Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-46 (history extract from LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Turner Publishing Co., 1997) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource LSM-46 page, history bullets + specifications block + awards block + commanding officers table + photographic captions (incl. pre-commissioning detail at Amphibious Training Base Little Creek; wounded-Marine transfer to USS Samaritan AH-10; post-hit drydock repair after friendly-fire damage from a disabled/abandoned tank)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource records LSM-46 as laid down 6 June 1944 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 30 June 1944; commissioned 1 August 1944 (LT. Frederick R. Edwards USNR); assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, LSM Flotilla Five / LSM Group Thirteen / LSM Division Twenty-Five; participant in the Iwo Jima operation 19 February - 16 March 1945; decommissioned 18 March 1946 at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA; struck from the Naval Register 12 April 1946; sold 23 October 1948 to Charles N. Wilson, East Saint Johns, New Brunswick, Canada; hulk abandoned in 1960 in the Musquash Estuary, New Brunswick. One battle star and the Navy Unit Commendation; specifications block: 520/743/1,095 t., 203'6" x 34'6", two Fairbanks-Morse 38D81/8X10 diesels direct drive, complement 5 officers + 54 enlisted.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1960
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades 1944; wartime crew (5 officers, 54 enlisted design complement); embarked troops
- Limitations
- Ship-history and disposition record compiled from the Turner Publishing amphibious-forces volume; documents identity, service, awards and disposition, not asbestos content, materials surveys, individual exposure, or legal eligibility. Musquash hulk attribution rests on this source; independent corroboration names sister hulk LSM-56 but not LSM-46 (see ev-06 and ev-07).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-01
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[2]USS LSM-46, 'Action at Iwo Jima - 19 February to 8 March 1945 - Report of,' Commanding Officer to Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (via COM LSM GR 13, COM LSM FLOT 5, CTF 51, COMADMINCOM PHIBSPAC, CINCPAC), 9 March 1945 (scan hosted by NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Action report, narrative entry for 23 February; Enclosure (B) damage list items 1-44 (esp. item 34); Enclosure (C) casualty list
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The ship's own action report documents this hull's Iwo Jima service in detail: repeated beachings on Red, Green, Yellow, Black and Blue beaches discharging tanks, ammunition, fuel and cargo under shell fire and night air-raid alerts; wounded Marines taken aboard and transferred to hospital ships. On 23 February 1945 at about 1935, beached on Red Beach Two, the ship was hit by two 105 mm mortar shells - the first at the No. 4 .50-caliber machine gun, port-side weather deck at frame 13, setting the ship's office on fire; the second at the starboard waterline at frame 14. The report records two dead and seventeen casualties from the first shell; ten serious casualties were discharged to hospital ships that night. Enclosure (B), a 44-item damage list, records among other items 'Insulation badly damaged port side' (item 34), severed electric cable, a fire-gutted ship's office (~15% of office records destroyed), buckled bulkheads/deck plating, and a split engine-room hull plate - a contemporaneous primary record that insulation was installed aboard this hull and was damaged in crew spaces during the 23 February hits.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945-02-19 to 1945-03-08 (report dated 1945-03-09)
- Population
- Ship's crew at Iwo Jima; embarked Marines and wounded evacuated; damage-control party
- Limitations
- Contemporaneous Navy primary record (OCR of the scanned report is imperfect; figures quoted here are taken from the report's own text). Documents insulation presence and its battle damage aboard this hull but never states fiber content - it does not establish that the insulation was asbestos, its quantity, or present-day condition. Casualty count as of the report date (2 dead, 17 casualties); NavSource's Purple Heart summary records 4 KIA / 13 WIA, consistent with two later deaths.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-02
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[3]Pronto in South Vietnam, Chapter 5 Part 3 - 32 Small Ship Squadron (Royal Australian Signals veterans' history; Australian Army LSMs ex-USS LSM-319, LSM-477, LSM-315, LSM-547), hosted by NavSource [other_primary]
- Locator
- Chapter 5 Part 3, 'Ship Conditions' section (accommodation description); later RASigs manning/environmental paragraph
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A veterans' account of four former U.S. Navy LSMs in Australian Army service documents class-level asbestos aboard the type: 'All accommodation spaces were below deck with poor ventilation... Above the bunks were pipes lagged with asbestos, which would rain down on the sleeper during heavy seas, covering him in white dust.' The same chapter lists asbestos among the environmental exposures of LSM crews (with diesel fumes, cigarette smoke, Agent Orange).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1959-1972
- Population
- Australian Army LSM crews (sister hulls), 1959-1972
- Limitations
- Class-level first-person documentation for sister hulls in later Australian service (1959-early 1970s), not a record of LSM-46 - it does not name this hull or establish that asbestos was aboard it. Establishes that WWII-built U.S. Navy LSMs carried asbestos-lagged piping over accommodation bunks; consistent with, not proof of, the same aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-03
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[4]Era inference built on: NavSource LSM-46 specifications block (Fairbanks-Morse diesel plant); LSM-1 class documentation; action-report damage list (insulation aboard, ev-02); Australian veterans' class account (ev-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; ev-02 damage list; ev-03 class account
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference: an LSM-1-class landing ship built at an emergency yard in mid-1944 under wartime construction standards carried the era's typical asbestos applications in a diesel-engined amphibious hull - accommodation-space and machinery-space insulation and pipe lagging, engine/exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve packing, electrical cable insulation, and deck coverings. There is no steam plant aboard: the asbestos-relevant systems are insulation, lagging, gaskets and electrical material rather than boiler or turbine lagging.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Construction trades (Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, 1944); wartime crew
- Limitations
- Inference only - no ship-specific record identifies asbestos products aboard this hull. The action report's 'insulation badly damaged' entry confirms insulation was present but not its composition. Does not establish quantity, location beyond the damaged port-side area, present-day presence, or individual exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-04
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[5]U.S. GAO, HRD-80-2, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure (published 18 Oct 1979; released 22 Oct 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page, highlights block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- GAO documented Navy use of asbestos in ship thermal insulation, asbestos-removal costs, and the Navy's 1975 policy (modified 1979) to remove and replace with nonasbestos materials insulation that was damaged or had to be removed for repairs - the program-level regulatory context for the era in which this hull was built.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1975-1979
- Population
- Navy ships and shipyard workers generally
- Limitations
- Navy-wide program context only; the report does not name LSM-46 or this class and establishes nothing about materials aboard this specific hull. GAO page verified live 2026-10-01 (26-page full report PDF available).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-05
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[6]University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, 'WWII American Landing Ships in Musquash Estuary' (45.193117, -66.271829); Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Musquash Estuary MPA pages and management plan (waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/344113.pdf); MPA Regulations SOR-2006-354 [other_primary]
- Locator
- UNB NBMHP point-of-interest entry; DFO Musquash MPA index page ('Date of designation: December 2006', ~7 km2) and management plan (vessel/debris hazard passage); NavSource disposition line
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Disposition record for this hull: sold 23 October 1948 to Charles N. Wilson of East Saint John, New Brunswick (NavSource/Turner); Wilson owned a tugboat company and dry dock in Saint John and used the ex-Navy landing craft to transport logs between New Brunswick and Maine (UNB NBMHP); hulk abandoned in the Musquash Estuary in 1960 (NavSource/Turner). UNB's heritage database confirms two beached LSM hulks plus a third submerged craft in the estuary, identifies one beached hulk as LSM-56 (Okinawa veteran), and records purchase by Wilson 'by 1947' and the abandonment timing as unknown. The hulk site lies inside the Musquash Estuary Marine Protected Area, designated December 2006 under federal regulation SOR-2006-354; the DFO management plan notes old marine vessels and debris among hidden hazards in the estuary without naming the hulks.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1948-present (disposition); 2006 (MPA designation)
- Population
- Museum/park visitors and MPA users (contemporary); postwar barge crews (1948-1960)
- Limitations
- The ship-specific attribution of a Musquash hulk to LSM-46 rests on the NavSource/Turner disposition line; UNB independently confirms the hulks and names LSM-56 but not LSM-46, and records the Wilson purchase as 'by 1947' vs the 1948 sale date carried by NavSource. Whether insulation or other era materials remain in the abandoned hulk is undocumented; DFO sources do not assess the hulks' material condition or any ACM.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-06
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[7]NHHC photographic catalog, NH 65312 'Iwo Jima Operation, 1945' - official caption identifies the landing ship in the background as LSM-206 (numbers censored in the released image) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC NH-65312 catalog description; NavSource LSM-46 photo table row captioned 'US Navy photo # NH 65312'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Attribution correction: NavSource's LSM-46 page captions US Navy photo NH 65312 as 'USS LSM-46 beached at Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945.' NHHC's official catalog entry for NH 65312 identifies the landing ship in the background (bow and stern numbers censored in the released print) as LSM-206. NH 65312 is not carried as LSM-46 imagery in this record.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945 (photo); captioning circa 1945 and later
- Limitations
- Attribution conflict between the NHHC catalog and the NavSource caption; the ship-number markings were censored in the published image, and NHHC explicitly identifies the vessel as LSM-206. Does not bear on asbestos; recorded so the photo is not miscited as this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-07
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[8]NARA digitized unit records for this hull's parent organizations: COM LSM GR 13 'Rep of ops in the invasion of Iwo Jima, Bonin Is, 2/19/45-3/14/45' (NAID 139944268, 116 images); COM LSM GR 13 war diaries (NAID 139969378 2-3/45; NAID 139995217 4/45; NAID 101709170 5-6/45); COM LSM FLOT 5 war diary 2/45 (NAID 139915508) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog file units 139944268, 139969378, 139915508, 139995217, 101709170 (WWII War Diaries microfilm digitizations)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA catalog full-text search on 'LSM-46' surfaces digitized WWII unit records for the hull's parent organizations: the LSM Group 13 report of operations for the Iwo Jima invasion (the same reporting chain this ship's own action report was forwarded through) and Group 13 / Flotilla 5 war diaries covering February-June 1945. These digitized unit records contain the operational record for the unit to which this hull belonged.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-01
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Unit-level records, not hull files: surfaced via full-text match on the hull designation inside the documents; the specific LSM-46 mentions inside were not individually read page-by-page this session. Ship-level deck logs for LSM-46 were not located in digitized form (RG 24 logs largely undigitized for this type).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-08
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[9]Batch-6272 search ledger (this record): NHHC/DANFS and HyperWar (404s); NavSource ship page and action-report PDF; NARA catalog; NVR; CourtListener authenticated searches; UNB NBMHP; DFO Musquash MPA; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-01 through sl-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-15
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, material inventory, product-identification record, or docketed case naming LSM-46 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener exact-hull searches returned zero opinion hits and one docket hit that is a name collision (Valsartan/Losartan/Irbesartan MDL, D.N.J. - pharmaceutical docket, not this vessel).
- 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 - era inference remains reasonable and unproven. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. Undigitized Navy records (ship-level deck logs, hull files, BuShips material specs) were not reviewed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-46-lsm46-09