Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 490-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lci-l-987-lcil987-pkt-490-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-987 (archive page 10/15/150987) - construction, designation, campaigns, awards, specifications, disposal, crew photograph [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150987.htm header block, campaign table, specifications block, and award listing
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Compiled record for this hull: LCI-351 Class Landing Craft Infantry (Large); laid down 30 March 1944 at Consolidated Steel Corp., Shipbuilding Div., Orange, TX; launched 22 April 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-987 18 May 1944; international radio call sign NZAW. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, LCI Flotilla 22; participated in the Luzon operation, Lingayen Gulf landings, 9 to 18 January 1945. Post-war occupation duty in the Far East including service in China 12 September - 9 December 1945. Decommissioned, date unknown; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown; transferred to the Maritime Commission 19 February 1948 for disposal; 'Final Disposition, sold, 6 January 1947, fate unknown.' Received the Navy Unit Commendation for service in the Salvage, Fire Fighting, and Rescue Unit, Service Force, 7th Fleet - Philippine Islands area, 29 January to 10 June 1945, and one battle star for World War II service. Specifications: 246 t. light / 264 t. landing / 419 t. loaded; length 158'5.5"; beam 23'3"; speed 16 kts max; complement 4 officers + 24 enlisted; troop capacity 6 officers + 182 enlisted; five single 20mm mounts; propulsion two sets of 4 General Motors 6051-series-71 diesel engines, 4 per shaft, single GM main reduction gears, twin variable-pitch propellers, 2,320 shp; two diesel-drive 30 kW 120V DC ship's-service generators.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades (1944); ship's company ~28 officers/enlisted plus embarked troops up to ~188 (1944-46)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track official records but the page's own disposition lines are internally inconsistent (sale 6 Jan 1947 precedes MC transfer 19 Feb 1948; see gaps). Contains no asbestos content. No DANFS entry exists for this hull - NavSource states so explicitly on the page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-01
-
[3]Navy Department, Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual (rev. 1953), Part II - Unit Awards, Navy Unit Commendation register (Naval History and Heritage Command transcription) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC online reading room, Navy-MC Awards Manual rev. 1953, Part II Unit Awards, 'S' section, Ship Salvage, Fire-Fighting and Rescue Unit entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Navy unit-awards register lists 'Ship Salvage, Fire-Fighting and Rescue Unit, Service Force, 7th Fleet' with award period 17 Oct 44 - 10 Jun 45, Philippine Islands Area, and names the attached hulls: 'USS LCI-688, LCI-985, LCI-986, LCI-987' for 29 Jan - 10 Jun 45. This is the government record establishing that LCI-987 was attached to the Seventh Fleet salvage/firefighting/rescue unit from 29 January to 10 June 1945 and earned the Navy Unit Commendation for that attachment.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- LCI-987 ship's company during the salvage-unit attachment (29 Jan - 10 Jun 1945)
- Limitations
- Documents unit attachment and award eligibility, not shipboard conditions or materials - no asbestos content. The register lists attachment windows per hull; it does not describe what tasks LCI-987 performed inside the unit window.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-02
-
[4]Contemporaneous award announcement, 'Philippines Work Earns Unit Honor For Salvage Group' (period clipping hosted on NavSource under the LCI(L)-987 page) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource image 10/15/1015069007.jpg, linked from the LCI(L)-987 page award block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A contemporaneous announcement of the unit's Navy Unit Commendation states the ship salvage, fire-fighting and rescue unit, Service Force, Seventh Fleet earned the NUC for Philippine Islands service from 17 October 1944 to 10 June 1945, 'including the clearing of Manila harbor'; the unit 'operated under continuous enemy attack throughout the assault phase of nine major landings, including Leyte, Ormoc and Lingayen invasions' and within three months 'completed the emergency clearing of Manila harbor, raising, removing or disposing of over 350 vessels together with large quantities of Japanese underwater ordnance.' The attached-ship list names 'the USSs LCI-688, LCI-985, LCI-986, LCI-987, from 29 Jan - 10 June 1945.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945 (announcement)
- Population
- LCI-987 ship's company during salvage-unit attachment; unit personnel force-wide
- Limitations
- Names this hull and describes the unit's work (salvage, firefighting, rescue, harbor clearance) but not LCI-987's individual tasks - the ship list authorizes personnel attached 'during the specified dates' to wear the ribbon. No asbestos content. Source is a period clipping image hosted on NavSource; publication not identified.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-03
-
[5]NavSource-hosted 'History of LCI Flotilla 22' by J. E. 'Jim' Talbert (flotilla staff officer; later president, USS LCI National Association) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150618f.htm - 'History of LCI Flotilla 22' (linked from the LCI(L)-987 page)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- First-person flotilla history lists LCI-987 among Flotilla 22's 36 ships and records operational context: the flotilla 'received a number of new ships from the States' including 'The 985, 986, 987' in late September 1944 at Hollandia, New Guinea; October-December 1944 spent on troop and supply runs; Christmas Day 1944 departure for Leyte, joining Task Force 78 for the Luzon invasion; LCI(L)s made smoke screens over Lingayen Gulf morning and evening during the operation; the flotilla shifted to Subic Bay 21 February 1945 and ran Philippine landing operations; post-surrender the flotilla moved via Okinawa (13 September 1945) through a typhoon to Jinsen, Korea (21 September), then to Taku Bar and upriver to Tientsin, China, landing the 3rd Marine Amphibious Corps; the flotilla departed for the States in December 1945 and was decommissioned in January 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Flotilla 22 ship's companies incl. LCI-987 (~28 per hull) plus embarked troops
- Limitations
- Flotilla-level memoir naming this hull on the roster and in the new-ship arrival list; individual ship movements inside the flotilla are not itemized - 987's presence at any specific sub-operation is not individually attested here beyond the flotilla's Lingayen record and the China-service window documented separately. Hosted on NavSource (volunteer compilation hosting a first-person account). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-04
-
[6]Shipbuilding History (Tim Colton compilation): 'Landing Craft Infantry LCI(L)' table, and 'Consolidated Steel, Orange' yard table (shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/consolidatedorange.htm) [other_primary]
- Locator
- lcil.htm row for LCI(L)-987; consolidatedorange.htm row hull no. 1281
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The LCI(L) construction table lists '987 | Consol. Steel | Orange TX | 18-May-44 | To NDRF 1948' (commissioning/delivery date column matches NavSource's 18 May 1944 commissioning). The Consolidated Steel Orange yard table lists builder's hull 1281 = LCI(L)-987 under the 10-Dec-43 Navy order group, delivered May-44, and carries disposition 'Struck 1946.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944; 1946-1948 (disposition columns)
- Population
- Consolidated Steel Orange construction trades (1944)
- Limitations
- Authoritative secondary compilation of yard records, not a primary registry - it conflicts with NavSource on disposition ('struck 1946' vs 'date unknown'; 'to NDRF 1948' vs 'MC transfer 19 Feb 1948 / sold 6 Jan 1947'). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-05
-
[7]Elsie Item no. 89 (February 2015), official publication of the USS LCI National Association (veterans' organization) - crew photograph caption; corroborated by the same photograph on NavSource 10/15/150987.htm [other_primary]
- Locator
- Elsie Item 89 p.11 caption; NavSource 150987.htm photo table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A crew photograph names eight LCI(L)-987 sailors: Teague (TN), Petter (MI), Kersten (MO), Carney (WV), Adkins (IL), Feltman (IL), Hawley (NC), LePage (CT). The newsletter identifies Earl Kersten Jr. of St. Louis as a Quartermaster 2nd Class on LCI 987 (photo courtesy Ann Ebner; same image hosted on the NavSource ship page, contributed by Artie Hunt).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (service); 2015 (publication)
- Population
- Named enlisted crew (8), wartime period
- Limitations
- Vessel-history fact only - establishes named individuals served aboard; this record makes NO asbestos-exposure claim for any individual. Veterans' association publication, not a government record; photo date/location not stated in the source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-06
-
[8]Era inference built on: NavSource LCI-351-class specifications block (diesel propulsion, steel hull, 1944 construction at Consolidated Steel Orange); NHHC/NavSource service record (active 1944-c.1946); GAO HRD-80-2 program context (see ev-08) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; class-level literature (LCI-351 design series)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LCI-351-class landing craft built in 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a small steel diesel landing craft of this period were exhaust-system lagging, machinery insulation, gaskets and valve packing on fuel/oil/water systems, and electrical insulation. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply; the small-hull confined-volume dynamic applies at reduced scale (158-ft craft, ~28 crew, machinery spaces compact).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Consolidated Steel construction trades (1944); ship's company ~28 (1944-46); salvage-unit work party periods (29 Jan - 10 Jun 1945); MC/NDRF handling crews (1947-48)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation schedule, material list, or work package located for LCI(L)-987. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product terms are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-07
-
[9]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (published Oct 18, 1979; publicly released Oct 22, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2, Highlights section
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO reviewed the Navy's efforts to protect workers from asbestos exposure, including 'the use of asbestos in Navy ships,' and documented that the Navy's 1975 policy was to remove and replace with nonasbestos materials only insulation that was damaged or had to be removed for repairs - i.e., asbestos insulation remained standard through this hull's entire construction and service era (1944-c.1948) and Navy substitution policy did not begin until the mid-1970s.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1979 (report); review of 1970s-era policy
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. gao.gov blocks automated fetches (HTTP 403 for curl, confirmed 2026-09-30); content retrieved via Firecrawl render of the product page - full-text PDF not extracted this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-08
-
[10]Disposition conflict cross-check: NavSource LCI(L)-987 disposition lines vs Shipbuilding History LCI(L) table and Consolidated Orange yard table [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 150987.htm disposition lines; shipbuildinghistory lcil.htm row 987 and consolidatedorange.htm hull 1281
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- CONFLICT FLAGGED, not resolved: NavSource lists for this hull 'Transferred to the Maritime Commission, 19 February 1948, for disposal' AND 'Final Disposition, sold, 6 January 1947, fate unknown' - the sale date precedes the transfer date, an internal inconsistency (sister LCI(L)-986 carries 'sold, 6 January 1947' with no transfer line, suggesting a batch sale entry that may be a year-in-error for 1948-49 on this hull). Shipbuilding History separately carries 'to NDRF 1948' and 'struck 1946,' conflicting with NavSource's 'struck, date unknown.' No primary disposal document (MC sales record, NVR strike line) was located to resolve the sequence.
- Verification
- disputed
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1946-1948 (disposition window)
- Limitations
- Flags a source conflict so downstream consumers do not propagate a single clean date as settled. Resolution requires primary records (Navy striking letter, MC/NDRF custody card, bill of sale) not located in digitized public sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-09
-
[11]Batch-5635 search ledger (this record): NavSource ship page and Flotilla 22 history; NHHC DANFS (no entry exists); NHHC Navy-MC Awards Manual unit register; Shipbuilding History tables; NVR (no entry, pre-1987 disposal); NARA digitized deck-log list; usslci.org Elsie Item archive; CourtListener API v4 (opinion + RECAP docket indexes); secondary web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-987-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS LCI(L)-987 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero results on the completed queries - opinion and RECAP-docket indexes for 'LCI-987', and the opinion index for 'LCI(L)-987'. Five remaining variant queries could not be completed this session: the fleet-wide CourtListener pacing budget was saturated by concurrent batch sessions (helper exit 2 on every attempt, ~40 min of retries) - logged as blocked in the ledger, NOT as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos' material is law-firm marketing content, including a hull-number collision against USS O'Bannon (DD-987), a different ship - 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 predates modern ACM-handling regulation and its breakup/disposal record is undocumented ('fate unknown'). Litigation coverage is partial: three authenticated zero-result queries completed; five variant queries blocked by pacing (see sl-07) - re-run remaining variants when quota frees. RG 24 deck logs and muster rolls for this hull are undigitized archival leads at NARA College Park. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-987-10
