Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
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[1]research packet pt-packet.md (6 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS LCI(L)-540
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-540-lcil540-pkt-pt-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(G)-540 ex USS LCI(L)-540 - construction, designation timeline, theater assignment, specifications (history credited to 'USS LCI "Landing Craft Infantry" Vol. II,' Turner Publishing, 1995) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150540.htm - header timeline, awards block, specifications block, D-Day photo caption (image 1015054001)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: LCI-351 class; laid down 15 December 1943 at New Jersey Shipbuilding Corp., Barber, N.J.; launched 19 January 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-540 on 22 January 1944. Assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater; participated in the Invasion of Normandy, 6 to 25 June 1944. Reclassified Landing Craft Infantry (Gunboat) LCI(G)-540 on 15 July 1945. Decommissioned, date unknown (per NavSource - resolved to 19 December 1945 by ev-06). Struck from the Naval Register 8 January 1946; transferred to the Maritime Commission 12 February 1948; final disposition fate unknown. One battle star for World War II service. Specifications: displacement 216 t light / 234 t landing / 389 t loaded; length 158'5.5"; beam 23'3"; 16 kts max; complement LCI(L) 3 officers + 21 enlisted / LCI(G) 5 officers + 65 enlisted; propulsion two sets of 4 General Motors diesel engines, 4 per shaft, 1,600 BHP, twin variable-pitch propellers; 2-inch plastic splinter protection on gun turrets, conning tower, and pilot house. A U.S. National Archives photograph (via NavSource) shows Army troops in full battle dress boarding USS LCI(L)-540 off the Normandy beachhead, 6 June 1944.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- Builder trades at New Jersey Shipbuilding (1943-44); ship's company and embarked troops (1944-45)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation (cited source: Turner Publishing's USS LCI Vol. II) - milestone dates generally track official records but are not the record itself; decommissioning date shown as 'unknown' there and supplied here by the hull's own muster roll (ev-06). Contains no asbestos content. Live page verified 2026-09-30 via Firecrawl (raw curl returns HTTP 406 - bot filtering).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-01
-
[3]National Archives Special List 44, 'List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947' - Ships by Signal Number Designation, LCI(L) listing (ACPL Genealogy Center digitized scan of the NARA publication) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Special List 44, printed book page 343 ('Ships With Symbol and Number Designations'), ACPL scan image 369: 'LCI(L)-540 Jan. 22, 1944-Dec. 19, 1945 - 3'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Special List 44 lists three logbooks (deck logs) for LCI(L)-540 covering 22 January 1944 - 19 December 1945. The span runs from her commissioning date through the decommissioning date documented by her final muster roll (ev-06) - a complete commissioned-service log set held at NARA.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-01-22 to 1945-12-19
- Limitations
- Establishes that logbooks exist and their coverage dates at NARA - not that they are digitized or publicly readable online. The catalog's 1944-45 LCI(L)-540 deck log file units were not located online in this session; the logbooks themselves are physical NARA holdings (lead for yard-availability, overhaul, and material-condition evidence). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-02
-
[4]NARA file unit: 'USS LCI(L) 540 - War Diary, 3/2/44 to 4/5/44' - NAID 78382242, RG 38 WWII War Diaries, microfilm roll A905 (digitized, 3 images) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 78382242, microfilm roll A905, images 0444-0446 (OCR of CO-signed diary, serial A-12, dated 5 April 1944)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The hull's own war diary (primary record) documents: 2 March 1944 - Ensign B. J. Van Blake, USN, relieved Lt.(jg) C. E. Ensler, DV(S), USNR and assumed command; ship operating under Commander Amphibious Training Command, Atlantic Fleet, in shakedown status. 15 March - detached shakedown group, proceeded to Lambert's Point Pier 'S'. 16-18 March - yard availability at Pier 'S', Lambert's Point, Norfolk, Va. 18 March - reported to Commander LCI(L) Flotilla 12 for duty with task unit 20.3.4. 22 March - underway Norfolk for Little Creek anchorage. 23 March - joined convoy UGS-37 (station 26) out of Chesapeake Bay. 3 April - departed UGS-37 forming on LCI(L)-414 as task group. 5 April - made landfall at Fayal Island, Azores, moored at Horta alongside LCI(L)s 418 and 553.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-03-02 to 1944-04-05
- Population
- Ship's company (officers and ~21 enlisted complement); embarked passengers; Norfolk yard trades during the 16-18 March availability
- Limitations
- Primary ship-generated record, but covers only 2 March - 5 April 1944 (shakedown through the transatlantic crossing to the Azores). Establishes a documented pre-deployment yard availability at Norfolk (a window in which period insulation work occurred shipyard-wide) but does not itself mention asbestos or materials. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-03
-
[5]NARA file unit: 'LCI(L) 540 - Report of Operations, 6/5-6/44, Invasion of Normandy, France' - NAID 78555347, RG 38 WWII War Diaries, microfilm roll A1082 (digitized, 6 images incl. endorsement chain) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 78555347, microfilm roll A1082, images 0134-0139 (action report Parts I-VI and endorsements 1-5)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The hull's own D-Day action report (serial A47, dated 15 June 1944, signed by commanding officer B. J. Van Blake) documents: USS LCI(L)-540, LCI(L) Group 34, carried 199 soldiers and 8 officers of the 29th Division (U.S. Army) from Weymouth, Dorset, as ninth ship in the first column; led a wave group of four LCI(L)s to the beach adjacent to Vierville, Normandy; beached at 1151 on 6 June 1944 riding over stakes, ramps, and tetrahedra between two mine-carrying stakes; all troops off by 1156 ('a dry landing'); took aboard three Army casualties, transferred to a hospital ship (P77). USS LCI(L)-555 collided broadside at 1157 causing a 45-degree broaching movement; a mortar near-miss shook the ship at 1202. Battle damage: two sheared blades on the port propeller, bent starboard propeller, loss of the starboard transverse skeg strut. Ship's armament (five 20mm Oerlikons) was never fired - drawing enemy fire was avoided to expedite the landing. Part VI: 'There were no casualties to personnel.' Endorsements route the report through Commander LCI(L) Group 34 (Flotilla 12), LCI(L) Flotilla Ten (attached for the convoy stage only), Commander Amphibious Bases U.K., Task Force 122, and Twelfth Fleet.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-06-05 to 1944-06-15
- Population
- Ship's company; 207 embarked troops of the 29th Division; three wounded Army casualties taken aboard
- Limitations
- Primary ship-generated record; establishes the D-Day mission, damage, and the absence of personnel casualties for this hull - the last point contradicts the casualty figures displayed on NavSource's page for this hull (see ev-08). 'Adjacent to Vierville' places her beaching on the western (Vierville-side) sector of Omaha Beach; the association literature assigns her the Easy Red/115th RCT lift - consistent, but the sector name itself is from the association source, not this report. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-04
-
[6]NARA file unit: 'LCI(L)-540 - Rep of Ops, 6/5-19/44 Invasion of Normandy, France' - NAID 134358963, RG 38 WWII War Diaries (digitized, 5 images) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 134358963, images 0412-0416 (report of operations dated for the 6/5-19/44 window)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The hull's extended report of operations (micro serial 87233, addressed to Naval Commander Western Task Force via Commander Task Group 124.4 and Commander Task Force 124) documents post-landing cross-Channel escort duty: after 6 June the vessel served as senior escort for four convoys - 'Starlight 63' (27 British LCTs with LCI(L)s 412 and 413, departed Portland Bay 9 June 1944; during this convoy British LCTs mistakenly fired on each other and a German bomber dropped three bombs), 'Bluesky 63' (France to Portland Bay, arrived 12 June), 'Starlight 76' (18 British LCTs with LCI(L)s 493 and 542; carried 41 American nurses, 31 medical officers, and 126 enlisted men to France, departed Portland Bay 16 June), and 'Bluesky 76' (France to Weymouth Bay, arrived 0410 on 19 June 1944).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-06-05 to 1944-06-19
- Population
- Ship's company; escorted convoy crews and embarked personnel including medical units
- Limitations
- Primary ship-generated record; documents cross-Channel escort employment through 19 June 1944 only. Her employment from late June 1944 until the July 1945 reclassification and the December 1945 return to Charleston rests on deck logs and flotilla war diaries not examined here (see gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-05
-
[7]NARA file units: 'LCI(G) 540 - Muster Rolls' (NAID 120246355, RG 24, 15 images, Ancestry scan) and 'LCI(L) 540 - Muster Rolls' (NAID 120246253, 101 images, from 31 March 1944) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 120246355 (LCI(G) 540 muster rolls; recapitulation sheet at image 32860_245157-00139; report-of-changes August 1945 at -00125); NAID 120246253 (LCI(L) 540 muster rolls)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The digitized muster rolls document the hull's administrative end-state: report-of-changes sheets run under the 'U.S.S. LCI(G) 540' heading from August 1945 (confirming the 15 July 1945 gunboat reclassification was in active administrative use), while the final quarterly recapitulation sheet (headed 'U.S.S. LCI(L) 540 - DECOMMISSIONING') states in remarks: 'Ship Decommissioned December 19, 1945 crew transferred to RS/Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.' - establishing the decommissioning date (19 December 1945) and place (Charleston, S.C.) that NavSource lists as unknown.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-03-31 to 1945-12-19
- Population
- Ship's company through decommissioning; crew transferred to Receiving Station/Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.
- Limitations
- Primary personnel records; corrects the 'date unknown' decommissioning in secondary compilations. Mixed designation use in the file (LCI(G) on report-of-changes sheets, LCI(L) on the recapitulation sheet) reflects paperwork lag, not a separate hull. Whether the July 1945 LCI(G) reclassification included a physical gunboat conversion (40mm guns, rocket launchers) is not established by the muster rolls - see gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-06
-
[8]USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association (usslci.org), 'Some Corrections and Additions' by John France - veterans'-association publication documenting LCI Group 34, Flotilla 12 service [other_primary]
- Locator
- usslci.org 'Some Corrections and Additions' (John France); corroborating association posts identify Company L, 115th RCT on Easy Red sector
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Association research documents that USS LCI(L)-540 was a unit of LCI Group 34, Flotilla 12, landing troops of the 115th Regimental Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division, on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944, and that her commanding officer was Benjamin J. Van Blake - who had earlier survived the October 1941 torpedoing of USS Kearny, the first U.S. warship torpedoed by a German U-boat in WWII. (The same page warns that Army planners used fictitious hull numbers in Overlord planning documents - a documented source of LCI hull-number error in D-Day histories.)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Ship's company; embarked 115th RCT troops
- Limitations
- Veterans'-association secondary research, not an official record; consistent with the hull's own action report (ev-04: 199 soldiers and 8 officers of the 29th Division, beach adjacent to Vierville, Group 34). The Kearny-survivor detail is association lore - the action report itself confirms B. J. Van Blake as CO. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-07
-
[9]Correction cross-check: NavSource LCI(L)-540 page 'Personal Awards' block (Purple Heart, 1 KIA Officer-in-Charge / 1 WIA enlisted, 6 June 1944) vs. the hull's own action report (NAID 78555347) and NavSource's own LCT(6)-540 photo caption on the same page [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 150540.htm Personal Awards block and photo caption 1015054003; NAID 78555347 Part VI; LCT(6)-540 page navsource.net/archives/10/18/180540.htm
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource's LCI(L)-540 page displays a Purple Heart block claiming 1 killed-in-action (the Officer-in-Charge) and 1 wounded-in-action on 6 June 1944. The hull's own action report, signed by CO B. J. Van Blake on 15 June 1944, states 'There were no casualties to personnel.' The identical casualty profile appears in NavSource's own photo caption on the same page for USS LCT(6)-540 - a different hull type (Landing Craft, Tank) bearing the same number 540 at Normandy - whose officer-in-charge was killed and one enlisted man wounded when she took eight hits off Omaha Beach. The LCI(L)-540 Purple Heart block is a probable LCT(6)-540/LCI(L)-540 conflation and should not be cited as a casualty record for this hull.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-06-06
- Limitations
- Correction rests on the hull's primary action report plus the coincidence of identical casualty wording on the same NavSource page for LCT(6)-540; verification_status is partial because NavSource's internal sourcing for the block is not documented. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-08
-
[10]Era inference built on: NavSource specification block for this hull (LCI-351 class, diesel propulsion, plastic splinter armor); GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-10); general wartime-construction documentation for the amphibious-craft era [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 150540.htm specifications block (propulsion, armor notes); GAO HRD-80-2 program context
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-driven amphibious landing craft built December 1943-January 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos era; era-standard asbestos applications aboard a craft of this type and period were thermal insulation on machinery spaces and diesel-exhaust components, machinery and valve gaskets, packing, and electrical insulation. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/steam-line lagging pathway dominant in larger vessels does not apply, and the confined-volume dynamic is weaker than in a submarine but still present in engine and berthing spaces.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- Builder trades (Barber, N.J., 1943-44); ship's company (1944-45); Norfolk yard trades during the March 1944 availability; Charleston yard vicinity at decommissioning (1945); Maritime Commission disposal handlers (1948)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or specification sheet located for LCI(L)-540. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. The builder (New Jersey Shipbuilding Corp., Barber, N.J.) has no located asbestos documentation either; a wartime yard of the period is presumptively in-scope but that is industry-level inference, not evidence about this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-09
-
[11]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)
- 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 (1943-44) and service era (1944-45).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- 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 consistent with Batch-01 and Batch-98 sessions); content via the product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-10
-
[12]Batch-5261 search ledger (this record): NavSource; NARA Special List 44 (ACPL scan); NARA catalog file units (war diary, two action reports, two muster-roll series, Group 34/Flotilla 12 war diaries); CourtListener API v4; NVR; usslci.org; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-540-01 through sl-uss-lci-l-540-12
- 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)-540 / LCI(G)-540 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener exact-phrase opinion searches for 'LCI(L)-540' and 'LCI(G)-540' returned zero hits; the bare 'LCI-540' full-text search returned 91 results, all name collisions (LCI International Telecommunications litigation, statutory/pin citations) - no qualifying asbestos case. The CourtListener docket index (type=r) could not be completed this session - fleet pacing limiter intermittently spent - and is logged as blocked, not as a negative result.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 2026-09-30
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was built inside the Navy's documented asbestos era and received a documented pre-deployment yard availability at Norfolk in March 1944. Deck logs (3 volumes at NARA), builder work packages, and the Maritime Commission disposal file are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-540-11