Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet 671-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lst-392-lst392-pkt-671-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), LST-392 entry, Naval History and Heritage Command (live page verified 2026-10-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS L-entry single-page text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LST-392 was laid down 14 July 1942 at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched 28 October 1942, sponsored by Miss Jane Lewis Irvine; commissioned 7 December 1942, Lt. Louis R. Lemaire, Jr., USNR, in command. Assigned to the European theater; participated in the Tunisian operations (May-July 1943), Sicilian occupation (July 1943), Salerno landings (September 1943), and the invasion of Normandy (June 1944). Decommissioned 12 April 1946; struck from the Navy list 19 June 1946; sold 8 October 1947 to H. H. Buncher Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., and subsequently scrapped. Earned four battle stars for WWII service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1942-1947
- Population
- Ship's company 1942-1946 (complement ~13 officers/104 enlisted per NavSource)
- Limitations
- Official Navy history establishes identity, milestones, and campaign service; contains no asbestos information and no construction material detail. Does not establish any exposure condition.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-392 page (10/16/160392; page updated 20 December 2024; verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page narrative block + specifications block + commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Detailed timeline beyond DANFS: training ship in Chesapeake Bay December 1942-February 1943; departed for North Africa February 1943; outfitted to carry railroad rolling stock for the Normandy campaign; made 55 trips between England and France June 1944-April 1945; first LST to enter Cherbourg Harbor before minesweeping was complete, landing the first rail cars brought to France from England after the invasion; returned to the U.S. April 1945 and converted to an Ordnance Installation Ship; reached Pearl Harbor 2 August 1945, returned to the U.S. after Japan's surrender, and re-converted to a standard LST. Commanding officers: LT Lemaire (Dec 1942-Dec 1943), LT Walker (Dec 1943-May 1945), LT Blalock (May-Dec 1945), LT Watkins (Dec 1945-12 Apr 1946). Specifications: 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full load; 328 ft o.a.; 50 ft beam; 11.6 kt; complement 13 officers/104 enlisted + 16 officers/147 enlisted troops; propulsion two GM 12-567A 900 hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, three diesel-driven 100 kW 230 V DC generators, two propellers at 1,700 shp.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Ship's company 1942-1946; embarked troops
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained archive transcribing official records and veteran contributions; campaign dates and milestones concur with DANFS where they overlap, but the Chesapeake training period, 55-crossing figure, Cherbourg-first claim, and Ordnance Installation Ship conversion are NavSource-only detail not in the DANFS text. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-02
-
[4]NHHC photograph record 80-G-46414, 'USS LST-392' (verified live 2026-10-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC online image catalog entry 80-G-46414
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy photograph of LST-392 delivering loaded U.S. Army railroad cars to a beachhead in France during the Allied campaign there, summer 1944; photograph received by the Navy Photo Science Laboratory on 13 September 1944; now in the collections of the National Archives. Corroborates the rail-carrying conversion described by NavSource.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- Photo-catalog record only - corroborates the railroad-car mission; contains no information about materials, conditions, or asbestos aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-03
-
[5]NavSource photo caption (image 1016039207): 'Noted newspaper reporter Ernie Pyle with soldiers and sailors aboard USS LST-392' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource image 1016039207 caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- War correspondent Ernie Pyle was photographed with soldiers and sailors aboard LST-392 (date and location not given in the caption). Pyle's published wartime account identifies 'LST 392' as the ship on which he came to France (Normandy crossing, June 1944).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944
- Limitations
- Caption-level documentation of Pyle's presence aboard; the crossing detail rests on Pyle's published account (Brave Men, 1944), whose text was not re-verified in the primary source this session. Vessel-history color only - no exposure claim for any individual.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-04
-
[6]GAO HRD-80-2, report on Navy asbestos exposure control (published 18 October 1979, released 22 October 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page Highlights block
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO reviewed the Navy's efforts to protect workers from asbestos exposure at the Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards, covering 'the use of asbestos in Navy ships, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, and compensation programs for asbestos-related disabilities.' Navy policy in 1975 was to remove asbestos insulation only when damaged or when removal was required for repairs; modified in 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas. Documents that asbestos insulation was endemic aboard U.S. Navy ships of this hull's era and that the Navy managed it as a known hazard.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1975-1979 policy era describing earlier use
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers and fleet (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; fieldwork yards were Long Beach and Norfolk, not this hull's builder or any LST. LST-392 was scrapped in 1947, decades before the surveyed policy era - the row establishes era/class asbestos context only, never a hull condition. gao.gov returns 403 to plain curl; page text verified via rendered fetch 2026-10-02; full-text PDF linked from product page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-05
-
[7]White v. Johns-Manville Corp., 662 F.2d 243 (4th Cir. 1981) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion caption and procedural text, 662 F.2d 243
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Newport News Shipbuilding employees sued asbestos product manufacturers (Johns-Manville, Owens-Corning as Kaylo successor, Pittsburgh Corning, Unarco, Celotex, Eagle-Picher, Raybestos-Manhattan, H.K. Porter Thermoid among the parties); NNS appears as third-party defendant. Documents that the builder yard's workforce used and was exposed to asbestos insulation, gasket, and packing product lines during the era covering this hull's 1942 construction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- pre-1981 employment era (covers 1942 build)
- Population
- Newport News Shipbuilding workers (insulators, pipefitters, boilermakers)
- Limitations
- Yard-level litigation, not hull-level: the opinion does not name LST-392 or any vessel and is a procedural/appellate posture, not a merits finding about conditions aboard this ship. Establishes asbestos products in use at the builder only. Justia URL verified via rendered fetch 2026-10-02 (403 to plain curl).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-06
-
[8]Tagnon et al., 'Mesothelioma associated with the shipbuilding industry in coastal Virginia,' Cancer Research 40:3875 (1980), PMID 7471040; and Blot et al., 'Lung and laryngeal cancers in relation to shipyard employment in coastal Virginia,' JNCI 65:571 (1980), PMID 6931936 [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed records 7471040 and 6931936 (verified via NCBI E-utilities)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed epidemiology: four-fold increased mesothelioma incidence among white males in coastal Tidewater Virginia (1972-1978, 61 cases), about three-fourths with shipbuilding employment, excess among WWII temporary workers exposed to asbestos; smoking-adjusted lung cancer RR 1.7 (95% CI 1.2-2.4) for shipyard employment begun before 1950, attributed by the authors to WWII-era shipyard asbestos exposures.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1950-1980 case/employment windows
- Population
- Coastal Virginia shipyard workers including WWII temporary workforce
- Limitations
- Multi-yard Tidewater, VA geographic scope - does not isolate Newport News Shipbuilding as sole or primary yard and does not address conditions aboard any hull built there. PubMed HTML is CAPTCHA-walled to automated fetches; citations verified via NCBI E-utilities (efetch/esummary) 2026-10-02.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-07
-
[9]Batch-6934 search ledger (this record): DANFS/NHHC, NavSource, NVR, NARA catalog, VA BVA, museum-LST hazmat sweep, and CourtListener searches as logged in search_ledger [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-392-lst392-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, government report, or adjudicated case naming LST-392 was found in the sources searched - including verified zero-count CourtListener phrase searches ('USS LST-392', 'LST-392' asbestos) and the docket index. The hull was scrapped in 1947 - before asbestos documentation regimes existed - so no modern record trail was expected and none was found.
- 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 1942 wartime hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing construction. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. CourtListener coverage: authenticated zero-count results on phrase queries and docket index; the broad unquoted query returned only name collisions (documented in ledger).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-08
-
[10]U.S. National Archives holdings for LST-392: WWII deck logs (RG 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1942-1946) and Army Signal Corps photographs referenced in NavSource captions (III-SC-182816, III-SC-182819 at Termini-Imerese, Sicily, 13 Sep 1943; SC-197143 and III-SC-192961 at Cherbourg, 1 Aug 1944); NHHC 80-G-46414 already confirmed in NARA custody [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 24 deck logs (1942-1946); SC photo numbers per NavSource captions
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Unretrieved primary material exists that could carry ship-specific detail: deck logs would document the 1945 Ordnance Installation Ship conversion scope (interior rework - a potential material-disturbance pathway), refit periods, and yard availabilities; the Signal Corps photo series documents the hull in service. catalog.archives.gov is JS-rendered (v2 API requires a key), so NAID-level verification was not possible this session; photo numbers come from NavSource captions citing NARA.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - contents not reviewed. Deck logs do not typically record construction materials; the conversion-scope hypothesis is a lead for asbestos-relevant disturbance detail, not evidence of it.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-392-lst392-09