Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet 715-packet.md (4 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (identity
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-dodge-county-lst722-pkt-715-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-722 - construction at Jeffersonville Boat & Machine, sponsor, commissioning, WWII operations, 1951 recommissioning, 1955 naming, disposal dates (live NHHC page, verified 2026-10-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-722 service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'LST-722 was laid down on 15 July 1944 at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co.; launched on 21 August 1944; sponsored by Miss Rosemary Furey; and commissioned on 13 September 1944.' Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater: Palawan Island landings (February and March 1945) and Mindanao Island landings (April 1945). Occupation duty in the Far East until April 1946. Decommissioned 13 July 1946. Recommissioned 16 November 1951 and assigned to the Amphibious Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. 'On 1 July 1955, LST-722 was redesignated Dodge County (LST-722) after counties in Georgia, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.' Decommissioned again 3 January 1956; struck from the Navy list 15 September 1974. One battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1974 (entry coverage)
- Population
- Jeffersonville Boat & Machine construction trades (1944); crew WWII (1944-46); reactivated crew (1951-56)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. The DANFS narrative ends at the 1956 decommissioning - it omits the third commission period (1961-1969), the Cuban Missile Crisis service documented elsewhere in NHHC (see ev-03), and the 1975 Thailand transfer; those milestones come from other rows. No spec block on this entry.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Dodge County (LST-722) ex USS LST-722 - designation timeline, campaign dates, occupation periods, specifications, commanding officers, Thailand transfer and reef sinking (live page verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160722.htm timeline, campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, CO table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull (LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship): laid down 15 July 1944 Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville IN; launched 21 August 1944; commissioned 13 September 1944, LT. Victor M. Merchant Jr., USN, in command. Asiatic-Pacific campaign - 'Consolidation and capture of southern Philippines': Palawan Island landings 28 February-1 March and 6-7 March 1945; Mindanao Island landings 17-23 April 1945. Navy Occupation service Far East 23 September-26 October 1945 and 24 December 1945-12 April 1946. Decommissioned 13 July 1946; recommissioned 16 November 1951; Occupation service in Europe 20 January-15 May 1955; named USS Dodge County (LST-722) 1 July 1955; decommissioned 3 January 1956; 'Recommissioned circa early 1960s'; 'Decommissioned, date unknown'; struck from the Naval Register 15 September 1974; transferred/sold to Thailand under the Security Assistance Program 1 November 1975, renamed HTMS Prathong; 'Final Disposition, sunk off the coast of Thailand as a reef in December 2016.' Awards listed include Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (1-Cuba). CO table: Merchant (13 Sep 1944-30 May 1946), Lowendick (to 13 Jul 1946), Caprio acting (1962), Kelly (1 May 1963-?), Price (~1966), Daily (1968-69); gap 'Decommissioned 3 January 1956 - 1960'. Photography: beached with LST-1034 offloading probably Mindanao April 1945; NH 84867 underway; arrives Savannah GA offloading 1st Armored Division during Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962 (from USS Duval County LST-758); beach exercise Hutchinson Island, Fort Pierce FL 17 November 1962; HTMS Prathong at Singapore circa 1981. Specifications: 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full; 328' oa; 50' beam; 11.6 kts; 13 officers + 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers + 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP; two General Motors 12-567A 900hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, three diesel-drive 100kW generators, two propellers 1,700 shp, twin rudders; diesel fuel 4,300 bbls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-2016
- Population
- Jeffboat construction trades (1944); crew WWII (1944-46); reactivated crew (1951-56; 1961-69); embarked troops incl. 1st Armored Division lift (Oct-Nov 1962); Royal Thai Navy crew (1975-c.2009); reef-preparation workers (2016)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestone dates generally track DANFS/NVR and the Cuban-service window is independently confirmed by NHHC (ev-03). The third commission's decommission date is 'unknown' on this page (November 1969 per NavalCoverMuseum ev-04; October 1969 per Wikipedia - see gaps). Contains no asbestos content. The Thailand-era timeline and reef sinking rest on secondary compilation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-02
-
[4]NHHC, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medals - ship eligibility list, Cuba 1962 (live NHHC page, verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC AFEM page, 'Cuba, 1962' ship list, alphabetical under D
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC's Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal eligibility list for the Cuba 1962 operation names this hull: 'Dodge County (LST 722), 24 Oct - 15 Dec 62.' This is official Navy documentation of her third commission period service during the Cuban Missile Crisis quarantine - omitted from the DANFS narrative (ev-01) and corroborating the NavSource AFEM (1-Cuba) ribbon listing and the October-November 1962 photographs (ev-02).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1962
- Population
- Crew (24 October - 15 December 1962)
- Limitations
- Establishes the AFEM eligibility window only - dates of qualifying service, not duties performed, port calls, or any material content. Does not establish the exact recommissioning or decommissioning dates of the third commission (27 December 1961 / November 1969 per ev-04). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-03
-
[5]NavalCoverMuseum, DODGE COUNTY LST 722 - name/designation history and philatelic record incl. 3rd Commissioning postmark usage (live page verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavalCoverMuseum ship page, Ship Name and Designation History table; Postmarks section '3rd Commissioning 27 December 1961 to November 1969'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Philatelic documentation of this hull's commission windows: commissioned 13 September 1944 - decommissioned 13 July 1946; recommissioned 16 November 1951; named 1 July 1955 - decommissioned 3 January 1956; 'Recommissioned 27 December 1961 - Decommissioned November 1969'; struck from Naval Register 15 September 1974; sold to Thailand 1 November 1975, renamed HTMS Prathong. A documented cover bears postmark Locy Type 2(n) dated 1964-02-24 in the third-commission usage block. Awards listed match NavSource, including the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1975
- Population
- Crew (postal facility usage, 1964)
- Limitations
- Philatelic compilation - the 27 December 1961 recommissioning and November 1969 decommissioning dates rest on cover usage evidence; November 1969 conflicts with the October 1969 date in secondary literature (see gaps). Page labels her 'LST-511 Class Tank Landing Ship' - a class-label discrepancy; the BuShips SD-1945 v2 design block for hull 722 is the LST-542 group (ev-06) and NavSource carries LST-542 Class. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-04
-
[6]NARA, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' - Dodge County (LST-722) listed among digitized ships; file units located in series NAID 594258 (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations) [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov navy-online digitized list, 'Dodge County (LST-722)' entry; catalog.archives.gov search-within 594258, query 'DodgeCounty-LST-722' (37 file units)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized deck logs for this hull: a filename query ('DodgeCounty-LST-722') in the Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations series (NAID 594258) returned 37 file-unit results, of which at least 18 titles visible in the result set are 'Dodge County (LST-722) - <Month Year>' (the tokenized query admits a few non-matching titles). Confirmed Dodge County months include February 1962 (NAID 296916305, first full month after recommissioning), March 1962 (296916367), May 1962 (296916501), May and June and November 1965, January-April and May 1966, April-June and December 1968, April and September-October 1969 (Oct 1969 = NAID 219186307, the decommissioning month per NavalCoverMuseum) - effectively the entire third commission period (27 December 1961 - November 1969 per ev-04).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1962-1969 (digitized coverage)
- Population
- Crew (1962-1969 third commission)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: file units located by filename query (37 results; the tokenized catalog search admits occasional non-Dodge titles - exact Dodge unit count within the 37 not fully enumerated). Log contents were not reviewed - deck logs record movements, operations and personnel, not material content; whether any log records yard work or hazardous-material handling is undetermined. No WWII-era (1944-46) or second-commission (1951-56) logs appeared in the digitized set located. Catalog is JS-rendered; file-unit titles and NAIDs captured via catalog search-within scrape.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-05
-
[7]Era inference built on: NavSource LST-542-class specifications for this hull (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, diesel-electric auxiliaries, no steam plant); BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 2 LST design table (shipscribe.com scan, cited in the lst-1-class class profile); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era documentation (ev-07) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (this hull); BuShips SDB1945v2 LST design table (class); GAO HRD-80-2 enclosure I
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered tank landing ship built July-September 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era. For an LST of this design (diesel plant, no boilers), era-standard asbestos applications were machinery and piping thermal insulation, diesel exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve packing throughout piping systems, deck coverings and tile (the Navy's own 1979 letter lists asbestos floor tiling 'on Navy ship decks'), bulkhead and accommodation insulation, electrical cable insulation, and brake/clutch linings on winches and machinery. The confined tank-deck and accommodation volumes typical of the type concentrate below-decks exposure relevance. As a diesel ship she carried no boilers - the boiler lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-2016
- Population
- Jeffboat construction trades (1944); crew and embarked troops (1944-46, 1951-56, 1961-69); yard trades at stateside availabilities; Royal Thai Navy crew (1975-c.2009); 2016 reef-preparation workers
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material schedule, or work package located for LST-722. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity. The type's diesel plant removes the largest steam-era lagging scope but does not remove thermal/acoustic insulation, gaskets, packing, deck or electrical applications. No manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-06
-
[8]GAO, Navy's Efforts to Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) - full text retrieved this session via firecrawl (gao.gov/assets/hrd-80-2.pdf; direct curl 403) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2, letter text and Enclosure I (Navy 5 Jan 1979 response); product page verified live 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Government documentation of the Navy asbestos era covering this hull's construction and all three commission periods. The Navy told GAO 'all ships contain some asbestos in such components as clutches and electric cables,' and (in the January 5, 1979 enclosure letter): 'thermal insulation for machinery, equipment and piping systems has been the major application of asbestos'; asbestos also in floor tiling 'on Navy ship decks,' 'piping system gaskets and packing... in Navy shipboard piping systems,' galley ranges, electrical resistors, and equipment brakes and clutches - 'it is nearly impossible to build a Navy ship free of the mineral.' Insulation specifications were changed 'as early as 1971' and to asbestos-free 'by late 1973'; the Navy's no-asbestos policy NAVSEAINST 5100.2 issued 24 October 1975; nevertheless 'some ships were delivered with asbestos insulation as late as May 1978.' OPNAVINST 6260.1 (April 1974) established the asbestos control program. This hull's construction (1944) and in-service periods (to 1969) entirely precede those changes.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979 (coverage to WWII-era construction practice)
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (LBNSY, NNSY fieldwork); Navy-wide asbestos program
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. The report's per-ship attachment lists only ships delivered since 1973 or under construction in 1979 - LST-722 (stricken 1974, sold 1975) is not covered by it. Fieldwork was limited to Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards; does not address Jeffboat or amphibious auxiliaries specifically.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-07
-
[9]U.S. DOL Benefits Review Board, Burton v. Old JB LLC f/k/a Jeffboat LLC f/k/a Jeffboat, Inc., BRB No. 24-0045 (not published, issued Aug 14, 2025) - LHWCA section 909 death-benefits claim, affirmed on summary decision (live PDF verified 2026-10-02) [court_record]
- Locator
- BRB 24-0045 decision text (8 pp.), Facts and Procedural History sections; unpublished disposition
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Federal administrative litigation documenting asbestos-exposure claims against this hull's builder: decedent Bennie Burton 'worked for Employer for thirty-one years, from 1964 until 1995, as a pipefitter and supervisor, during which time he was allegedly exposed to asbestos, welding fumes, and other toxic substances' at the Jeffboat yard in Jeffersonville, Indiana (7th Cir. jurisdiction noted). His widow's section 909 death-benefits claim invoked the section 20(a) presumption of compensability; employer Jeffboat 'did not participate in discovery at all,' and the ALJ granted summary decision awarding funeral expenses and death benefits ($367.955/week from 18 November 2017), concluding 'Claimant has shown sufficient evidence to state a prima facie case.' The BRB affirmed - the presumption stood unrebutted because employer produced nothing. Two medical experts (Drs. Daum and Abraham) had concluded 'Decedent's reported asbestos exposure contributed to his death.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1964-1995 (employment); 2023-2025 (claim)
- Population
- Jeffboat yard workers (1964-1995 exposures alleged); claimant Bennie Burton (d. Nov 2017)
- Limitations
- Claims-stage record, not an adjudicated exposure finding: the award rests on an UNREBUTTED section 20(a) presumption after the employer's discovery default - no merits finding that asbestos exposure occurred was made by any fact-finder. Burton's tenure (1964-1995) postdates this hull's 1944 construction by two decades. Yard-level evidence about the builder entity only - no Navy hull is named. The caption documents the Jeffboat entity at Jeffersonville; that it is the same site as the 1944 Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co. rests on secondary sources (Wikipedia company history) - an entity-lineage inference, not a caption fact. Classified at claims level per litigation-stage discipline.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-08
-
[10]Batch-7253 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS live page; NHHC AFEM list; NavSource 160722; NavalCoverMuseum; NARA deck-log catalog; NVR; GAO HRD-80-2 full text; NIOSH stacks (Jeffboat); DOL BRB; CourtListener (opinion 'LST-722'); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-dodge-county-lst722-01 through -15
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS LST-722 / USS Dodge County / HTMS Prathong was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener (authenticated, fleet-paced, 2026-10-02): '"LST-722"' opinions = 0 results; '"USS Dodge County"' opinions = 0 results; '"LST-722"' dockets (type=r) = 0 results. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case naming this hull; the only 'asbestos aboard' material is law-firm marketing content (gorilaw.com LST listicle, mesowatch.org shipyard page) asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy. The three NIOSH reports held for the builder site (Jeffboat, 2000-2001) cover ergonomics and weld-fume exposure, not asbestos. The only located litigation touching asbestos at the builder is the Burton BRB death-benefits claim (ev-08) - a yard-level, claims-stage record.
- 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. CourtListener coverage was substantially completed: hull-number opinions, ship-name opinions, and hull-number dockets all returned zero; the looser '"Dodge County" LST' and '"HTMS Prathong"' queries remained blocked by fleet pacing - low-value residual items (the unquoted county name is high-collision: Dodge County GA/MN/NE/WI dockets are unrelated). Deck-log contents (37 units, 1962-69) are unreviewed; wartime and second-commission logs are undigitized. Thai-service and 2016 reef-preparation material records are undocumentable in U.S. sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-dodge-county-lst722-09