Evidence
15 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-15).
-
[1]research packet 801-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-1065-lcil1065-pkt-801-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-1065 page (history credited to USS LCI 'Landing Craft Infantry' Vol. II, Turner Publishing, 1995) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ship page, history block, awards/ribbons block, specifications block, and image captions (entries 1015106501-1015106503)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LCI(L)-351 class Landing Craft Infantry (Large): laid down 28 April 1944 at Defoe Ship Building Co., Bay City MI; launched 11 May 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-1065, 16 May 1944. Assigned Asiatic-Pacific Theater; credited with Leyte operations - Leyte landings, 16 to 24 October 1944. 'Lost at sea due to enemy Kamikaze attack, 24 October 1944'; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown. Earned one battle star for WWII service; awards include Combat Action Ribbon (24 October 1944), Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, Philippine Liberation Medal; personnel awards list 'Purple Heart (5 KIA 24 October 1944)'. Photo captions document the ship moored pierside (undated) and 'on fire and just before sinking in Leyte Gulf after being struck by a suicide Betty bomber, 24 October 1944... She was struck at the same time as USS Sonoma (ATO-12). Ships went to her aid, but she was already blazing out of control by the time they arrived' - view photographed from USS LCI(L)-227 (Frank S. Ford estate). Specifications: 236 t. light / 419 t. loaded; 158'5.5" x 23'3"; five single 20mm guns; two sets of 4 GM diesels, twin variable-pitch propellers, 2,320 shp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Wartime crew (4 officers, 24 enlisted) plus embarked troops (up to 6 officers, 182 enlisted)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated secondary archive; this page's history derives from Turner Publishing's USS LCI Vol. II (1995) and credited photo collections, not a primary registry. Its 'Kamikaze attack' banner and 'suicide Betty bomber' caption characterize the attacker; other sources conflict on aircraft type and on whether the attack was an organized suicide mission (see ev-08). '5 KIA' conflicts with other casualty accounts (see ev-09). Strike date is not given. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-01
-
[3]King, Ernest J., U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (Washington DC: U.S. Navy Department, 1946), Appendix C pp. 287-306 - 'United States Navy Losses World War II' (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Appendix C, INFANTRY LANDING CRAFT section, LCI 1065 line
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official post-war CNO report's loss list records, under INFANTRY LANDING CRAFT: 'LCI 1065 - Off Leyte, P.I. - 24 October 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Crew aboard at loss (24 October 1944)
- Limitations
- Official Navy loss listing establishes loss place and date only - no cause of loss, casualty count, or material content. HyperWar/ibiblio is a transcription of the 1946 printed report; page verified live 2026-09-29.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-02
-
[4]ShipbuildingHistory (Tim Colton data), Defoe Shipbuilding Company construction list, Bay City MI [other_primary]
- Locator
- Defoe hull list, row 318
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Defoe yard hull no. 318 = LCI(L) 1065, US Navy, Landing Craft, 236 tons design / 158 ft, completed 1 May 1944, disposition 'Sunk 1944.' The yard list shows sisters LCI(L)-1052 through -1098 (Defoe built 47 of the 923 wartime LCIs) constructed sequentially at Bay City in 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Defoe Shipbuilding workforce, Bay City MI, 1944 (~4,000 employees per wartime yard profile)
- Limitations
- Secondary shipbuilding-list reference; corroborates builder identity, yard number, and the 1944 loss. Its 1 May 1944 completion date precedes NavSource's documented launch (11 May) and commissioning (16 May) - the table date appears to be a delivery/acceptance month, not a milestone conflict this record resolves. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-03
-
[5]NARA catalog, file unit 'LCI(L) 1065 - Muster Rolls' (NAID 120220130), RG 24 Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, series 'Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities' (NAID 594996), National Archives at College Park [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov file unit 120220130; digital-object roll dates enumerated via catalog API
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized muster rolls for USS LCI(L)-1065: 27 scans under file unit NAID 120220130 covering roll dates 16 May, 31 May, 27 June, 30 June, 31 July, 31 August, 16 September, and 30 September 1944 - i.e., from the commissioning month through 24 days before the ship's loss (scanned under the Ancestry-NARA digitization partnership).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-05-16 to 1944-09-30
- Population
- USS LCI(L)-1065 ship's company, May-September 1944
- Limitations
- Digitized images located and roll-date metadata read via the NARA catalog API; the images themselves are unexamined (roster content, names, transfers). Muster-roll dates document personnel accounting intervals, not movements or events - this is a personnel record, not a deck log, and contains no asbestos or material content. No 24 October 1944 (loss) roll exists in the file unit.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-04
-
[6]National Archives, Logbooks of the US Navy (RG 24, Entry 118, NAID 581208); NARA records Navy deck logs for LCI(L)-1065 covering 5/16/1944 - 6/30/1944 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA logbooks hub page; batch manifest NARA deck-log inventory line 'LCI(L)-1065 5/16/1944 6/30/1944'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA records deck logs for USS LCI(L)-1065 covering 5/16/1944 - 6/30/1944 (per NARA deck-log inventory cited in the batch manifest). The logs are undigitized; they reside in RG 24 at Archives II, College Park.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- Log coverage endpoints are not commissioning or decommissioning dates (the 5/16/1944 start coincides with the documented commissioning date; the 6/30/1944 end predates the ship's 24 October 1944 loss by nearly four months - later wartime logs either were not created, did not survive, or are not in this inventory line). Log contents are unexamined - an open archival lead, not an asbestos record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-05
-
[7]NARA catalog, file unit 'Individual Deceased Personnel File for Sigurd O Bjertness (339159)' (NAID 330488747), RG 92 Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, National Archives at St. Louis [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov file unit 330488747
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) for Sigurd O. Bjertness, service number 339159 - the LCI(L)-1065 officer lost 24 October 1944 - comprising 7 digitized objects at the National Archives at St. Louis.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Ens. Sigurd Bjertness (officer lost at sinking)
- Limitations
- IDPF located via catalog metadata (title and object count); contents unexamined. Catalog title renders the middle initial 'O' where the DPAA roster and the LCI association list render 'J' - service number 339159 matches across sources; the initial variant is unresolved. A personnel-casualty file, not a vessel-material record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-06
-
[8]Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), 'Report for MINNESOTA (Unaccounted For)' - WWII accounting roster [other_primary]
- Locator
- DPAA Minnesota unaccounted roster PDF, BJERTNESS row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The DPAA WWII unaccounted-for roster for Minnesota lists: 'BJERTNESS, SIGURD J | ENS | NAVY | O-339159 | LCI(L)-1065; UNITED STATES NAVY RESERVE | 10/24/1944 | NON RECOVERABLE | PACIFIC OCEAN' - official DoD documentation that a named officer of this hull was lost and remains unaccounted for at the 24 October 1944 sinking.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Ens. Sigurd J. Bjertness, USNR
- Limitations
- Documents one Minnesota home-of-record casualty, not the complete loss toll (casualty counts conflict across sources - see ev-09). Direct fetch of dpaa.mil returned HTTP 403 (Akamai edge block); content extracted via Firecrawl render of the same live URL on 2026-09-29 - the cited URL is the live source, not an archive. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-07
-
[9]Bill Gordon, '47 Ships Sunk by Kamikaze Aircraft' (kamikazeimages.net), exclusion analysis item 2 - LCI(L)-1065; with the Warner (1982) account excerpt and the Lukei war-diary passage (ussfremont.org diary3.html via Wayback capture 2021-05-17) [other_primary]
- Locator
- kamikazeimages.net ships-sunk page, exclusion item 2; ussfremont.org/diary3.html (live 404; Wayback capture 20210517182037); usslci.org Honor/Valor/Sacrifice table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION/Nuance on the loss characterization: NavSource banners 'Lost at sea due to enemy Kamikaze attack' and captions 'suicide Betty bomber,' while Warner (The Sacred Warriors, 1982, pp. 93-4) identifies the attacker as a Sally (Army Type 97 heavy bomber) that 'dived in flames onto the ship's fantail... The Sally sliced through the LCI, which sank within minutes,' and calls Sonoma and LCI 1065 'the first ships sunk by kamikazes in the war.' Gordon's sourced analysis excludes LCI(L)-1065 from the 47-ship kamikaze list: the first successful Navy special-attack-squadron attacks were 25 October 1944 and the first Army special-attack suicide attacks were 5 November 1944 (Osuo 2005; Inoguchi 1958; Stern 2010) - the 24 October crash predates organized suicide operations. Aboard USS Fremont (APA-44), Chief Pay Clerk Reese F. Lukei's diary entry for 24 October 1944 records 'One Jap bomber shot down crashing into a US LCI-1065' - consistent with a damaged conventional bomber crashing into the ship rather than a planned suicide sortie. The USS LCI National Association casualty table lists the cause as 'Crashed by Japanese Plane' without the kamikaze label.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Crew and embarked passengers (incl. Australian bombardment officer Maj. John Strake, per Warner)
- Limitations
- Resolves a characterization conflict, not a date: all sources agree the ship sank after a Japanese aircraft struck her off Leyte on 24 October 1944. Aircraft type is unresolved (Betty per NavSource caption vs Sally per Warner). 'Shot down crashing into' (contemporaneous diary) vs 'suicide' characterization (NavSource, Warner) is unresolved; the exclusion from the organized-kamikaze list reflects squadron-record analysis, not certainty about individual pilot intent. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-08
-
[10]USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association, 'Honor, Valor, Sacrifice' LCI casualty table (Elsie Item #100 roster basis); Lukei war diary via ussfremont.org (Wayback); amphibiousforces.org LCI(L)-982 crew account [other_primary]
- Locator
- usslci.org Honor/Valor/Sacrifice table, rows under ship 1065; ussfremont.org diary3.html 24-Oct-1944 entry (Wayback); amphibiousforces.org/Interest/LCI982 account
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Casualty accounting for the 24 October 1944 loss conflicts across sources. The USS LCI National Association table lists six named KIA aboard LCI(L)-1065: Ens. Sigurd J. Bjertness (339159, MN), SC2c Wallace W. Hamlett (8334733), S2c Michael M. Jalad (9295225), Cox Floyd J. Parker (9435595), S1c Lester S. Tumbleson (5704440), and RM3c Gordon A. Judson (8060218) - but places the sinking at 'Mindoro, Philippine Islands,' conflicting with 'Off Leyte, P.I.' in the official losses list (ev-02). The Lukei diary aboard USS Fremont records 'One officer and six men killed, five men missing. Nine severly burned survivors brought aboard APA44, one later died from burns' (7 killed + 5 missing + 1 later burn death). NavSource's ribbon block lists '5 KIA 24 October 1944.' An LCI(L)-982 crew member, present in the same group, records that she 'had already slipped under by the time we arrived... Survivors said she sank in less than one minute.'
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- USS LCI(L)-1065 crew and embarked personnel, 24 October 1944
- Limitations
- Casualty totals genuinely conflict (5 vs 6 named vs 7-plus-missing) and are left unresolved - no source reconciles them; the DPAA roster independently confirms Bjertness only. The association's 'Mindoro' location conflicts with the official 'Off Leyte' and all photographic/eyewitness accounts; treated as an association-table error but not adjudicated here. Association and crew-account sources are secondary/veteran-compiled, not official. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-09
-
[11]HyperWar, 'US Navy Landing Ships/Craft, 1940-1945' landing-craft table (Patrick Clancey compilation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ships-lc.html, LCI(L) table, LCI(L)-1065 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The HyperWar landing-craft table's note for LCI(L)-1065 reads 'Fire support ship carrying rockets & mortars' with the loss marker '24 Oct 44; kamikaze attack at Leyte Gulf' - suggesting this hull carried a field-added rocket/mortar fire-support fit at the time of loss while retaining the LCI(L) designation.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation note, not a primary armament record: no BuShips alteration record or action report was located confirming the rocket/mortar fit; consistent with Warner's description of the ship 'lying alongside an ammunition ship,' but not proven. The 'kamikaze' label here is subject to the ev-08 correction. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-10
-
[12]Era inference built on: NavSource LCI-351 spec block (GM diesel plant, no steam); ShipbuildingHistory Defoe list (1944 welded-steel construction); HAER OR-180 class documentation (ev-12); GAO HRD-80-2 program context (ev-13) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource spec block; ShipbuildingHistory Defoe row 318; HAER OR-180 (class design); GAO HRD-80-2 (program era)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A 158-ft welded-steel diesel landing craft built in 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, but her plant profile matters: with no steam plant or boilers, the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply. Era-standard asbestos-bearing materials aboard small diesel combatants of the period were diesel exhaust-system lagging, machinery and flange gaskets, valve packing, electrical cable insulation, deck covering/tile, and winch and windlass brake linings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Defoe construction trades (April-May 1944); wartime crew (May-October 1944)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific material list, insulation survey, or work package located for LCI(L)-1065. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; a 419-ton landing craft carried far less insulation of any kind than a steam combatant. No quantity. The hull sank in October 1944 - any installed materials went down with her; there is no surviving-fabric or abatement question for this vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-11
-
[13]Historic American Engineering Record HAER No. OR-180, LCI(L)-713 (Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum, Portland OR); and HAER No. AK-52, M/V Husky II ex-LCI(L)-653 [haer]
- Locator
- LOC HAER data pages OR-180 (or0606data.pdf) and AK-52 (ak0557data.pdf)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- HAER OR-180 documents the LCI-351 class design (158'5.5" x 23'3", 387 tons loaded, eight GM 6-71 diesels, welded 1/4-in steel plate) using museum craft LCI(L)-713 as the surviving example; HAER AK-52 documents sister hull LCI(L)-653. The class design record is consistent with NavSource's spec block for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944 design; HAER documentation later
- Limitations
- Class-design federal documentation for sister hulls, not for 1065. The reports document design and history only; a prior batch's full-text review found no asbestos or hazardous-material content in either report - that absence is reported as a finding, not as proof for or against asbestos aboard any LCI(L).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-12
-
[14]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (full text blocked, HTTP 403)
- 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 - spanning this hull's 1944 construction and service era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. The report addresses the steam-era fleet and does not itemize LCI(L)-type applications. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-09-29) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-13
-
[15]Batch-4944 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (no entry); NavSource 151065; King Appendix C (HyperWar); ShipbuildingHistory Defoe list; NARA catalog muster rolls + IDPF; NARA deck-log inventory; NVR live check; CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket searches; DPAA roster; usslci.org casualty table; amphibiousforces.org LCI(L)-982 account; ussfremont.org diary (Wayback); kamikazeimages.net analysis; HAER OR-180/AK-52; GAO product page; secondary web sweep incl. Defoe asbestos [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-1065-01 through -19
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS LCI(L)-1065 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener returned zero opinions for 'LCI(L)-1065' and for the variants 'LCI 1065'/'LCI-1065', and zero dockets for 'LCI-1065'/'LCI(L) 1065'/'LCI(L)-1065' (authenticated API, 2026-09-29) - a completed negative sweep. No qualifying yard-level asbestos adjudication was located for Defoe Shipbuilding - only law-firm marketing content (mesothelioma.net, mesowatch.org, mesotheliomasymptoms.com), excluded by source policy; the one located Defoe court record (Basner v. Defoe Shipbuilding, Mich. workmen's comp, 1943 injury) is not an asbestos case. The only 'asbestos aboard LCI' material on the open web is the same banned-source class asserting asbestos without primary sourcing.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 2026-09-29
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - era-standard materials on a 1944 combatant make asbestos plausible, but it is not ship-proven. The NARA deck logs (5/16-6/30/1944), the digitized muster rolls, and the Bjertness IDPF are unexamined contents; Defoe yard work packages are an additional open lead. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-1065-14