Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 820-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-233-lsm233-pkt-820-packet-md
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[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-233 (10/14/14233) - LSM-1-class build record, campaign table, specifications, commanding-officer list, disposition (history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Vol. II, Turner Publishing 1997) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Full page: build/service timeline block, campaign table, specifications block, commanding-officer table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Laid down 28 February 1944 at Western Pipe and Steel Company, San Pedro, CA; launched 4 July 1944; commissioned USS LSM-233 on 3 August 1944, LTjg. Gordon W. Martin, Jr., USNR in command. WWII service in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater with LSM Flotilla Three / LSM Group Eight / LSM Division Sixteen; Leyte landings 20 October 1944 and Lingayen Gulf landings 9 January 1945; two battle stars, plus Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and Philippine Liberation Medal (2) per the ribbon display. Decommissioned 29 December 1945 at Terminal Island Navy Yard, San Pedro; struck from the Naval Register 21 January 1946 (page prints '1046', an obvious typo); sold for scrapping 10 March 1948 to Hugo Neu Corp., New York, NY. Specifications: 520 t light / 1,095 t full; 203'6" x 34'6"; two GM 16-278A diesels, direct drive, twin screws; complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted. Commanding officers: LT Gordon William Martin, Jr., USNR (3 Aug 1944 - Oct 1945); LTjg. Paul M. O'Connor, USNR (Oct 1945 - 29 Dec 1945). Photo captions identify her as the first LSM completed by Western Pipe, corroborated by the Shipbuilding History production table (first of 32 San Pedro-built LSMs; 'sold to Hugo Neu 1948 for scrapping').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Construction trades (Western Pipe San Pedro, 1944); ship's company (~59) 1944-45
- Limitations
- NavSource is the standard archival-photo source for unnamed amphibious hulls; the history extract is credited to a veterans' reunion volume (Turner Publishing), so milestone dates are archive-grade but not a NHHC/DANFS record - no DANFS entry exists for this hull. No asbestos content. Strike year printed '1046' on the page - carried as 1946, flagged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-01
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[3]National Archives catalog: 'LSM-233, 8/3/44-12/29/45' NAID 126524578 (RG 24 Muster Rolls, Roll 3798, 98 images); 'USS LSM-233 - Rep of AA Acts off Leyte Is, Philippines 10/20-22/44' NAID 78642345 (RG 38, Micro Serial 92397, 4 images); 'USS LSM-233 - Report of operations in the invasion of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon Island, Philippines, 1/9-14/45' NAID 139883515 (RG 38, Micro Serial 108133, 7 images) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov/id/126524578 ; /id/78642345 ; /id/139883515 (unrestricted, images online)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Three digitized ship-specific primary file units exist at NARA: complete muster rolls covering the hull's entire commissioned life (3 Aug 1944 - 29 Dec 1945), an antiaircraft-actions report for the Leyte landings, and an operations report for the Lingayen Gulf invasion - confirming the ship's identity, unit-level WWII record, and where crew-level documentation would originate.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Ship's company (muster rolls, 1944-45)
- Limitations
- Catalog metadata verified live 2026-10-01; page images are digitized but their contents were not transcribed or reviewed this session. These are administrative/operational records - they contain no asbestos information and establish nothing about materials aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-02
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[4]Franklin v. USX Corp., 87 Cal. App. 4th 615, 105 Cal. Rptr. 2d 11 (2001) - California Court of Appeal, First District, Division Three (published opinion) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, Facts/General Background section; holding paragraph ('We hold that the trial court erred in finding USX liable as the successor in interest...')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Published appellate record documents that the hull's builder, Western Pipe & Steel, operated under a wartime government shipbuilding contract that 'required the use of ship building materials containing asbestos,' and that a jury found childhood take-home exposure from the yard caused a worker's child's peritoneal mesothelioma. The Court of Appeal reversed: it held USX was not the successor in interest to WPS and expressly did not reach the jury-verdict issues, so the exposure findings remained trial-level.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1942-1945 (exposure); 2001 (opinion)
- Population
- Western Pipe & Steel shipyard workers and household contacts (South San Francisco yard, 1942-45); mesothelioma
- Limitations
- Builder-company-level documentation, not a hull record: the opinion's stipulated facts concern Western Pipe & Steel's South San Francisco yard under a Maritime Commission contract - LSM-233 was built at the company's separate San Pedro yard under Navy contract, and no LSM is named. Disposition described exactly: appellate reversal on successor-liability grounds; the jury's exposure findings were not appellate-reviewed. Does not establish asbestos aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-03
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[5]Culver v. U.S. Steel Corp., No. 10-cv-03484 (N.D. Cal. 2010) - order re removal/government-contractor issues (govinfo court PDF) [court_record]
- Locator
- Order, Facts section (Beach Decl. references; 'It is undisputed that the Sea Blenny was built by Western Pipe & Steel')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Federal district-court record in a mesothelioma wrongful-death case records as undisputed that Western Pipe & Steel built the C-3 cargo ship Sea Blenny (1945) and that the Maritime Commission 'allegedly wrote the specifications for these ships, which included the use of materials that contained asbestos' - further builder-level and wartime-specification documentation for the company that built this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 2010 (order); 1945 (construction era referenced)
- Population
- Merchant-marine/shipyard exposure claimants (C-type hulls)
- Limitations
- Pleading/allegation-level and builder-level only: the asbestos-specification language is described in the opinion as 'allegedly' (plaintiff's theory on government-contractor issues), the hulls discussed are merchant C-type ships built for the Maritime Commission - not Navy LSMs - and the Western Pipe construction referenced is the South San Francisco yard. Does not name LSM-233 and does not establish materials aboard any LSM.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-04
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[6]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 the Navy's asbestos-protection program and the service's use of asbestos insulation aboard ships through the era this hull was built and operated (WWII through early 1970s policy window).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation only - does not name this hull or the LSM class and does not establish materials aboard. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches, confirmed 2026-10-01); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-05
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[7]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications block (LSM-1 class; GM diesel plant, no steam) + Franklin v. USX (builder's wartime contracts required asbestos-containing materials) + GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy asbestos-use era) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Synthesis across ev-uss-lsm-233-01/03/05
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- LSM-233 was a welded-steel diesel landing ship built in 1944 inside the documented wartime shipbuilding-asbestos era; her propulsion was diesel (no boilers/steam), so era-standard applications were limited to engine and exhaust lagging, machinery-space and accommodation insulation, gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and deck covering.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Construction trades (Western Pipe San Pedro, 1944); ship's company
- Limitations
- Era/design inference only - no source inspected names this hull's materials, and the builder-level contract evidence documents the company's other yard (South San Francisco). No boiler or turbine lagging pathway exists on a diesel ship; does not establish quantity, location, or present-day presence (hull scrapped 1948).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-06
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[8]Naval History and Heritage Command, 'The Navy's Happy Medium' (NHHC art-exhibit page describing the LSM type's design origin) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC exhibit text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC documents the LSM type's design rationale: a landing ship between the LCI and LST in size, 'compact and maneuverable' - the class context for this hull's austere, minimum-accommodation design.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- WWII design era
- Limitations
- Class-level background from an official Navy source; names the type, not this hull; contains no materials or asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-07
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[9]Batch-6033 search ledger (this record): NavSource Amphibious Photo Archive; NHHC DANFS index and hull URL; Naval Vessel Register; NARA catalog; CourtListener API v4 (authenticated); VA BVA index (via web); shipyard dataset cross-check [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-233-01 through sl-uss-lsm-233-10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, docketed case, or benefits decision naming LSM-233 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero hits for 'LSM-233' and 'LSM 233' in both opinion and RECAP docket indexes (authenticated, 2026-10-01). No DANFS entry exists for this hull, and no Naval Vessel Register page (disposed of before the NVR's 1987 coverage cutoff). A surfaced BVA decision (Citation Nr. 0812954) proved a false positive - it names no ship and postdates the hull's disposal.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 2026-10-01
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the hull was built and scrapped (1948) before asbestos documentation practices existed. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-233-08