Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet 723-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-ford-county-lst772-pkt-723-packet-md
-
[2]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, LST-772 entry (live official Navy page) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Live DANFS entry, service and disposition paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official DANFS entry states that LST-772 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto from April through June 1945; performed occupation duty in the Far East until early December 1945; was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 3 July 1946 and assigned to the Columbia River Group of the U.S. Pacific Reserve Fleet; was recommissioned on 3 November 1950 and saw extensive Korean War service; was redesignated Ford County (LST-772) on 1 July 1955, after counties in Illinois and Kansas; and was destroyed as a target ship on 19 March 1958 and struck from the Navy list that same day. DANFS credits one battle star for World War II service and six for Korean War service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1958
- Population
- U.S. Navy personnel
- Limitations
- DANFS gives no second decommissioning date, no location or circumstances for the 1958 target sinking, and identifies no materials aboard. It establishes service and administrative history only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-02
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Ford County (LST-772) page [museum_official]
- Locator
- Live page heading, history bullets, campaign tables, Specifications section, commanding-officer list, and final-disposition line
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource's live hull page identifies the vessel as USS Ford County (LST-772), ex-USS LST-772 (1944-1955), an LST-542-class tank landing ship; confirms the 1944 construction milestones and lists wartime unit assignments (LST Flotilla Twenty-Three, LST Group Sixty-Seven, LST Division One Hundred Thirty-Four); gives Okinawa Gunto operation dates of 1 to 29 June 1945, Navy Occupation Service periods of 29 September to 26 October 1945 and 17 November to 9 December 1945, Korean War campaign participation earning six battle stars, China service 8 to 12 February 1955, a post-1950 decommissioning entry reading 'date unknown,' striking on 19 March 1958, and final disposition 'destroyed as a target ship, 19 March 1958'; presents a commanding-officer list ending with ENS/LTjg. Francis W. Kielty, USN, 22 November 1957 to 22 January 1958; and presents LST-542-class specifications including two General Motors 12-567A 900-hp diesel engines, a single Falk main reduction gear, three diesel-drive 100-kW 230-V DC ship's service generators, two propellers, 1,700 shp, complement of 13 officers and 104 enlisted with troop accommodations for 16 officers and 147 enlisted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1958
- Population
- Construction and maintenance workers; engineering crew; deck machinery operators
- Limitations
- NavSource is an archival photo/history resource and the exact URL returned full content during this research. The specifications are presented as class/design specifications and do not establish that any particular insulation, gasket, packing, cable, covering, or friction material aboard this hull contained asbestos. The Okinawa campaign dates in its table (1 to 29 June 1945) are narrower than DANFS's participation period (April through June 1945); each is carried as attributed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-03
-
[4]Naval History and Heritage Command, photography catalog record USN 1045632, 'USS Ford County (LST-772)' (live official Navy page) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Live NHHC catalog record, title and catalog-number fields
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC's online photography catalog carries record USN 1045632, titled 'USS Ford County (LST-772),' a black-and-white National Archives photograph of the vessel, confirming the hull under its post-1955 county name in the official Navy catalog.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- post-1955 photograph
- Limitations
- A photographic catalog record; it establishes the hull's identity and post-1955 name usage only and contains no material, asbestos, or exposure information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-04
-
[5]Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr 1430468 (decided 2014-07-07; remand) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Decision text, REMAND section, first paragraph
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A Board of Veterans' Appeals remand (Citation Nr 1430468, decided 7 July 2014) records a veteran's statement that he was exposed to ionizing radiation while serving on 'the USS LST 772 (the USS Ford County)' while transiting the Pacific in the summer of 1956, the veteran believing the ship was downwind of the Redwing nuclear test series on Enewetak Atoll; the Board stated the claimed exposure 'has not been verified' and remanded for development under 38 C.F.R. section 3.311(b)(2), including requests to the service department and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for any available exposure records.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1956 claimed transit; 2014 decision
- Population
- One veteran claimant (service September 1952 to September 1956)
- Limitations
- An unadjudicated claim allegation inside an administrative remand - the least-final stage. The claimed ionizing-radiation exposure was expressly unverified; the record concerns radiation, not asbestos, and does not establish asbestos presence, exposure, or causation aboard this hull. The disposition after remand is not in the sources reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-05
-
[6]Board of Veterans' Appeals, Citation Nr 20022982 (decided 2020-04-02; denials on merits) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Decision text, ORDER and 'Reasons and Bases' sections
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A Board of Veterans' Appeals decision (Citation Nr 20022982, decided 2 April 2020) records a veteran's active service from August 1955 to July 1958 and his contention of a fall down a ladder during a storm while aboard USS Ford County in approximately 1956; service connection for low-back, right-knee, and left-hip disabilities was denied on the merits, the Board weighing the in-service fall against normal separation-examination findings and an absence of documented complaints for decades after service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1956 claimed injury; 2020 decision
- Population
- One veteran claimant (service August 1955 to July 1958)
- Limitations
- A merits-level denial of orthopedic-injury claims - non-exposure grounds. It confirms a crew member's presence aboard during 1955-58 but establishes nothing about asbestos or other hazardous materials aboard the hull, and it is not evidence for or against any asbestos-related contention.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-06
-
[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), PMID 3555021 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed abstract
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A peer-reviewed historical study documents extensive use of asbestos as fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding in the 1940s, the construction era of LST-772.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1940s; article published 1987
- Population
- 1940s U.S. shipbuilding workers and ship crews (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level historical documentation only. It does not name LST-772, its builder, a component, a product, a location aboard, a quantity, condition, removal history, individual exposure, or causation; it cannot establish asbestos aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-07
-
[8]National Archives and Records Administration, Special List No. 44, by Ship Numbers [other_primary]
- Locator
- PDF text line / ship-number table row for LST-772
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List No. 44, by ship number, lists LST-772 with logbook coverage from 13 November 1944 through 30 June 1945, providing an archival lead for the vessel's commissioned and wartime record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Ship's company and wartime operations
- Limitations
- The index confirms logbook coverage dates, not log contents. No underlying logbook was retrieved; this row makes no asbestos or exposure finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-08
-
[9]Batch-7308 source review and search ledger: live DANFS, NavSource hull page, NHHC catalog record USN 1045632, NARA Special List No. 44, NARA asbestos-research guide, BVA decision search, and authenticated CourtListener helper attempt [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-ford-county-lst772-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos documentation was located in the public sources searched: the live DANFS entry and NavSource hull page contain no asbestos, survey, abatement, hazmat, or insulation-material disclosure; NARA's logbook index identifies coverage but not materials; the Board of Veterans' Appeals decision index returns two decisions naming this hull (an unverified radiation-exposure claim and a denied orthopedic-injury claim) and none alleging asbestos exposure; and the required authenticated CourtListener helper reported the fleet-shared daily quota exhausted on the exact-name opinion query and was not retried, so the exact-hull and docket queries were not run.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2026-10-03
- Limitations
- This is a negative finding about records located, not proof that asbestos was absent. Litigation coverage is incomplete: no CourtListener result, positive or negative, can be inferred from the quota-exhausted request; no anonymous, raw, v3, or non-helper CourtListener request was made. NARA's asbestos-research guide states its listed record series do not directly evidence asbestos in a particular ship or component.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-09
-
[10]Naval History and Heritage Command, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, LST-772 entry (live official Navy page) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Live DANFS entry, opening paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official DANFS entry states that LST-772 was laid down on 3 August 1944 at Seneca, Illinois, by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 24 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Elsie Jane Woodlief Arrington; and commissioned on 13 November 1944, Lt. George J. Nieman, USNR, in command.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Chicago Bridge & Iron construction workers and initial Navy crew
- Limitations
- The live NHHC page returned full content during this research. This row establishes identity and construction milestones, not asbestos content, quantity, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-ford-county-lst772-01