Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 458-packet.md (6 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (wartime loss)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-pkt-458-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-684 - construction milestones, specifications, campaign credit, loss narrative, awards (history credited to USS LCI 'Landing Craft Infantry' Vol. II, Turner Publishing, 1995) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150684.htm header block, LCI-351 class specifications block, campaign table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: LCI-351 class Landing Craft Infantry (Large); laid down April 1944 at George Lawley & Son, Neponset, MA; launched May 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-684, 15 May 1944; international radio call sign NPWK. Assigned Asiatic-Pacific Theater; credited with the Leyte operation (Leyte landings, printed on her page as 10 October - 1 November 1944). Lost to enemy action 12 November 1944; struck from the Naval Register January 1945; earned one battle star for WWII service. Awards block: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star), World War II Victory Medal, Philippines Presidential Unit Citation, Philippines Liberation Medal (1). Spec block: displacement 236 t. light / 264 t. landing / 419 t. loaded; length 158' 5.5"; beam 23' 3"; speed 16 kts max / 14 kts max continuous; complement 4 officers + 24 enlisted; troop capacity 6 officers + 182 enlisted; cargo 75 tons; armor 2" plastic splinter protection on gun turrets, conning tower and pilot house; endurance 4,000 miles at 12 kts loaded; armament five single 20mm guns; fuel diesel 860 Bbls; propulsion two sets of four General Motors 6051-series-71 diesel engines (four per shaft), GM main reduction gears, two diesel-drive 30kW 120V DC ship's service generators, twin variable-pitch propellers, 2,320 shp. Photo captions document kamikaze damage in Leyte Gulf 12 November 1944 (photo courtesy Fred Engelken, the ship's wartime Executive Officer) and state the hull was determined unsalvageable in January 1945 and struck.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Construction trades, George Lawley & Son, Neponset MA (1944); ship's company 4 officers + 24 enlisted (May-Nov 1944); embarked troops up to 6 officers + 182 enlisted during landings
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation - the history section is credited to the Turner Publishing LCI book, not a primary registry; milestone granularity is month-level for laid-down/launched (day-level values exist only via uboat.net - see ev-09). The printed Leyte campaign window on this page (10 Oct - 1 Nov 1944) differs from sibling LCI pages (16 Oct - 29 Nov 1944) - see gaps. Contains no asbestos or material-content information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-01
-
[3]USS LCI(L) 684, Action Report - Leyte Island Operation, serial LCI684/A16-3 Serial #2, CO Lt.(jg) T. Donoghue USNR - NARA-declassified scan (E.O. 13526, NDC, 31 December 2012) printed from Fold3 image #300380141, hosted by NavSource (contributed by Zach Morris, courtesy Fred Engelken); cited at NARA College Park as File No. 136772 per the Elsie Item sourcing note [other_primary]
- Locator
- 150684a.pdf single-page scan; Fold3 footer 'www.fold3.com/image/#300380141', printed 20 Dec 2013; declassification stamp 'DECLASSIFIED / Authority: E.O. 13526 / By: NDC NARA Date: Dec 31, 2012'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- PRIMARY DOCUMENT: the ship's own action report for the Leyte Island Operation, From: The Commanding Officer, LCI (L) 684; To: Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet; Via: Commander LCI (L) Group 44 / Commander Task Unit, Group 78.6 / Commander Task Force 78 / Commander Seventh Fleet. Text: 'All phases of this operation were carried out in conformance with Operation Plan. No enemy action was encountered on this initial beaching.' Para 3: 'On 12 November, while moored starboard side to, at ARL 8 for availability, Japanese "Val" made run on the above ship from Port beam. At 500 yards, gun #2 and 4 opened fire, and tracers were seen to pass through mid-section of enemy aircraft. At 1432, said plane crash-dived into our ship striking 2 feet below the waterline on Port quarter, and bomb exploded under stern. Ship was showered with gasolene and wreckage of aircraft, with no fire resulting. Our Chief Boatswain Mate and 2 workmen from the ARL 8 wounded and immediately removed to sick bay of ARL 8. No serious injury to any other member of crew. Upon signal for assistance, LCI (L) 977 secured along our Port side (lines #1,2,3,4) and proceeding to tow to beach. LCI (L) 978 secured along starboard side (lines #1,2,3,4). Ship was beached on White beach, Leyte Island. Fantail carried away. Extensive underwater and structural damage.' Signed T. Donoghue, Lt. (jg) USNR, Commanding.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-10 to 1944-11 (operation); 1944-11-12 (loss event)
- Population
- Ship's company and the 3 wounded (1 CBM of this ship, 2 ARL-8 workmen) at time of hit; LCI(L)-977 and LCI(L)-978 towing crews; ARL-8 sick bay
- Limitations
- Ship's own combat narrative - the authoritative loss document for this hull. Documents the hit, casualties (1 CBM + 2 ARL-8 workmen wounded; no deaths recorded), and beaching; does not address salvage or disposition, which were later administrative acts (see ev-06 for the March 1945 striking endorsement). Scan is image-only (no text layer) - content transcribed visually. Contains no asbestos or material-content information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-02
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[4]NARA Special List 44, List of Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947 (ship-number ordering), PDF p. 27 [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf p. 27, row 'LCI(L)-684 | 12/1/1944 | 12/31/1944'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds a deck log for this hull indexed as LCI(L)-684, coverage 12/1/1944 - 12/31/1944 only - a single month that post-dates the 12 November 1944 beaching and brackets the January 1945 striking. Sibling Lawley-built hulls show SL44 coverage beginning on their commissioning dates (e.g., LCI(L)-683 from 5/12/1944, LCI(L)-685 from 5/17/1944), so the absence of May-November 1944 logbooks for 684 is a real gap in the indexed holdings, not a formatting artifact.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-12 (log coverage)
- Population
- Ship's company and any salvage/administrative detachment aboard the beached hulk (Dec 1944)
- Limitations
- Index entry only - documents that a log exists and its date coverage, not its contents. The log is not digitized (RG 24, NARA College Park); no deck-log text was consulted. These are log-coverage dates, not commissioning/decommissioning dates - the December 1944 window post-dates the loss and likely covers post-beaching administration.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-03
-
[5]United States Navy Losses World War II (NavSource transcription) - Source: King, Ernest, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy, Washington DC: US Department of the Navy, 1946, Appendix C pp. 287-306 [other_primary]
- Locator
- Naval/losses.htm, INFANTRY LANDING CRAFT section, row 'LCI 684 - Off Samar, P.I. - 12 November 1944' (King Appendix C)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official CNO report's loss appendix lists, under INFANTRY LANDING CRAFT: 'LCI 684 - Off Samar, P.I. - 12 November 1944' - the Navy's own contemporaneous loss accounting for this hull, corroborating the action-report date.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Ship's company at time of loss (4 officers + 24 enlisted complement)
- Limitations
- Official loss listing gives location class ('Off Samar, P.I.') and date only - no casualty count or circumstances; those come from the action report (ev-02). NavSource hosts the transcription of the printed Navy list - the King's-report appendix is the underlying primary source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-04
-
[6]Robert J. Cressman, The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II (NHHC publication; HyperWar/ibiblio transcription), 12 November 1944 entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- USN-Chron-1944.html, '12 November, Sun. -- Pacific' entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official chronology's 12 November 1944 Pacific entry documents the raid that killed this hull: 'Landing craft repair ships Egeria (ARL-8) and Achilles (ARL-41) are damaged by kamikazes off Leyte, 11°11'N, 125°05'E,' and records kamikaze hits that day on six U.S. freighters (Leonidas Merritt, Thomas Nelson, Jeremiah M. Daily, William A. Coulter, Morrison R. Waite, Alexander Majors) - the 'Bloody Sunday' attack series during which LCI(L)-684, moored alongside Egeria for repair, took the Val that had run in on the repair ship.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-11-12
- Population
- Seventh Fleet amphibious forces at Leyte during the 12 Nov 1944 raid series
- Limitations
- Raid-level corroboration: the Cressman entry names the two repair ships and the freighters but does NOT name LCI(L)-684 itself - the hull's loss is documented by her action report (ev-02) and the official loss list (ev-04). Egeria 'damaged by kamikazes' and LCI-684's fatal hit alongside her are consistent - the same aircraft's run, per the action report and the Engelken account.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-05
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[7]Zach Morris, 'He Was Headed Right For Me: Fred Engelken on the Kamikaze Attack That Sunk His Ship, USS LCI (L) 684, in Leyte Gulf on November 12, 1944,' Elsie Item No. 92, USS LCI National Association, November 2015, pp. 15-19 [other_primary]
- Locator
- ELSIEITEM-92-Nov-2015.pdf pp. 15-19; also usslci.org This Day in History 1944-11-12 ('LCI (L) 684 sunk off Samar, Philippine Islands')
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Veterans-association account combining a first-person interview with the ship's wartime Executive Officer (Fred Engelken, interviewed 14 January 2014) and the NARA action-report text. Adds details the report does not carry: the night before the attack another LCI rammed LCI(L)-684's fantail, opening a hole in the stern - the reason she lay alongside USS Egeria (ARL-8, ex-LST-136) for repair on 12 November; the kamikaze 'was going for the LST, and we were in the way'; a crewman ('Louie') single-handedly loaded a 20 mm magazine and fired, deflecting the plane to hit the waterline; LCI(L)-977 and -978 towed the sinking ship to the beach near the Tacloban airstrip (Cataisan Point); the crew was reassigned to other ships after the Navy declared her out of commission in 1945. On 9 March 1945, W. V. Deutermann, Commander of LCI(L) Flotilla Fifteen, second-endorsed the action report to CinC U.S. Fleet: 'This Board has recommended that this ship be stricken from the List of Naval Vessels.' Article's cited archival sources: NARA College Park - Official Action Report 'Leyte Island Operation' U.S.S. LCI (L) 684 pp. 2-3, File No. 136772; Official War Diary Nov 1-30, 1944, U.S.S. Egeria (ARL-8), File No. 99405; Achilles (ARL-41) action reports of 16 November 1944 (Serial 0154-45; File No. 95594).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (events); 2014-2015 (recollection/publication)
- Population
- Ship's company (incl. XO Engelken, CO Lt.(jg) T. Donoghue USNR); LCI(L) Group 44 / Flotilla Fifteen
- Limitations
- Secondary/veterans-association source: the quoted action-report text matches the scan (ev-02) verbatim, but the interview recollections are 2014-vintage memory. The 9 March 1945 endorsement post-dates NavSource's 'struck January 1945' - the sequence (unsalvageable determination, striking, endorsement) is not fully reconciled - see gaps. Contains no asbestos or material-content information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-06
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[8]Era inference built on: NavSource LCI-351 class spec block (two sets of four GM 6051-series-71 diesels, diesel-drive generators; 1944 steel-hulled construction at George Lawley & Son, Neponset MA); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era documentation (see ev-08) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (propulsion, armor); GAO HRD-80-2 product page (era context)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A steel-hulled diesel-powered landing craft built April-May 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a small combatant of this type and period were engine-exhaust and muffler lagging, machinery thermal insulation, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation in the confined hull volume. As a diesel-powered craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply, and her '2-inch plastic splinter protection' armor is not an asbestos product. Her six-month life ended in battle loss and administrative write-off - no post-service conversion, overhaul, or disposal record exists that could have added or documented material.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Construction trades, George Lawley & Son, Neponset (Apr-May 1944); ship's company (May-Nov 1944); embarked troops during Leyte operation (Oct 1944); ARL-8 repair workmen alongside (11-12 Nov 1944); salvage/stripping parties on the beached hulk (Nov 1944-Jan 1945)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LCI(L)-684. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. The builder yard (George Lawley & Son, Neponset MA) has no located asbestos-specific documentation of its own - inference rests on era and Navy practice, not yard records.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-07
-
[9]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 (April-May 1944) and service era (May-November 1944).
- 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 - standing defect since Batch-01); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-08
-
[10]uboat.net Allied Warships database, USS LCI(L)-684 (LCI 351 class) - construction milestone table and loss entry [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship ID 21749 milestone table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION plus corroboration: uboat.net supplies day-level milestones that NavSource gives only at month granularity - laid down 29 April 1944; launched 8 May 1944; commissioned 15 May 1944; builder 'George Lawley & Sons (Neponset, Massachusetts)' - all consistent with NavSource. But uboat.net lists 'Lost: 1 Nov 1944 / Lost in the Philippines on 1 November 1944' - WRONG: the ship's own action report (ev-02) and the official CNO loss list (ev-04) both document the kamikaze hit on 12 November 1944, and the hull was written off in January 1945. The 1 November date appears to key the end of the printed Leyte-landings campaign window rather than the loss event.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- uboat.net is a secondary research compilation with no sourcing displayed per page; treated as corroboration only where it agrees with NavSource/NARA and flagged where it conflicts. The day-level laid-down (29 Apr) and launch (8 May 1944) values rest on this secondary source alone - no primary anchor located. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-09
-
[11]Batch-5413 search ledger (this record): NavSource page + hosted action-report scan; NARA Special List 44 ship-number PDF p.27; official CNO loss list (King Appendix C via NavSource); Cressman official chronology (HyperWar); usslci.org Elsie Item No. 92 + This Day in History; uboat.net milestone table; NHHC DANFS candidate URLs; NVR; CourtListener API v4 (all designation variants, opinion and docket); Wikipedia list redlink; secondary web litigation/asbestos sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying litigation naming USS LCI(L)-684 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener exact-phrase searches for all designation variants ('LCI(L)-684', 'LCI-684') returned zero opinions and one docket-level name collision (Wilson v. Clark, D.S.C. prisoner civil-rights docket - not the ship); an unquoted 'LCI(L)-684' query returned 633 fuzzy matches, all acronym collisions on 'LCI' (telecom, correctional-institution, insurance-fund contexts) with no ship-related hits on inspection. Secondary web sweep surfaced no asbestos claim of any kind for this hull - not even law-firm marketing listicles.
- 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 asbestos era and was destroyed by enemy action in 1944, leaving no post-service material record and no surviving fabric to survey. CourtListener coverage is complete for designation-string searches but cannot reach unindexed PACER filings or state-court complaints that never name the hull verbatim. The December 1944 deck log (NARA College Park, coverage indexed) and any BuShips construction/work-package records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-684-lcil684-10