Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]Naval Historical Center, Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS LSM-397, 1945-1958' (page dated 20 November 1999; verified live 2026-10-01 via HyperWar/ibiblio mirror - the corresponding live history.navy.mil URL returns 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Page text block 'USS LSM-397, 1945-1958'; photo entries NH 97108 and 80-G-477747
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHC's ship page for this hull: 'a 520-ton medium landing ship, was built at Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina. Commissioned in July 1945, she served with the Atlantic Fleet for her entire Navy career, initially with the Amphibious Force. She was reassigned to the Service Force in about May 1954. LSM-397 decommissioned in February 1958 and was sold in May 1958.' Photograph NH 97108 documents the ship alongside USNS General A.W. Greely (T-AP-141) amid the ice at Thule, Greenland, during Operation 'Blue Jay', 19 July 1951; the page also identifies NARA photo 80-G-477747 (port broadside view amid sea ice in North Star Bay, Thule, same date, by J.J. Hopkins of Combat Photo Group Two) as a National Archives-held view.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945-1958 (service); 1951 (Operation Blue Jay)
- Limitations
- The NHC Online Library page is an image-catalog summary, not a full DANFS entry - it gives month-level dates only and contains no asbestos content. Numbered LSMs have no DANFS entry; this page is the official Navy history product for the hull. The live history.navy.mil equivalent URL 404s (standing NHHC link-rot noted since Batch-01); the ibiblio HyperWar mirror carries the NHC text verbatim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-01
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[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-397 page (navsource.net - the .org domain is dead; live page verified 2026-10-01). History extract credited to 'LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II' (Turner Publishing, 1997); page last updated 4 January 2025. [other_primary]
- Locator
- Timeline text block; Specifications block; Commanding Officers table; photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Timeline for this hull: laid down 15 December 1944 at US Navy Yard Charleston, S.C.; launched 6 January 1945; commissioned USS LSM-397 30 July 1945, LTjg. Royal J. Lee, USNR, in command. Post-WWII: 'served as a logistics support vessel for Naval Facilities in the Caribbean from May 1954 to February 1958.' Decommissioned 24 February 1958 at Charleston, S.C.; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown; sold November 1958 to Ships Inc., Miami, FL, fate unknown. Spec block: 520 t. light / 743 t. landing / 1,095 t. full load; 203'6" oa; beam 34'6"; speed 13.2 kts; complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted; propulsion two Fairbanks-Morse 38D8-1/8 x10 diesels, 1,440 bhp each at 720 rpm, direct drive, twin propellers; generators 2 x 100 kW 450 V AC + 1 x 20 kW 120 V DC diesel-drive. Commanding-officer list: LTjg/LT Royal J. Lee USNR (30 Jul 1945-Mar 1946); LTjg Frank O. Hood USNR (Mar-Jun 1946); LTjg Preston Bryan Davis USN (Jun 1946-?); LT William Joseph Flynn USN (1952-1954); LT Edward Richards Beane USN (1954-16 Jan 1956); LT Waterman Ira Gordon USN (16 Jan 1956-18 Jun 1957); LT Dorrance O. Evans USNR (18 Jun 1957-24 Feb 1958). Photo captions place the hull at the Charleston fitting-out piers 10 January 1945; at Little Creek, VA during Operation 'CAMID' with VADM Daniel E. Barbey observing; at Thule, Greenland in summer 1951 (Operation Blue Jay); and moored at South Beach, Miami, FL, 29 June 1954.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1958
- Population
- Ship's company (5 officers / 54 enlisted spec complement); Caribbean logistics-support crews 1954-58
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-run secondary archive; its history extract for this hull is credited to Turner Publishing's 'LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Vol. II' (1997), a commemorative secondary work, not a government record. Where NavSource and the NHC page overlap (commissioning month, Service Force reassignment May 1954, decommissioning month, sale) they agree; NavSource supplies day precision the NHC page lacks. The page's Asiatic-Pacific campaign table is a documented error for this hull - see ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-03.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-02
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[3]NavSource Online, USS LSM-397 page - awards/campaign table (extracted from LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Vol. II, Turner Publishing 1997) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons table; 'off San Diego 28 July 1945' photo caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- CORRECTION: NavSource credits this hull with Asiatic-Pacific Theater assignment (LSM Flotilla Fourteen, LSM Group Forty-Two, LSM Division Eighty-Three) and one battle star for the 'Balikpapan operation, 26 June to 6 July 1945.' That campaign window precedes the ship's 30 July 1945 commissioning and is physically impossible for this hull; it also contradicts the Naval Historical Center's statement that she 'served with the Atlantic Fleet for her entire Navy career.' The flotilla/group/division assignments may be unit-level data correctly associated with other hulls, but the campaign credit cannot attach to LSM-397. A related internal inconsistency: NavSource captions a photo 'USS LSM-397 under way off San Diego, CA., 28 July 1945' - two days before her documented commissioning at Charleston, SC. The NHHC characterization controls; the battle-star attribution is rejected.
- Verification
- disputed
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- This row exists to warn downstream users away from a secondary-source error - it documents that the attribution exists in a widely mirrored reference (NavSource/Turner) and is unsound for this hull, not that the ship earned a Pacific battle star. uboat.net's record for this hull lists no Pacific service, consistent with the NHC summary.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-03
-
[4]Shipbuilding History (T. Colton compilation), 'Landing Ships, Medium' construction/disposition table (verified live 2026-10-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- LSM table row 'LSM-397'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Shipbuilding History's LSM table row for this hull: 'LSM-397 | Charleston NSY | Charleston SC | 30 Jul 1945 | laid up 1947, sold to Ships Inc. 1958.' The entry corroborates the 30 July 1945 commissioning date, the Charleston Navy Yard build, and the 1958 sale to Ships Inc., and adds a 'laid up 1947' reserve period that is consistent with the gap in NavSource's commanding-officer list (LTjg Davis, from June 1946, to LT Flynn, 1952) - i.e., an inactive/in-reserve interval between the post-war drawdown and the 1951 Operation Blue Jay deployment documented by NHC photography.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945-1958
- Limitations
- Shipbuilding History is a respected private compilation of builder/disposition data, not an official record; the 'laid up 1947' line is corroborated only indirectly (CO-list gap) and is not confirmed by the NHC page, which summarizes career uninterruptedly. The reactivation date for the 1951 Thule deployment is not documented in any located source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-04
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[5]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block for this hull (Fairbanks-Morse diesels, direct drive - no steam plant); shipyard-exposure-map shipyards.json asbestos product list for charleston-naval-shipyard (builder yard); GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-06) [other_primary]
- Locator
- inference synthesized from NavSource spec block + shipyards.json charleston-naval-shipyard + GAO HRD-80-2
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered landing ship medium built 1944-45 at Charleston Navy Yard sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, and her builder yard has documented asbestos product use (pipe insulation, gaskets, packing, thermal insulation for steam systems, fireproofing, electrical insulation, brake linings - see related_shipyards record). Era-standard asbestos applications aboard a small diesel amphibious vessel of this period: thermal insulation, machinery and diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation. As a direct-drive diesel vessel she carried no boilers or steam propulsion plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam ships does not apply, though exhaust lagging and the confined-space dynamic below decks still do.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1958
- Population
- Construction trades (Charleston Navy Yard, 1944-45); ship's company (operating era)
- Limitations
- Era/class-level inference only - no construction drawings, material lists, surveys, or testimony name this hull. Does not establish that asbestos was installed aboard LSM-397, in what quantity, or that any individual was exposed. Yard-level product lists document the builder's materials era, not this hull's bill of materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-05
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[6]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (published Oct 18, 1979; publicly released Oct 22, 1979; product page verified live 2026-10-01 via Firecrawl) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (title, dates, topic tags verified)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO's 1979 report documents the Navy's asbestos-insulation problem and worker-protection program - GAO product metadata tags include 'Asbestos', 'Insulation', 'Military vessels', 'Occupational health standards', and 'Asbestos abatement'. Per prior batch verification (Batch-98), the report states 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 construction (1944-45) and service era (1945-58).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- through 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and ship crews (program-level)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation - does not name this hull, class, or builder yard; establishes era context only. Full text was not re-extracted this session (gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to direct automated fetches; product page verified live via Firecrawl). The early-1970s substitution finding is carried from Batch-98's verification of the same report.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-06
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[7]US EPA Superfund Site Profile (CERCLA), 'NAVAL SHIPYARD - CHARLESTON', EPA ID SC0170022560 (verified live 2026-10-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- CERCLA site-information table; EPA FRS registry 110043669214
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- EPA's CERCLA site profile for the hull's builder yard (Naval Shipyard - Charleston, Viaduct Road, Charleston, SC): federal facility flag set; NPL status 'Not on the NPL'; non-NPL status 'Deferred to RCRA (Subtitle C)'; EPA Region 4. The companion EPA FRS facility record (CHARLESTON NAVAL COMPLEX) carries a TSCA compliance-activity entry (NCDB C04#TSCAIV-92-ER001) and a BRAC program association.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1990s-era closure/BRAC records
- Population
- Builder-yard workforce (facility level)
- Limitations
- Facility-level environmental status of the builder yard recorded decades after this hull's 1944-45 construction; the profile documents regulatory status only and contains no asbestos-specific findings and nothing hull-specific. Establishes the yard as a documented federal environmental site - context for the builder, not evidence about the vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-07
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[8]Federal Register Vol. 61 No. 93 (13 May 1996), pp. 22033-22038 - Department of the Navy, Record of Decision for the Disposal and Reuse of the Charleston Naval Base, North Charleston, SC (verified live 2026-10-01) [federal_register]
- Locator
- 61 FR 22033-22038, 'Background' section; contamination paragraph
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The Navy's Record of Decision documents that the 1993 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission recommended closure of Naval Station Charleston and the Charleston Naval Shipyard (the yard that built this hull), that operations ceased 1 April 1996, and that 'Navy is evaluating the extent of existing contamination on the Base' with EPA and South Carolina DHEC review and approval of risk assessments before the Navy 'remediates the contaminated sites and conveys the property.' The Naval Shipyard portion covers 505 acres of the 1,575-acre base.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1993-1996 (BRAC decision)
- Limitations
- Closure-era (1996) land-use document for the builder yard - it does not name asbestos or any specific contaminant and says nothing about vessels built there. Documents that the builder yard underwent a federal contamination-evaluation/remediation program; purely contextual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-08
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[9]NAVFAC Environmental Restoration - Charleston Naval Complex (CNC) page (verified live 2026-10-01 via Firecrawl) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Charleston CNC page body text
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- The Navy's official environmental-restoration page describes the former Charleston Naval Complex (including the Naval Shipyard area where this hull was built) as divided into 12 investigative zones for environmental investigation under the environmental restoration program following BRAC closure.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- post-1996 (BRAC restoration)
- Limitations
- Installation-level restoration-program description; contains no asbestos-specific findings and nothing hull-specific - documents an active Navy environmental restoration program at the builder yard only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-09
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[10]Batch-6214 search ledger (this record): NHC Online Library (ibiblio mirror); NavSource .net; Shipbuilding History LSM table; uboat.net cross-check; Naval Vessel Register; EPA CERCLA/FRS; Federal Register 61 FR 22033; NAVFAC CNC page; CourtListener; secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-01 through sl-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming USS LSM-397 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero opinion results for '"LSM-397"' and '"USS LSM-397"' and zero docket results for '"LSM-397"' on authenticated v4 queries - a true negative, not a blocked search. Secondary web sweeps likewise surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos aboard' material for numbered LSMs generally is law-firm marketing listicle content asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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's construction era and builder-yard product documentation are consistent with retained era materials, but ship-proven claims require a hull-specific record that does not currently exist in public sources. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-397-lsm397-10