Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 655-packet.md (2 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-berkeley-county-lst279-pkt-655-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Berkeley County' (LST-279) full narrative entry (NHHC live page, verified 2026-10-02; author Timothy L. Francis, 15 February 2006) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Berkeley County' entry, specifications block + full narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS record for this hull: laid down 2 July 1943 at Ambridge, Pa., by the American Bridge Co.; launched 19 September 1943; sponsored by Miss Marion Ruth Warsack; commissioned at New Orleans, La., 25 October 1943, Lt. Charles A. Palm, USNR, in command. Shakedown at St. Andrew's Bay, Panama City; alterations at Pendleton Ship Yards, New Orleans; convoy from Halifax January 1944; arrived Plymouth, England, 7 February 1944; Flotilla 28 under British operational control. On 7 June 1944 beached and unloaded in the Green sector of Juno Beach and carried casualties back to Portsmouth; a German E-boat torpedo passed 20 feet from her bow on a later convoy (ocean tug Partridge ATO-138 torpedoed; LST-538 damaged); 74 Channel crossings by June 1945. Joined Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs 12 October 1945; decommissioned 27 June 1946; recommissioned 5 April 1951 after Korea mobilization; operated out of Norfolk; transited Panama Canal to Long Beach January 1955; transferred to Pacific Reserve Fleet 1 February; decommissioned at Long Beach 14 June 1955; transferred to Nationalist Chinese Navy 30 June 1955; named Berkeley County (LST-279) 1 July 1955 but never returned to Navy service; struck from the Navy list 25 April 1960; served the Taiwanese navy until scrapped sometime during 1978. One battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1978
- Population
- American Bridge construction trades (Ambridge, 1943); wartime crew and embarked troops; recommission-era crew (1951-1955); Republic of China Navy crew (1955-circa 1978)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents identity, construction, and service history - it contains no asbestos or materials information and does not establish exposure aboard this hull. This entry writes the ROC name/hull as 'Chung Chih (216)' while the short-form DANFS LST-279 entry and NavSource carry 'Chung Chie (LST-218)' - carried in gaps. Spec block gives cpl. 119.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-01
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[3]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. II, NAVSHIPS 250-011 (15 April 1945) - building-data table row for LST 279 and LST design/machinery table (shipscribe.com scan, text layer) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 Vol. II: LST building-data table (LST 279 row); LST machinery design table (LST1-490 row); vessel roster
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips register row names this hull: 'LST 279 (ex-ATL279)' - built by American Bridge Co., Ambridge, Pa. (ditto-chained from the LST261 row); keel laid 2 July 1943; ship launched 19 September 1943; first commission 25 October 1943. The LST design table assigns hull block LST1-490 (which contains 279) two G.M. Diesel 12-567A engines at 1,700 shaft horsepower; boiler and steam-condition fields are blank for the diesel blocks, confirming no steam plant aboard this hull. The same volume's vessel roster lists LST279 in service with no loss/transfer annotation as of April 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- American Bridge construction trades (Ambridge, 1943); wartime crew
- Limitations
- Contemporaneous official register - confirms builder, dates, and machinery class for this hull, but contains no materials or asbestos data; it cannot establish whether asbestos products were installed. 'ex-ATL279' reflects the pre-LST designation lineage, not a conversion.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, 'Tank Landing Ship LST-279 Berkeley County' (navsource.net, verified live 2026-10-02; last updated 22 December 2023) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource hull page: timeline, campaign table, specifications block, CO table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource compiled record for this hull: timeline (laid down 2 July 1943 Ambridge; launched 19 September 1943; commissioned 25 October 1943 LT. Charles A. Palm; decommissioned 26 June 1946 at Green Cove Springs; recommissioned 5 April 1951 LCDR W. H. Fitzgerald; decommissioned 14 June 1955; named USS Berkeley County (LST-279) 1 July 1955; transferred to Republic of China 30 June 1955 as ROCS Chung Chie (LST-218); struck 25 April 1960; 'Final Disposition, fate unknown'); seven-name commanding-officer list through LT. Frederick Dewey Knoche (from 14 July 1952); specifications (13 officers + 104 enlisted ship's company; 16 officers + 147 enlisted troops; two GM 12-567A 900-hp diesels, Falk main reduction gears, three 100 kW diesel-driven generators, two propellers/twin rudders, 11.6 kt trial); photographic record placing the hull at Weymouth, England (circa 1945), New Orleans (August 1945), a 1950s amphibious exercise (NHHC photo NH 84845), circa 1954, and in ROC service at Zuoying Naval Yard, Kaohsiung.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1960 (USN); to circa 1978 (ROC)
- Population
- Wartime and recommission-era crew (13 officers/104 enlisted ship's company)
- Limitations
- Secondary compiled record - contains internal errors: the campaign table dates the Normandy invasion '6 to 25 June 1945' (the landings were June 1944, as its own DANFS text confirms) and lists decommissioning 26 June 1946 vs DANFS's 27 June - both carried in gaps. 'Fate unknown' conflicts with DANFS's 'scrapped sometime during 1978.' Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-03
-
[5]BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. II machinery table (diesel plant, no boilers) + GAO HRD-80-2 product description (Navy asbestos use era) + americanbridge.net company history (199 LSTs built at Ambridge 1941-45) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 v2 LST machinery table; gao.gov/products/hrd-80-2 description; americanbridge.net/about/history/
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era-consistent inference for this hull: a diesel-powered LST-1-class tank landing ship built in 1943 at American Bridge's Ambridge yard - one of 199 LSTs the company states it manufactured there 1941-45 - during the period when the Navy used asbestos extensively aboard ships (GAO HRD-80-2: thermal insulation was the Navy's major shipboard asbestos use; all ships carried asbestos in components such as clutches and electric cables; substitute-material changeover did not begin until the early 1970s). With no boilers aboard, typical asbestos applications for the type concentrate at diesel engine-room and exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and valve packing, electrical insulation and cable, accommodation/bulkhead insulation, deck coverings, and winch/windlass brake linings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943 build; WWII/postwar service era
- Population
- American Bridge construction trades (Ambridge, 1943); crew and embarked troops; ROC Navy crew
- Limitations
- Class/design and era documentation, not a hull record - no source names asbestos aboard this vessel. The diesel plant narrows but does not eliminate the exposure pathway (no boiler/steam-main lagging). Does not establish product identity, quantity, or that asbestos remains aboard (hull scrapped circa 1978).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-04
-
[6]GAO HRD-80-2, 'Navy's Efforts to Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure' (product page; gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch - description text used) [gao]
- Locator
- gao.gov product-page description for HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented Navy efforts to protect workers from asbestos exposure, with fieldwork at Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards. Per the product description, the Navy stated that although all ships contain some asbestos in such components as clutches and electric cables, most ships delivered in the last several years (as of the report) carried little or no asbestos thermal insulation - thermal insulation being the Navy's major shipboard asbestos use - and the Navy did not plan a one-time removal program (estimated $2 billion).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- report era circa 1979-1980; WWII-era construction context
- Population
- Navy shipyard insulation workers (program context); shipboard crews generally
- Limitations
- Program-level government record about shipyard workers and fleet insulation policy circa 1979-80 - it does not name this hull, which had left U.S. custody in 1955 and was struck in 1960. Establishes the era context for a 1943 hull, not shipboard conditions aboard LST-279. Full text unreachable from this environment (403).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-05
-
[7]EPA CERCLA site profile, 'USX CORP AMERICAN BRIDGE DIV' (EPA ID PAD004372975), Park Street, Ambridge, PA - Non-NPL status NFRAP + Carnegie Mellon Steinbrenner brownfields case study of the Ambridge redevelopment parcels [other_primary]
- Locator
- EPA cumulis csitinfo id=0300777; cmu.edu/steinbrenner/brownfields/case-studies/pdf/ambridge UPDATED.pdf (CONTAMINANTS line; Phase I paragraph)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Yard-level environmental record for this hull's builder: EPA's CERCLA profile lists the former American Bridge Ambridge works (USX Corp American Bridge Div, PAD004372975) with NFRAP status - the site did not qualify for the NPL based on existing information. A Carnegie Mellon brownfields case study of the Ambridge industrial redevelopment area documents 'possible asbestos-containing materials' found in Phase I environmental assessments of the Toth property and Ambridge Industrial Center parcels and asbestos abatement in demolition estimates for the former Toth and Centria (H.H. Robertson) properties.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- site assessment circa 1980s-2000s
- Population
- Former Ambridge plant site and adjacent industrial parcels; redevelopment workers
- Limitations
- Post-closure brownfields documentation for the Ambridge industrial area - the ACM findings attach to the Toth/Centria/Industrial Center parcels, not demonstrated to the shipbuilding ways themselves; NFRAP means EPA found the American Bridge site did not qualify for the NPL. Yard-level context only: it cannot establish that asbestos products were installed aboard this 1943 hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-06
-
[8]National Archives, 'Researching Asbestos aboard US Naval Vessel up through 1961' (NARA guided-topics page, verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov guided-topics asbestos page (RG 19 section)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA's official research path for shipboard asbestos documentation: asbestos-related records for a hull of this era sit in RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships) - correspondence series arranged by the Navy Filing Manual and SSIC, plus Ship General Information Books / Ship Information Books - and in additional series the guide enumerates. Applies to this hull's 1943-1955 U.S. Navy window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1941-1961 (guide scope)
- Limitations
- Research guide, not a record - it points to where hull-specific asbestos documentation would live if it exists; nothing found confirms whether such records for LST-279 are digitized or survive. Does not itself establish any asbestos fact about this vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-07
-
[9]Batch-6816 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 ('LST-279' opinions + RECAP dockets; 'USS Berkeley County' opinions; 'Berkeley County' + asbestos opinions/dockets); NARA asbestos guide; EPA/CMU yard-level records; NavSource photographic record; VA BVA decisions via web search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-01 through sl-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum record (hull scrapped in Taiwan circa 1978 - no U.S. preservation track exists), or docketed case naming LST-279 or USS Berkeley County was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero opinions and zero dockets for 'LST-279' and zero opinions for 'USS Berkeley County'; all 'Berkeley County' + asbestos hits resolve to county-name collisions (the hull's namesakes are litigant counties in South Carolina and West Virginia).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1943 diesel amphibious hull's era materials are consistent with retained asbestos applications. The hull was scrapped circa 1978, so no present-day survey is possible; surviving documentation would sit in NARA RG 19. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-berkeley-county-lst279-08