Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet 654-packet.md (1 sources cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lst-273-lst273-pkt-654-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), 'LST-273' - live NHHC page [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS LST-273 full entry (live page)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Laid down 24 February 1943 at Ambridge, Pa., by the American Bridge Co.; launched 8 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. W. H. McComb; commissioned 24 September 1943. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater: Marshall Islands operation (occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, January-February 1944; occupation of Eniwetok Atoll, February 1944); capture and occupation of Saipan (June-July 1944); Tinian capture and occupation (July 1944); capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands (September-October 1944); Lingayen Gulf landing (January 1945); assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto (April 1945). Post-war: occupation duty in the Far East until late October 1945; returned to the United States; decommissioned 12 August 1946; struck from the Navy list 8 October 1946; sold 3 November 1947 to Hugo Neu Steel Products Corp., of New York, N.Y. Earned six battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Ship's company (13 officers/104 enlisted spec) plus embarked troops
- Limitations
- Authoritative service history; contains no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material information. Decommission date here (12 August 1946) conflicts by one day with NavSource (13 August 1946) - logged in gaps. Unlike many NHHC LST pages this URL resolved live on 2026-10-02; the verbatim HyperWar transcription of the same entry carries a typographical error reading 'World War I service' for the battle stars - the live NHHC text reads 'World War II'.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-01
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[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-273 - specification block, campaign table, CO roster, awards, and chronology [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net 10/16/160273 - spec block, campaign table, CO roster, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LST-1 Class Tank Landing Ship. Commissioned 24 September 1943, LTjg. John F. James Jr., USNR, in command. Assignment chain: LST Flotilla Thirteen (CAPT. J.G. Sampson USN), LST Group Thirty-Eight (LCDR. M.F. Stiling USNR), LST Division Seventy-Five. Campaign table with date bands: Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls 31 January-8 February 1944; Eniwetok Atoll 17-23 February 1944; Saipan 15 June-28 July 1944; Tinian 24-28 July 1944; southern Palau Islands 6 September-14 October 1944; Lingayen Gulf landing 9 January 1945; Okinawa Gunto 2-15 April 1945. Occupation service in the Far East 22-29 October 1945. Decommissioned 13 August 1946; struck from the Naval Register 8 October 1946; sold for scrapping 3 November 1947 to Hugo Neu Steel Products Corp., New York, N.Y. Six battle stars. Awards: American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (6); WWII Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp); Philippine Presidential Unit Citation; Philippine Liberation Medal (1). CO roster: James (24 Sep 1943-19 Jun 1944); LTjg. Arthur M. Alpert USNR, temporary (19 Jun-2 Jul 1944); LT. Richard W. Harrison USNR (2 Jul 1944-Nov 1945); LTjg. Fred E. Guedry Jr. USNR (Nov 1945-Jun 1946); LTjg. Francis J. Reardon USNR (Jun-13 Aug 1946). Specification block: 2 General Motors 12-567A diesels (900 hp each), single Falk main reduction gears, 3 diesel-drive 100 kW 230V D.C. ship's service generators, twin propellers 1,700 shp, 11.6 knots trial - a diesel plant with no boilers. Complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troop accommodations 16 officers / 147 enlisted; call sign NQEZ. Photo captions document LCT(6)-935 loaded aboard 21 December 1943 (Ref. USS LST-273 War Diary, 12/1-31/43, National Archives Identifier 7826368) and the ship off Saipan 16 June 1944 (NARA Tape No. NPC-114-4435).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1947
- Population
- Ship's company (13 officers/104 enlisted spec) plus embarked troops (16 officers/147 enlisted capacity)
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled archival page quoting Navy sources; consistent with DANFS where they overlap and more precise on campaign date bands and the CO roster. Decommission date (13 August 1946) conflicts by one day with DANFS (12 August 1946) - logged in gaps. Spec data are equipment descriptions only - no asbestos, insulation, or hazardous-material information. Archive-caption NARA identifiers are leads cited via this page (see ev-06), not independently opened.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-02
-
[4]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, 'Antidotical [anecdotal] history of LST-273' - crew memoir by Melvin W. Johnson, ICC(SSN)(SSGN), USN Ret. [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net 10/16/160273a - anecdotal history text
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A first-person crew memoir records that in 1945 the ship was refitted at Portland, Oregon, then sailed to Pearl Harbor and onward to Auckland, New Zealand, via New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, and Rendova, delivering surplus materiel; the tank deck was then converted to bunking for some 275 POWs carried to Apra Harbor, Guam, for POW camps and possible war-crimes processing. The memoir also records the surrender of a Japanese destroyer northeast of Guam after the war's end (a prize crew took her into Apra Harbor), sighting the burned-out USS Franklin after the Okinawa kamikaze strikes, and a Disney-authorized 'Galloping Green Ghost' painting on both sides of the flying bridge.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- One documented crew member's account (Melvin W. Johnson, ICC, USN Ret.)
- Limitations
- Single-veteran recollection hosted as an anecdotal page; not an official record and not independently verified to a primary source this session. The POW-repatriation episode is consistent with the class-profile notation that LST-273 repatriated Japanese prisoners from the Featherston, NZ, POW camp, but the memoir itself does not name the camp. The claimed 1945 Portland refit is a plausible disturbance point for era materials but is unverified; no asbestos or materials content beyond that inference. The 'Galloping Green Ghost' nickname conflicts with the HyperWar type page's 'Gray Ghost' - both informal, carried as aliases only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-03
-
[5]Corn JK, Starr J. 'Historical perspective on asbestos: policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding.' Am J Ind Med 12(4):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Am J Ind Med 12(4):359-373 (1987), DOI 10.1002/ajim.4700120402
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed scholarship documents that WWII-era U.S. shipyards extensively installed asbestos-containing insulation, lagging, and gaskets in naval construction - the era in which this hull was built (1943, at an inland river yard). For a diesel-powered LST with no boilers, the era-relevant applications concentrate in diesel exhaust lagging, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, gaskets and packing, deck coverings, accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings; the claimed 1945 Portland refit and the 1947-48 breakup are potential disturbance endpoints.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1941-1945 (study scope); applied 1943-1948
- Population
- WWII-era shipyard workers (American Bridge Co., Ambridge, 1943); wartime crew; breakup-yard workers (era context)
- Limitations
- Era-level scholarship plus class/type inference; the source does not name this hull or class and does not establish that any specific material aboard this ship contained asbestos. No ship-specific product is verified; the diesel plant (no boilers) narrows the exposure-relevant scope relative to steam vessels.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-04
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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, Highlights section
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program at the Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or when required for repairs, modified in 1979 toward selective replacement in high-maintenance areas. Neither policy could have applied to this hull - she was sold for scrapping on 3 November 1947, roughly 28 years before the first policy issued.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review (not this hull)
- Limitations
- Program-level Navy documentation for era fleet context only; the policies post-date this hull's disposal entirely, so no hull-specific application was possible. Product page verified live 2026-10-02 (previously 403-blocked to automated fetches in earlier batches); full report PDF linked on the page was not opened.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-05
-
[7]NavSource photo captions citing USS LST-273 War Diary 12/1-31/43 (National Archives Identifier 7826368), still image 428-NPC-2098, and NARA Tape NPC-114-4435 [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net 10/16/160273 photo-caption block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NavSource archive captions identify hull-specific NARA holdings: 'USS LST-273 - War Diary, 12/1-31/43' under National Archives Identifier 7826368, a still image of 'Building of LCT-6' (Identifier 428-NPC-2098, Local ID 428-NPC-2098), and a photo of the ship off Saipan 16 June 1944 (NARA Tape No. NPC-114-4435). RG 24 (Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations) deck logs for this hull are the corresponding primary record; the NARA catalog did not return a parseable response this session, so per-hull digitization status is unconfirmed.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1945 (records); 2026-10-02 (access attempt)
- Limitations
- Identifiers are cited as printed in NavSource captions; the underlying NARA records were not opened this session (catalog.archives.gov search and record pages returned no parseable content to automated fetches). War diaries and deck logs are administrative records - they may contain material/repair information but are not asbestos documentation unless inspected.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-06
-
[8]Batch-6810 search ledger (this record): live NHHC DANFS page; HyperWar mirror; NavSource 160273 and 160273a; CourtListener API v4 (opinion and docket searches) and web index; NVR; NARA catalog; LOC Veterans History Project; shipyards.json cross-check; general web search [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-273-lst273-01 through sl-uss-lst-273-lst273-14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming USS LST-273 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener API v4 returned zero opinions for exact phrase 'USS LST-273', zero for 'LST-273' qualified by asbestos, and zero dockets for 'LST-273'; the unqualified 'LST-273' opinion query returned 153 hits consisting of name collisions only ('LST I LLC'/'LST II LLC' entities, reporter and patent-number matches) - no qualifying or other litigation naming this hull.
- 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 1943-built LST is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. CourtListener coverage is opinion- and docket-metadata level; state-court and unindexed filings are outside the sweep.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-273-lst273-07