge attacks, and explosion of one or two kaiten (manned suicide torpedoes) severed the ship at the forward fire room; of 238 aboard, 125 survived; CO Newcomb among the dead; aft hulk sunk by 3-inch/40mm fire from patrol craft after 1800; stricken from the Navy Register 1 September 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Fore River Shipyard construction workforce 1943; wartime crew (design complement 213; 238 aboard at loss)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, builder, service history, and loss - not materials or asbestos content. Live NHHC page returns 404 (documented NHHC link-rot pattern); the 2025-12-09 Wayback capture of the live page is cited, and the verbatim print-edition transcription (ibiblio/HyperWar) concurs except launch/commission dates (print reads 16 Oct/16 Nov; current edition reads 15 Oct/15 Nov - carried in gaps) and rescue-craft numbering (print reads PC-808; current edition reads PC-803).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Destroyer Escort Photo Index DE-682 (compiled building/operational data, official BuShips/NARA photo series 19-N-66695/-96 and 80-G-382857, spec block, CO roster) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource DE-682 page: specifications block + 'Building and Operational Data' chronology + photo captions 19-N-66695/96, 80-G-382857 + CO table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource compiled record for this hull: class Buckley, type TE (turbine-electric drive, 3-inch guns); displacement 1,400 t light / 1,740 t full; 306 ft oa; propulsion 2 'D' Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12,000 shp, 2 screws, 24 kts; armament 3 x 3"/50, 1 twin 40mm, 8 x 20mm, 3 x 21" TT, hedgehog, depth-charge outfit; complement 15/198. Building/operational data: keel laid 16 September 1943 by Bethlehem Steel (Fore River Yard), Quincy; launched/christened 15 October 1943; commissioned 15 November 1943 (Lcdr Sidney R. Jackson); sunk by Japanese kaiten off Luzon 24 July 1945 ('112 of her crew were lost'); struck 1 September 1945 after 1 year 8 months service. Official photo captions: BuShips/NARA 19-N-66696 shows the ship off the Boston Navy Yard 21 June 1944; 80-G-382857 shows her in dazzle paint in the Pacific 1944. CO roster: Jackson to 24 Aug 1944, then Lt./Lcdr Robert M. Newcomb.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Fore River Shipyard construction workforce 1943; Boston Navy Yard availability workforce June 1944; wartime crew 1943-45
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation citing official records and photo captions - not itself an official record. The '112 lost' figure conflicts with DANFS's 238-aboard/125-survived arithmetic (113) and with the LST-647 narrative (119) - carried in gaps. Spec block armament (twin 40mm, torpedo tubes) reflects as-built fit; the survivor-compiled history reports the torpedo tubes were later removed for added AA at Boston - noted, not resolved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-02
-
[4]Scanned official correspondence, USS LST-647 (file LST647/A7, serial 151, 18 Oct 1945) forwarding 'The Story of the U.S.S. UNDERHILL (DE 682)' to CincPac Public Relations (Ens. Robert P. Cook; endorsed by CO LST-647 Robert H. O'Neal 19 Oct 1945); plus transcription of USS PC-803 Action Report (serial none, 31 July 1945, CO Dennis P. Jordon; CONFIDENTIAL-declassified) with survivor roster enclosure and appended SECRET staff analysis signed N.C. Gillette, Chief of Staff - via NavSource image archive and ussunderhill.org (USS Underhill Memorial Organization) document transcriptions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource image 06682wh.jpg (LST-647 letter + enclosure A narrative); ussunderhill.org/html/action.htm (PC-803 Action Report Parts I-VII + Enclosure A roster + Gillette staff endorsement)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Primary contemporaneous Navy documents of this hull's loss: Task Unit 99.1.18 departed Okinawa 22 July 1945 escorting ComLSTGrp46 (7 LSTs + USS Adria AF-30, 96th Division troops) to Leyte; escorts Underhill (escort commander), PC-1251/-803/-804/-807, SC-1306/-1309/-1315, PCE-872. On 24 July a snooper plane shadowed the convoy; at ~1415 Underhill sighted a mine (assessed a decoy), then prosecuted sound contacts ('chasing a one man sub doing about 15 knots', 'I wish these little bastards would get out from under us' logged at 1505); at 1507 she blew up - disintegrated from the stack forward, a small bow fragment left floating ~200 yards off; position logged 19 deg 19 min N, 126 deg 30 min (transcription shows 'w', an obvious typo for E - the action occurred in the Philippine Sea east of Luzon). PC-804 and PC-803 rescued survivors under continuing contacts; PC-803 removed 82 survivors, was granted permission, and sank the hulk by gunfire at 1917. Staff assessment: coordinated attack by midgets or piloted torpedoes from a parent submarine, the mine likely a deliberate decoy; countermeasures proposed. The LST-647 enclosure is a public-relations narrative of the same events.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1945-07-22 to 1945-10-19
- Population
- TU 99.1.18 crews; Underhill crew 238 aboard at loss
- Limitations
- Declassified wartime reports transcribed/hosted on non-official sites (NavSource image; memorial-organization HTML transcriptions) - document authenticity is strong (serials, signatures, format) but the transcriptions are unofficial copies and were not compared against NARA originals. The reports document the loss, not shipboard materials; they say nothing about asbestos. Casualty figures across the documents (112/113/119 dead) are carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-03
-
[5]DANFS/NavSource propulsion and build specs (Buckley TE: 2 'D' express boilers, GE turbo-electric drive, 12,000 shp; per Atlas Buckley-class profile, navypedia block map assigns Combustion Engineering boilers to DE-675-683) + Atlas shipyard dataset: fore-river-shipyard and bethlehem-shipbuilding records (yard tier 3, asbestos products litigation-documented incl. Oliver v. General Electric, D. Md. 1:16-cv-01057), boston-naval-shipyard and brooklyn-navy-yard (tier 3) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DANFS/NavSource specs block; shipyards.json records fore-river-shipyard, bethlehem-shipbuilding, boston-naval-shipyard, brooklyn-navy-yard; Atlas buckley-class profile (navypedia boiler block map; BuShips SDB 1945 groups 2-3)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/yard inference: a Buckley-class (TE) destroyer escort built Sep-Nov 1943 with a superheated-steam turbo-electric plant (2 boilers at 435 psi/750 deg F per BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design groups 2-3) would have carried period-standard asbestos in boiler and steam-line insulation/lagging, turbine lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, and compartment fire insulation. Builder Fore River Shipyard (Bethlehem Steel, Quincy) is documented at yard level (tier 3) with asbestos products on boilers, pipes, turbines, fireproofing, gaskets, packing, wire insulation, cement, and paint; the ship also had documented availability periods at Boston Navy Yard (Jan and May-June 1944; BuShips photo 21 June 1944) and arrived New York (Brooklyn Navy Yard per survivor-compiled history) 21 December 1944.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- Fore River construction trades 1943; Boston Navy Yard and New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard availability workforces 1943-44; crew 1943-45
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - not a ship-specific finding. The yard litigation record documents asbestos products in yard use generally; it does not name DE-682, does not establish which products went aboard this hull, and establishes no quantities and no individual exposure. The ship sank in 1945, so no Cold-War-era refit/disposal records exist; wartime Boston/New York yard periods rest partly on the survivor-compiled history.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-04
-
[6]Navy insulation-spec suite identified as controlling era documents in destroyer-escort asbestos litigation: Bureau of Ships Manual ch.39 Thermal Insulation NAVSHIPS 250-000(39) (24 Aug 1945); Navy Department Specification 32F3a 'Felt, Insulating, Asbestos' (Oct 1945) - per Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec (W.D. Wash. 2:17-cv-00537) exhibit-list recital, as cataloged in the Atlas john-c-butler-class class profile [other_primary]
- Locator
- john-c-butler-class.class.json class_notes + evidence rows citing Jack v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec exhibit list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The era's controlling Navy insulation specifications - including an explicitly asbestos-named felt spec - are identified in DE-class litigation exhibit lists and cataloged in this dataset's John C. Butler-class profile. These are the correct next-pull targets for class-level asbestos specification documentation applicable to the Buckley (TE) class, a sister steam-escort design of the same build era.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1945 (spec dates)
- Limitations
- Identified secondhand via class-level research and a litigation exhibit list for a different DE class; the underlying spec documents were not retrieved in this session, and nothing in this row is specific to DE-682. Retrieval pending - treat as research lead only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-05
-
[7]NARA Record Groups 19/24/38 holdings for DE-682: RG24 deck logs (Nov 1943 - Jul 1945), RG19 Booklets of General Plans and per-vessel General Information Books (Buckley-class drawings), RG38 wartime action-report and loss/inquiry files (the PC-803 report and Gillette staff analysis transcribed at ev-03 have official NARA counterparts); NARA catalog API returned no records in-session [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog API unresponsive (HTML shell only); class-profile ledger notes no digitized Buckley material schedule
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Unexamined archival holdings are the residual leads for hull-level material documentation: NARA RG19 per-vessel General Information Books and class Booklets of General Plans occasionally carry insulation/material callouts; RG24 deck logs for DE-682 (1943-45) exist presumptively under standard holdings; the wartime loss-investigation file and action reports (of which the PC-803 report is a transcribed copy) sit in WWII-era operational records. None were located in digitized form this session.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Limitations
- Holding existence is presumed from standard NARA record-group structure, not confirmed per-hull; NARA catalog API did not return records in-session (blocked/not retrievable). Establishes nothing about DE-682 materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-06
-
[8]Batch-4459 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live 404; current edition via Wayback capture; print-edition transcription via ibiblio); NavSource DE-682 index incl. scanned LST-647 loss-report correspondence; ussunderhill.org transcriptions of PC-803/PC-804/LST-647 reports; CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket indexes; NARA catalog; hazegray DANFS mirror; Atlas shipyards.json [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-underhill-de682-01 through sl-uss-underhill-de682-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for DE-682: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming this vessel was found in the public sources searched - and none can be expected from the hull itself, which was destroyed in action 24 July 1945 (no decommissioning, scrapping, or museum phase). CourtListener: exact-phrase 'USS Underhill' = 0 opinions and 0 dockets; 'DE-682' opinions = 7 hits and dockets = 57 hits, all tokenization noise (pin-cite/hyphenation/docket-entry-number fragments in unrelated criminal, bankruptcy, and civil cases); broad 'Underhill asbestos' opinions = 79 hits, all name collisions (surname parties; D. Conn. opinions authored by Judge Stefan R. Underhill). No hit names the vessel, the hull number as a vessel, or asbestos exposure aboard. The broad 'Underhill' docket sweep could not be completed in-session (fleet pacing budget repeatedly spent) - logged as a gap. See search_ledger.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - it reflects that no ship-specific documentation exists in the sources searched, compounded by the hull's wartime destruction removing the disposal-phase records other ships generate. CourtListener review covered returned first-page results per query; deep-tail surname collisions among broad 'Underhill' results were not individually opened - residual low-relevance collisions possible; none reviewed named the vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-underhill-de682-07
