Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 486-packet.md (3 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-960-lcil960-pkt-486-packet-md
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. II (NAVSHIPS 250-011, April 1945) - LCI(L) roster entry for this hull and LCI(L)-351-1098 design table [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 Vol. II, LCI(L) design table (p. 200) and build roster (p. 210), 'LCI(L) 960' row in Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex. block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips roster line for this hull (Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex. block): keel laid 21 Feb 44; ship launched 14 Mar 44; date of first commission 10 Apr 44 - identical to NavSource's dates. Class design table for the LCI(L) 351-1098 group: length overall 159'0", waterline 153'0", extreme beam 23'8"; trial displacement 381 tons, full-load ~387 tons; trial speed 14.4 knots; limiting/max navigational draft 5'8"; total accommodations 8 officers / 32 enlisted; armament five 20mm AA mounts; propulsion: 2 propellers, G.M. Diesel 6051 series 71, 2,320 shaft horsepower, single G.M. main reduction gears; 2 diesel-driven ship's service generators 20kW 120V DC; diesel oil capacity 860 bbls.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (document coverage)
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Orange construction trades (Feb-Apr 1944); commissioning crew
- Limitations
- Ship-specific for build milestones and builder only - the design table is class-level. Scan text layer renders this roster row's hull number as 'LCI(L) 80' - an OCR defect: the line sits in sequence between LCI(L)-959 and LCI(L)-961 in the Consolidated Orange block and its dates exactly match NavSource's LCI(L)-960 dates. No asbestos or material content - the table names machinery and capacity, not insulation. URL is the live shipscribe.com/pubs location (the styles/usnaux/sdb path cited in earlier batch work now 404s).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-960 - timeline, service record, specifications, awards (history credited to Turner Publishing, USS LCI 'Landing Craft Infantry' Vol. II, 1995) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150960.htm - header timeline, campaign table, operations list, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 21 February 1944 at Consolidated Steel Shipbuilding Corp., Orange, TX; launched 14 March 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-960, 10 April 1944. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater as flagship for LCI Group 23, Flotilla 8; conducted training and practice landings at Milne Bay (20 Jun-1 Jul 1944), Buna (1-3 Jul 1944), Torokina Point, Bougainville (7 Jul-25 Aug 1944), Alexishaven (27 Aug-2 Sep 1944), Hollandia (5-12 Sep 1944), Wenda Island (13-15 Sep 1944), and Hollandia again (16 Sep-17 Nov 1944). Credited campaigns: Leyte operations - Ormoc Bay landings, 9 December 1944; Manila Bay-Bicol operations - Nasugbu, 31 January 1945. Additional operations: Leyte Gulf 24 Nov-8 Dec 1944 and '12 December 1945 to 3 January 1945' (sic - source typo, see gaps); Panay Island 5 and 14-25 Jan 1945; Mindoro Island 7-11 Jan and 1 Feb-17 Apr 1945; Lubang Island 1 Mar 1945. Decommissioned 1946; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown; transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 19 February 1948; fate unknown. Earned two battle stars for WWII service. Ribbon array shown: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2), WWII Victory Medal, Philippines Presidential Unit Citation, Philippines Liberation Medal (2). Specs: 236t light / 264t landing / 419t loaded; 158'5.5" x 23'3"; 16 kts max; 4 officers + 24 enlisted; troops 6 officers / 182 enlisted; five single 20mm guns; propulsion two sets of 4 GM 6051-series-71 diesels, 4 per shaft, twin variable-pitch propellers, 2,320 shp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Construction trades (Orange TX, 1944); ship's company (~4 officers/24 enlisted) plus embarked troops (up to 6 officers/182 enlisted) throughout Pacific operations 1944-46
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation (history source: Turner Publishing's USS LCI Vol. II) - its milestone dates here are corroborated by the official BuShips roster (ev-01), but the page itself is not a primary registry. Contains no asbestos or material content. One printed date range is internally impossible ('12 December 1945 to 3 January 1945' - 1944 plainly intended). The 'fate unknown' disposition is honest - no post-1948 record exists in this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-02
-
[4]NavSource photo caption, USS LCI(L)-956 page: U.S. Navy photograph from Long Beach Navy Yard newspaper 'Drydock Digest' (12 September 1945) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150956.htm photo table, caption for image 1015095501.jpg ('Drydock Digest', 12 Sep 1945)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A U.S. Navy photograph documents this hull in Drydock #3 at Navy Yard, Long Beach, CA, September 1945, alongside LCI(L)-955, LCI(L)-956, LCI(L)-957 and nine other LCIs - a documented presence inside a Navy shipyard drydock during the immediate postwar period.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-09
- Population
- Navy Yard Long Beach drydock and yard trades (Sep 1945); crew
- Limitations
- Physical-presence documentation only - a drydock photo is not a work order; it does not establish what work (if any) was performed, what materials were aboard, or any asbestos exposure. NavSource caption transcribes the Navy photo credit and caption from the yard newspaper; the underlying image is a US Navy photograph.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-03
-
[5]uboat.net, Allied Warships, USS LCI(L)-960 - build dates and Operation Oboe VI (Brunei) order-of-battle transcription, sourced from CTG 78.1 action report [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship/22025.html - 'Notable events' Oboe VI entry; Task Unit 78.1.13 listing
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net's transcription of the Operation Oboe VI order of battle (Allied landings at Brunei, 10 June 1945; source: 'Report on operation Oboe VI by CTG 78.1') places this hull in Task Unit 78.1.13, the LCI Unit under T/Capt. F.B.C. Martin, USN (COMLCI(L)FLOT 8), and names her commanding officer at the time as Lt.(jg) E.H. Chittenden, USNR. Build data shown (laid down 21 Feb 1944, launched 14 Mar 1944, commissioned 10 Apr 1944, Consolidated Steel Orange) matches NavSource and the BuShips roster.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-06
- Population
- Crew under Lt.(jg) E.H. Chittenden USNR (Jun 1945); embarked troops at Brunei
- Limitations
- Secondary specialist database quoting an official order of battle - the OOB listing corroborates Brunei-area service in June 1945 that NavSource's operations list omits. No asbestos or material content. The CO name is OOB transcription, not a full command chronology; other COs unlocated.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-04
-
[6]Historic American Engineering Record, HAER No. OR-180, LCI(L)-713, Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum, Portland OR (NPS, historian Justine Christianson, 2012) - federal documentation of a same-class hull [haer]
- Locator
- HAER OR-180 short-form data pages 1-3 (Type of Craft, Propulsion, Description, Historical Information)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- HAER documents the LCI-351 class (the class of this hull) through the surviving sister LCI(L)-713: welded 1/4-inch steel plate construction; two decks with troop compartments and crew spaces; engine room containing four pairs of General Motors 6-71 diesel engines connected to two shafts and variable-pitch propellers; Bureau of Ships design; approximately 1,051 ships of the type built in ten yards. The document is a federal engineering description of the class's construction and machinery.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 2012 (documentation of 1944 design)
- Population
- LCI-351-class crews and embarked troops (class context); restoration volunteers on the preserved sister hull
- Limitations
- Class-level documentation of a sister hull, not this vessel. Critically, this federal record - and the underlying National Register nomination it derives from - contains NO mention of asbestos, insulation, or lagging anywhere: it documents that the class's detailed engineering descriptions available to federal historians do not record insulation materials. Absence of mention is not proof of absence, but no asbestos product list for the LCI type exists in this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-05
-
[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 (1944) and service era (1944-46) and the yard that built her.
- 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 to landing craft generally. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch, re-confirmed 2026-09-30) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-06
-
[8]VA Board of Veterans' Appeals, decision citation 9828426, docket 94-15 783 (Sept 23, 1998) - adjudicated asbestos-exposure claim of a Consolidated Steel Orange boilermaker, 1942-1946 [other_primary]
- Locator
- BVA decision text, Findings of Fact 1-2; Factual Background (boilermaker-department driller duties); Reasons and Bases
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- The Board adjudicated the claim of a veteran employed at Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas, 1942-1946 - the same yard and the same window in which this hull was built (Feb-Apr 1944). Findings of fact: (1) the veteran 'was not exposed to asbestos during his periods of employment with Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange, Texas, from 1942 to 1946' - his duties as a boilermaker-department driller were drilling/reaming plate on hull exteriors; and (2) he 'was exposed to asbestos when serving aboard Navy vessels in service' - he testified that asbestos-coated pipes ran through the ships on which he served (named: CVE-31 Prince William, AN-37 Teakwood), that gunfire shook dust off the pipes on smaller ships, and that he slept within a foot of asbestos-covered piping. Service connection for asbestos-related lung disease was granted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1942-1946 exposure window; decided 1998
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Orange boilermaker workforce 1942-46 (context); WWII Navy ship crews including small ships (finding 2)
- Limitations
- Single-claimant administrative adjudication - NOT this hull (his named ships were an escort carrier and a net tender), and not a yard-wide or class-wide finding. Cuts honestly in both directions: it neither establishes yard-wide asbestos exposure at Consolidated Orange (the Board found none on this record) nor supports asbestos aboard LCI(L)-960 specifically. Included as the closest located primary adjudication touching this builder and era; classifies down to context_only deliberately.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-07
-
[9]Batch-5608 search ledger (this record): BuShips SDB 1945 v2 (shipscribe.com); NavSource 150960/150956; uboat.net 22025; shipbuildinghistory.com Consolidated Orange; HAER OR-180 + NRHP nomination 07000300 (LCI-713); VA BVA 9828426; GAO HRD-80-2; CourtListener API v4 type=o; NHHC DANFS; NARA catalog; HyperWar ships-lc.html [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-960-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or court opinion naming USS LCI(L)-960 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener opinion index returned 0 hits for all name/hull variants. The RECAP docket index query was fleet-paced at session end - logged with its status, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced only law-firm marketing listicles (excluded sources). Class-level note: the two federal engineering documents for the type (HAER OR-180; NRHP nomination for sister LCI-713) contain no asbestos mention at all.
- 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 - WWII landing craft were built inside the Navy's documented asbestos era, and a 419-ton craft's thin documentary wake means most records were never digitized. Does not establish that asbestos is or is not present; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Deck logs, BuShips work packages, and the Maritime Commission disposal file are undigitized leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-08
-
[10]HyperWar/ibiblio, 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 - Landing Ships and Craft' - per-hull tables; class design data transcribed from official publications [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar ships-lc.html, LCI(G) section row 'LCI(G)-960 1944-45'; contrast NavSource 150960.htm title block and sister-hull pages 150956/150959/150961/150962
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- DISCREPANCY: the HyperWar LCI(G) gunboat table lists 'LCI(G)-960, commissioned 1944-45' - implying this hull was reclassified as an infantry-landing gunboat like sisters LCI(L)-956, -959, -961, -962 and -964 (whose NavSource pages all document LCI(G) reclassification in mid-1944 and reversion to LCI(L) 10 September 1945). NavSource's page for this hull, however, shows no reclassification - she is titled USS LCI(L)-960 throughout, her documented operations are troop-landing and group-flagship duties, and the June 1945 Oboe VI order of battle lists her as 'USS LCI(L)-960' under COMLCI(L)FLOT 8. Whether she ever carried the LCI(G) designation is unresolved; the weight of the sourced record says she did not.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Limitations
- Designation-history discrepancy between two secondary compilations, not a material/asbestos claim. HyperWar's table format gives no per-hull annotation for 960; NavSource's history (Turner Vol. II) is silent on reclassification for this hull. Carried as a flagged correction/context item - if LCI(G)-960 service were ever documented, it would not change the asbestos posture of this record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-09
-
[11]Era inference built on: BuShips SDB 1945 v2 design table (GM diesel plant, no steam); HAER OR-180 class documentation (welded 1/4-inch steel, eight GM 6-71 diesels, compact engine room); GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy asbestos era); VA BVA 9828426 (asbestos-covered piping aboard WWII Navy ships including smaller ships) [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips SDB v2 p.200 design table; HAER OR-180 Description; GAO HRD-80-2; BVA 9828426 testimony/findings
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A welded-steel diesel landing craft built February-April 1944 at Consolidated Steel Orange sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, and period amphibious-craft construction used asbestos in era-standard applications: machinery and diesel-exhaust lagging around the compact lower-deck engine room, pipe covering (a 1998 BVA finding describes asbestos-coated pipes aboard WWII ships including smaller vessels), gaskets and valve packing in the engine/generator spaces, and electrical insulation. As a diesel craft she carried no boilers or steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of larger combatants does not apply; the relevant spaces are the crowded engine room, small machinery spaces, and accommodations.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Consolidated Orange construction trades (1944); engine-room crew in confined machinery spaces; troops/cargo handlers; Long Beach NSY drydock trades (1945)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or class materials schedule was located, and the two federal class documents (HAER, NRHP) mention no insulation materials at all. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials aboard this hull. No quantity, no manufacturer attribution.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-960-10