Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]DANFS, LST-1049 (NHHC live page, verified loading 2026-10-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS page for LST-1049, full entry text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'LST-1049 was laid down on 14 January 1945 at Pittsburgh, Pa., by the Dravo Corp.; launched on 24 February 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Walter Malec; and commissioned on 30 March 1945, Lt. Sheldon Potter, III, USNR, in command. Following World War II, LST-1049 performed occupation duty in the Far East until mid-April 1946. She was decommissioned on 18 July 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 19 February 1948. On 1 July 1949, the ship was sold to the Townsend Transportation Co., Bayonne, N.J.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1949
- Population
- Dravo Neville Island construction trades (Jan-Mar 1945); ship's company and embarked troops (Mar 1945-Jul 1946); Townsend Transportation post-sale workforce (1949)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; contains no asbestos or material content. DANFS entry is brief (bare hull record) - it does not document commissioning location, wartime itinerary, battle stars, or post-sale fate. Live page verified this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-01
-
[2]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-1049 (10/16/161049) - designation, unit assignments, occupation-service window, awards, specifications, commanding officers, photo captions (live navsource.net page verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/161049.htm header block, awards block, specifications block, commanding-officers table, photo captions; linked subpages 161049c.htm (crew roster), 161049h.htm (honor roll)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline and spec block for this hull: LST-542 class tank landing ship; laid down 14 January 1945 at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA; launched 24 February 1945; commissioned USS LST-1049 30 March 1945, Lt. Sheldon Potter III USNR in command; assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater - LST Flotilla 33 (CAPT C. A. Legg USN), LST Group 99 (CDR W. W. Johnson USN), LST Division 197; assigned to occupation service in the Far East 21 December 1945 - 12 April 1946; decommissioned 18 July 1946; struck from the Naval Register 19 February 1948; sold 1 July 1949 to Townsend Transportation Co., Bayonne, NJ - fate unknown. Awards: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp); no battle stars shown. Spec block: 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full load; 328 ft o.a.; beam 50 ft; 11.6 kt trial; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted plus troops 16 officers / 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP; armament 2 twin 40mm with Mk 51 directors, 4 single 40mm, 12 single 20mm; propulsion two General Motors 12-567A 900-hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, three diesel-drive 100 kW 230 V DC generators, two shafts 1,700 shp, twin rudders. Five commanding officers listed (Potter; Heed; Burd; Kenaley; Whipple) spanning 30 March 1945 - 18 July 1946. Photo captions document: the commissioning crew at Camp Bradford, Norfolk VA, February 1945 (pre-commissioning training); the ship entering San Francisco Bay circa 1946 flying a 'Homeward Bound' pennant (Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum photo); and a crew member's handwritten list of ports visited (William H. Barth Jr., RM3/c).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1949
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1945); ship's company 13 officers/104 enlisted plus embarked troops; occupation-duty crew reduced to 5 officers/74 enlisted; post-sale commercial handlers
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry; milestone dates track DANFS and are consistent with it here. Contains no asbestos content. Contributed photographs and captions are family-donated and are not official records; the February 1945 Camp Bradford caption predates commissioning and reflects crew training. 'Fate unknown' means post-sale disposition is undocumented, not that the hull survives.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-02
-
[3]NavSource-hosted contributed transcription: 'U.S.S. LST-1049 Quartermaster's Log' by Quartermaster Joseph A. LaVigne (ship's diary, March 1945 - January 1946; live page verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/161049l.htm, full transcribed entries
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A first-person ship's log covering this hull 20 March 1945 - 4 January 1946: crew 4852 came aboard at Pittsburgh PA 20 Mar; down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans; docked at the Commissioning Detail, Naval Repair Base, New Orleans 30 Mar; repairs at Pendleton Repair Yards; two-week shakedown at Saint Andrew Bay, FL (12-26 Apr); loaded supplies and ammunition at New Orleans; embarked Coast Guard cutter 83528; Panama Canal transit 15 May; San Pedro CA 28 May; Pearl Harbor 11 Jun; loaded Army trucks and jeeps at Kewalo Basin 16 Jun; departed 18 Jun in convoy with LSTs 873, 902, 1123 for Eniwetok (30 Jun); Saipan 11-22 Jul; joined a 73-ship convoy for Okinawa, anchored 28 Jul, discharged passengers and cargo 28-29 Jul (during a smoke screen 30 Jul); Saipan Aug 11; convoy of 13 LSTs to Leyte, San Pedro Bay 10 Sep; beached at Bugo, Mindanao 1 Oct, embarked a tank repair unit (168 men, 9 officers); San Fernando, Lingayen Gulf 18 Oct; convoyed to Hiro Wan, Honshu, arrived via Bungo Suido 26 Oct, beached at Hiro airstrip 27 Oct ('the most difficult beaching this ship has ever made'), discharged the repair unit; Saipan/Tanapag Nov 7-9; Guam 28 Nov - 5 Dec where the crew was reduced to a peacetime complement of 74 men and 5 officers from 105 men and 9 officers; Ponape, Caroline Islands 10-13 Dec, embarked 546 Japanese repatriates (536 civilians, 10 Army) for return to Japan - two births aboard en route, one infant death; Saipan 18 Dec; anchored near Yokohama 24 Dec and unloaded the passengers; remained in the Yokohama area (Tokyo, Yokosuka, Uraga) until 4 Jan 1946.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-03-20 to 1946-01-04
- Population
- Ship's company (105 enlisted / 9 officers wartime; 74 enlisted / 5 officers after Nov 1945 reduction); embarked Army tank-repair-unit troops; 546 Japanese repatriates carried Dec 1945
- Limitations
- Contributed personal diary transcription hosted on NavSource, not the official deck log - single-source for itinerary details; ends January 1946 (the author left the ship on emergency leave), so the April 1946 end of occupation service and the July 1946 decommissioning site are outside its coverage. Internally inconsistent once: unit loaded at Bugo is written '540th TANK REPAIR UNIT' (2 Oct) but '504th TANK REPAIR UNIT' at the Hiro unloading (27 Oct) - unit number unresolved. Consistent in outline with DANFS and the NavSource timeline. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-03
-
[4]War Manpower Commission, Bureau of Training, Apprentice-Training Service, 'The National Apprenticeship Program' (U.S. GPO, 1945), via govinfo (live page verified 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- GovInfo GOVPUB-PR32_5200 HTML: apprenticeable-trades list ('Asbestos worker ... 4'); 'Other Publications' list, final page
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Two facts documented in one 1945 federal publication: (1) 'Asbestos worker' appears in the bulletin's apprenticeable-trades list as a recognized 4-year apprenticeship trade in the wartime economy, alongside shipbuilding trades (shipfitter, shipwright, ship carpenter, shipyard machinist, shipyard rigger); (2) the bulletin's publications list includes 'TRAINING TO MAKE SHIPS: Training program to build Landing-Ship-Tanks, adopted by Dravo Corporation in its shipyard at Neville Island, Pa.' - i.e., the War Manpower Commission published a dedicated LST-construction training study for the yard that built this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Wartime shipbuilding apprentices; Dravo Neville Island LST-construction workforce
- Limitations
- The bulletin does NOT state that Dravo employed asbestos workers or that asbestos was installed aboard LST-1049 - the trade-list entry and the Dravo publication title are separate items in the same document; their combination supports era context only. The referenced Dravo training publication itself is not digitized and its content was not reviewed. No material schedule, no quantity, no individual exposure data.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-04
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[5]Era inference built on: NavSource specification block for this hull (2x GM 12-567A diesels, Falk gears, diesel-drive generators - no steam plant); DANFS construction dates (built Jan-Mar 1945); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-use era (see ev-06); War Manpower Commission 1945 trades/publications list (see ev-04); class profile lst-1-class (LST-542 design group, diesel propulsion) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/161049.htm specifications block; DANFS LST-1049 entry; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; govinfo GOVPUB-PR32_5200
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LST-542-class hull built January-March 1945 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a diesel amphibious hull of this type and period were engine and exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and valve packing, accommodation insulation, interior deck coverings, and electrical insulation in the confined hull volume. As a diesel ship she carried no boilers - the boiler/steam-line lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply; her asbestos-relevant systems concentrate in the engine room, accommodation spaces, and deck coverings.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1949 (documented); post-1949 undocumented
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1945); ship's company and embarked troops (1945-46); Townsend Transportation post-sale workforce (1949); any subsequent scrapping or conversion crews (undocumented)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation schedule, material list, work package, or survey located for LST-1049. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull. The ship's 1949 commercial sale predates modern ACM-handling regulation; any material fate is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-05
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[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, HTTP 403)
- 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 (Jan-Mar 1945) and Navy service era (1945-46).
- 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 returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch, confirmed 2026-10-02) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-06
-
[7]NARA catalog: 'COM LST GR 99 - War Diary, 6/1-30/45' (NAID 77464508); 'COM LST GR 99 - War Diary, 4/12-30/45' (NAID 139994416); 'COM LST GR 99 - War Diary, 9/1-30/45' (NAID 77562706) - WW II Pacific command war diaries for this hull's documented parent unit (LST Group 99 per NavSource) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov NAIDs 77464508, 139994416, 77562706 (COM LST GR 99 war diaries); archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online (digitized index - LST-1049 absent); history.navy.mil deck-log access page
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA catalog metadata shows digitized command war diaries for Commander, LST Group 99 - this hull's documented parent unit - covering April, June, and September 1945, windows that include her Eniwetok-bound convoy (18 Jun) and the Saipan-to-Leyte convoy (3 Sep). These group-level war diaries are the nearest digitized primary operational records to this hull's wartime service; the ship's own deck logs (1945-46) do not appear in the NARA digitized deck-log index and remain at NARA College Park in RG 24 (NHHC deck-log access guidance covers 1941-1983).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- LST Group 99 ship's companies and staffs (1945); this hull's crew within the group
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: the war diaries are group-level records - individual LST-1049 mentions are not verified until the diaries are opened; catalog metadata was confirmed via the NARA catalog search API this session but page-level content was not reviewed. Hull-specific deck logs exist in RG 24 but are undigitized. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-07
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[8]Batch-6537 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS (live); NavSource main page, quartermaster's log, honor roll and crew-roster subpages (live); CourtListener API v4 (4 queries, zero qualifying hits); NARA catalog search API; govinfo WMC 1945 bulletin; GAO product page (403); NVR (no entry); NIOSH/CDC Stacks and OSHRC records for the builder yard (no asbestos content); secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-01 through -16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS LST-1049 / LST-1049 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener was searched successfully this session - four authenticated queries (opinion and docket indexes, exact name and hull-number variants) returned zero qualifying results: 'USS LST-1049' and '"LST 1049" OR "L.S.T. 1049"' phrase queries returned 0 hits; unquoted 'LST-1049' returned 34 opinion and 1,256 docket hits that are token-level noise on '1049' (case numbers and statute sections) with no literal ship reference in any returned snippet. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos aboard' material is law-firm marketing content (gpwlaw.com, asbestos-ships.com, mesotheliomahope.com and similar listicles) asserting asbestos aboard WWII ships 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 - era-consistent asbestos use aboard a 1945 amphibious hull is a reasonable inference, not a ship-proven fact. Undigitized RG 24 deck logs, Dravo builder records, and any Townsend Transportation post-sale or scrapping records are open archival leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-1049-lst1049-08