Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet 513-packet.md (7 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-ashland-lsd1-pkt-513-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Ashland I (LSD-1)' - Naval History and Heritage Command ship-history page (live 2026-09-30) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS body text; spec block (dp. 9,375; l. 457'9"; b. 72'2"; dr. 18'; s. 15.4 k.; cpl. 326; a. 1 5", 12 40mm., 16 20mm.; cl. Ashland)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (DANFS, live page verified 2026-09-30): namesake is Ashland, the boyhood home of Henry Clay at Lexington, Ky. Authorized as Mechanized Artillery Transport; laid down 22 June 1942 at Oakland, CA by Moore Drydock Co.; launched 21 December 1942 (sponsor Mrs. Jabez Lowell); commissioned 5 June 1943. WWII Asiatic-Pacific service: Baker Island, Gilbert Islands exercises, Kwajalein, Eniwetok (repair-ship duty), Saipan, Tinian, Leyte, Lingayen Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Jinsen (Korea); six battle stars. Out of commission in reserve March 1946 at San Diego. Recommissioned 27 December 1950; alterations at Maryland Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Baltimore, May 1951; Philadelphia Naval Shipyard repairs April-June 1955; seaplane-tender alterations from November 1956; decommissioned 14 September 1957, Norfolk Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned 29 November 1961 (Amphibious Squadron 4, Little Creek, VA); Operation 'Steel Pike I' October 1964 (primary control vessel and boat repair ship); Norfolk Naval Shipyard overhaul 18 November 1966 - 3 March 1967; NATO Exercise 'Dawn Patrol' 29 April - 10 May 1968; decommissioned 22 November 1969; struck 25 November 1969; sold to N. W. Kennedy, Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., May 1970.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1942-1970
- Limitations
- Authoritative for construction, operations, yard availabilities, and disposition milestones. Contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or worker-exposure information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-01
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[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, 'Dock Landing Ship LSD-1 Ashland' - designation timeline, ONI 1944 specifications, campaign table, NARA/US Navy captioned photography, disposal [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page header timeline; Specifications block (ONI, 7 April 1944); photo captions 10120115-10120123 (Mare Island, July 1943); commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull (live navsource.net page verified 2026-09-30): authorized as Mechanized Artillery Transport APM-1, reclassified Landing Ship Dock (LSD-1) 1 July 1941; laid down 22 June 1942 at Moore Drydock Co., Oakland; launched 21 December 1942; commissioned 5 June 1943; struck 25 November 1969; sold for scrapping 15 May 1970 to N. W. Kennedy Ltd., Vancouver, B.C. Specifications as reported by the Office of Naval Intelligence, 7 April 1944: displacement 4,032 light / 7,930 seagoing-loaded; propulsion two Skinner Uniflow 5-cylinder reciprocating steam engines with two Babcock & Wilcox oil-fired D-type boilers (250 psi), twin propellers, 7,400 shp; complement 17 officers + 237 enlisted, troop accommodations 22 officers + 218 enlisted; armament one 5"/38, two quad + two twin 40mm, sixteen 20mm. NARA-captioned photographs document the hull under repair at Mare Island Navy Yard 23 June - 21 July 1943, dry-docked in dock 2, 10-12 July 1943, and a 18 February 1957 P5M Marlin seaplane docking demonstration near Baltimore conducted with the Martin Co. (stern submerged 14.5 ft to embark the aircraft, well deck then pumped dry - the LSD-as-seaplane-tender experiment).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1941-1970
- Limitations
- NavSource is a reputable secondary archive publishing primary-source captions and the ONI spec block; milestone-date conflicts with DANFS are carried in the correction row and gaps. Contains no asbestos or insulation-material information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-02
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[4]Era inference built on: DANFS spec block and history; NavSource ONI specifications (7 April 1944) for this hull's steam plant; GAO HRD-80-2 program context (separate row) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Inference row - no single source; plant description from NavSource ONI block; era practice from GAO HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- This hull's documented steam plant - two Skinner Uniflow 5-cylinder reciprocating steam engines with two oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox D-type boilers - is of the type and era in which asbestos insulation was standard Navy practice: boiler and drum insulation, steam-line lagging, valve and flange gaskets, machinery packing, thermal insulation in machinery and accommodation spaces, and brake linings on winches and windlass were era-typical asbestos applications aboard 1942-43 naval auxiliaries.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1942-1970
- Population
- Construction trades (Moore Drydock, Oakland, 1942-43); engine-room and maintenance crew; overhaul yard workers (Mare Island 1943; Philadelphia NSY 1955; Baltimore yards 1951/1956; Norfolk NSY 1966-67)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific document states that asbestos was installed aboard this hull, where, or in what quantity. Does not establish present-day presence, individual exposure, or causation. The hull was scrapped in 1970, so present-day presence is moot; the question is historical exposure of crew and yard workers 1943-1970.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-03
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[5]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page, Highlights section (live 2026-09-30; full report hrd-80-2.pdf, 26 pages)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s; the Navy's 1975 policy was to remove and replace with nonasbestos materials only insulation that was damaged or had to be removed to accomplish repairs, modified in 1979 to include selectively replacing asbestos insulation in high-maintenance areas. GAO's fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards - Norfolk being the same yard that overhauled this hull November 1966 - March 1967.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1969 (hull service); 1975-1979 (GAO policy period)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and crews (program context)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation spanning this hull's entire service life (1943-1969). GAO's fieldwork reviewed yard conditions in the late 1970s and does not document this hull, this overhaul, or any asbestos condition aboard this ship. Norfolk NSY overlap is a yard association, not a hull finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-04
-
[6]NARA, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' index page + NARA digitized deck-log guidance; NARA NAID 193853985 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Digitized deck-log ship index (no 'Ashland' heading among 1,321 sections); NAID 193853985 cited in NavSource photo caption 10120135
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead: NARA's digitized Navy deck-log index (RG 24, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog') lists sister LSDs (Belle Grove LSD-2, Alamo LSD-33, Anchorage LSD-36, Cabildo LSD-16) but no Ashland (LSD-1) entry among 1,321 ship sections checked 2026-09-30 - this hull's deck logs are held in RG 24 but not verified digitized. NARA-held still photography of this hull does exist: NAID 193853985 (USAAF photo, Ashland off Baker Island, 25 August 1943) and the Mare Island Navy Yard July 1943 ship-file series captioned on NavSource.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1969 records
- Limitations
- Absence from the digitized index does not mean the logs do not exist - paper deck logs for 1943-1969 are expected in RG 24 at NARA and would document yard periods, availability, and repair activity relevant to any exposure reconstruction, but no box-level retrieval was performed. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-05
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[7]Batch-5799 search ledger (this record): live DANFS page; NavSource page + ONI spec block; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; MARAD ShipHistory ShipList (no ASHLAND vessel record); NVR detail page (hull predates NVR coverage); NARA deck-log index; CourtListener authenticated API search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-ashland-lsd1-01 through sl-uss-ashland-lsd1-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS Ashland (LSD-1) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener authenticated opinion searches '"USS Ashland" asbestos' and '"LSD-1" asbestos' each returned zero results (2026-09-30); the bare hull-number opinion search and docket-type search were blocked by fleet pacing limits and are logged as blocked, not negative.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 2026-09-30
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 steam auxiliary retaining era-typical materials is the reasonable expectation, and the hull was scrapped in Canada in 1970 where no survey was located. The litigation picture is nearly but not fully closed: both asbestos-qualified opinion searches returned zero, while the bare hull-number and docket-type queries were pacing-blocked; blocked queries are disclosed, not counted as negative results. Does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-06
-
[8]Cross-source date cross-check: DANFS Ashland I (LSD-1) page vs NavSource LSD-1 page (narrative timeline vs commanding-officer table vs campaign-ribbon table) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource body timeline, CO table, and ribbon table vs DANFS body text; DANFS spec block vs ONI 1944 block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION - NavSource-internal milestone conflicts resolved toward DANFS: (a) first decommissioning - NavSource commanding-officer table shows 'Decommissioned 30 August 1946' while its own narrative and DANFS agree on March 1946 at San Diego; DANFS carried. (b) second decommissioning - NavSource body shows '1 September 1957 at San Diego' with Pacific Reserve Fleet, its CO table shows '25 January 1958,' and DANFS shows 14 September 1957 with the Norfolk Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; DANFS carried. (c) battle stars - NavSource displays 'seven' (matching its 7-campaign Asiatic-Pacific ribbon table) while DANFS states six; DANFS carried. (d) complement - DANFS spec block cpl. 326 vs ONI 1944 block 17 officers + 237 enlisted (254) plus 240 embarked-troop accommodations; both quoted verbatim, not merged.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1969
- Limitations
- Resolves publication-level conflicts among secondary/official framings; DANFS adopted as controlling for decommissioning dates and battle-star count. No asbestos content in any of these sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ashland-lsd1-07