The book
Lieutenant John Louis Casey, Jr. prepared DESTROYER 697 as part of his official duties. The
command submitted three copies to the Secretary of the Navy’s Public Information Section as the SPERRY’s
official Ship’s History under ALPAC #318.
An original hard copy produced in 1945 remained in the hands of the Osann family and was the principal
text used for this project. A digital version was later located in the holdings of the National Archives
and Records Administration.
Principal source: Original 1945 hard copy of John Louis Casey, Jr.,
DESTROYER 697, preserved by the Osann family; later archival source: National Archives and
Records Administration, Record Group 38.
Wartime diaries
Seventeen monthly SPERRY war diaries run from June 1944 through October 1945. They provide the dated
movements, daily positions, operational detail, and official record used throughout the site.
Principal sources: Official monthly war diaries of the USS CHARLES S. SPERRY,
June 1944 to October 1945; National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 38, Catalog ID
4697018, digitized images accessed through Fold3.
Photographs
The photographs include Richard O. Pierce’s shipboard and occupation views, official United States Navy
photographs, and unidentified surrender photograph sets. Pierce’s 1946 letter and Lieutenant Osann’s reply
document how his prints entered the collection.
Principal sources: Richard O. Pierce collection; official United States Navy
photographs; surrender photograph sets.
The Varden diary
Fire Controlman Third Class Edward James Varden’s Wartime Diary, 1943-46 supplies a limited
selection of brief enlisted first-person excerpts.
Reasonable efforts were made to identify and contact a member of the Varden family, but no contact was
established. Limited excerpts are included for noncommercial historical commentary, scholarship, and
source documentation. Fair use under section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act is determined case by case.
Members of the Varden family, or anyone with questions about this material, are invited to contact the
site administrator.
Principal source: Edward James Varden, Wartime Diary, 1943-46.
The Osann Archive
The Osann Archive preserves Lieutenant Edward W. Osann, Jr.’s wartime letters and personal papers,
including accounts of the SPERRY, the COOPER, the end of hostilities, and the men of the engineering
department.
Principal sources: Edward W. Osann, Jr. family archive, including letters and
documents dated between 1941 and 1973.
The drawings
The cover and seven drawings originated with the same official ship-history assignment and appear in
DESTROYER 697. Casey thanked the artists collectively; the surviving book does not assign
individual drawings by name. Modern reinterpretations are labeled as such.
Principal source: DESTROYER 697, official Ship’s History enclosure,
1945; original artwork credited collectively to Loring Corkum, William Forquer, and Oscar Lefeebcre,
spelling as printed.
