Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]NavSource Naval History, Amphibious Photo Archive: USS LSM-500 page (history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II, Turner Publishing, 1997) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource USS LSM-500 page, archive 10/14/14500; page verified live 2026-10-02 (navsource.net, not the dead .org domain); 'Last Updated 11 April 2025'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USS LSM-500, LSM-1 class Landing Ship Medium: laid down 17 March 1945 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 7 April 1945; commissioned 17 May 1945, LT. Ramon de Murias USNR in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater: LSM Flotilla Sixteen, LSM Group Forty-Seven, LSM Division Ninety-Five. Awards: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal. Decommissioned 1 August 1946 at Green Cove Springs, FL; laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida Group. Converted to a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, S.C., 1 April 1952 to 15 May 1953. Transferred to Denmark 15 May 1953; commissioned by the Danish Navy as HDMS Hjaelperen (A-563). Struck from the US Naval Register, date unknown. Decommissioned by the Royal Danish Navy 1974. Sold for scrapping 21 September 1976. Specifications: displacement 520 t light / 743 t landing / 1,095 t full; 203'6" oa x 34'6" beam; 13.2 kts; two General Motors 16-278A diesels, direct drive, 1,440 BHP each, twin screws 2,800 shp; complement 5 officers / 54 enlisted. Photo captions place the ship at Panama and at Guam (beached) during her service period and running builder's trials after conversion at Charleston, May 1953.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1976
- Population
- Wartime complement 5 officers + 54 enlisted; shipyard workers during 1952-53 conversion
- Limitations
- Compiled naval-history archive; the history text is credited to Turner Publishing's LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Vol. II (secondary compilation from naval records), not a primary document. Contains no asbestos or materials information. Decommissioning (1 Aug 1946) and scrapping-sale (21 Sep 1976) dates conflict with the Shipscribe/NARA-derived compilation - conflicts carried in gaps, neither date suppressed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-01
-
[2]Shipscribe (Stephen S. Roberts), 'Danish Hjaelperen (LSM 500)' auxiliary-vessel record, compiled 7 Oct 2023; special sources: NARA RG 19 Entry UD 1024-A Box 1; Olsen & Storgaard, Fladens Skibe og Fartojer 1945-1995 (Copenhagen, 1998) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Shipscribe USN auxiliaries section, LSM500.html, Construction/Disposition tables + Class Notes + Ship Notes; page verified live 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- MDAP conversion record: six late LSMs were designated 10 April 1951 for conversion and transfer under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program - LSM 481, 484, 490, 492, 493 to Turkey and Norway as minelayers, and LSM 500 to Denmark as a Motor Torpedo Boat Tender. CNO authorized the conversion 31 May 1951; on 2 July 1951 CNO wrote that 'it is not desired to change the classification of the LSM 500 as it will be transferred to Denmark upon completion of its conversion' (informally called an AGP inside BuShips but never reclassified). Conversion ordered 13 August 1951 from NSY Charleston by Project Order 18745; Friede and Goldman contracted as design agents (contract drawings October 1951); circular of requirements 'LSM 500 (AGP)' issued 1 November 1951. Conversion began 1 April 1952; by 1 November 1952 estimated delivery was 1 May 1953 (five months behind original estimate). The ship was stricken by the USN before transfer (8 August 1952 per Musgrove - the compiler flags this date as possibly inaccurate). Named by Denmark 11 February 1953; delivered/transferred 15 May 1953 still wearing her LSM hull number. Intended to serve six motor torpedo boats. Modernized at Copenhagen Dockyard 1966-67 and modified at Svendborg 1971-72. Decommissioned by Denmark 12 October 1973; struck by Denmark August 1974. Sold by USN 12 September 1976 to Pounds Marine Shipping, Portsmouth; towed from Holmen October 1976; at Husbands Shipyard, Marchwood, England by March 1979, later broken up. Ship notes record US commissioning 17 May 1945 and decommissioning 9 January 1947.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1951-1979
- Population
- Charleston Naval Shipyard conversion workforce (Apr 1952-May 1953); Royal Danish Navy crew 1953-1973
- Limitations
- Historian's compilation quoting/transcribing archival sources (NARA RG 19 Entry UD 1024-A Box 1) - the underlying records were not independently inspected this session. Compiler himself flags the 8 Aug 1952 strike date as possibly inaccurate. Ship-notes decommissioning date (9 Jan 1947) conflicts with NavSource (1 Aug 1946) - carried in gaps. Contains no asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-02
-
[3]NARA Catalog file unit 'LSM-500, 5/17/45-6/30/46' (NAID 126647357), Record Group 24 (Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel), series 'Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities' (NAID 594996) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Catalog NAID 126647357; RG 24, series 594996, microfilm roll 4053; catalog page verified live 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds and has digitized the ship's muster rolls covering 17 May 1945 (commissioning) through 30 June 1946: 114 scanned images (Ancestry digitization partnership), unrestricted access, also on microfilm roll 4053 at NARA College Park. Muster rolls name every crew member carried aboard during the active-service period - the primary-source crew record for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-05-17 to 1946-06-30 (records); catalog verified 2026-10-02
- Population
- USS LSM-500 crew, May 1945 - June 1946
- Limitations
- Muster rolls document personnel presence only - they contain no asbestos, materials, or working-condition information. Coverage ends 30 June 1946 (before decommissioning); WWII deck logs for this hull (RG 24 logbooks series) were not separately located in this pass; later administrative records (decommissioning, reserve-fleet, conversion work package Project Order 18745) are the open archival leads.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-03
-
[4]U.S. Navy LSM Class Manual, 1 March 1944 (Serial No. 1766, issued to USS LSM-294), scanned pages hosted on NavSource - Chapter 31-9 'Boilers'; Chapter 30 'Main Propelling Machinery' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource LSM manual index + chapter PDFs lsm02-31-9.pdf (Boilers, page 31-5) and lsm02-30.pdf (Main Propelling Machinery); verified live 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official LSM class manual states that 'an Auxiliary Steam Boiler [is] supplied to each vessel,' designed for 1,500 pounds of saturated steam per hour at 35 psi gage, oil-fired (water-tube or fire-tube type), located in a dedicated boiler room (compartment C-101-1/2E, Main Deck, starboard, frames 24-26). The class therefore carried a live-steam system (boiler, steam piping, fittings) in addition to diesel propulsion - the manual's machinery chapters cover two prime-mover families across hull groups: Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder 38D8 1/8 engines and General Motors 16-cylinder engines (per NavSource's specifications, LSM-500 carried the GM 16-278A fit, 1,440 BHP each, twin screws).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944 (manual); class construction 1944-45
- Population
- Construction trades at builders' yards; engine-room and boiler-room crew
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation issued to sister ship USS LSM-294, not a hull-specific record for LSM-500 - it establishes what the class design included, not what was installed or surveyed on this hull. The manual describes the boiler's existence and rating but does not state its insulation material; any asbestos-content conclusion is era inference, not documentation. Pages are photographed scans read via image rendering.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-04
-
[5]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (published Oct 18, 1979; publicly released Oct 22, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2, Highlights section (direct fetch 403; live via scrape)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO reviewed Navy efforts to protect workers from asbestos exposure at naval shipyards: the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s; its 1975 policy removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or when removal was needed for repairs, modified in 1979 to selectively replace asbestos in high-maintenance areas. This spans the hull's entire construction (1945), service, and conversion (1952-53) era.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979 (report); era reviewed covers 1940s-1970s
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation (fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk); supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull or to Charleston Naval Shipyard. Full report text not extracted this session - gao.gov returns HTTP 403 to direct automated fetch; product page and Highlights verified live via scrape 2026-10-02.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-05
-
[6]NRC ADAMS ML15089A466 (public comment containing published journal articles describing the Nuclear Shipyard Worker Study, NSWS) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ML15089A466.pdf, NSWS description section ('Workers in eight shipyards were studied: Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston SC; ...') - verified live via scrape 2026-10-02 (direct fetch returned HTML wrapper, not PDF)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- The federal Nuclear Shipyard Worker Study (NSWS) cohort covered workers at eight U.S. shipyards including Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston SC; the study documentation records that exposures to job hazards such as chemicals and asbestos were comparable between nuclear and non-nuclear shipyard workers. Charleston Naval Shipyard performed this hull's motor-torpedo-boat-tender conversion from April 1952 to May 1953.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- NSWS cohort period (data collection from 1957; mortality through 1981)
- Population
- Charleston Naval Shipyard workers (study-era)
- Limitations
- Yard-level context, not hull documentation: the NSWS does not name LSM-500 and its data collection began with the first nuclear-submarine overhaul in 1957 - after this hull's 1952-53 conversion. The source is an NRC-hosted public comment reproducing journal articles, not an NRC finding. It establishes that asbestos was a recognized shipyard job hazard at Charleston NSY in the study era; it does not establish conditions during the earlier conversion window or aboard this vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-06
-
[7]Batch-6318 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull page + LSM class manual; Shipscribe/NARA-derived compilation; NARA Catalog (muster rolls NAID 126647357); NHHC/DANFS index; CourtListener API v4 (opinions + dockets, all name variants); NVR; GAO HRD-80-2; NRC ADAMS; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-01 through sl-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying litigation naming LSM-500 / USS LSM-500 / HDMS Hjaelperen (A-563) was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener returned zero results on every query variant in both the opinion and docket indexes - a verified negative, not a blocked search. No DANFS entry exists for this hull (numbered LSMs are not individually covered). The only 'asbestos aboard' material surfaced by secondary sweep is law-firm/marketing content asserting asbestos 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 - a 1945-built Navy amphibious ship with a documented class-level auxiliary steam boiler and a 13-month naval-shipyard conversion in 1952-53 is squarely inside the documented Navy asbestos era. This row records the state of public documentation only; it does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-500-lsm500-07