Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 560-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS LSM-318 (hull number only, never named)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-318-lsm318-pkt-560-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Naval History, Landing Ship Medium LSM-318 page (history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Turner Publishing, 1997; specifications block on the same page) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Page sections: 'LSM-1 Class Landing Ship Medium' timeline, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign table, Specifications block, Individual Awards (KIA names), Commanding Officer listing
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LSM-318, an LSM-1 class landing ship medium, was laid down in April 1944 at the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company, Chicago, IL; launched June 1944; and commissioned USS LSM-318 on 3 August 1944, LT. Perry W. Rairden, Jr., USN, in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, she participated in the Leyte landings, 19 to 29 November 1944, and the Ormoc Bay landings, 7 December 1944. While departing from Ormoc on 7 December 1944 she was hit by a Japanese kamikaze suicide plane, set afire, and sunk. She earned one battle star for World War II service and was struck from the Naval Register, date unknown. NavSource carries class specifications for the type: 520 t light / 743 t landing / 1,095 t full load; 203 ft 6 in overall; diesel propulsion (two Fairbanks-Morse 38D81/8X10, 1,440 BHP each, twin screws); complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted. Four crew were killed in the 7 December attack: Chester R. Smith SM3/c, Joe R. Baeta MoMM2/c, Robert R. Harms F1/c, Lloyd C. Russell SC1/c.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-04 to 1944-12-07
- Population
- Crew at loss: 5 officers + 54 enlisted complement (spec); 4 KIA named
- Limitations
- Reputable secondary compilation, not an official record: laid-down and launched dates are month-precision only; struck-from-register date is stated as unknown; the page's commanding-officer table spells the CO's given name 'Perey Wallace' while the commissioning line reads 'Perry W. Rairden, Jr.' - the commissioning-line spelling is adopted. Contains no asbestos, insulation-material, or condition-survey statement; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-01
-
[3]Naval History and Heritage Command, 'Casualties: Navy and Coast Guard Ships' (WWII losses list, Landing Ship Medium section) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- U.S. Navy Amphibious Ships > Landing Ship, Medium (LSM) subsection, sixth entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC's official casualties compilation states: 'USS LSM-318 sunk by Kamikaze attack off Ormoc, Leyte, Philippine Islands, 7 December 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-12-07
- Limitations
- Official loss summary only - establishes cause, place, and date of loss, nothing more. No construction details, no casualty count, no asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-02
-
[4]U.S. Navy at War 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King (losses tabulation), hosted by NHHC Online Reading Room [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ship-losses tabulation, Medium Landing Ships block: 'LSM 318 | 10 56 N, 124 38 E | 7 Dec. 1944'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The final official report U.S. Navy at War (Chief of Naval Operations, 1946) tabulates LSM-318 among medium landing ship losses with loss position '10 56 N, 124 38 E' on 7 December 1944 - a point in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, consistent with the NHHC casualties entry.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-12-07
- Limitations
- Primary official tabulation of loss position and date only; does not describe the attack or the ship's condition. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-03
-
[5]Navy Department Communiques 301 to 600 (and pertinent press releases, December 10, 1942 to May 24, 1945), U.S. Navy Office of Public Information; hosted by NHHC Online Reading Room [other_primary]
- Locator
- Communique No. 565, January 2, 1945, item 2; and the volume index entry 'LSM-318 - Jan. 2, 1945 - 565'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Navy Department Communique No. 565 (2 January 1945), the official public announcement, states: 'The LSM 318 has been lost as the result of enemy action in the Philippine Area. Next of kin of fatalities and most other casualties have been notified...' The volume's own loss-announcement index cross-references LSM-318 to Communique 565 of 2 January 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945-01-02
- Population
- Crew casualties (count not stated in the communique)
- Limitations
- Official contemporaneous announcement of the loss; confirms enemy-action loss in the Philippine Area and that crew casualties occurred, without count or detail. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-04
-
[6]Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 102682, 'USS LSM-318' (catalog caption and description) [museum_official]
- Locator
- Photo catalog page: Title, Caption, Description, Catalog # NH 102682 fields
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC photograph NH 102682 (dated 7 December 1944) shows USS LSM-318 'afire in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands, after she was hit by a kamikaze, 7 December 1944'; the image was received courtesy of Edwin C. Townsend, who was present aboard LSM-18.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-12-07
- Limitations
- Official photo-catalog caption corroborating the kamikaze hit and fire; no casualty, damage-detail, or materials information. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-05
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[7]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- DOI landing (redirects to Wiley Online Library; Wiley returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch - bibliographic verification only, same access constraint noted in BATCH-01 for GAO sources)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical research documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II - the era and program under which this 1944 Pullman Standard-built LSM-1 class hull was mass-produced - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization in naval and merchant construction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel, this class, or this builder and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, exposure, or causation. Full text not retrievable by automated fetch (Wiley 403); citation verified at the DOI/landing level only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-06
-
[8]Batch-6127 search ledger (this record): NHHC pages, NavSource page, DANFS mirror check, CourtListener authenticated searches sl-uss-lsm-318-08 through sl-uss-lsm-318-11, NVR access attempt [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-318-01 through sl-uss-lsm-318-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming LSM-318 was found in the public sources searched. There is no DANFS entry for this hull (HyperWar/ibiblio DANFS mirror lsm318.html returns 404 while sibling-hull entries exist). CourtListener authenticated searches for the hull ('LSM-318' opinions and dockets; 'USS LSM-318'; 'LSM 318' landing ship) returned zero results; a 'Pullman-Standard' + asbestos opinion search returned 39 hits that are name collisions (railcar-manufacturing and unrelated matters), none naming the Pullman Standard Calumet shipyard or this hull - classified non-qualifying at query level. The Naval Vessel Register could not be reached at research time (TLS failure to nvr.navy.mil) - logged as an access gap, not a negative result.
- 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 - a 1944 steel amphibious ship is era-consistent with installed asbestos-containing materials. The hull sank in combat after four months in commission, so the postwar survey/abatement records that exist for surviving ships never came into being for this one; the residual documentary base is thin by construction, not by oversight. The NVR check remains an open access gap. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any exposure claim or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-07
-
[9]NARA record-group mapping (RG 24 deck logs; BuShips war-damage/action-report series) and National Archives Identifier 80662843 as attributed by NavSource photo caption [other_primary]
- Locator
- https://catalog.archives.gov/id/80662843 (page loads; content unverified); NavSource photo caption for image 101425814
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - requires NARA research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): (a) the ship's loss/war-damage report - secondary indexes (Wikipedia shipwreck list, Fold3) reference a digitized 'LSM 318 Loss report'; the underlying record would sit with Bureau of Ships war-damage reports or the ship's action report in NARA WWII records; (b) WWII deck logs for LSM-318 (August-December 1944) in NARA RG 24 (Logs of U.S. Naval Ships and Stations), many digitized in the National Archives Catalog; (c) U.S. Army Signal Corps photograph 199456 showing LSM-318 with the 77th Division second wave off Ormoc on 7 December 1944, National Archives Identifier 80662843 per the NavSource photo caption (catalog page loads HTTP 200 but its content could not be machine-verified - JavaScript-driven catalog).
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944 records
- Limitations
- Record-path mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown and unlikely given her four-month career and combat loss. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-318-08