Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet 507-packet.md (2 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERDICT: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lcs-l-3-78-lcsl378-pkt-507-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSSL-78 ex USS LCS(L)(3)-78 - milestones, flotilla assignment, award periods, spec block, disposition (verified live via firecrawl 2026-09-30) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/05/050078.htm milestone block, awards table, specifications block, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 31 January 1945 at Albina Engine and Machine Works, Inc., Portland OR; launched 28 February 1945; commissioned USS LCS(L)(3)-78, 26 March 1945, LT. T. N. Fortson USNR in command. WWII assignment: Asiatic-Pacific Theater, LCS(L)(3) Flotilla Five (CAPT. J. M. McIsaac USN), Group Fifteen, Division Twenty-Nine. Awards displayed: China Service Medal (extended), American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal w/ Asia clasp. Occupation/China periods: 2 Sep-6 Dec 1945; 7 Dec 1945-8 Apr 1946 (concurrent China Service); 10-15 Apr 1946. Decommissioned June 1946 at Astoria OR; laid up Pacific Reserve Fleet; redesignated USS LSSL-78 28 February 1949; transferred on loan to Japan '16 February 1963' [sic - corrected to 1953 in ev-06], renamed Bara; returned to US Naval custody 8 March 1976; struck from Naval Register, date unknown; final disposition 'fate unknown.' Spec block (citing NAVSHIPS 250-012, Ships' Data US Naval Vessels, 15 Apr 1945): 250 t lt / 387 t fl; 158' oa; 23'8" beam; 16.5 kt max; complement 6 officers + 65 enlisted; propulsion 2 quad packs of 4 GM 6051-series diesels per shaft, 1,600 BHP, GM main reduction gears, 2x diesel-drive 60kW 450V generators, twin variable-pitch propellers; armament 1 twin 40mm bow mount, 2 twin 40mm AA, 4 single 20mm AA, 4 .50 cal MG, 10 Mk 7 rocket launchers; 10-lb STS splinter shielding.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-1976
- Population
- Albina construction trades (1945); crew ~6 officers + 65 enlisted (1945-46); JMSDF crews (1953-74)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track official records and the commissioning date is independently consistent with Japanese-side records, but the Japan loan year printed ('1963') is a typo corrected in ev-06. No asbestos content anywhere on the page. Spec block provenance is a cited BuShips publication, not the document itself. Contains photographs with named provenance (builder's launch photo; plankowner Bill Albright's Okinawa/Korea/Shanghai series).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-01
-
[3]Riggs, Merl L. (crew member), 'A Brief History of LCS(L) 78' - eyewitness operational narrative published on NavSource via the National Association of USS LCS(L) 1-130 (verified live via firecrawl 2026-09-30) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/05/050078h.htm full text ('A BRIEF HISTORY OF LCS(L) 78 by Merl L. Riggs, Crew Member')
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Hull-level operational narrative: 'The LCS (L) (3) 78 was commissioned March 26, 1945 in Portland, Oregon'; departed Portland 5 April 1945; San Diego 10 April (training); Pearl Harbor 25 May-15 June; Eniwetok 26 June; Saipan 1-8 July (in a ~60-ship group); Okinawa 14 July 1945 - ~4 months laying smoke screens around merchant shipping under continued air raids, radar picket duty 80-100 miles off Okinawa with LCS(L)(3)-76 and three destroyers (memoir reports destroying 3 attacking Japanese aircraft in one night engagement), several typhoons; LT. Fortson departed ~15 September 1945. Occupation/China service: Jinsen (Incheon), Korea, 21 Nov-5 Dec 1945; Tsingtao 7 Dec; Kunsan, Korea, 12-17 Dec as pilot vessel escorting LSTs carrying Korean repatriates; Tsingtao holidays; Kunsan 7-26 Jan 1946; Tsingtao 27 Jan; Shanghai 13 Feb (Pootung water-works dock, alongside LCS(L)(3)-96); Yangtze entrance ready-gunboat/mine patrol from 16 Feb; ferried RADM Suttle into Shanghai 3 Mar; destroyed a floating horned mine with LCS(L)(3)-102 on 12 Mar (1,400 rounds); ferried the commanding officer of USS Bremerton (CA-130) 27 Mar; departed Shanghai 8 Apr 1946 with LCS(L)s 70-75, 77, 96, 102, 104, 108; Okinawa 10-14 Apr; Guam (Task Unit 78.12.99, 19 ships) 20-23 Apr; Eniwetok; Pearl Harbor 13 May; Astoria OR 27 May; Portland 30 May 'where the 78 was decommissioned.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-1946
- Population
- LCS(L)(3)-78 crew, March 1945 - May/June 1946
- Limitations
- Eyewitness memoir published decades after service via a veterans' association - not an official record. Its broad outline (commissioning, Okinawa arrival, occupation circuit, May 1946 return) is consistent with NavSource milestones, and DANFS independently places USS Bremerton in the Far East from 4 January 1946, consistent with the memoir's 27 March 1946 Shanghai detail. Combat claims (three aircraft destroyed) are unverified against action reports. No asbestos or material content. Conflicts with NavSource on decommissioning location/date - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-02
-
[4]NHHC Personal Papers & Donated Collections: 'L. Richard Rhame Collection: National Association of USS LCS(L)(3) 1-130 Papers,' Collection AR/453 (formerly COLL/245), dates 1943-2000 (verified live via firecrawl 2026-09-30) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Collection AR/453 scope-and-content note and finding-aid link
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC Archives Branch holds the National Association of USS LCS(L)(3) 1-130 papers, transferred to the Naval Historical Center in 1989. Scope note: 'The bulk of the collection is comprised of files on individual LCS(L) ships. This material is arranged in ship order and includes reminiscences of crewmembers, crew lists, ships' histories, war diary and action report extracts, ship newsletters, and photographs' - i.e., a per-ship file series covering hull 78, the same association corpus that produced the Riggs memoir and plankowner photographs on the NavSource pages.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1943-2000 (collection span)
- Population
- LCS(L)(3)-78 crew records, if contained in the per-ship file
- Limitations
- Archival lead, not a read record: the finding aid (Word doc linked on the page) is not itemized online, and the contents of a hull-78 file are inferred from the collection scope plus the association provenance of the published memoir/photos - physical-file contents unverified. No asbestos documentation is expected in this collection, but war diary/action report extracts could corroborate the memoir.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-03
-
[5]NHHC Navy Department Library, Action Report USS LCS(L)(3) 57, Battle of Okinawa at RP Station #1, April 12, 1945 (transcribed official radio-traffic enclosure; verified live via firecrawl 2026-09-30) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC online reading room, action-report transcript Enclosure (A) message log, 10-12 April 1945
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official NHHC-published action report of a sister hull documents the class's radar-picket and air-defense role at Okinawa - the same duty the Riggs memoir describes for hull 78 four months later (radar picket with LCS-76 and three destroyers, night air attacks). Corroborates that late-war LCS(L)(3)s at Okinawa operated as AA platforms and picket/smoke craft, not just landing-support rocket boats.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-04
- Population
- LCS(L)(3)-57 crew (sister hull)
- Limitations
- Sister-hull document (LCS(L)(3)-57), April 1945 main-battle period; hull 78 arrived Okinawa 14 July 1945, after organized resistance ended, during continued air raids. Establishes class employment patterns, not any act or material condition of this hull. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-04
-
[6]Transport Doctrine, Amphibious Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Chapter XXVII 'Gunfire Support,' Section 6 'LCS(L)(3)s and LCI(G)s' (official USN doctrine, HyperWar transcription; verified live via firecrawl 2026-09-30) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar transport-27.html, Section 6 (para. 2718 ff.) and Section 2 amphibious-support-craft table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Pacific Fleet amphibious doctrine for the class: LCS(L)(3)s delivered close support fire with 4.5-inch barrage rocket launchers (10 launchers), twin 40mm, 20mm and .50-cal weapons; missions included supporting assault waves, neutralization fires, laying smoke screens 'by means of smoke projectiles or fog generators,' covering underwater demolition teams, false demonstrations, and inter-island barge-traffic destruction. Confirms the smoke-laying and picket employment the memoir describes for hull 78 at Okinawa.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- LCS(L)(3) class crews (type doctrine)
- Limitations
- Doctrinal class document, not a hull record - describes the type's intended employment, not this hull's specific operations or material content. Rocket-launcher nomenclature differs from NavSource's 'ten MK7 rocket launchers' (doctrine text mentions Mk. 102 launchers / 5.0-inch spin-stabilized rockets - launcher/rocket naming inconsistencies across sources carried in gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-05
-
[7]Japanese Wikipedia, 'ゆり型警備艇' (Yuri-class patrol craft) roster row for LSSL-406 ばら; corroborated by BIGLOBE JMSDF retirement list www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~nachi/data/taieki/yuri.html and NavSource LSSL-78 page (return date agreement) - verified live 2026-09-30 [other_primary]
- Locator
- ja.wikipedia Yuri-class table row 'LSSL-406 ばら' (竣工 1945-03-26, YAS-15 1960-03-31, 除籍 1974-09-30, 返還 1976-03-08); BIGLOBE yuri.html row 'LSSL-406 ばら S28.2.16 ... YAS-15 ... S49.9.30 除籍'; NavSource 050078.htm transfer/return lines
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: NavSource prints the Japan loan as '16 February 1963.' Japanese-side records uniformly give Showa 28 (1953): ばら (Bara), ex-USS LSSL-78, loaned 16 February 1953 as JMSDF LSSL-406 - the identical day/month, inside the documented first tranche of 50 ex-LSSL boats lent January-September 1953 under the November 1952 Japan-U.S. ship lending agreement (NavSource's own class index says 'in 1952'). Bara's completion date in the Japanese roster is 1945-03-26, matching this hull's US commissioning and confirming identity. JMSDF career: reclassified auxiliary vessel YAS-15 on 31 March 1960; struck from the JMSDF register 30 September 1974; returned to US Navy custody 8 March 1976 - the return date matching NavSource exactly.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1953-1976
- Population
- JMSDF crews aboard LSSL-406/YAS-15, 1953-1974
- Limitations
- The correction (1953, not 1963) is well-grounded: identical month/day, consistent class-wide tranche, and exact agreement on the 8 Mar 1976 return. Underlying per-boat data rests on secondary Japanese ship rosters (ja.wikipedia, private fleet lists) rather than JMSDF primary records - JMSDF official confirmation remains an open lead. Whether the hull stayed loan-status throughout (vs. the 31 Jul 1959 agreement converting 23 boats to outright grant) is inferred from the fact she was returned, not documented per-hull. NavSource 'struck from Naval Register, date unknown' stands.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-06
-
[8]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 January-March 1945 construction and her entire US 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. Full text not retrieved - gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches (confirmed 2026-09-30, same standing defect as Batch-01/Batch-98); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-07
-
[9]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block citing NAVSHIPS 250-012 (diesel plant, complement); NavSource class index (130 hulls, Lawley/Albina/Commercial Iron Works, Pacific-only service); HyperWar class summary (LCI(L)-derived hull); GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy asbestos-use era); Oregon Historical Society documentation of Albina Engine & Machine Works as a WWII Portland shipbuilder (oregonhistoryproject.org) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource spec block and class index; HyperWar ships-lc.html class table; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; Oregon History Project Albina article
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered amphibious support craft built January-March 1945 at a Portland, Oregon shipyard sits inside the documented wartime Navy asbestos-use era. Era-standard applications aboard a craft of this type and period were diesel engine and exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve/flange packing, electrical insulation, deck covering, and accommodation insulation in a confined 158-foot hull volume. With no steam plant, the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply; asbestos load would be modest relative to steam combatants but the confined-space crew dynamic applies.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-1976
- Population
- Albina construction trades (Jan-Mar 1945); crew 1945-46; JMSDF crews 1953-74
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material schedule, work package, or as-built materials list located for hull 78. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity; no manufacturer attribution. The builder yard (Albina) has no official asbestos documentation located - only excluded law-firm marketing pages - so no yard-level asbestos finding is attached to this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-08
-
[10]Batch-5752 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull page + Riggs memoir + class index; NHHC Rhame collection page and LCS(L)(3)-57 action report; HyperWar doctrine; DANFS (no per-hull entry); NVR (no entry - pre-1987 disposal); NARA catalog (JS-blocked); BuShips NVR 1949 scan (no text layer); CourtListener via authenticated helper; Japanese JMSDF lists; secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lcsl378-01 through -16
- 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)-78 / LSSL-78 / LSSL-406 (Bara) was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener (authenticated, fleet-paced): "LCS(L)(3)-78", "LSSL-78", and "LCS-78" each returned zero opinions; "LCS(L)(3)-78" and "LSSL-78" returned zero dockets; remaining name variants ("LCS-78" docket, "LCS(L)-78", "LCSL-78") were repeatedly blocked by the shared fleet pacing limiter this session - itemized in search_ledger and gaps, not claimed as searched. Secondary web sweeps surfaced only law-firm marketing pages (mesothelioma.net 'Albina Shipyard' and similar 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 wartime build sits squarely in the documented Navy asbestos era. NARA College Park deck logs/action reports (RG 24, per the association research page) and any post-1976 disposal file are undigitized leads; JMSDF-era material condition is undocumented. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lcsl378-09