Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
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[1]research packet 562-packet.md (3 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERDICT: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-331-lsm331-pkt-562-packet-md
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[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Ships Photo Archive, USS LSM-331 page (history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1997, ISBN 1-56311-389-9) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USS LSM-331 page, 'LSM-1 Class Landing Ship Medium' timeline block; page last updated 2024-05-31
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LSM-331, an LSM-1 class Landing Ship Medium (radio call sign November-Victor-Kilo-Whiskey), was laid down 27 June 1944 at Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company, Chicago, IL; launched 13 October 1944; and commissioned 11 November 1944, LT Bertram Meyer, USNR, in command. During World War II she was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater in LSM Flotilla Eight (CDR H. Doe, USN), LSM Group Twenty-Four (LCDR B. D. Lindman, USNR), LSM Division Forty-Eight. She performed occupation service in the Far East from 17 September to 27 November 1945, then decommissioned 6 July 1946 at Astoria, OR, and was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group. Awards recorded: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal with Asia clasp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, wartime organization, occupation service, and decommissioning. NavSource is a volunteer photographic archive reproducing a published unit-history extract; no individual DANFS entry exists for this numbered craft (NHHC DANFS 'lsm' URL returns 404), so NavSource/Turner is the most authoritative located narrative source for this hull. Contains no asbestos or insulation-material statement; this row supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-331-01
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[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Ships Photo Archive, USS LSM-331 page (timeline, commanding-officer list, and photo captions; Spanish-service photo credited to Jane's Fighting Ships 1967-1968) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USS LSM-331 page, disposition lines, commanding-officer table, and image captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- After 14 years in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, LSM-331 was struck from the Naval Register (date unknown per NavSource) and transferred 25 March 1960 to Spain, where she served as LSM-2 (photographed in Spanish service in Jane's Fighting Ships 1967-1968). The Spanish Navy disposed of her in 1976; her final fate is unknown. Commanding officers during U.S. commission: LT Bertram Meyer, USNR (11 November 1944 - November 1945); LTjg William T. Higgins, USNR (November 1945 - June 1946); ENS Kenneth Edge, USNR (June 1946 - 6 July 1946). Photographs in the archive place her transiting the Panama Canal en route to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater; moored at Yokohama during the September 1945 typhoon; and beached at Senami, Honshu, Japan, circa late 1945-early 1946 alongside LSM-154, LSM-159, LSM-333, LSM-153, and LSM-280.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1946-1976
- Limitations
- Establishes reserve-fleet period, foreign transfer, and Spanish disposition. The struck date is not recorded in the located source, and the mechanism of the 1960 transfer (e.g., Military Assistance Program) is not stated; neither is documented further. Contains no asbestos information; this row supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-331-02
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[4]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 registration resolves to Wiley Online Library, AJIM 11(3):359-373 (full text paywalled to automated fetch, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical scholarship documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during World War II - the era and emergency-construction program under which this 1944 LSM-1 class hull was mass-produced at a converted railcar plant - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization aboard U.S. hulls.
- 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 (class context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel or class and does not establish that asbestos was or remains aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation. This hull's diesel plant (no boilers, no steam lines) narrows the era-typical applications to exhaust lagging, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and brake linings - inference only, not ship-proven.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-331-03
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[5]National Park Service, 'Pullman During the World Wars' (Pullman National Historical Park article) [nps]
- Locator
- World War II section; footnote 13 (War Production Board, Alphabetical Listing of Major War Supply Contracts, 1943; Watters, Illinois in the Second World War, Vol. II)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The builder's wartime industrial context is documented by the National Park Service: Pullman (Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company) held lucrative World War II War Department contracts including freight cars, artillery shells, gun-carriage and howitzer parts, bomber wings, landing craft, and M-3/M-4 Sherman tanks - corroborating that the Chicago railcar manufacturer was a landing-craft producer of record in the period this hull was built.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1939-1945
- Population
- Pullman wartime workforce (context)
- Limitations
- Builder-level context: the NPS article names 'landing craft' among Pullman's war contracts but does not name LSM-331, the LSM program, or any material used in construction. Contains no asbestos information; supports no asbestos claim for this hull or yard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-331-04
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[6]Batch-6142 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull page; NHHC DANFS index; NVR (unreachable); CourtListener authenticated opinion and docket searches; NPS Pullman article; MARAD ShipHistory; GAO HRD-80-2 (blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-331-01 through sl-uss-lsm-331-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS LSM-331 (or Spanish LSM-2) was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener opinion searches for exact hull designations returned zero hits; the single docket hit for 'LSM-331' (Fowlkes v. Dennehy, D. Mass., 1:05-cv-11749, a prisoner habeas case) is a name collision unrelated to the vessel - classified non-qualifying (see search_ledger).
- 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 amphibious hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials in exhaust lagging, gaskets, and electrical systems, and her Spanish service (1960-1976) and unknown final disposition foreclose any statement about present condition. 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-331-05
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[7]NARA Guide to Federal Records: RG 24, RG 19, RG 330 (record-group descriptions); Newberry Library Pullman Company Archives (referenced in NPS Pullman article footnotes) [other_primary]
- Locator
- RG 24 guide; companion groups https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/019.html and https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/330.html
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival lead (not retrieved - requires research-room or reproduction order; no spend authorized): NARA RG 24 (Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel) holds WWII-era deck logs, which for this hull would cover the 1944-46 commission; RG 19 (Records of the Bureau of Ships) holds construction and outfitting records that may include the Pullman Standard contract for LSM-1 class hulls built at Chicago; RG 330 (Office of the Secretary of Defense) and related security-assistance records document Military Assistance Program transfers such as the 1960 transfer to Spain. The Pullman Company Archives at the Newberry Library, Chicago (cited extensively in the NPS article) hold the company's wartime contract records.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1943-1976 records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed; existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-331-06