Evidence
14 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-14).
-
[1]research packet 500-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-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-pkt-500-packet-md
-
[2]NHHC, 'Casualties - Navy and Coast Guard Ships' (WWII amphibious-ship casualty list) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Casualties page, 'Amphibious Ships - Landing Craft (LCS(L))' subsection
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Navy record of the fatal damage event: 'USS LCS(L)(3)-37 engines damaged beyond repair by a depth charge dropped under the fantail by a suicide boat off Nakagusuki Wan, Okinawa, 28 April 1945.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Crew of ~71 at time of damage
- Limitations
- Official casualty-list entry establishing the damage date, cause (suicide-boat depth charge), and location for this hull. Contains no asbestos or material content; does not itself document the disposal sequence, which comes from NavSource and the crew narrative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-01
-
[3]NHHC, 'United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945' (wartime organization document) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- LCS Division 18 listing within the amphibious forces organization section
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official Pacific Fleet organization list of 1 May 1945 - three days after the ship was crippled - carries 'LCS 37, Lt. S. N. Brickhouse (USNR)' under LCS Division 18, alongside sisters LCS 38, 39, 40, 57, and 112.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Limitations
- Confirms hull-in-service status, commanding officer, and administrative division as of 1 May 1945. Lists her under LCS Division 18 - NavSource's vessel page states Division Seventeen; discrepancy noted in gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-02
-
[4]DANFS, Bache II (DD-470) service narrative (Okinawa radar-picket section) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Bache II (DD-470) DANFS entry, Operation Iceberg narrative (April 1945 passages)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS names this hull in an official ship history: at Radar Picket Station No. 14 off Okinawa in late April 1945, destroyer Bache 'operated with Wickes (DD-575), support landing craft LCS-37 and LCS-83, and medium landing ship LSM-195. The latter three served primarily as rescue vessels, which indicated the savagery of the battle.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-04
- Population
- Crew on radar-picket/rescue duty, Okinawa
- Limitations
- A named mention of the hull inside another vessel's DANFS entry - corroborates her radar-picket assignment days before the 28 April damage. No asbestos content; does not detail this hull's own action (her own action report is at USNA MS 415 - see ev-06).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-03
-
[5]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCS(L)(3)-37 (construction timeline, spec block, campaign and disposal record, commanding officers, crew photographs) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/05/050037.htm - header block, campaign table, spec block, commanding-officer table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 2 September 1944 at Commercial Iron Works, Portland OR; launched 23 September 1944; commissioned USS LCS(L)(3)-37 10 October 1944, Lt.(jg) S. N. Brickhouse USNR in command; assigned to LCS(L)(3) Flotilla Three (Capt. T. C. Aylward), Group Nine; participated in the Okinawa Gunto operation (assault and occupation, 27 March - 28 May 1945); 'Damaged beyond economical repair at Okinawa, 28 April 1945'; stripped of all usable material at Naval Repair Base, Manicani Island, Philippines; decommissioned 19 January 1946; struck from the Naval Register 7 February 1946; one battle star for WWII service; 'Final Disposition, towed to sea, dynamited and sunk in the Philippine Trench, 7 March 1946.' Spec block: 250 t light / 387 t full load; 158 ft oa; beam 23'8"; complement 6 officers + 65 enlisted; propulsion 2 quad packs of 4 GM 6051-series 71 diesels per shaft (1,600 bhp), GM main reduction gears, twin variable-pitch propellers, two 60 kW diesel-driven generators. Commanding officers: Lt.(jg) S. N. Brickhouse USNR (10 Oct 1944-1945); Lt.(jg) C. C. Ryther USNR (1945); Lt.(jg) R. E. Deamer USN (1945-19 Jan 1946).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- CIW construction trades (Sep-Oct 1944); crew (1944-46); stripping workforce at Manicani Island (1945-46)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation - milestones track official records (the 28 April damage is confirmed verbatim by NHHC's casualty list, ev-01) but it is not itself a primary registry. States 'Division Seventeen' where the official 1 May 1945 fleet organization shows Division 18 (see gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-04
-
[6]Wisner, Robert J., et al., 'A Brief HISTORY of My Life and My Death, by the USS LCS(L) 37' - crew-authored ship history under Division of Naval History, Ship's History Section, Navy Department letterhead; hosted by NavSource via the National Association of USS LCS(L) 1-130 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/05/050037h.htm - full narrative text; commissioning and final crew rosters
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Firsthand narrative by the ship's communications officer, written 'with the advice and the consent of shipmates': names the full commissioning crew (6 officers, ~65 enlisted, average enlisted rating about Seaman Second Class); San Diego shakedown 28 Oct-1 Dec 1944 including the 7 November 40 mm accidental hit by LCS-35 that seriously injured QM3c Elslager; transit to Pearl Harbor (1-11 Dec 1944) and to the western Pacific (Feb-Mar 1945); led the 0800, 1 April 1945 assault on Brown Beach 4 with LCS 24, 38, 39, 40, 57 (5,400 rounds and 180 rockets fired on the run-in); radar-picket duty at Stations 3, 2 and 14, including the 6 April Bush/Colhoun survivor search and witnessing the 22 April sinking of LCS(L)-15; the 0227, 28 April suicide-boat ('skunk') depth-charge hit that knocked out all engines, her gun crews' destruction of the boat, and LCS-38's tow at 0243; tow to Leyte by ATA-188 (with LSM-33) from 28 May, arriving 3 June; months moored to USS Tutuila, a barge, and a buoy off Manicani Island; arrival at Manicani 7 December 1945 for stripping; decommissioning 19 January 1946; and sinking by dynamite in the Philippine Trench.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-09-02 through 1946-03-07
- Population
- Commissioning crew (6 officers, ~65 enlisted); final crew (5 officers, 29 enlisted listed)
- Limitations
- Firsthand crew memoir compiled after the war and transmitted under official (Ship's History Section) letterhead - primary for the lived timeline but not a survey or official record; minor internal imprecision (sinking described as 'several days after decommissioning' vs the documented 7 March 1946 date). No asbestos or material content anywhere in the narrative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-05
-
[7]U.S. Naval Academy, Nimitz Library Special Collections - 'World War II Ship Action Reports, 1942-1945' finding aid (MS 415), Box 12, Folder 26 [other_primary]
- Locator
- MS 415 finding aid, Box 12 Folder 26 entry
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The ship's own April 1945 action report survives and is cataloged: 'U.S.S. LCS (L) (3)-37 (Landing Craft - Support), April 1945 - Anti-aircraft action and rescue work; and a suicide boat attack at Nakagususku Wan (Okinawa).' (MS 415, Box 12, Folder 26).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-04 (report coverage)
- Limitations
- Finding-aid entry only - the report itself is not digitized and its contents (which could include damage and material details) were not reviewed. An archival lead, not an extracted record. No asbestos content in the catalog description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-06
-
[8]NavSource LCS(L)(3) class index + operational description (05func.htm, text credited to Robin L. Rielly); specifications sources include George Lawley & Sons, 'Instructions for LCS(L)(3) Class' and 'Original Plans of LCS(L)(3)' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/05/05idx.htm header block; 10/05/05func.htm operational description
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class record: 130 LCS(L)(3)s built during WWII; designed by George Lawley & Sons, Neponset MA (which produced the first ships) and also built by Albina Engine & Machine Works and Commercial Iron Works, both of Portland OR; developed for close-in fire support of amphibious assaults after Tarawa; served only in the Pacific; at Okinawa additionally screened anchorages against suicide boats and flew radar-picket duty against kamikazes; survivors in the US inventory were redesignated LSSL in 1949 and many transferred to Japan (53 hulls), France, and other allies from 1952.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-1952
- Population
- LCS(L)(3) crews and builder workforces, 1944-46
- Limitations
- Class-level context: documents the type, the three builders, and the Pacific-only, fire-support/picket employment. Says nothing about this specific hull's materials; the 1949 LSSL redesignation does not apply to this hull, which was sunk in 1946.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-07
-
[9]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block (GM diesel plant, no steam); NHHC-documented service record; shipyard-exposure-map documented product lists for comparable WWII small-craft yards; GAO HRD-80-2 era documentation (see ev-10); George Lawley & Sons 'Instructions for LCS(L)(3) Class' (class manual - not digitized, see search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource spec block (propulsion); GAO HRD-80-2 product page; class-manual lead noted in search_ledger
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered gunboat built in 39 days in September-October 1944 under wartime Bureau of Ships emergency construction sits inside the documented Navy asbestos-use era. Era-standard applications aboard a vessel of this type and period were engine and diesel-exhaust insulation in the machinery spaces, gaskets and valve packing, electrical insulation on cabling, and asbestos-containing joiner, deck-covering, and gasket materials in accommodation spaces. As a diesel vessel she carried no boilers or steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam ships does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- CIW construction trades (Sep-Oct 1944); crew (1944-46); Manicani stripping workforce (1945-46)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LCS(L)(3)-37. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-08
-
[10]Oregon Public Broadcasting, 'Portland's Toxic Graveyard For World War II Ships' (Dec 1, 2016) and 'Zidell's Willamette River Cleanup Is Coming to a Close' (Oct 6, 2011) - documentation of the former Commercial Iron Works yard site [reputable_press]
- Locator
- OPB 2016 'Battle Ready' feature + OPB 2011 cleanup report (opb.org); DEQ ECSI site no. 689 referenced therein
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The builder's yard site is documented contaminated ground: Zidell Machinery & Supply Co. leased then bought the old Commercial Iron Works shipyard in 1946 and ran what became the nation's largest shipbreaking operation there through the late 1970s. OPB reports the site 'was covered in ship scraps laced with toxic pollutants like lead, asbestos' and PCBs - 'the insulation on the ships, the wiring, the linoleum on the floors and even the paint was full of contaminants,' and scrappers burned insulation off copper wire in open pits. Oregon DEQ flagged the property as potentially hazardous in 1986; a voluntary cleanup beginning in 1994 ran ~20 years and over $20M, including hauling asbestos-contaminated soil to the Wasco County landfill under DEQ oversight.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1946-2016 (operation and cleanup); wartime build era for the yard
- Population
- Commercial Iron Works/Zidell shipbreaking workforce (1946-late 1970s); WWII builder workforce by extension
- Limitations
- Yard-site environmental record for the builder, not a hull record: documents that WWII warship dismantling (of ships built at this and other Portland yards) deposited asbestos contamination at the site where this hull was built. Establishes the wartime yard as an asbestos-handling site by inference of its products, not of materials aboard this hull. DEQ's ROD document itself was not retrievable at its legacy URL (returns HTML shell); reporting-level citation stands.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-09
-
[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, 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 1944 construction and 1944-46 service life.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and crews; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch, confirmed 2026-09-30) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-10
-
[12]NHHC Navy Department Library, 'Action Report USS LCS(L)(3) 57, Battle of Okinawa at RP Station #1, April 12, 1945' (digitized wartime action report, sister ship) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC online reading room, title-list A; linked PDF under battle-of-okinawa-1945
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC hosts the digitized action report of sister ship LCS(L)(3)-57 for the 12 April 1945 kamikaze attacks on Radar Picket Station No. 1 - the same radar-picket environment in which this hull operated at Stations 3, 2 and 14 days later (she fought on Station 3 on 6 April and was on Nakagusuku Wan anti-suicide-boat patrol when hit on 28 April).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-04
- Population
- LCS(L) radar-picket crews, Okinawa
- Limitations
- Sister-ship record, class/era context only: documents the operating environment and shows that hull-level action reports survive for this class (this hull's own April 1945 report is at USNA MS 415 - see ev-06). LCS(L)(3)-57's report does not name hull 37.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-11
-
[13]uboat.net Allied Warships entry, USS LCS(L)-37 (ship 22269) - secondary database cross-check [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship page 22269 - data table and one-line history
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: uboat.net's hull entry correctly carries the order date (5 April 1944), builder (Commercial Iron Works, Portland), and the lay/launch/commissioning dates (2 Sep / 23 Sep / 10 Oct 1944), and the 7 March 1946 scuttling date - but describes the damage as 'grounding off Okinawa in October 1945.' That damage description is wrong on mechanism and date: the ship was disabled by a suicide-boat depth charge on 28 April 1945 (NHHC casualty list, crew narrative) and spent May 1945-January 1946 as a hulk at Leyte before sinking.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Limitations
- Corrects a circulating secondary-source error, not a material claim. The order date of 5 April 1944 itself rests on this secondary source - carried with that caveat. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-12
-
[14]Batch-5707 search ledger (this record): NavSource vessel page and crew-authored history; NHHC casualty list, Pacific Fleet organization (1 May 1945), DANFS Bache II, and LCS(L)(3)-57 action report; USNA MS 415 finding aid; OPB/DEQ site documentation; GAO product page; CourtListener API v4 (opinion + docket indexes); uboat.net; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-01 through -18
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming LCS(L)(3)-37 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener returned zero results at both the opinion and docket level for hull-designation variants, zero for '"landing craft support" asbestos' in opinions, and zero for a yard-level '"Commercial Iron Works" asbestos' opinion search (authenticated API v4, 2026-09-30). Secondary web sweeps surfaced only law-firm/marketing listicles asserting asbestos aboard LCS(L) ships 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 - era inference remains reasonable but unproven. The litigation record is a genuine negative across opinion and docket indexes for the hull and the opinion index for the class term and builder name. Deck logs (NARA RG 24), the USNA action report (MS 415 B12 F26), and the Lawley class manual are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcs-l-3-37-lcsl337-13