USS LSM-4

Evidence

11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).

1. [1]research packet 573-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-4-lsm4-pkt-573-packet-md

2. [2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-4 (history extract from LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Turner Publishing Co., 1997, ISBN 1-56311-389-9; specifications; commanding officers; NARA-captioned photography) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NavSource 10/14/14004.htm header block, campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, photo captions, commanding-officers table

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Documented for this hull: LSM-1 Class Landing Ship Medium; laid down 1 March 1944 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 9 April 1944; commissioned USS LSM-4 on 20 May 1944, LT. Franklin T. Post, USNR in command; international radio call sign NVAG. Asiatic-Pacific assignment: LSM Flotilla One (LCDR H. B. Taliaferro USN), LSM Group Two (LCDR H. G. Maxey USNR), LSM Division Three. Campaign: Okinawa Gunto operation - assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 8 to 22 June 1945; earned one battle star. Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp): 8-25 September 1945 and 10-30 November 1945. Decommissioned 2 May 1947 at Charleston, S.C.; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown; sold 29 December 1947 to West India Fruit Company, Norfolk, VA, fate unknown. Commanding officers: LT Franklin T. Post USNR (20 May 1944 - December 1945); LTjg J. M. Erickson USNR (December 1945 - December 1946); LT Marinus Pilkington USN (December 1946 - 2 May 1947). Specifications: displacement 520 t. light / 743 t. landing / 1,095 t. full; length 203'6"; beam 34'6"; speed 12.5 kts; endurance 4,900 miles @ 12 kts; complement 5 officers + 54 enlisted; armament one twin 40mm bow mount + six single 20mm; capacity 5 medium or 3 heavy tanks, or 6 LVTs, or 9 DUKWs; propulsion two Fairbanks Morse model 38D81/8X10 diesels 1,440 BHP each @ 720 rpm, twin propellers 2,800 shp; photo captions document the ship underway in the Gulf of Mexico 2 June 1944 (US Navy photo 80-G-271281, taken from a ZP-22 blimp, collections of US National Archives II), off Marcus Island December 1944, and in the background of an LSM-137 photo at Cebu, P.I., 30 August 1945.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1943-1947

   Population

   Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1944); ship's company 1944-47 (5 officers/54 enlisted plus embarked troops)

   Limitations

   Volunteer-compiled secondary compilation carrying a Turner Publishing history extract - not itself a Navy registry document, though milestones track official records and are corroborated here by NARA catalog metadata (see ev-03, ev-04). Contains no asbestos or material-content information. 'Struck, date unknown' - secondary sources carry 17 July 1947 (see ev-09).

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-01

3. [3]Shipbuilding History (T. Colton compilation), 'Brown Shipbuilding, Houston TX' yard history and hull-by-hull production table [other_primary]

   Locator

   shipbuildinghistory.com Brown yard page: yard-history narrative; hull table row 109

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Yard record for this hull: Brown Shipbuilding yard hull no. 109 = LSM 4, laid down 1-Mar-44, launched 9-Apr-44, delivered 20-May-44, 'Sold to West India Fruit 1947'. Yard context: Brown Shipbuilding was built in 1941 by George and Herman Brown at the junction of Green's Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel with $9mm from the Navy; it produced 12 PCs, 32 LCI(L)s, 61 DEs and 254 LSMs - 359 vessels in four years. The yard was leased to Todd Shipyards Corporation in 1949, operated as Todd's Houston Division until 1984, returned to Brown (then Brown & Root) as an offshore fabrication yard, and was sold piecemeal to multiple buyers in 2004 (now the Brown Shipbuilding Industrial Park).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1941-1948

   Population

   Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce (1941-45)

   Limitations

   Published compilation of builder production records, not a primary contract document; dates corroborate NavSource exactly. Yard history documents a high-volume wartime emergency yard building this class at peak tempo - it does not document materials, insulation practice, or any asbestos handling at the yard. No asbestos content.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-02

4. [4]National Archives catalog, RG 38 'World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories' (parent series NAID 4697018): USS LSM-4 file units - War Diary 3/8-31/45 (NAID 77471705), War Diary 5/1/45-6/30/45 (NAID 77471711), War Diary 7/1-31/45 (NAID 83570851), War Diary 8/1-31/45 (NAID 77517385), and Report of action with enemy aircraft off Okinawa Jima, Ryukyu Islands, 6/11/45 (NAID 101777666) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NAID 77471705, 77471711, 83570851, 77517385, 101777666 (RG 38, World War II War Diaries series NAID 4697018)

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   NARA holds ship-filed records for this hull: five cataloged file units name USS LSM-4 - four war-diary installments covering March 8-31 1945, May-June 1945, July 1945, and August 1945, plus a discrete action report of 11 June 1945 for 'action with enemy aircraft off Okinawa Jima.' The May-June diary window covers the ship's documented Okinawa Gunto campaign period (8-22 June 1945) and the action report falls inside it. These are contemporaneous ship-authored records preserved at NARA College Park (microfilmed in the WWII war-diaries series; digitized partner scans exist for the series).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1945

   Population

   Ship's company during Pacific operations, March-August 1945

   Limitations

   Catalog metadata verified live via the NARA catalog search API on 2026-10-01; the /id/ record pages are JS-rendered and the individual file-unit scans were not opened this session - titles and date ranges verified, contents not extracted. War diaries and action reports document operations, not materials; no asbestos claim is made from these records.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-03

5. [5]National Archives catalog, RG 24 'Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities': 'LSM-4, 5/20/44-5/2/47' (NAID 126511553), microfilm roll no. 3581, scanned under the NARA-Ancestry partnership [other_primary]

   Locator

   NAID 126511553 (RG 24 muster rolls, microfilm roll 3581; Ancestry partnership scans)

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   NARA holds the digitized muster-roll microfilm for this hull spanning 20 May 1944 (commissioning day) through 2 May 1947 (decommissioning day). The roll's coverage end-date independently corroborates the 2 May 1947 decommissioning reported by NavSource/Turner and resolves the '1946 vs 1947' year discrepancy in uboat.net's history line in favor of 1947.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1944-1947

   Population

   All hands who served aboard LSM-4, 5/1944-5/1947 - the enumerable crew population

   Limitations

   Muster rolls are personnel returns - they document crew by name/rate for each reporting period, not materials. Catalog metadata verified via NARA search API 2026-10-01; individual roll images were not transcribed this session. Supports date corroboration and crew-population identification; contains no asbestos information.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-04

6. [6]LSM Class Manual, 1 March 1944, Serial No. 1766 (issued to USS LSM-294), scanned page-image PDFs hosted on NavSource - U.S. Navy ship's organization and technical manual for the LSM-1 class [other_primary]

   Locator

   NavSource LSM index 'LSM Class Manual' link; OCR of chapters 1 (General Data), 30 (Main Propelling Machinery), 31 + 31-9 (Auxiliary Machinery/Boilers), 32 (Pumps/Tanks/Piping), 33 (Diesel Oil), 34 (Fire/Sprinkling/Drainage), 39 (Ventilating), 40 (Chemical Fire Systems), 41 (Compartmentation), 47 (Commissary), 48 (Spare Parts)

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Class documentation establishes the machinery fit relevant to era-standard asbestos applications: Chapter 30 confirms the Fairbanks Morse 38D8-1/8 opposed-piston diesel as fitted to hull Nos. 1-125 (covering LSM-4) with a muffler for each engine; Chapter 31 documents refrigeration plants and an auxiliary oil-fired steam boiler designed to supply steam at 55 psi (distilling-plant service); Chapters 32-33 document pumps, tanks, and piping systems. Aboard a 1944-built naval vessel, the asbestos-relevant loci on this machinery fit are thermal insulation/lagging on the auxiliary boiler and its steam piping, muffler/exhaust lagging, gaskets at flanged joints, valve and pump packing, and electrical insulation - applied in a small, confined hull. This is era inference: the manual lists equipment, not insulation materials.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1944

   Population

   LSM-1-class construction and operating crews (1944-45 era)

   Limitations

   Class/era inference only - the manual is the class's operational/organizational document issued to a sister ship (LSM-294), not a construction or material specification, and it does not name this hull. OCR review of ~51 scanned pages (chapters 1, 30, 31, 31-9, 32, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, 47, 48) found no explicit 'asbestos,' 'insulation,' 'lagging,' 'magnesia,' 'gasket,' or 'packing' material references - a scoped negative within the manual, not proof that such materials were absent aboard. Does not establish installed materials, quantity, or exposure for this hull.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-05

7. [7]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 construction (1944) and service era (1944-47).

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1979

   Population

   Navy shipyard workers; Navy asbestos program review

   Limitations

   Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-01) - content via product-page description.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-06

8. [8]NAVSEA, Curator of Navy Ship Models, 'U.S. Navy Ship Models built by Gibbs & Cox Company' catalog page (live page returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch 2026-10-01; cited via Wayback capture 2026-09-10) [other_primary]

   Locator

   NAVSEA Gibbs & Cox model catalog page, 'USS LSM-4' entry (catalog #525)

   Finding type

   historical_record

   Finding

   The Navy's official ship-model curator holds a Gibbs & Cox builder's model of this hull: 'USS LSM-4 - Navy model catalog #525, length 52" (1.321m), scale 1:48, delivered September 30, 1948.' A builder's display model represents the hull's configuration and outfit as documented by the modelmaker - it is physical-design documentation, not a materials record.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   1948

   Limitations

   Documents that an official builder's model of this hull exists in Navy custody; display location unstated ('display locations subject to change'). Live navsea.navy.mil page blocked automated fetch (HTTP 403); cited via Wayback capture dated 2026-09-10 - presented as archived. Contains no asbestos content.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-07

9. [9]CourtListener API v4 authenticated searches, 2026-10-01: type=o "LSM-4" (1 hit); type=o "LSM-4 asbestos OR mesothelioma" (1 hit, same); type=o "USS LSM-4" (0 hits); type=r "LSM-4" (28 docket hits) [court_record]

   Locator

   CourtListener API v4 search results (queries in citation_value; Pae-Parsons opinion 4734756)

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   No qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS LSM-4 was located in CourtListener. The sole opinion hit for 'LSM-4' is Pae-Parsons Global Logistics Services, LLC v. United States, No. 1:19-cv-01205 (Fed. Cl., opinion filed 11 March 2020) - a government logistics-services contract dispute in which 'LSM-4' appears as a contract/labor or supply code, a name collision unrelated to this vessel (the ship was sold out of service in 1947 and the dispute concerns modern defense logistics). The 28 RECAP docket hits for 'LSM-4' are likewise non-ship collisions (exhibit/equipment/party codes in unrelated bankruptcy, criminal, and civil dockets; 'LSM4' also collides with a human gene symbol). No docketed asbestos case, MDL pleading, or ship-list exhibit naming this hull was found.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-10-01

   Study period

   2026-10-01

   Limitations

   Negative result bounded by index coverage: CourtListener indexes opinions and RECAP dockets; unindexed filings, state-court complaints, VA claims, and settled pleading-stage matters may contain ship lists never captured. The 'USS LSM-4' exact-phrase opinion query returned zero; hull-number queries above completed. Collision screening was metadata-level (court, case type, posture); none of the hits were opened to full text.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-08

10. [10]Batch-6217 search ledger (this record): NavSource amphibious archive; NARA catalog (war diaries, action report, muster rolls); shipbuildinghistory.com Brown yard table; NAVSEA model catalog (Wayback); LSM Class Manual OCR; GAO product page; CourtListener API v4; uboat.net cross-check; secondary web sweep [other_primary]

    Locator

    search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-01 through -12

    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-4 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). No DANFS entry exists for this hull - NHHC/DANFS published individual entries only for a handful of named LSMs (Oceanside LSM-175, Lakeland LSM-373), and the hazegray DANFS amphibious index confirms LSM-4 has none. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no ship-specific claims; generic 'asbestos on Navy ships' listicles (navyshipexposure.com class-level LSM entry, mesotheliomahope.com ship lists) assert era-level asbestos presence 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 - a 1944 hull built at a wartime emergency yard sits squarely in the Navy's documented asbestos era, and ship-specific documentation may exist in undigitized records (BuShips construction specifications, Boston/Charleston receiving-yard work packages). Deck logs (RG 24) and the digitized war diaries above are unexamined leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.

    Atlas source

    true

    Evidence ID

    ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-09

11. [11]uboat.net Allied Warships, 'USS LSM 4 (LSM 4)' entry (secondary compilation) [other_primary]

    Locator

    uboat.net ship/12589.html sidebar + history block; NavSource 14004; NARA NAID 126511553 coverage dates

    Finding type

    historical_record

    Finding

    DATE CONFLICTS surfaced by cross-check: uboat.net's sidebar carries 'Ordered 15 Sep 1943' and 'End service 2 May 1947' consistent with NavSource, but its history line states 'Decommissioned on 2 May 1946' - a year inconsistent with NavSource (2 May 1947), with uboat's own sidebar (2 May 1947), with the commanding-officer succession ending 2 May 1947, and with NARA muster-roll coverage ending 5/2/47. The 1947 date is carried; 1946 is a probable transcription slip. For the stricken date, uboat.net gives 17 July 1947 where NavSource says 'date unknown'; the 17 July 1947 date is carried as the best available secondary value (consistent with the 29 December 1947 sale).

    Verification

    partial

    Role

    correction

    Documentation level

    ship_specific

    Accessed

    2026-10-01

    Study period

    1946-1947

    Limitations

    Correction row resolves a milestone-date conflict using corroborating record coverage (NARA muster roll end date); the 1947 decommissioning is solid, while the stricken date rests on secondary sourcing only - flagged in gaps. No asbestos content.

    Atlas source

    true

    Evidence ID

    ev-uss-lsm-4-lsm4-10