Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[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-73-lsm73-pkt-593-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-73 page (10/14/14073) - timeline, specifications, commanding officers; history extract transcribed from LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces, Vol. II (Turner Publishing, 1997, ISBN 1-56311-389-9) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USS LSM-73 main page - history narrative, spec block, commanding-officer list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 29 July 1944 at Brown Ship Building Co., Houston, TX; launched 22 August 1944; commissioned USS LSM-73, 16 September 1944, ENS Evan E. Jones USN in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater - LSM Flotilla Six (CDR A. R. Quinn USN), LSM Group Seventeen (LCDR C. H. Johnson USNR), LSM Division Thirty-Three - and participated in the Okinawa Gunto operation (assault and occupation, 9 to 26 April 1945). Post-war Occupation service in the Far East, 5 September to 26 November 1945. Decommissioned 2 April 1946 at Charleston, S.C.; struck from the Naval Register 5 June 1946; earned one battle star for WWII service. Sold 9 February 1948 to the Chesapeake Bay Ferry District of Cape Charles, VA; taken over by the Virginia Ferry Corporation and converted to a fuel tanker for the seven car ferries running between Kiptopeke Beach and Little Creek, VA, entering service as M/V Kiptopeke; sold to Chilean or Peruvian owners circa 1963 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened; final fate unknown. Spec block: 203'6" overall, 34'6" beam, two Fairbanks-Morse diesels direct-drive twin screws 2,800 shp; complement 5 officers + 54 enlisted; armament one twin 40mm bow gun, four single 20mm. Commanding officers: ENS Evan Edward Jones USN (16 Sep 1944 - Sep 1945); ENS Donald B. Ozmun USNR (Sep 1945 - 2 Apr 1946).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1963
- Population
- Wartime crew (5 officers + 54 enlisted) plus embarked troops (2 officers + 46 enlisted capacity)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-compiled photo archive; the history text is a transcription of the Turner Publishing 1997 veterans-association compilation, not a contemporaneous Navy record. Milestones are corroborated in part by the NHHC Pacific Fleet organization page (ev-02) and Colton's Brown Shipbuilding yard list (sl-10). Contains no asbestos information whatsoever - vessel history only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-01
-
[3]NHHC, 'United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945' (published transcription of the official CincPac fleet-organization document) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet section - 'LSM GROUP 17 / LSM DIVISION 33 / LSM 73(1)'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official U.S. Pacific Fleet organization as of 1 May 1945 lists LSM 73 within LSM DIVISION 33 of LSM GROUP 17 (ComLSMGrp 17: Lt. Cdr. C. H. Johnson USNR), Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet - corroborating the NavSource unit assignment during the Okinawa Gunto campaign period (the ship's documented operation ran 9-26 April 1945).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Population
- LSM-73 crew as of 1 May 1945
- Limitations
- Organizational listing only: establishes unit assignment at one date, not onboard conditions, materials, or any exposure. Parenthetical markers used in the document (e.g., '(1)', '(GF)') are not defined in the published page and are not interpreted here. LSM-73 appears without a linked DANFS entry - no individual DANFS entry exists for this hull (verified 2026-10-02; candidate DANFS URLs 404).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-02
-
[4]Landing Ship Medium (LSM) Class Manual, 1 March 1944, Serial No. 1766 (issued to USS LSM-294; scanned chapters hosted at NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ch. 1 General Data; Ch. 30 Main Propelling Machinery (engine-make hull ranges); Ch. 31-9 Boilers/auxiliary steam boiler; index page (LSM-294 attribution)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official LSM class manual (1 March 1944) documents the machinery fit for the class: LSM-1-class vessels were diesel-powered with two engine makes - Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-1/8 ten-cylinder opposed-piston diesels on hulls Nos. 1-125 and others (the hull range covering LSM-73) and General Motors Model 16-278A diesels on other hulls - plus an oil-fired auxiliary steam boiler (about 1,500 lb/hr at 35 psi), refrigerating plants, and a distilling plant. 558 LSM and LSM(R) hulls were built during WWII (NavSource index).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-03-01
- Population
- LSM-1-class construction trades and crews (class context)
- Limitations
- Class document issued to USS LSM-294, not to or naming LSM-73. OCR of the scanned General Data, Main Propelling Machinery, Boilers, Ventilating, and Compartmentation chapters located no 'asbestos', 'lagging', or insulation-materials language - it documents machinery fit only. Does not establish materials aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-03
-
[5]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block (two Fairbanks-Morse diesels; no steam propulsion); LSM Class Manual (1 Mar 1944) machinery fit incl. auxiliary oil-fired steam boiler, refrigerating plants, distilling plant (ev-03); build era July-September 1944 inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use period (GAO HRD-80-2, ev-05); Brown Shipbuilding was an emergency war-expansion yard producing 254 LSMs (Colton yard list, sl-10) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource spec block; LSM Class Manual ch. 30/31-9; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- An LSM-1-class diesel amphibious ship built July-September 1944 at a wartime emergency yard sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos era. Era-standard applications aboard a diesel amphibious ship of this type and period were thermal insulation and exhaust/muffler lagging around machinery spaces, lagging on the auxiliary oil-fired steam boiler, pipe and valve gaskets, machinery packing, electrical insulation, and fireproofing/deck compounds in accommodation spaces. There is no steam propulsion plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply beyond the small auxiliary boiler.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-c.1963
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1944); wartime engine-room and maintenance crew (1944-46); Virginia Ferry Corporation conversion/maintenance workers (1948-c.1963); unknown foreign owners' crews (post-c.1963)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or manual materials language located for LSM-73. 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-73-lsm73-04
-
[6]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 to automated fetch)
- 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), naval service era (1944-46), and a substantial part of its post-sale working life.
- 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. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed standing behavior in prior batches) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-05
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[7]Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 'Kiptopeke's Breakwater' (2019, updated 2024); NavSource M/V Kiptopeke photo caption [other_primary]
- Locator
- DCR State Parks blog 'Kiptopeke's Breakwater' (nine McCloskey concrete ships scuttled 1948); NavSource LSM-73 merchant-service caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- DISAMBIGUATION: the nine concrete ships scuttled in 1948 as a breakwater at Kiptopeke Beach (now Kiptopeke State Park) are US Maritime Commission concrete vessels built to offset the WWII steel shortage - NOT ex-LSM-73. Ex-LSM-73's post-Navy identity was M/V Kiptopeke, a converted fuel tanker serving the seven car ferries on the Kiptopeke Beach-Little Creek route. The shared 'Kiptopeke' name makes conflation between the breakwater ships, the ferry fleet, and this hull a foreseeable research error.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1948-present
- Limitations
- Disambiguation row only - establishes which hulls are not this vessel; asserts nothing about materials or exposure aboard LSM-73. The concrete-ship identification is Virginia DCR's official park history; the tanker conversion is NavSource/Turner-sourced.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-06
-
[8]Batch-6365 search ledger (this record): CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket searches [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-05 through -08
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull located: CourtListener opinion searches for "LSM-73" and "USS LSM-73" and a docket search for "LSM-73" returned zero results (2026-10-02). An opinion search for "Kiptopeke" returned 10 hits, all name collisions - Virginia Ferry Corporation-era labor and tax disputes, a 1964 Pinners Point pier-fire salvage case, and Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel construction litigation - none naming the vessel, the tanker, or involving asbestos.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- Absence of a located docket does not prove no claim was ever filed or settled; PACER/state-court filings are not fully indexed by CourtListener, and Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions (a separate va.gov database, not covered here) may contain claimant assertions naming the hull. A clean litigation search establishes nothing about materials aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-07
-
[9]Batch-6365 search ledger (this record): NavSource; NHHC; NVR; NARA catalog; GAO; Virginia DCR/LVA; secondary web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-01 through -14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or museum/owner documentation naming LSM-73 or M/V Kiptopeke was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The only asbestos content surfaced by secondary web sweeps naming Brown Shipbuilding or the LSM class is law-firm marketing material, 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 - 1944 wartime construction makes era-consistent presence a reasonable inference, not a ship-proven fact. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-73-lsm73-08