Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
-
[1]research packet 406-packet.md (8 sources cited) [museum_official]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-324-lcil324-pkt-406-packet-md
-
[2]U.S. Coast Guard, 'The Coast Guard at War: Transports & Escorts, Vol. II - Transports' (Historical Section, Public Information Division, USCG Headquarters, May 1, 1949), vessel section 'LCI(L)-324 - Flotilla 35 - Group 104 - Division 207' (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar V2-Transports, LCI(L) vessel histories, 'LCI(L)-324 / Flotilla 35 - Group 104 - Division 207' subsection
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official USCG unit history for this hull: built by Brown Shipbuilding Corporation and placed in commission February 10, 1943; commanding officers Lt.(jg) Charles W. Rinaca Jr. USCGR, Lt.(jg) Thomas L. Keane USCG, Lt.(jg) Robert M. Hoffman (from August 4, 1945). Departed the Gulf Coast late March 1943 for Norfolk; arrived North Africa April 18, 1943; operated from Lake Bizerte. Landed troops on Sicily July 10, 1943 (LCI(L) Flotilla Four) and at Salerno September 9, 1943. Left Lake Bizerte late October 1943 for Plymouth via Gibraltar; assigned to LCI(L) Flotilla Ten; intensive Normandy training. Departed Salcombe June 5, 1944; unloaded troops on Utah Beach June 6, 1944; then ~2 weeks transporting troops England-to-France, directed small boat operations in Utah Beach, and from July 21, 1944 for 3.5 months transported troops and escorted LCTs. Departed Dartmouth October 5, 1944; arrived Jacksonville ~21 days later for major overhaul at Gibbs Shipyard; new crew and officers placed aboard; departed December 8, 1944 for Charleston Navy Yard, ATB Little Creek, and ATB Solomons Island for further overhaul and training. Departed Norfolk December 31, 1944; arrived San Diego January 28, 1945 via Key West and the Canal Zone; reported to Commander, Training Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet; final availability at Naval Repair Base San Diego. Departed April 20, 1945 via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok; arrived Guam May 29, 1945. Saipan June 1-July 4, 1945: local patrol, air-sea rescue, escorting the Japanese fishing fleet in the Saipan-Tinian area. Eniwetok July 8-November 9, 1945: ferry service to surrounding atolls. Departed for home November 9, 1945; arrived San Pedro December 19, 1945; decommissioned there March 7, 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Coast Guard crew (~24 ship's company) plus embarked troops (capacity 6 officers, 182 enlisted); Gibbs Shipyard, Charleston Navy Yard, and Naval Repair Base San Diego trades during 1944-45 availabilities
- Limitations
- Ship-specific official service history; no asbestos or material content. The monograph twice writes 'Orange, Texas' for the builder location - contradicted by its own sister-ship entries (LCI(L)-322, -349: 'Houston') and by yard records (see ev-06); Houston carried as correct. The same source's Sicily appendix dates commissioning 'approximately 1 February 1943' - this volume's February 10, 1943 agrees with NavSource and with the NARA deck-log coverage start. NavSource prints the San Pedro arrival as 19 November 1945; this source gives December 19, 1945 - the December date is consistent with the stated Kwajalein/Pearl Harbor/San Diego routing and is carried (conflict in gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-01
-
[3]U.S. Coast Guard, 'The Coast Guard at War - X: Sicily-Italy Landings', Appendix A (individual vessel histories) (HyperWar transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USCG-X-A.html, Appendix A, 'USS LCI(L) 324' paragraph
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official USCG monograph entry for this hull: 'The USS LCI(L) 324 was built by the Brown Shipbuilding Corporation at Orange, Texas and placed in commission approximately 1 February, 1943. Manned by Coast Guard personnel, this vessel departed Orange, Texas after outfitting for Norfolk, Virginia, during the latter part of March, 1943. Leaving Bermuda 1 April, 1943, this ship arrived 18 days later at Rabat, Morocco ... proceeded from there to Lake Bizerte, Tunisia where in June, 1943 it prepared for the forthcoming invasion of Sicily. On 10 July, 1943, as a member of LCI(L) Flotilla Four this vessel participated in the invasion of Sicily ... on 9 September, 1943, the LCI(L) 324 landed troops at Salerno.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943
- Population
- Coast Guard crew
- Limitations
- Corroborates Mediterranean service; internally inconsistent on build location - this entry says Orange, Texas, while the same appendix's LCI(L)-322 and LCI(L)-349 entries say Houston, Texas, and yard records place Brown's only shipyard at Houston (see ev-06, gaps). Commissioning given only as 'approximately 1 February 1943' - superseded by the February 10, 1943 date in the Transports volume and NavSource. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-324 (10/15/150324.htm) - timeline, command list, awards, specifications, disposition; history credited to 'The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Volume II' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 150324.htm - header block, LCI-1 class block, campaign/awards block, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: laid down 21 December 1942, Brown Ship Building Corp., Houston, TX; launched 22 January 1943; commissioned USS LCI(L)-324, 10 February 1943 with a Coast Guard crew, Lt. Andrew Duncan Jr. USCGR in command; succeeding COs Lt.(jg) Charles W. Rinaca Jr. USCGR, Lt.(jg) Thomas L. Keene USCG, Lt.(jg) Robert M. Hoffman (August 1945 - 7 March 1946). Theater assignments: LCI Flotilla 4 (Capt. M. E. Imlay USCG), Flotilla 10 at Normandy, LCI Flotilla 35 in the Pacific. Awards: four battle stars (Tunisian operations 1 June-9 July 1943; Sicilian occupation 10-15 July 1943; Salerno landings 9-21 September 1943; Invasion of Normandy 6-25 June 1944); Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive); Coast Guard Unit Commendation; American Campaign Medal; Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (4); Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; WWII Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). Individual award: Purple Heart, 1 WIA, Robert Tolland, circa 8-11 September 1943. International radio call sign NJOT. Decommissioned 7 March 1946 at San Pedro; struck from the Naval Register (date unknown); sold 12 December 1946, fate unknown. Specifications: LCI-1 class; 216 t. light / 389 t. loaded; 158'5.5" x 23'3"; 16 kts max; complement 3 officers, 21 enlisted; troop capacity 6 officers, 182 enlisted; armament four single 20mm guns plus two .50 cal; propulsion two sets of 4 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, 1,600 BHP, twin variable-pitch propellers.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Coast Guard crew; embarked troops
- Limitations
- Volunteer secondary compilation tracking NVR-style data; milestones verified against the USCG official monograph (ev-01) with two conflicts - San Pedro arrival printed 19 November 1945 vs the monograph's 19 December 1945 (monograph carried), and launch date 22 January 1943 vs shipbuildinghistory's 28 January 1943 for yard hull 103 (NavSource carried, conflict in gaps). Adds the commissioning CO (Duncan) absent from the monograph's officer list. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-03
-
[5]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-324 narrative page - crew account by Paul Mascatelli, USS LCI(L)-324, of the sinking of LCI(L)-1 and rescue by LCI(L)-324, Bizerte, 17 August 1943 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 150324h.htm, narrative text
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- First-person crew narrative: during the 17 August 1943 German air raid on the Bizerte anchorage (a raid mounted from Foggia by an estimated 80-100 aircraft), LCI(L)-1 was bombed while overtaking the LCI column and capsized; LCI(L)-324, not yet at her anchorage, recovered LCI(L)-1 crew members from the water under fire from the stricken ship's cooking-off ready ammunition, with crewmen entering the water to assist the injured.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-08-17
- Population
- LCI(L)-324 and LCI(L)-1 crews
- Limitations
- Personal account contributed via NavSource, not an official action report; consistent with the documented loss of LCI(L)-1 on that date but not independently corroborated by an official record located this session. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-04
-
[6]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'The Long Blue Line: Selfless devotion to duty - Seaman Scheuerman and the bloody landings at Salerno' (history.uscg.mil; live site returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch - content verified via indexed excerpt) [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil Long Blue Line article 2923265
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- USCG Historian's Office article on the Salerno landing documents this hull's role as the Flotilla 4 medical platform: after LCI(L)-319's crewmen were wounded, 'LCI-319 got underway and pulled alongside LCI-324. The Flotilla #4 medical officer, Lt. Cmdr. Romeo Gentile, of the U.S. Public Health Service, came aboard with Pharmacist Mate 3/c Samuel Ellis to treat the wounded' - i.e., the flotilla medical officer was embarked aboard LCI(L)-324 during the Salerno operation.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-09
- Population
- LCI(L)-324 and LCI(L)-319 crews; Flotilla 4 medical officer
- Limitations
- Vessel-history detail from an official USCG publication; article body verified via search-engine indexed excerpt (live page 403 to automated fetch; latest Wayback capture rendered only the navigation shell). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-05
-
[7]ShipbuildingHistory (Tim Colton), Brown Shipbuilding, Houston TX yard table - hull #103 = LCI(L) 324; plus ShipbuildingHistory consolidated LCI(L) construction list (lcil.htm, via Wayback capture 2010-05-27) [other_primary]
- Locator
- brown.htm yard table, hull #103; lcil.htm construction list, LCI(L) 324 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Yard-build records resolve the builder conflict in the official USCG histories: Brown Shipbuilding's own yard table (the yard built at Green's Bayou on the Houston Ship Channel, 1941) lists hull #103 as LCI(L) 324 - keel laid 21-Dec-42, launched 28-Jan-43, delivered 10-Feb-43, disposition 'Sold 1946'. The consolidated LCI(L) construction list independently gives 'LCI(L) 324 - Brown Shipbuilding - Houston TX - FY42 - delivered Feb-43 - Struck 1946'. CORRECTION: the USCG monograph's 'Brown Shipbuilding Corporation of Orange, Texas' (both monographs) and the USCG Flotilla 4/10/35 sketch's 'all Flotilla Four LCI(L)s built by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas' are misattributions for the 300-series hulls - Consolidated Steel's Orange yard built other LCI(L) blocks (e.g., 61-82, 948-1012 range), not 319-326/349-350, which were Brown, Houston.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades, Houston (1942-43)
- Limitations
- Corrects build-location and builder-name errors in official USCG secondary histories. Yard table is a scholarly compilation (Colton/ShipbuildingHistory), not a digitized contract record - dates treated as yard-record authority where they align with commissioning facts (delivery 10-Feb-43 = commissioning 10-Feb-43). Launch date conflicts with NavSource (28 Jan vs 22 Jan 1943) - unresolved, carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-06
-
[8]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'U.S. Coast Guard-Manned LCI(L)s - Landing Craft Infantry (Large)' and 'Coast Guard-Manned Landing Craft (Infantry), Large Flotilla 4/10/35' (archived captures; live history.uscg.mil returns 403 to automated fetch) [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil USCG-Manned LCI(L)s roster line '[LCI(L)-324]'; Flotilla 4/10/35 history paragraph naming the flotilla hull list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- USCG Historian's Office documents the Coast Guard manning program: under a USCG-CNO agreement the Coast Guard supplied officers and crews for 28 Navy LCI(L)s beginning in 1943; the vessels remained commissioned U.S. Navy ships; 24 were grouped into Flotilla 4 (later Flotilla 10 for Normandy, Flotilla 35 for the Pacific), commanded by Capt. Miles Imlay, USCG. The flotilla roster explicitly includes LCI(L)-324 among numbers 83-96, 319-326, 349, 350. The flotilla narrative records the Galveston assembly, Key West/Norfolk training, the April 1943 crossing to North Africa, Sicily and Salerno landings, Gibraltar transit to England (October 1943), Dartmouth/Greenway House headquarters, the D-Day Utah/Omaha split (Flotilla 10), and the late-1944 return for overhaul and redeployment as Flotilla 35.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Coast Guard-manned LCI(L) crews (28 vessels)
- Limitations
- Flotilla-level account written anonymously from memory - the page itself warns 'there may be a conflict concerning a date or a number'; its blanket claim that Flotilla Four boats were built by Consolidated Steel at Orange, Texas, is disproven for the 300-series hulls by yard records (see ev-06). Hull-specific facts here come only from the roster listing naming 324. URLs verified via Wayback captures (2024-12-04, 2024-11-29); live pages return HTTP 403 to automated fetches. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-07
-
[9]Exercise Tiger secondary literature: Dartmouth Museum 'Exercise Tiger Debacle' account; combinedops.com Operation Tiger narrative; hrabiatytus.pl Lyme Bay history (names the colliding craft) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- dartmouthmuseum.org Exercise Tiger account; combinedops.com Op_Tiger; hrabiatytus.pl (Polish-language history, names LCI(L)-324)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- During Exercise Tiger staging (Lyme Bay, April 1944), escort destroyer HMS Scimitar was holed above the waterline in a collision with a U.S. landing craft and kept in Plymouth for repairs - a communications failure that left Convoy T-4 without its planned escort before the E-boat attack. Mainstream accounts (Dartmouth Museum, Combined Operations, DVIDS) leave the colliding craft unnamed; one detailed secondary history identifies the vessel as LCI(L)-324 (collision ~00:45, night transit).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1944-04 (Exercise Tiger window)
- Population
- LCI(L)-324 crew; HMS Scimitar crew
- Limitations
- The specific hull attribution rests on a single non-official secondary source and is unverified by any official document; the collision event itself is well documented, the identity of the landing craft is not. The USCG monograph's 324 section does not mention Exercise Tiger. Carried as a vessel-history lead only - no asbestos content, no exposure claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-08
-
[10]NARA Special List 44, 'List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947' (1978), signal-number-designations section - deck-log inventory entry for LCI(L)-324 [other_primary]
- Locator
- SL44 signal-number section (F-LCI(L)), LCI(L)-324 entry; NARA deck-log resources page verified live
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List 44 inventories Navy deck logs for LCI(L)-324 covering 2/10/1943 through 6/30/1945 - log coverage spanning the wartime commissioned period from commissioning through the Eniwetok ferry-service era (RG 24, entry per batch triage locator, SL44 PDF page 22). The deck logs are an undigitized archival lead: positions, ports, availabilities, casualties, and any maintenance events are recoverable from them but were not individually reviewed.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1943-02-10 to 1945-06-30 (log coverage)
- Population
- Crew (1943-1945 log period)
- Limitations
- Inventory coverage dates only - they are not asserted commissioning/decommissioning dates (though the 2/10/1943 start coincides with the documented commissioning date). SL44 page-image not independently read this session; coverage dates accepted from batch triage of the volume (PDF p. 22). Log content itself not examined - nothing in this row speaks to asbestos or any material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-09
-
[11]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications (eight GM diesels, no steam plant); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era context (see ev-11); documented availabilities at Gibbs Shipyard (Jacksonville), Charleston Navy Yard, and Naval Repair Base San Diego (1944-45, per ev-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; ev-01 availability chronology; shipbuildinghistory builder record
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-driven amphibious landing craft built in a WWII emergency yard in 1942-43 and overhauled at U.S. yards in 1944-45 sat inside the era in which asbestos materials were standard in Navy construction and repair. Era-typical applications aboard a vessel of this type were gaskets, valve and machinery packing, exhaust lagging, and thermal/electrical insulation in machinery spaces; overhaul availabilities (Gibbs Shipyard Oct-Nov 1944; Charleston Navy Yard, Little Creek, Solomons Island Dec 1944; Naval Repair Base San Diego early 1945) were points where repair-era insulation work could occur. As a diesel craft she carried no boilers or steam turbines - the steam-lagging pathway does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-29
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1942-43); Coast Guard crew (1943-46); Gibbs, Charleston NY, NRB San Diego, and ATB trades (1944-45); postwar buyers/scrappers (unknown, 1946+)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or maintenance record located for LCI(L)-324. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Yard availabilities are documented events; any asbestos scope within them is inference, not record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-10
-
[12]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 entire construction (1942-43), service era (1943-46), and the 1944-45 U.S. overhaul window.
- 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. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403 - same standing defect as batches 01 and 98) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-11
-
[13]Batch-5045 search ledger (this record): USCG official monographs (2); USCG Historian's Office pages (via Wayback); NavSource (2 pages); ShipbuildingHistory yard records (live + Wayback); NARA SL44 locator; Exercise Tiger secondary literature; CourtListener (2 queries completed, remainder throttled); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-324-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS LCI(L)-324 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener searches across the likely spellings - opinion index 'LCI(L)-324', 'LCI-324', 'LCI 324' and the docket/RECAP index 'LCI(L)-324' - all returned zero hits (the docket query completed on retry after intermittent fleet-pacing blocks; logged as completed). The only 'asbestos aboard LCI' material visible on the open web is law-firm marketing listicle content without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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. The docket-index search covered the exact hull string only ('LCI(L)-324'); variant spellings in dockets are a residual possibility. Deck logs (SL44: 2/10/1943-6/30/1945), Brown yard work orders, and the Gibbs/Charleston/San Diego overhaul packages are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-324-12