Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet et-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-woolsey-dd437-pkt-et-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, Woolsey II (DD-437) (builder, dates, service narrative, striking and 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: laid down 9 October 1939 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works; launched Lincoln's Birthday 1941 (12 February), sponsored by Mrs. Irving Spencer; commissioned 7 May 1941, Lt. Comdr. William H. Von Dreele in command. Spec block: dp. 1,630; 347'7" x 35'6" x 12'6"; 35 k.; cpl. 234; 4 5", 10 21" tt., 2 dct.; cl. Gleaves. Service: Caribbean shakedown; Atlantic Fleet September 1941; Neutrality Patrol and North Carolina (BB-55) screen; U.S.-Iceland convoy escort (in Iceland at Pearl Harbor); Operation Torch - DesRon 13 antisubmarine screen, Center Attack Group, Fedhala; on 16 November 1942 with Swanson (DD-443) and Quick (DD-490) depth-charged and sank the submarine that had torpedoed Joseph Hewes (AP-50) and Electra (AK-21) (transcription reads 'U-178' - U-173 per correction ev-04); transatlantic convoys UGF-4/GUF-4, UGF-6/GUF-6, UGS-8; 8th Fleet Mediterranean from June 1943 - Sicily (Licata-sector fire support), Salerno (Southern Attack Force); 16 December 1943 forced a U-boat to surface off Oran with depth charges and finished her with gunfire, 23 survivors made prisoner (transcription reads 'U-78' - U-73 per ev-04); Anzio Fire Support Group 22 January-February 1944; repairs at Boston 25 February-mid-March 1944; Oran-area patrols; 17-19 May 1944 U-960 hunt with Benson, Ludlow, Niblack, Madison (Niblack/Ludlow credited, Woolsey's gunfire 'probably contributed significantly'); southern France - Bombardment Group, Camel Force, St. Raphael, supported Cannes liberation 24 August 1944; Franco-Italian coast interdiction to January 1945 (transcription typo reads '1946'); reinforced AA battery; Pacific transfer July 1945 (Pearl Harbor at V-J); occupation convoy to Sasebo; Manila, Shanghai, Okinawa, Saipan visits; retransited Panama 29 November 1945; Charleston, S.C. 4 December 1945 for inactivation; in commission in reserve 8 March 1946; out of commission 6 February 1947; berthed Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet, 10 years; towed to Boston late October 1957; stricken 1 July 1971; sold to Andy International, Inc. for scrapping 29 May 1974.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1974
- Population
- Bath Iron Works construction trades 1939-41; wartime and reserve-era crews (design complement 234)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history and specifications, not materials or asbestos content. U-boat identifiers in the transcription ('U-178', 'U-78') are editing errors - correct identities are U-173 and U-73 (ev-04); the 'mid-January 1946' departure from the Mediterranean is a typo for 1945 (she reached New York 23 February 1945). Decommissioning and sale dates conflict with secondary compilations - carried in gaps. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-01
-
[3]Navy Unit Commendation, USS Woolsey (DD-437), Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal for the President (citation text transcribed by Destroyer History Foundation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- destroyerhistory.org USS Woolsey 'Commendation' and 'Service Stars' pages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Navy Unit Commendation awarded to this hull for 'extremely meritorious service' covering Sicily/Licata/Gela/Salerno (9 July-25 August and 9-15 September 1943), the Oran area (16 December 1943), Anzio (21 January-17 February 1944), and southern France (15 August-23 September and 21 October-28 November 1944); the citation states Woolsey 'contacted and tracked down the U-73 without the assistance of aircraft and, dropping but one pattern of depth charges, crippled the undersea craft and finished it off by gunfire.' Woolsey earned seven battle stars (Algeria-Morocco landings; escort/ASW 16 November 1942 and 16 December 1943; Sicily; Salerno; Anzio-Nettuno; southern France).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1943-1944
- Population
- Woolsey crew during cited periods
- Limitations
- The NUC (a unit award, not a shipboard-materials record) independently confirms U-73 as the 16 December 1943 opponent - but frames the kill as Woolsey's alone, while the wartime interrogation report and uboat.net credit Woolsey and Trippe jointly; credit apportionment is documented, not resolved. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-02
-
[4]NARA Catalog file units for this hull: 'Woolsey (DD-437), 5/7/41-2/1/47' (NAID 193198418, WWII deck logs, microfilm roll 7848); 'USS WOOLSEY - War History' (NAID 77698302); 'USS WOOLSEY - Act Rep, Op AVALANCHE' (NAID 135951125); 'USS WOOLSEY - Rep of Ops in the Monaco-Mention Area, Southern France, 9/10-14/44' (NAID 134360471); 'CINCMED - Destruction of U-73, 12/16/43' (NAID 78345803) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov NAIDs 193198418, 77698302, 135951125, 134360471, 78345803
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Ship-specific primary records for DD-437 exist at NARA College Park: the WWII deck-log run (microfilm roll 7848) spans 7 May 1941 to 1 February 1947 - bracketing commissioning through the in-reserve period and ending immediately before the DANFS 'out of commission' date of 6 February 1947, which weighs against the 13 June 1946 decommissioning date given by secondary compilations. War-history and action-report file units (Salerno/AVALANCHE; Monaco-Menton area, southern France) plus the CINCMED report on the destruction of U-73 are digitized-catalog entries for this hull's operations. No RG 19 'Plans for the Destroyer USS Woolsey' or General Information Books file unit was located in the catalog - unlike sister DD-423, no digitized Booklet of General Plans was found.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1941-1947 (records); 2026-09-27 (catalog check)
- Population
- Wartime crew 1941-1945
- Limitations
- Catalog-level confirmation of records existence only - contents not pulled; deck logs and action reports document operations, not materials. Absence of a located RG 19 plans file unit in catalog search does not prove none exists at College Park. Deck-log end date (2/1/47) is consistent with but does not conclusively resolve the 1946-vs-1947 decommissioning conflict.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-03
-
[5]uboat.net Allied Warships, USS Woolsey (DD 437) entry + U-173 and U-73 sinking records; Office of Naval Intelligence interrogation report of U-73 survivors (uboatarchive.net) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/1831.html (DD-437 entry + notable events); uboatarchive.net/U-73A/U-73INT.htm (interrogation report header); NavSource DD-437 operational/building data block (via search index)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Correction: the DANFS transcription for this hull twice identifies the submarine sunk 16 November 1942 off Casablanca as 'U-178' and identifies the submarine sunk 16 December 1943 off Oran as 'U-78'. Wartime and reference records identify them as U-173 (sunk 33-40N 07-35W by Woolsey, Swanson DD-443, and Quick DD-490) and U-73 (sunk 36-07N 00-50W by Woolsey and Trippe DD-403 - the ONI survivor-interrogation report reads 'sunk by U.S.S. "WOLSEY" and U.S.S. "TRIPPE"'; U-78 was a Baltic training boat sunk 16 April 1945). uboat.net/NavSource further read: ordered 15 June 1939; decommissioned 13 June 1946 (vs DANFS out-of-commission 6 February 1947); sold 12 June 1974 (vs DANFS 29 May 1974); launched 14 February 1941 (vs DANFS 'Lincoln's Birthday' = 12 February).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1942-1943 (events); 1946-1974 (disposition dates)
- Population
- Woolsey, Swanson, Quick, Trippe crews; U-173 and U-73 survivors
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary compilation plus wartime primary (ONI interrogation report); DANFS identifier errors are documented, not silently reconciled. The decommissioning, sale, and launch date conflicts between DANFS and secondary compilations are carried in gaps - DANFS dates carried in record fields. navsource.org unreachable to automated fetch at check time; NavSource figures confirmed via search index.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-04
-
[6]Consolidated era inference - Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels Vol. 1 (Jan 1945) destroyer machinery table (shipscribe.com scan) + Atlas shipyard dataset Bath Iron Works record (evidence_tier 2) + class profile benson-gleaves-class (Gleaves subclass: 4 B&W boilers, Westinghouse geared turbines, 50,000 shp) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v1 DD machinery table (No. 421 class rows); shipyards.json record 'bath-iron-works'
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference: DD-437 is a 1939-41 Bath-built Gleaves-class destroyer of the peak Navy asbestos era, with 4 Babcock & Wilcox superheated boilers and geared steam turbines (~50,000 shp class figure; BuShips SDB 1945 table lists 47,000 shp for class lead DD-421 - discrepancy unresolved). Typical period applications for this plant: boiler casing and fireroom insulation, steam-pipe and turbine lagging, valve/flange gaskets and packing, deck tile, accommodation insulation, fireproofing. Builder Bath Iron Works is documented at yard level in the Atlas dataset (Kaylo pipe covering, Foster Wheeler gaskets, asbestos felt, loose packing, vinyl floor tiles, adhesives). Documented yard periods that would disturb machinery/structural materials: repairs at Boston 25 February-mid-March 1944; AA-battery reinforcement stateside spring 1945; inactivation at Charleston December 1945-February 1947 - no asbestos scope documented for any. Unlike 30+ class sisters, DD-437 received no DMS conversion.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 1939-1974
- Population
- Bath Iron Works construction trades 1939-41; repair-yard personnel Boston 1944; wartime and reserve-era crews/maintenance personnel 1941-1974
- Limitations
- Class/era and builder-yard inference only - no ship-specific finding. Typical applications establish typicality of design, not installation aboard this hull; no quantities, no individual exposure, and no product identification for DD-437. Turbine manufacturer for this hull (Westinghouse vs Bethlehem per builder) is unverified at hull level.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-05
-
[7]CourtListener API v4 litigation sweep, 2026-09-27 (this record's search ledger); corroborated by class-profile sweeps 2026-09-16 ('USS Benson'/'USS Gleaves' - 0 hits) [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger sl-uss-woolsey-dd437-07 through sl-uss-woolsey-dd437-11
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation located naming this hull. Exact-name sweeps: 'USS Woolsey' returned 0 hits in the opinion index (type=o) and 0 hits in the RECAP docket index (type=r); '"Woolsey" "DD-437"' returned 0 hits in both indexes; 'Woolsey asbestos navy destroyer' (type=o) returned 0 hits. A looser query ('aboard the Woolsey' OR 'aboard Woolsey' asbestos) degenerated - the OR clause matched bare 'asbestos' (23,690 generic asbestos opinions, no Woolsey reference in the sample reviewed) and is logged as noise, not a hit. Law-firm 'Navy ship asbestos lists' do name USS Woolsey (DD-437) - excluded per source policy; such lists are marketing claims asserting no adjudicated fact.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-27
- Study period
- 2026-09-27
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Negative finding bounded by index coverage: RECAP/opinion indexes are not exhaustive, and un-digitized state or federal records are outside coverage; absence of located litigation does not mean none exists. 'Woolsey' is also a prominent surname (Judge John M. Woolsey, S.D.N.Y.) - the combined 'Woolsey asbestos navy destroyer' query returning 0 indicates no surname noise intersects an asbestos-Navy context in the opinion index. The degenerate OR query is retained in the ledger for transparency.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-woolsey-dd437-06