Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet at-packet.md (7 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (designation genuinely existed; identity is ex-LST-
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-apl-59-apl59-pkt-at-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-53 entry (build record, theater service, APL-59 redesignation, ROK transfer; verbatim transcription - live NHHC page serves 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- hazegray.org DANFS transcription, 'LST-1 to LST-50' group page, LST-53 entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 24 September 1943 at Pittsburgh, Pa., by the Dravo Corp.; launched 6 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Nicholas Spanard; commissioned 21 December 1943, Ens. Michael Stapleton in command; European theater - invasion of Normandy June 1944 and invasion of southern France August-September 1944; Asiatic-Pacific theater - supported occupation of Okinawa May-June 1945; occupation duty in the Far East September 1945-January 1946; redesignated APL-59 September 1954; transferred to the Republic of Korea May 1955, serving as Chang Su (LST-811); three battle stars for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1955
- Population
- Dravo Neville Island construction trades 1943; wartime crew and embarked troops; SCAJAP/ROK-era crews
- Limitations
- DANFS documents service history, not materials or asbestos content - this row supports no asbestos claim. Mirror transcription cited because the live NHHC page returns 404 (same link-rot handling as Batch 01). DANFS dates the APL redesignation only to month (September 1954) and the ROK transfer to month (May 1955); shipscribe provides the day-level dates.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, APL-59 ex USS LST-53 (file 160053) - commission details, flotilla assignments, awards, spec block, photo record [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource file 160053, full page incl. spec block, campaign table, commanding-officer table, Kerama Retto photo caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: partial commission 5-21 December 1943 for ferrying to New Orleans (LT John W. Rogers, Ferry Command); full commission 21 December 1943 (ENS Michael Stapleton); campaigns Normandy 6-25 June 1944, Southern France 15 August-25 September 1944, Okinawa Gunto 17-30 June 1945; Pacific command LST Flotilla 39 / Group 105 / Division 210; occupation service 20 September 1945-22 January 1946; decommissioned 22 January 1946, transferred to COMNAVFE/SCAJAP as Q021; redesignated non-self-propelled barracks ship APL-59 September 1954; transferred to ROK May 1955 as ROKS Chang Su (LST-811); three battle stars; awards include Combat Action Ribbon (Normandy 1944) and Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). Spec block: 2x GM 12-567A diesels 900hp each, 1,700 shp, Falk reduction gears, 11.6 kt; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers / 147 enlisted. Period photograph: LST-53 nested at Kerama Retto May-June 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1955
- Population
- wartime crew and embarked troops; occupation-duty crew 1945-46
- Limitations
- NavSource is a secondary archival compendium built on official records - authoritative for chronology/specs but not a primary government page. Spec block reflects LST-1-class standard figures, not a hull-measured record. NavSource lists strike date as 'unknown' and 'laid up in the Reserve Fleet, date unknown' - shipscribe's register data instead shows operational SCAJAP (Q021) and Pusan port-facilities service through this period; sequencing carried in gaps. No asbestos content anywhere on the page - supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-02
-
[4]shipscribe.com, 'USS APL 59 (ex LST) Class' - register-compilation page by Stephen S. Roberts (compiled 2021-09-09) drawn from official register/BuShips data [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipscribe APL-59 class page: Construction/Disposition tables, Class Notes, Ship Notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Register-level detail for the postwar hull: as SCAJAP Q021 she was an operational American-owned cargo ship with a Japanese crew; by early 1951 she had become a port facilities management vessel (billeting, mess, communications) at Pusan (Busan), South Korea; no longer self-propelled, reclassified APL-59 on 15 September 1954; stricken and transferred to South Korea 11 May 1955; renamed CHANG SU or JANGSU (LST-811), employed as a barracks ship; BU 1959; the USN strike of 11 May 1955 was not fully promulgated until 20 July 1960. As APL: displacement 1,780 t light / 3,640 t full; machinery 'none'; armament 'none'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1946-1960
- Population
- Japanese-crewed SCAJAP service 1946-ca.1951; Pusan port-facility users ca.1951-1955; ROK Navy barracks complement 1955-1959
- Limitations
- shipscribe is a private register compilation (S. S. Roberts) built from official sources - the most detailed single source for the Q021/Pusan/APL sequence, but still secondary. 'Machinery: none' confirms non-self-propelled status without describing what equipment remained aboard. Establishes service chronology only - no asbestos, materials, or condition-survey content; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-03
-
[5]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (Jan 1945), LST design table + lst-1-class.class.json era analysis + GAO HRD-80-2 policy context [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST design table; lst-1-class.class.json evidence ev-lst-1-class-03; GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for a diesel-powered LST-1-class hull built at Dravo Neville Island in the peak-asbestos year 1943: NO boilers or steam plant - the steam-lagging pathway does not apply; plausible asbestos applications on this type concentrate in diesel-engine and exhaust-system insulation, gaskets and packing throughout the engineering spaces, electrical insulation/cable, deck coverings (incl. tank-deck surfaces), accommodation-space insulation, and brake/friction linings on winches and the stern-anchor windlass. The 1954 APL-59 conversion to a billeting/mess/communications barracks hull implies interior accommodation rework of undocumented scope - a period when asbestos-containing insulation and deck/surfacing products remained in Navy use. GAO HRD-80-2 documents that the Navy did not begin systematic asbestos substitution until the early 1970s - after this hull had left US custody (1955).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1943-1959
- Population
- Dravo Neville Island construction trades 1943; wartime crew; SCAJAP Japanese crew 1946-ca.1951; Pusan billeting population ca.1951-1955; ROK Navy crews 1955-1959; 1959 breakup yard workers
- Limitations
- Class/era and design inference only - no hull-level material schedule, insulation spec, or survey exists in the public record for this ship. Does not establish presence, absence, or quantity of ACM ever installed aboard; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim. Conversion-scope statement is inference from the documented postwar role change, not a documented work package.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-04
-
[6]In re Dravo LLC (Derivative Claims Against Carmeuse Lime, Inc.), 307 A.3d 146, 2023 PA Super 268 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2023-12-19), CourtListener cluster 10317322; reversed, In re Dravo LLC, Nos. 33-34 WAP 2024 (Pa. 2026-05-22), CourtListener cluster 10863493 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener clusters 10317322 (Pa. Super.) and 10863493 (Pa.); official PDFs at pacourts.us
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Builder-level asbestos-litigation record for Dravo Corporation (builder of this hull): a consolidated proceeding over whether asbestos plaintiffs could pierce the corporate veil to reach Dravo's successor parent Carmeuse Lime. The Superior Court reversed a defense summary judgment and remanded (finding evidence that CLI and Dravo acted as a single entity and that Dravo had been left unable to satisfy 'foreseeable asbestos liabilities' from suits alleging bodily injury from asbestos exposure in Dravo's heavy-industry operations, including watercraft manufacturing); the Pennsylvania Supreme Court then reversed, holding veil piercing unavailable for claims time-barred under the LLC dissolution statute. The opinions document, at corporate level, that Dravo faced numerous asbestos-exposure lawsuits beginning at least in the early 1990s.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 2020-2026 (proceeding); alleged exposure era reaching back to wartime operations
- Population
- Dravo Corporation workforce/claimants generally (corporate level)
- Limitations
- Litigation-stage discipline: the final disposition (Pa. 2026) is a successor-liability/dissolution-statute ruling - it adjudicated only whether the parent could be reached, never any plaintiff's exposure, and never mentioned this vessel, the Neville Island yard's products, or any specific worksite. Names the builder corporation only; establishes nothing about materials aboard LST-53/APL-59. Carried strictly as builder context - supports no ship-specific or yard-specific asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-05
-
[7]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the era and program under which this LST-1-class hull was mass-produced at Dravo Neville Island in 1943 - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization in shipyard construction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, builder, or class, and does not establish that asbestos was installed aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, exposure, or causation. Consistent with Batch-05 merchant-vessel usage of the same source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-06
-
[8]Billings & Lazar, 'Walk-through survey report, Dravo Corporation, Engineering Works Division, Neville Island, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1979' - NIOSH shipbuilding-industry painters health-hazard investigation (OSTI bibliographic record 6587634) [other_primary]
- Locator
- OSTI bibliographic record 6587634 (full text not digitized)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- A NIOSH-contracted industrial-hygiene walk-through survey of the Dravo Corporation's Neville Island yard exists in the federal technical-record series (survey date 1979-01-30; yard then building barges/towboats; ~1,200 production personnel; recommends better industrial-hygiene program). The yard surveyed is the same facility that built this hull in 1943.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-26
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Dravo Neville Island workforce (1979)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - the OSTI bibliographic record scopes the survey to painter health hazards; whether it contains asbestos observations is undetermined (no digital full text available). Postdates this hull's construction by 36 years. Establishes the yard's continued operation and federal hygiene scrutiny, not conditions in 1943 or materials aboard LST-53.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-07
-
[9]Batch-2513 search ledger (this record): DANFS (hazegray mirror); NavSource 160053; shipscribe APL-59; CourtListener/PACER hull-number sweeps; NVR; MARAD ShipHistory; OSTI/NIOSH Dravo survey; class profile background [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-apl-59-apl59-01 through sl-uss-apl-59-apl59-09
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific record located: no asbestos survey, material schedule, abatement contract, or docketed asbestos case naming LST-53 or APL-59 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener: 'LST-53' + asbestos, 'APL-59' + asbestos, 'Chang Su' + asbestos, and 'USS LST-53' exact-name opinion sweeps all returned zero hits; 'LST-53' dockets returned two name collisions (United States v. Google 1:20-mj-00026; United States v. Microsoft 1:20-mj-00025 - magistrate dockets where 'LST-53' is an internal code, not the vessel); 'APL-59' dockets returned two name collisions (Smartflash v. Apple 6:13-cv-00447; SimpleAir v. Microsoft 2:13-mc-00293 - exhibit/subpoena codes, not the vessel).
- 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 diesel hull is consistent with era materials, and the hull was scrapped abroad in 1959 leaving no survey pathway. Does not establish that asbestos is or is not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apl-59-apl59-08