Evidence
6 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-6).
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[1]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-472 page (history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Turner Publishing, 1997; specifications block; awards; commanding officers; 1945 crew photographs) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/14/14472 history block, specifications block, awards ribbon list, commanding officers list, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LSM-1-class landing ship medium: laid down 27 January 1945 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 17 February 1945; commissioned USS LSM-472 on 23 March 1945, LT Charles W. Barnes USNR in command. WWII assignment: Asiatic-Pacific Theater, LSM Flotilla Fifteen, LSM Group Forty-Four, LSM Division Eighty-Nine. Post-war: occupation service in the Far East 4 September - 30 November 1945; decommissioned March 1946 at Astoria, OR; laid up Pacific Reserve Fleet, Columbia River Group; transferred February 1959 to Taiwan; final disposition scrapped 1973 by the Taiwanese Navy. Awards: American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). Specifications: 520 t light / 1,095 t full load; 203'6" oa; complement 5 officers, 54 enlisted; two Fairbanks Morse reversible diesel engines, direct drive, twin propellers, 2,800 shp. Commanding officers listed: LT Charles W. Barnes USNR (23 March 1945 - ?); LTjg Richard M. Cyert USNR (no dates). Crew photographs document the ship beached at Saipan, Tinian, Okinawa, and Wakayama, Japan, in 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1973
- Population
- Wartime crew (59) and embarked troops (up to 48); Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1945)
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, milestones, and specifications only; contains no asbestos information and does not establish or defeat any exposure claim. NavSource is a curated volunteer archive; its history extract is credited to a 1997 Turner Publishing volume, not to a digitized official source. Live URL verified 2026-10-02 (navsource.net, not the dead navsource.org).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-01
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[2]Tim Colton, U.S. Shipbuilding History: Landing Ships, Medium - LSM, LSM(R), LSV build table; companion Brown Shipbuilding yard table (shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencylarge/brown.htm) [other_primary]
- Locator
- LSM build table row for LSM-472; Brown yard table row 279
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Colton's build tables corroborate LSM-472 as Brown Shipbuilding yard no. 279: laid down 27 January 1945, launched 17 February 1945, delivered 23 March 1945; disposition line reads 'laid up 1947, to Taiwan 1959, scrapped 1973'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1973
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation used for corroboration only. One conflict carried, not resolved: Colton says 'laid up 1947' while NavSource says decommissioned March 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet - see gaps. No asbestos information. Live URLs verified 2026-10-02.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-02
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[3]HyperWar: US Navy Landing Ships/Craft, 1940-1945 (DANFS-derived index of landing ships and craft) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- LSM section of the landing-ship index, list-only entry 'LSM-472, 1944-45' (no hyperlink)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- LSM-472 appears in the DANFS-derived landing-ship index as a list-only entry ('LSM-472, 1944-45') with no linked entry: no DANFS article exists for this unnamed hull, and no NHHC ship-history page for LSM-472 was located (history.navy.mil search returned nothing for the hull number).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02 (search date)
- Limitations
- Absence of a DANFS entry is normal for unnamed LSMs and limits official-historiography depth on this hull; it is not evidence about asbestos either way. Live URL verified 2026-10-02.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-03
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[4]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications (two Fairbanks Morse reversible diesels, direct drive, twin screws - no steam plant; see ev-01); GAO HRD-80-2 documentation that the Navy used asbestos insulation aboard ships through this construction era (see ev-05); Brown Shipbuilding build dates (ev-01, ev-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (ev-01); GAO product page HRD-80-2 (ev-05)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LSM-1-class landing ship medium built in early 1945 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard an amphibian of this type and period were thermal insulation of machinery and diesel exhaust, gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and brake linings on winches and windlass. As a diesel ship she carried no boilers or steam lines - the boiler/steam-lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1973
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1945); crew (1945-46); reserve-fleet maintenance personnel (1946-59); ROCN crew and yard workers (1959-73); 1973 shipbreakers (Taiwan)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LSM-472. 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-472-lsm472-04
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[5]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2, Highlights section
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO reviewed the use of asbestos in Navy ships, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, and compensation programs; per the product-page highlights, the Navy's 1975 policy was to remove and replace with nonasbestos materials only insulation that was damaged or had to be removed for repairs, modified in 1979 to selectively replace asbestos insulation in high-maintenance areas.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- 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 - and the reviewed policies (1975/1979) post-date this hull's U.S. service (transferred to Taiwan 1959). Product-page highlights retrieved live 2026-10-02 via fetch fallback after gao.gov returned HTTP 403 to a direct curl; the full report PDF was not retrieved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-05
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[6]Batch-6286 search ledger (this record): NavSource LSM-472 page and class index; HyperWar/DANFS landing-ship index; shipbuildinghistory.com build tables; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; CourtListener API v4 (authenticated, via fleet helper); NVR ship detail page; NARA catalog; web sweeps for yard-level asbestos documentation [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming LSM-472 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener was searched successfully via the authenticated helper: exact-hull 'LSM-472' in both the opinion and docket indexes and '"LSM 472" asbestos' in opinions all returned zero results - a completed negative, not a blocked search. The 'USS LSM-472' variant was fleet-paced on two attempts; it is a strict substring of the completed 'LSM-472' searches and is subsumed by them. The only 'asbestos aboard' material found anywhere is law-firm marketing content about Brown Shipbuilding (mesothelioma.net, mesotheliomaveterans.org, mesotheliomalawyercenter.org) asserting asbestos use at the yard without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - 1945 Navy construction is era-consistent with asbestos materials. Deck logs (RG 24), Brown Shipbuilding work packages, reserve-fleet preservation records, and ROCN-era maintenance/scrapping records are undigitized or inaccessible leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-472-lsm472-06