Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 812-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-pkt-812-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(G)-544 ex USS LCI(L)-544 (1944-1945) - construction timeline, campaign credits, designations, specifications, disposal [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150544.htm header block, campaigns table, and specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: LCI-351 class; laid down 24 Dec 1943 at New Jersey Ship Building Corp., Barber, N.J.; launched 25 Jan 1944; commissioned as USS LCI(L)-544 31 Jan 1944. Asiatic-Pacific Theater campaigns: Western New Guinea operations - Toem-Wakde-Sarmi area 17-22 May 1944, Noemfoor Island 2-12 Jul 1944, Cape Sansapor 30 Jul and 1 Aug 1944, Morotai landings 15 Sep 1944; Leyte operation - Leyte landings 19-29 Nov 1944. Reclassified LCI(G)-544 15 Jul 1945; classification reverted to LCI(L)-544 10 Sep 1945. Decommissioned date unknown; laid up Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia PA; struck from the Naval Register date unknown; final disposition fate unknown. Two battle stars for WWII service. Spec block: 236/264/419 t.; 158' 5.5" x 23' 3"; 16 kts max; LCI(L) complement 4 officers + 24 enlisted (LCI(G) 4 + 53); troops 6 + 182; propulsion two sets of 4 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, 1,600 BHP, twin variable-pitch propellers. Page sources the hull history to 'USS LCI "Landing Craft Infantry", Vol. II' (Turner Publishing, 1995).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1956 (disposition window)
- Population
- New Jersey Shipbuilding trades (1943-44); crew (1944-post-war); any reserve-fleet caretaker workforce, Philadelphia
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track official records but are unverified against deck logs (themselves undigitized; see ev-03). Campaign-credit dates are published Navy campaign lists as compiled by NavSource. Contains no asbestos or material content. Decommissioning, striking, and final disposition are all undocumented on this page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-01
-
[3]Naval History and Heritage Command, photograph catalog 80-G-255413, 'Sansapor operation, New Guinea, July-August 1944' (copyright owner: National Archives; original date 30 July 1944) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC photo page: Title/Caption/Description fields, catalog 80-G-255413
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC caption for National Archives photograph 80-G-255413, original date 30 July 1944: 'LCI's landing troops, as the initial assault wave comes ashore at Sansapor on 30 July 1944. This landing was unopposed. LCI's present include (right to left): LCI-544; LCI-335 and LCI-430.' Government documentation placing this hull in the initial assault wave of the Cape Sansapor landing, Western New Guinea.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-07-30
- Population
- Crew and embarked 6th Infantry Division troops at the Sansapor landing, 30 Jul 1944
- Limitations
- Establishes presence and role on one date; the caption is the full extent of the official statement - it does not document other operations, duration of service, or material condition. The same image circulates on NavSource credited to the LCI National Association's 2009 calendar. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-02
-
[4]NARA Special List 44 - List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (ship-number list); Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, RG 24, Entry 118 (NAID 581208) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, page 25, line 'LCI(L)-544 1/31/1944 12/31/1945' (text-verified via pdftotext)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA Special List 44 (ship-number PDF, page 25) lists Navy deck logs under LCI(L)-544 covering 1/31/1944-12/31/1945. These are log-coverage dates, not commissioning or decommissioning dates. The logs document the physical existence of a deck-log series for this hull spanning her commissioning date through the end of 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (log coverage)
- Population
- Crew recorded in the log series (1944-1945)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - the listing confirms logs exist; contents (flotilla assignment, yards visited, casualties, conversions) are unexamined. The hull's logs do not appear in NARA's online digitized deck-log listing (post-1956 digitization coverage); they remain a paper holding. No asbestos content in the listing itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-03
-
[5]shipbuildinghistory.com yard table for New Jersey Shipbuilding, Barber NJ (Colton), mirrored at Naval Marine Archive - yard description and LCI(L) build list [other_primary]
- Locator
- New Jersey Shipbuilding yard table, LCI(L) 544 row; yard description paragraph (mirror of shipbuildinghistory.com, update 2021-08-26)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Colton's yard table lists LCI(L)-544 as a US Navy landing craft delivered Jan-44 by New Jersey Shipbuilding, Barber NJ, with disposition 'Struck 1956'. The yard description: 'New Jersey Shipbuilding was an assembly line for LCIs on Arthur Kill, in Barber, a community immediately to the east of Perth Amboy which was later absorbed into Perth Amboy and is now called Maurer. Management of the yard was taken over by Todd Shipyards in 1942, at the Navy's request, and was closed after the war.'
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944 (delivery); 1956 (reported strike year)
- Population
- New Jersey Shipbuilding workforce (assembly-line LCI production, 1942-45)
- Limitations
- Secondary yard-compilation data, not a primary register - 'Struck 1956' conflicts with NavSource's 'struck, date unknown' and is unverified against an official strike record (see gaps). Most sibling rows in the table show 1946-47 strikes, making the 1956 entry an outlier that could reflect a later reserve-fleet disposal or a data-entry artifact. Yard description is class/era context. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-04
-
[6]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block for this hull (two sets of 4 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, 1,600 BHP, twin VP propellers; no steam plant) + shipbuildinghistory yard context (assembly-line emergency production) + GAO HRD-80-2 Navy-wide asbestos-era documentation (ev-06) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150544.htm specifications block; shipbuildinghistory yard description; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A steel-hulled diesel landing craft built December 1943-January 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/steam-line lagging pathway of larger combatants does not apply - but era-standard applications for a small diesel naval craft of this period included thermal and machinery insulation, diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation, concentrated in the engine spaces of a 158-foot steel hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1956
- Population
- New Jersey Shipbuilding trades (1943-44); crew (1944-post-war); any reserve-fleet caretaker/disposal workforce
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LCI(L)-544. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. No manufacturer attribution. Small diesel landing craft carried substantially less insulation than steam vessels; the inference should not be read as a steam-ship-scale claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-05
-
[7]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 (1943-44) and service era.
- 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 or this vessel type. The report's emphasis is insulation aboard naval ships generally; it does not distinguish diesel landing craft from steam vessels. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403 - standing block since batch-01); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-06
-
[8]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'U.S. Coast Guard-Manned LCI(L)s' (28-hull list and Pacific service description) [other_primary]
- Locator
- history.uscg.mil USCG-Manned LCI(L)s page: narrative + hull list (LCI(L)-83 through LCI(L)-583 series)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official USCG documentation of the LCI(L) type's manning and Pacific employment: the Coast Guard manned 28 LCI(L)s (which remained commissioned US Navy vessels), and Pacific LCIs 'carried out a myriad of duties' including minesweeping, passenger/mail ferrying, smoke-screen generation during bombardments, air-sea rescue, harbor entrance control, and salvage work. Hull 544 does not appear in the published list of Coast Guard-manned hulls - she was Navy-manned, consistent with the Navy commissioning record.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- LCI crews generally (type-level); this hull's Navy crew
- Limitations
- Type-level context only - documents LCI(L) manning arrangements and Pacific operating patterns, not this hull's specific duties beyond the NavSource campaign list. Absence from the USCG list supports (but by itself does not prove) Navy manning. Page is live but returns HTTP 403 to non-browser fetches; content retrieved via firecrawl renderer 2026-09-30. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-07
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[9]Batch-5265 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull page; NHHC photograph catalog; NARA SL44 (ship-number PDF + online digitized-logs listing); shipbuildinghistory yard table (Naval Marine Archive mirror); NHHC DANFS; USCG Historian LCI page; NavSource Flotilla 22 history; CourtListener API v4 (partial - fleet pacing); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming USS LCI(L)-544 / LCI(G)-544 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener opinion search returned 0 results for 'LCI(L)-544' and 'LCI-544' (authenticated API v4, 2026-09-30). CAVEAT: the litigation search is partial - 'LCI(G)-544', 'LCI 544', and the RECAP docket index could not be queried this session (fleet-wide request budget spent; HTTP pacing), and are logged as pending, not as negative results. The only 'asbestos aboard' material surfaced is law-firm marketing content (mesothelioma.com shipyard listicles) asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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's undigitized deck logs, any New Jersey Shipbuilding contract/inspection records (the yard's records were largely scattered post-closure), and reserve-fleet disposal files are open archival leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Litigation coverage is partial by documented reason.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-544-lcil544-08