Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet 564-packet.md (7 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED (mirror-only for builder dates)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED (mirror-only for builder dates)
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-344-lsm344-pkt-564-packet-md
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[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-344 - construction, service assignments, occupation service, decommissioning, sale, disposal, specifications (verified live 2026-10-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/14/14344.htm header block (timeline) and 'Specifications' block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: LSM-1 class Landing Ship Medium; international radio call sign November-Victor-Lima-Whiskey (NVLW). Laid down 6 October 1944 at Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company, Chicago, IL; launched 26 January 1945; commissioned USS LSM-344, 24 February 1945, LT John L. Gurney USNR in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater: LSM Flotilla Fourteen (LCDR W. R. McCaleb), LSM Group Forty (LCDR O. J. Heggem USNR), LSM Division Seventy-Nine. Occupation service in the Far East 15 September to 29 November 1945. Decommissioned 9 May 1947 at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA. Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown. Sold 10 November 1947 to Sohio Pipe Line Co., Cleveland, OH. Final disposition: fate unknown. Awards: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp). Specifications block: displacement 520 t. light / 743 t. landing / 1,095 t. fully loaded; length 203 ft 6 in overall; beam 34 ft 6 in; draft light 3 ft 6 in forward / 7 ft 8 in aft, fully loaded 6 ft 4 in forward / 8 ft 3 in aft; speed 13.2 kts max; complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted; armament one twin bow-mounted 40mm and four single 20mm; propulsion two Fairbanks Morse model 38D81/8X10 diesels (1,440 BHP each at 720 rpm, reversible with hydraulic clutch, direct drive), twin propellers, 2,800 shp; ship's service generators two diesel-drive 100Kw 450V AC and one diesel-drive 20Kw 120V DC; fuel capacity diesel 1,225 bbls; troop accommodations 2 officers, 46 enlisted; vehicle capacity 5 medium or 3 heavy tanks, or 6 LVTs, or 9 DUKWs; endurance 4,900 miles at 12 kts; armor 10-lb. STS splinter shield to gun mounts, pilot house and conning station.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1947 (U.S. Navy era); commercial era unknown
- Population
- Pullman Standard construction trades (1944-45); crew (1945-47); Mare Island decommissioning personnel (1947); Sohio Pipe Line Co. commercial operators (post-1947, unknown duration)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestones generally track NVR/DANFS, but no DANFS entry exists for this unnamed hull and the stricken date is recorded as unknown. Contains no asbestos or material content. The 1947 commercial sale has no located follow-on record (fate unknown). Complement figure is from the specifications block, unverified against DANFS/NHHC.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-344 - photo captions, Saipan-Sasebo convoy and Sasebo Harbor, September 1945 (verified live 2026-10-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/14/14344.htm photo captions (contributed photographs, September 1945)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource photographic archive documents this hull's Far East occupation service: underway with a convoy from Saipan to Sasebo, Kyushu, Japan, 14-21 September 1945 (with LST-726, LST-800, LST-811, LST-830, LST-888, LST-918, LST-950, LST-1048 and LSM-76, LSM-80, LSM-111, LSM-112, LSM-283, LSM-343, LSM-386, LSM-387, LSM-440, LSM-467, LSM-474; escorts Joyce (DE-317), PC-1231, PC-1260, LCI(FF)-628); in Sasebo Harbor 22-24 September 1945; and off-loading Marines and equipment at Sasebo on 22 September 1945, with Ensign Eppstein, Carl Kerney, Joe Casey, Lindy Bell, and Bill Gripe MM2/c named on deck.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Ship's company, September 1945; embarked Marines at Sasebo
- Limitations
- Vessel-history documentation only; no asbestos or material content. Photo captions are contributor-supplied and dated by the contributors; the 22 September 1945 off-loading photograph names individual crew members but makes no exposure claim for any of them.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-02
-
[4]Era inference built on: NavSource LSM-344 specifications block (diesel propulsion, 2 x Fairbanks Morse 38D81/8X10, no steam plant); Atlas shipyard dataset record for Mare Island Naval Shipyard (see ev-04); GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-05) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (propulsion); shipyards.json record 'mare-island-naval-shipyard'; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel Landing Ship Medium built in 1944-45 at a U.S. commercial yard sits squarely inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a 1944 diesel amphibious hull of this size were thermal insulation, machinery and diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation in machinery spaces. As a diesel hull she carried no boilers or steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply. This hull's engines were Fairbanks Morse 38D81/8X10 diesels (not the GM 16-278A fitted to some LSM-1 class sisters), per the NavSource specifications block.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Pullman Standard construction trades (1944-45); crew (1945-47); Mare Island decommissioning personnel (1947)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or photograph of insulation was located for LSM-344. 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-lsm-344-lsm344-03
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[5]Atlas shipyard dataset (shipyards.json), record 'mare-island-naval-shipyard' (evidence_tier 2; flagship ev-mare-island-naval-shipyard-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipyards.json record 'mare-island-naval-shipyard', asbestos_products_documented field
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Yard-level documentation for this hull's decommissioning yard: the Atlas shipyard record for Mare Island Naval Shipyard (Vallejo, CA) documents asbestos products at the yard including Unibestos, Marinite boards, Transite pipes, Kaylo, Careytemp, Gold Bond, Super 66, pump and valve packing, gaskets, bonnet insulation, and refractory materials; the yard record carries evidence_tier 2. LSM-344 was decommissioned at Mare Island on 9 May 1947. Her builder, Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company (Chicago, IL), is not an Atlas shipyards.json entry - no builder-yard product list exists in the dataset for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1947 (this hull's decommissioning); yard documentation spans the yard's operating life
- Population
- Mare Island Naval Shipyard trades, 1947 decommissioning era
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation, not a hull record: documents asbestos products in use at Mare Island Naval Shipyard generally - LSM-344 is not named in any yard evidence row, and yard product lists do not establish materials handled or installed aboard this hull. Mare Island is her decommissioning yard (1947), not her builder. The builder yard (Pullman Standard, Chicago) has no dataset entry.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-04
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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 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 U.S. Navy era (construction 1944-45, service 1945-47) and her 1947 sale out of Navy custody.
- 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; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to automated fetches, confirmed 2026-10-01) - content via product-page description, consistent with the Batch-01/98 treatment of this report.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-05
-
[7]NARA, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' (digitized deck-log index); NHHC, 'Deck Log Access' (post-1940 logs held at NARA) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA navy-online index page (verified live 2026-10-01); no LSM-344 logs in the digitized set
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds Navy deck logs for the post-1940 period at the National Archives (College Park) per NHHC's general deck-log statement; the NARA digitized deck-log index was verified live 2026-10-01. LSM-344's 1945-47 deck logs are not digitized - an archival lead for service-period documentation, not an asbestos finding.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945-1947
- Population
- Ship's company, 1945-47
- Limitations
- Lead only: confirms where deck logs would be held, not their contents. Deck logs document ship movements and events, not insulation materials - they would corroborate service history, not asbestos exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-06
-
[8]Negative finding keyed to the search ledger (sl-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-01 through sl-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-09), 2026-10-01 [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-01..09
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation of any kind was located for USS LSM-344: no insulation survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, Navy medical or industrial-hygiene record, or qualifying litigation naming this hull. CourtListener (authenticated, exact name and hull number, opinions and dockets) returned zero qualifying hits on 2026-10-01; secondary web searches surfaced no ship-specific asbestos content. This is a negative finding, recorded as a result - not papered over.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1947+
- Population
- Construction trades, crew, decommissioning and commercial populations as in ev-01
- Limitations
- A negative finding on public records only. Undigitized holdings (NARA deck logs, Pullman-Standard work packages, Mare Island decommissioning records, Sohio Pipe Line Co. commercial records) were not searched and could hold material. Absence of located documentation is not proof of absence of asbestos aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-344-lsm344-07