Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 594-packet.md (4 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lsm-78-lsm78-pkt-594-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online, Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-78 hull page [other_primary]
- Locator
- Hull page unit assignments and Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns table ('Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 9 to 26 April 1945'); battle-star line; photo caption shows LSM-78 and LSM-72 beached at Okinawa, April 1945
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- During World War II, USS LSM-78 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater with LSM Flotilla Six (CDR. A. R. Quinn, USN), LSM Group Seventeen as group flagship (LCDR. C. H. Johnson, USNR), and LSM Division Thirty-Four, and participated in the Okinawa Gunto operation - assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 9 to 26 April 1945. She earned one battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Ship's company (~59) plus embarked troops during Okinawa operations
- Limitations
- Establishes theater assignment and the Okinawa operation for this hull; not a complete voyage narrative; documents no asbestos content or exposure. Unit assignments corroborated by the official fleet organization record (ev-03).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-02
-
[3]Naval History and Heritage Command, United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945 (archived copy; live URL returned 404) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Archived capture 2020-10-03 (the earlier 2019-11-16 capture is truncated before the LSM sections); LSM Flotilla Six / LSM Group 17 / LSM Division 34 table, document page ~68-69
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official NHHC United States Pacific Fleet Organization record of 1 May 1945 lists 'LSM 78 - Lt. H. C. MacFarlane' under LSM Division 34, LSM Group 17 (ComLSMGrp 17, Lt. Cdr. C. H. Johnson, USNR), LSM Flotilla Six (Commander LSM Flotilla SIX, Comdr. A. R. Quinn) - corroborating the hull's unit assignment and commanding officer exactly one month after the Okinawa landing began.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Population
- Ship's company and Pacific Fleet amphibious personnel
- Limitations
- Official organization record corroborating assignment and command as of 1 May 1945; it does not provide full service history or any asbestos, insulation, exposure, or causation finding. CO surname printed 'MacFarlane' here vs 'McFarlane' on the NavSource page - same officer, orthographic variant.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-03
-
[4]Commander Transport Squadron TWELVE / Commander Nagasaki Group, 'Action Report, Landings at NAGASAKI, 18-28 September 1945,' Serial 0471 (30 Sep 1945) - scanned official report hosted by NavSource Amphibious Photo Archive [other_primary]
- Locator
- Report letterhead/serial p. 1-2 (PDF images); Part II Preliminaries task organization ~p. 5 (LSM Flotilla 16 (Temp), LSM Unit ONE list including '78'); Unit One load table ~p. 7; 2400 anchorage entry ~p. 15; task-unit formation order and departures ~pp. 16-17
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A primary Navy action report - 'Action Report, Landings at NAGASAKI, 18-28 September 1945,' Serial 0471, dated 30 September 1945, from Commander NAGASAKI Group (Commodore H. B. Knowles, USN; CTG 54.3 and ComTransRon 12, USS Cambria flagship) to the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet - lists LSM-78 by name: under LSM Unit ONE of LSM Flotilla 16 (Temp), Comdr. McKee, in the task organization; in the Unit One embarkation load table for the 2nd Marine Division lift loaded at Saipan; among LSMs in the anchorage narrative; and in the 26 September 1945 order forming a task unit (LSMs 498, 78, 94, 103, 122, 170, 227, 253, 286, 307, 309, 452, 462, 465, with USS Roberts (DE-749) as escort) to depart Nagasaki at 1400 for Okinawa to load 10th Army Corps, onward routing to Hiro Wan. NavSource photo captions independently place the hull beached at Matsuhama, Japan, 16 October 1945, during her recorded occupation service (22 September - 9 November 1945).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-09
- Population
- Ship's company and embarked 2nd Marine Division personnel (Nagasaki lift, September 1945)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific primary document establishing the hull's participation in the Nagasaki occupation landings and her 26 September 1945 departure for Okinawa/Hiro Wan. Content transcribed by OCR from a 52-page image-only scan: LSM-78's appearances in the unit list and orders are unambiguous, but individual embarkation-table figures are OCR-uncertain and not asserted. The temporary 'LSM Flotilla 16 (Temp)/Unit One' lift organization differs from her regular Pacific Fleet assignment (Flotilla Six/Group 17/Division 34, ev-02/ev-03) - both are stated, not conflated. No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-04
-
[5]NavSource Online, Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-78 hull page (chronology, commanding-officer table, photo captions) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Hull page 'Following World War II ... Occupation service in Japan from 22 September to 9 November 1945', decommission/stricken/sale/final-disposition lines; commanding-officer table (LT. McFarlane to 'Deember 1945' [sic], LTjg. Tuttle to 1 April 1946); photo caption 'beached during low tide at Matsuhama, Japan, 16 October 1945'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- USS LSM-78 performed occupation service in Japan from 22 September to 9 November 1945; was decommissioned 1 April 1946 at Norfolk, Virginia; was struck from the Naval Register 5 June 1946; and was sold 12 August 1947 to Charles N. Wilson, St. John Tugboat Co., Ltd., East St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and converted to a barge. NavSource reports her final disposition as a hulk abandoned in 1960 in the Musquash Estuary, New Brunswick, Canada. Subsequent commanding officer per the page: LTjg. George W. Tuttle, USNR (December 1945 - 1 April 1946).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1960
- Population
- Ship's company (1945-46); barge crews and Saint John tugboat/drydock workers (1947-1960)
- Limitations
- Establishes occupation service, decommissioning, strike, sale, and reported abandonment. The Musquash endpoint carries an unresolved hulk-identification conflict (see ev-06 and gaps). No asbestos, hazmat, or material record accompanies the sale/barge-conversion/abandonment sequence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-05
-
[6]University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, 'WWII American Landing Ships in Musquash Estuary' point-of-interest record; corroborating NavSource LSM-46 and LSM-56 hull pages [other_primary]
- Locator
- NBMHP point-of-interest text (site coords 45.193117, -66.271829); https://www.navsource.net/archives/10/14/14046.htm and https://www.navsource.net/archives/10/14/14056.htm final-disposition lines
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Disposition-identification conflict at the Musquash site: the University of New Brunswick's New Brunswick Military Heritage Project records two beached hulks plus a third submerged in the Musquash Estuary west of Saint John, identifies one beached hulk as LSM-56 (identified by historian Darren McCabe), and reports the craft were purchased by Charles N. Wilson by 1947 for log transport between New Brunswick and Maine - the same buyer and fate NavSource reports for LSM-78 (sold 12 August 1947, hulk abandoned 1960). Secondary accounts identify the second beached hulk as LSM-46 (whose NavSource page reports the identical Musquash abandonment). Local accounts variously describe two, three, or four landing vessels at the site; whether an LSM-78 hulk survives there - and which structure is which hull - is unresolved.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1960-present (abandonment and identification)
- Population
- Current site/heritage context only
- Limitations
- Qualifies the carried disposition: NavSource's 'hulk abandoned 1960 in the Musquash Estuary' is retained, but the identified surviving hulks are reported as LSM-56 (NBMHP) and LSM-46 (secondary accounts); LSM-78's hulk is not among the identified structures. Establishes a documentation conflict, not that the NavSource report is wrong. No asbestos content; no condition or hazmat survey of the hulks was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-06
-
[7]Inference from the ship-specific NavSource diesel specification and the documented source-review negative (search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource propulsion/specification block; negative documentation search across search_ledger rows
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos survey, product inventory, abatement record, or condition report was located for LSM-78. Because she was a World War II U.S. Navy diesel landing ship built in 1944, machinery or diesel-exhaust insulation, gaskets, packing, electrical insulation, and deck covering are possible class/era application categories, but none is documented aboard this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1960
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce (1944); ship's company (1944-46); barge-conversion and towboat workers (1947-60)
- Limitations
- Possible categories only - not a finding that asbestos was installed aboard LSM-78. The cited sources do not identify asbestos or insulation composition; no quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation is established. Diesel plant - no boiler/turbine lagging pathway.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-07
-
[8]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 (HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-02) - program description per batch-98 verification
- 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) and naval service (1944-46).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979 (report); era context 1944-46 for this hull
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and ship's company (program context)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. LSM-78 is not named. Does not establish materials aboard this hull, individual exposure, quantity, or present-day presence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-08
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 via /Users/charlesfletcher/devin-prompts/cl-auth-search.py [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger sl-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-08, -09, -10; authenticated exact-name and hull-number queries (opinions completed; dockets blocked)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Authenticated CourtListener searches located no qualifying asbestos litigation naming USS LSM-78: the exact-name opinion query ('USS LSM-78') returned a single result - Tyrone Berry v. State, Texas Court of Appeals 14th District (2015), a criminal appeal and text collision; the hull-number opinion query ('LSM-78') returned 30 results, all text collisions or unrelated matters (e.g., 'Leisure Sports Management', patent and docket references). All were classified as name/text collisions or other litigation and excluded. The docket (type=r) query for 'LSM-78' was paced out by the fleet-wide CourtListener rate budget and is logged as blocked, not a negative result.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- A search result, not proof that no unindexed or non-text-linked case exists; the docket sweep is an open item (pacer-blocked at session end). The returned matches do not identify this vessel, its crew, or asbestos exposure aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-09
-
[10]Source-review negative across the sources listed in the search ledger [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-01 through -13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No ship-specific asbestos documentation was located in the public sources reviewed: the live NavSource hull page, the official NHHC 1 May 1945 fleet organization record (archived), the NavSource-hosted Nagasaki action report, the UNB heritage record, and the completed CourtListener opinion searches contain no asbestos survey, insulation-material statement, abatement record, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos litigation record for LSM-78.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- A negative public-source finding is not proof that asbestos was absent - a 1944 Navy hull sits inside the documented asbestos-use era. Non-digitized Navy, shipyard, MARAD/disposal, barge-conversion, and Canadian records may contain additional evidence. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-10
-
[11]NavSource Online, Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LSM-78 hull page [other_primary]
- Locator
- Hull page chronology ('Laid down, 5 August 1944, at Brown Ship Building Co., Houston, TX. Launched, 30 August 1944. Commissioned USS LSM-78, 27 September 1944 at Houston, TX., LT. Hugh C. McFarlane USNR in command'); history extract credited to LSM-LSMR Amphibious Forces Vol. II (Turner Publishing, 1997)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LSM-78 was laid down 5 August 1944 at Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas; launched 30 August 1944; and commissioned as USS LSM-78 on 27 September 1944 at Houston with Lt. Hugh C. McFarlane, USNR, in command.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce (1944); commissioning crew
- Limitations
- Establishes construction and commissioning identity. NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation; the page documents no asbestos, insulation composition, hazmat condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lsm-78-lsm78-01