USS Weber (APD-75)

Evidence

5 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-5).

1. [1]DANFS, Weber (DE-675/APD-75) entry (namesake biography, spec block, service narrative, disposal, awards) - verbatim Naval Historical Center page via Wayback capture 2012-10-24; live NHHC page (history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/weber.html) returns 404 [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   DANFS entry (danfs/w4/weber.htm), spec block + service narrative; Wayback capture 2012-10-24

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   DANFS record for this hull: laid down 22 February 1943 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co.; launched 1 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Matt A. Walsh; commissioned 30 June 1943, Comdr. Rollo N. Norgaard in command. Bermuda shakedown (departed Provincetown 23 July), Boston arrival 21 August and post-shakedown availability, ASW training out of New London, then New York. Transatlantic convoy escort New York-Londonderry from 5 September 1943 (arrived 16th); return via St. John's 1 October; 10-day availability at the Brooklyn navy yard; New York-Curacao-Londonderry rotation (Willemstad 24 October; Londonderry Armistice Day 1943); then Londonderry-New York convoy routine through August 1944 - six further round trips, sonar/radar contacts and depth-charge attacks, no confirmed U-boat kills. Last Derry departure 7 August 1944; one September Cherbourg round trip; October Norfolk-Mediterranean convoy - collision with a Portuguese fishing vessel (crew rescued, vessel sank), repairs at Palermo, rejoined at Oran, returned to Philadelphia 10 December 1944. Redesignated APD-75 on 15 December 1944; conversion at Philadelphia completed mid-March 1945 (3-inch battery exchanged for 5-inch/38 DP gun, strengthened AA battery, UDT accommodations). Norfolk training; departed 14 April 1945; Panama 19-20 April; Pearl Harbor 8 May; UDT 23 exercises at Kahoolawe/Maui; Eniwetok 1 June; Ulithi 6 June. Escorted battleship California to Okinawa (arrived 17 June); from 25 June antisubmarine/mine escort for the surface force built around California and West Virginia with cruisers Wichita, Tuscaloosa, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Chester off Okinawa until 1 July; Saipan 12 July; San Pedro Bay, Leyte, 17 July; Leyte training through the 15 August surrender. Postwar: Nagasaki POW evacuation 11-23 September (TU 55.7.1); Tsingtao/Taku marine convoy 16 October (severe typhoon); Manila 23 October; Hong Kong-to-north-China troop shuttle November; departed Tsingtao 25 November; Pearl Harbor 13 December; San Diego 22 December; Panama Canal 7-9 January 1946; New York Naval Shipyard preinactivation overhaul from 15 January; Green Cove Springs 23 February 1946, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; 'placed out of commission by directive in January 1947'; struck 1 June 1960; sunk as target 15 July 1962 by 'Bullpup' air-launched missiles. One battle star for World War II. Spec block: dp. 1,400; l. 306'0"; b. 36'10"; dr. 9'5" (mean); s. 24 k.; cpl. 186; a. 3x3", 4x1.1", 8x20mm., 8 dcp., 1 dcp.(hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Buckley.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1943-1962

   Population

   Bethlehem/Fore River construction trades 1943; wartime crew (design complement 186); embarked UDT personnel 1945

   Limitations

   DANFS documents identity, service history, and specifications - not materials or asbestos content. Wayback capture of the NHC page cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (standing fleet-wide link rot, per BATCH-01 report). DANFS names the conversion venue only as Philadelphia; the Philadelphia Navy Yard specifically rests on NavSource operational data (ev-02).

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-weber-apd75-01

2. [2]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Weber (APD-75) page + Destroyer Escort Photo Index DE-675 page - registry chronology, APD spec block, campaign table, awards block, photo captions, commanding-officer list [other_primary]

   Locator

   NavSource APD-75 page (archives/10/04/04075.htm): chronology + 'APD Specifications' block + campaign table + awards block; DE-675 photo index (archives/06/675.htm): building/operational data + CO list; pages reached via Wayback captures 2024-06-19/2025-05-13 (navsource.org direct fetch failed in session)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Registry chronology corroborating DANFS for this hull: keel laid 22 February 1943 by Bethlehem Steel (Fore River Yard) Shipyard, Inc., Quincy, Mass.; launched/christened 1 May 1943 (sponsor Mrs. Matt R. Walsh of Galesburg, Ill., mother of the namesake - middle-initial variant vs. DANFS 'Matt A. Walsh' in gaps); commissioned 30 June 1943, CDR Rollo N. Norgaard; entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard 10 December 1944 for APD conversion (completed mid-March 1945); reclassified APD-75 15 December 1944; TransDiv One Hundred Eight; Okinawa Gunto operation (assault and occupation, 17-30 June 1945); Navy Occupation Service Medal and China Service Medal (extended) 2 September-29 November 1945; decommissioned 30 July 1946 at Green Cove Springs, Fla. (conflicts with DANFS 'January 1947' - in gaps); struck from the Naval Register 1 June 1960; sunk as a target 15 July 1962 by air-launched Bullpup missile; one battle star. APD spec block: 1,400 t light/2,130 t full; 306' oa; 23.6 kt trial; complement 12 officers/192 enlisted; troops 12 officers/150 enlisted; 4 LCVP; 1x5"/38, 3 twin 40mm, 6x20mm; propulsion 'two Combustion Engineering "D" Express boilers, 435psi 750F; two General Electric turbines (turbo-electric drive); two propellers, 12,000shp'. DE-page photo captions include a ship-authored war-history scan (06675wh.jpg).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1943-1962

   Population

   crew 12 officers/192 enlisted (APD era); embarked troops up to 162; Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion trades Dec 1944-Mar 1945

   Limitations

   NavSource is a private registry/photo-archive compilation - secondary, not an official source; its dates corroborate DANFS. Its data line conflicts with DANFS on the decommissioning date (30 July 1946 vs. January 1947) and on the sponsor's middle initial - both conflicts carried in gaps. Establishes nothing about materials aboard.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-weber-apd75-02

3. [3]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 1 (Jan 1945), DE design-group table (shipscribe.com scan) + navypedia TE-class block map (buckley-class profile, class-f worktree) + NavSource APD-75 spec block (boiler maker) [other_primary]

   Locator

   SDB1945v1 pp. 234-235 DE design-group table (groups 2-3 TE rows); navypedia us_de_te block map; NavSource APD-75 spec block; buckley-class.class.json ev-buckley-class-01/-02; shipyards.json records fore-river-shipyard / philadelphia-naval-shipyard / brooklyn-navy-yard / boston-naval-shipyard

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Class/era design documentation: this hull is a Buckley (TE) destroyer-escort design - BuShips Ships' Data 1945 design groups 2-3: 306 ft oa, ~1,400-1,450 t standard, 2-shaft GE turbo-electric machinery 12,000 shp, 23.6 kt, two 'D' express-type boilers at 435 psi/750F superheat; navypedia's per-block boiler map assigns Combustion Engineering boilers to the DE-675-683 block that includes this hull, corroborated by the NavSource APD-75 spec block ('two Combustion Engineering "D" Express boilers, 435psi 750F'). The documented 1944-45 conversion to a Charles Lawrence-class APD at the Philadelphia Navy Yard (entered 10 December 1944, completed mid-March 1945) is an era-typical insulation-disturbance event - troop berthing/messing added for ~162 troops, four LCVP davits, revised armament incl. one 5"/38 DP gun. A 1943 steam-plant vessel of this design would have carried period-standard asbestos applications: boiler insulation, steam-line lagging, turbine insulation, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, fireproofing, and deck coverings. Yard context: builder (Bethlehem/Fore River, Quincy), conversion yard (Philadelphia Naval Shipyard), and availability yards (Brooklyn/New York Naval Shipyard Oct 1943 + Jan 1946; Boston post-shakedown Aug 1943) all carry documented asbestos-product findings in the Atlas shipyard dataset (tiers 2-3) - yard-level documentation, not hull-level.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   1943-1947

   Population

   Bethlehem/Fore River construction trades 1943; Philadelphia Navy Yard conversion trades 1944-45; NY Naval Shipyard availability trades 1943/1946; crew 1943-46/47

   Limitations

   Class/era and design inference only - not a ship-specific finding. No hull material schedule, conversion work package, or survey located (NARA RG19 General Information Books are the archival lead). Does not establish asbestos presence, quantity, or exposure aboard this hull; yard-level dataset findings do not document this hull's materials.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-weber-apd75-03

4. [4]CourtListener API v4 (authenticated batch pipeline, cl-auth-search.py, 2026-09-26): exact-name sweeps "USS Weber" (opinion + RECAP docket), qualified name sweep "Weber" asbestos (opinion), hull-number sweeps "DE-675" (opinion + docket) and "APD-75" (opinion + docket) [court_record]

   Locator

   CourtListener v4 search endpoint, type=o and type=r, queries as listed; results triaged 2026-09-26

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   Litigation sweep for this hull - no qualifying asbestos litigation located. Exact name: "USS Weber" returned 0 opinion hits and 0 docket hits. Qualified name: "Weber" asbestos returned 482 opinion hits, all surname collisions on Weber-named litigants/attorneys (e.g., Weber v. GAF Corp., 15 F.3d 35 (3d Cir. 1994) - an asbestos plaintiff named Richard J. Weber, not the vessel); none name the ship. Hull numbers: "DE-675" returned 9 opinions, all non-vessel collisions (insurance, Puerto Rico property, criminal/habeas cases matching 'DE 675' exhibit/section text) and 47 dockets/53 documents, all 'DE 675' PACER document-entry cross-references on unrelated dockets (no asbestos-tagged dockets among the reviewed hits; no vessel reference); "APD-75" returned 0 opinions and 4 dockets, all acronym/exhibit collisions (Grzadzinski v. Garland D.D.C. 2020 - rotated-text exhibit; Diaz v. The Partnership N.D. Ga. 2021 - exhibit-list reference; Loizon v. Evans N.D. Ill. 2018 - employment complaint; U.S. v. City of Albuquerque D.N.M. 2014 - consent-decree monitor's report, 'APD' = Albuquerque Police Department). No opinion or docket names this hull.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   2026-09-26 (sweep dates)

   Limitations

   A no-hit sweep does not prove the hull never appeared in litigation: unindexed state-court filings, non-digitized records, and docket text behind full documents fall outside coverage; the 482 'Weber' surname hits and 47 'DE-675' docket hits were triaged by metadata and indexed snippet context, not full-text review of every document. Fleet pacing paused the sweep intermittently; retries were spaced per limiter guidance, not retried into a ban. Nothing here establishes or defeats an exposure claim.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-weber-apd75-04

5. [5]Batch-2452 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS live probe + Wayback NHC-page capture; ibiblio/HyperWar spec blocks; NavSource registry pages (DE-675, APD-75) via Wayback; NVR ship-detail probe; CourtListener opinion and docket sweeps (exact name + qualified name + both hull numbers); NARA deck-log/RG19 leads; marketing-list sweep (asbestos-ships.com dedicated page, simmonsfirm.com, freeasbestostesting.com, mesotheliomaveterans.org name this hull - banned source class, presence only) [other_primary]

   Locator

   search_ledger rows sl-uss-weber-apd75-01 through sl-uss-weber-apd75-09

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no hull ACM survey, abatement contract, conversion work package, disposal hazmat disclosure, museum record, or docketed asbestos case naming DE-675 or APD-75 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was mothballed at Green Cove Springs 1946/47-1960 and sunk as a target 15 July 1962 - a pre-regulation disposal that generated no scrapping-yard or hazmat documentation; no surveyable artifact exists.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-26

   Study period

   2026-09-26

   Limitations

   Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 steam-plant escort/transport is era-consistent with ACM, and thirteen-plus years of reserve lay-up plus disposal by target sinking left no modern documentation. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-weber-apd75-05