Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
-
[1]research packet 593-packet.md (3 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-7-lsm7-pkt-593-packet-md
-
[2]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (January 1945) - LSM design table (p.150) and construction roster (p.151), shipscribe.com scan [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 p.150-151, 'LANDING SHIP, MEDIUM (LSM)' design table + roster row 'LSM7 (ex-LCT(7)1507)'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official BuShips roster entry: 'LSM7 (ex-LCT(7)1507)', built by Brown S.B. Co., Houston, Tex.; keel laid 20 Mar 1944, launched 24 Apr 1944, first commissioned 24 May 1944; no lost/stricken annotation against LSM-7 as of the January 1945 publication. The class design table gives: 203'6" oa, 34'6" beam, 743 t beaching / 1,095 t full-load displacement, trial speed 12.5 kt, 2 propellers, diesel direct drive, 2,800 shp, accommodations 5 officers/54 enlisted, one twin 40-mm mount; footnote 4 assigns Fairbanks Morse engines (Model 38D8-1/8 x 10 family) to hull block LSM 1-145, covering LSM-7.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce, Houston TX (1944)
- Limitations
- Official wartime government table - authoritative for build dates, builder, and class machinery, but published January 1945 and carries no postwar disposition, no asbestos or materials information, and no individual-exposure data. OCR of the scanned table can garble figures; values cross-checked against NavSource, uboat.net, and shipbuildinghistory.com where noted. The 24 May 1944 first-commissioning date conflicts with NavSource's 29 May 1944 - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-7 (page 10/14/14007) - timeline, specifications, unit assignments, commanding-officer list; history extract credited to 'LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II' (Turner Publishing, 1997) (verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/14/14007, full page incl. specifications block, commanding-officer table, and photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline: laid down 20 March 1944 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 24 April 1944; commissioned USS LSM-7, 29 May 1944, LT. Herman A. Spindt Jr., USNR, in command. Assigned Asiatic-Pacific Theater: LSM Flotilla One (LCDR H. B. Taliaferro), LSM Group Two (LCDR H. G. Maxey, USNR), LSM Division Three. Campaign: Okinawa Gunto operation, assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 1 May to 30 June 1945; one battle star for World War II service. Occupation service in the Far East 2 September-7 December 1945. Decommissioned 11 April 1946; struck from the Naval Register, date unknown; transferred to the Maritime Commission 24 November 1947 and sold the same day to Mechanical Equipment Co., New Orleans, LA; final disposition 'fate unknown'. Ribbon block: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star), WWII Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). CO list: LT Herman A. Spindt Jr. USNR (29 May 1944-4 Nov 1945); LTjg. Rudolf Grun USNR (4 Nov 1945-Mar 1946); LTjg. D. W. Eason USNR (Mar 1946-11 Apr 1946). Spec block: 520 t light/743 t landing/1,095 t full; 203'6" oa x 34'6"; 2 Fairbanks-Morse 38D8-1/8 x 10 reversible diesels, 1,440 BHP each at 720 rpm, direct drive, twin screws 2,800 shp; 12.5 kt max; complement 5 officers/54 enlisted; troops 2 officers/46 enlisted; one twin 40-mm bow mount + six 20-mm; endurance 4,900 miles at 12 kt; call sign NVAM. Photographic record: LSM-7 in convoy from Manila to Japan about 26 September 1945; LSM-7 and LSM-26 moored together (date/location unspecified).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Ship's company ~5 officers/54 enlisted; embarked troops up to 2 officers/46 enlisted
- Limitations
- NavSource is a specialist archive compiling official records and the Turner Publishing history extract - derivative, not itself a primary document. Its 29 May 1944 commissioning date conflicts with BuShips Ships' Data 1945 and uboat.net (both 24 May 1944) and equals the builder's delivery date in the shipbuildinghistory.com yard table - see gaps. It records the striking date as unknown while uboat.net reads 19 June 1946 - see gaps. Photographs are partly undated. No asbestos content on the page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-02
-
[4]United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945 (Navy Department; HyperWar/ibiblio transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Org-450501, Amphibious Forces section, LSM Flotilla ONE / Group 2 / Division 3, row 'LSM 7'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official fleet organization as of 1 May 1945 lists 'LSM 7, Lt. H. A. Spindt, Jr. (USNR)' under LSM Division 3, LSM Group 2 (Lt. Cdr. H. G. Maxey (USNR)), LSM Flotilla ONE (Lt. Cdr. H. B. Taliaferro (USNR)) - confirming the ship's Pacific Fleet amphibious assignment and commanding officer at that date, matching the NavSource assignment and CO records.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Limitations
- Organization document places the ship administratively in the Pacific Fleet as of 1 May 1945; it does not record combat operations, locations, or conditions aboard. Transcription hosted on HyperWar (ibiblio); document content is the official Navy organization list. NavSource annotates LSM Group Two as '(flagship)' and gives Taliaferro as 'USN'; the organization list carries no flagship mark against LSM-7 (the '(GF)' mark in Division 3 belongs to LSM 204) and reads Taliaferro '(USNR)' - noted in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-03
-
[5]Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual (1953), Part IV - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, units-eligible table (HyperWar/ibiblio transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Awards-IV-16.html, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign units-eligible table, row 'LSM 7: 1 May 45 - 30 Jun 45 / P34-1'; operation key at P34/P34-1/P34-2
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official units-eligible table credits 'LSM 7' with Asiatic-Pacific Campaign participation for the period 1 May 45 - 30 Jun 45 under operation code P34-1 (the Okinawa Gunto operation grouping) - the primary-source basis for the single battle star that NavSource records for the Okinawa Gunto operation, 1 May to 30 June 1945, with identical dates.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Ship's company attached during the credited period
- Limitations
- Award-eligibility table establishes credited participation periods, not specific actions or locations. The Awards Manual's operation key defines P34-1 as 'Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto' (24 Mar - 30 Jun 45) - identical to NavSource's description of the credit, so the sources agree fully (the '5th and 3d Fleet raids in support of Okinawa Gunto operation' sub-operation is P34-2, not P34-1; verified live 2026-10-02 against the operation key). No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-04
-
[6]Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual (1953), Part IV, Section 2(18) - Navy Occupation Service Medal and China Service Medal (Extended), Units Eligible: Ships (HyperWar/ibiblio transcription) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Awards-IV-17.html, Units Eligible (A) Ships table, row 'LSM 7' ('2 Sep - 7 Dec 45')
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official units-eligible table credits 'LSM 7' with Navy Occupation Service Medal eligibility, Asiatic clasp ('A'), for the period 2 Sep - 7 Dec 45 - the primary source for the ship's postwar Far East occupation duty, matching the NavSource occupation-service dates exactly.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Ship's company attached during the credited period
- Limitations
- Award-eligibility table establishes where/when the unit qualified for the occupation medal, not operations or conditions aboard; the Asiatic clasp area covers credited occupation duty in former enemy territory between 2 September 1945 and 27 April 1952 per the manual's regulations. No asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-05
-
[7]uboat.net Allied Warships of WWII, USS LSM 7 (LSM 7) - warship data sheet (verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship/12592.html data sheet ('History' block)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Independent secondary corroboration of this hull's milestones: built by Brown Shipbuilding Co. (Houston, Texas); ordered 15 September 1943; laid down 20 March 1944; launched 24 April 1944; commissioned 24 May 1944; decommissioned 11 April 1946; stricken 19 June 1946; sold 24 November 1947.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Construction and crew populations as in ev-01/ev-02
- Limitations
- Secondary reference work, not a primary registry. Its 24 May 1944 commissioning date agrees with BuShips Ships' Data 1945 against NavSource's 29 May 1944 (see gaps); its 19 June 1946 striking date fills a value NavSource records as unknown and is carried with attribution rather than as settled fact (see gaps). Contains no asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-06
-
[8]shipbuildinghistory.com (T. Colton), 'Brown Shipbuilding, Houston TX' emergency-yard page - per-hull construction table (verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- brown.htm yard table, row hull no. 112 'LSM 7'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Yard construction table entry: Brown yard hull no. 112 = 'LSM 7', keel laid 20-Mar-44, launched 24-Apr-44, delivered 29-May-44, disposition 'Sold to Mech. Eqpmt. Co. 1947' - corroborating the BuShips build data, adding the builder's hull number, and matching the NavSource sale to Mechanical Equipment Co. The 29-May-44 delivery date equals the date NavSource gives for commissioning (see gaps).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce, Houston TX (1944)
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary reference (Colton's shipbuilding history), not a government document; dates agree with the BuShips primary record except the delivered-vs-commissioned nuance noted. 'Sold to Mech. Eqpmt. Co. 1947' does not state the vessel was scrapped - fate remains unverified. No asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-07
-
[9]Consolidated era inference - BuShips SDB-1945 v2 machinery data (diesel direct drive, 2,800 shp, Fairbanks Morse engines for the LSM 1-145 block, p.150-151 and footnote 4); NavSource specifications block; GAO HRD-80-2 (see ev-09) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 p.150-151 (propulsion); NavSource specifications block; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for diesel-powered WWII landing ships: the LSM-1 class had no boilers or steam plant, so the steam-lagging pathway does not apply; asbestos-relevant applications consistent with 1944 amphibious construction are diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, machinery packing, deck coverings, and electrical insulation. A diesel Landing Ship Medium built in 1944 sits squarely inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1944); crew (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-specific material schedule, insulation survey, work package, or photograph of insulation was located for LSM-7. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. Establishes no quantities and no exposure for any individual. Absence of boilers narrows but does not eliminate the era-inference basis. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-08
-
[10]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (highlights/description)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed and replaced asbestos insulation only when damaged or when removal was required for repairs, modified in 1979 to include selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - program-level confirmation that WWII-era Navy construction used asbestos insulation extensively and that it typically remained in place absent disturbance.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation, not hull- or class-specific; the fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk, not Brown Shipbuilding, and the review postdates this ship's 1946 Navy departure and 1947 sale, so the retention finding applies to ships remaining in service, not to LSM-7. Product-page description verified live 2026-10-02 (FetchURL); full text not retrieved this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-09
-
[11]CourtListener API v4 search (authenticated fleet helper cl-auth-search.py), queries "LSM-7" (type=o and type=r) and "USS LSM-7" (type=o and type=r), run and re-verified 2026-10-02 [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger row sl-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-12
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull. "LSM-7" opinions (type=o): 2 hits, both name/numeric collisions - Trimble v. Luminant Mining Company LLC (Tex. App. 6th Dist. 2015, cluster 4264540; coal-mining dispute, full opinion text pulled, the string 'LSM-7' does not appear in the opinion, index-level noise) and State v. Rael (N.M. 2024, cluster 10701748; criminal case). "LSM-7" dockets (type=r): 12 hits, all collisions on case metadata - corporate bankruptcies (Winn-Dixie, Lehman Brothers, Tribune Media, Madoff SIPA), Chinese-Manufactured Drywall MDL, MTBE MDL, Microsoft v. Motorola, plus tax, criminal, labor, and commercial cases; none maritime, none asbestos, none naming any vessel. "USS LSM-7": 0 opinions, 0 dockets - a genuine negative, not a block.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- Litigation-stage discipline: every hit was classified down to a name/numeric collision - none is a vessel match at any stage, so no pleading, discovery, trial, or judgment record exists to classify. Underlying docket documents were not individually pulled (same treatment as batch-6350's LSM-6 collisions). A CourtListener absence is not proof no case was ever filed: state trial courts and other venues outside CourtListener's corpus would not appear. All four queries were re-run on 2026-10-02 by the relaunch session through the authenticated fleet helper and returned identical counts (2/12/0/0).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-10
-
[12]Batch-6361 search ledger (this record): BuShips SDB-1945 v2; NavSource 10/14/14007; U.S. Pacific Fleet Organization 1 May 1945; Navy/Marine Corps Awards Manual Parts IV-16/IV-17; uboat.net; shipbuildinghistory.com; NARA digitized deck-log index; MARAD Vessel History Database; CourtListener API v4 (type=o and type=r); GAO product page; secondary web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-01 through sl-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-15
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, materials schedule, or adjudicated case naming LSM-7 was found in the public sources searched. The hull has no DANFS entry (DANFS does not carry individual entries for unnamed LSMs), no NVR entry (NVR excludes ships disposed of before 1987), no MARAD Vessel History Database card, and no Wikipedia article.
- 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 - 1944 amphibious construction was era-typical and the hull left government custody in 1947, before any survey regime existed. Does not establish that asbestos is or was present, nor establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-11
-
[13]NARA, 'Navy Deck Logs Available in the National Archives Catalog' (digitized deck-log index); open leads: RG 24 WWII deck logs for LSM-7 (1944-46); RG 38 LSM Flotilla 1 / Group 2 war diaries; RG 19 General Information Books; Maritime Commission 1947 disposal file [other_primary]
- Locator
- archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online (LSM section, LSM-7 absent)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Records that would resolve the open questions are known to exist in record groups but were not retrievable this session: LSM-7 deck logs (1944-46) are held at NARA per NHHC's general deck-log custody statement but are NOT among the digitized LSM deck logs in the National Archives Catalog (the index lists LSM-161, -175, -268, -297, -373, -397, -398, -412, -419, -445, -446, -448, -455, -462, -508, -540 - no LSM-7); LSM Flotilla 1 / Group 2 war diaries (RG 38) would detail the Okinawa period; the Maritime Commission disposal documentation (transfer and sale 24 November 1947 to Mechanical Equipment Co.) would establish the hull's fate.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1947 (record window)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: the digitized index was checked 2026-10-02 and LSM-7 is absent; the physical logs' existence at NARA follows from NHHC's general custody statement, not from a catalog entry verified for this hull. Deck logs record movements and events, not materials - they are a lead for service history and disposal confirmation, not an asbestos source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-7-lsm7-12