Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]research packet 702-packet.md (4 sources cited) [museum_official]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED. One corroboration caveat
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Limitations
- qualifier: VERIFIED. One corroboration caveat
- Evidence ID
- uss-lst-636-lst636-pkt-702-packet-md
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[2]DANFS, LST-636 - construction at Chicago Bridge & Iron, Seneca IL; commissioning; Asiatic-Pacific campaigns; occupation and China service; decommissioning, sale, and stricken dates; two battle stars [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 22 May 1944 at Seneca, Ill., by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched 11 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Katherine R. Biehler; commissioned 31 August 1944, Lt. T. M. Hayes, Jr., USNR, in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater: participated in the Lingayen Gulf landing in January 1945 and the Mindanao Island landings in March and April 1945. Performed occupation duty in the Far East and saw service in China until early May 1946. Decommissioned 25 May 1946 (per DANFS - see gaps for the 12 May variant); sold to Bosey, Philippines, on 5 December 1947; struck from the Navy list 23 December 1947. Earned two battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Chicago Bridge & Iron construction trades, Seneca IL (1944); crew (1944-46); embarked troops
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. The entry gives no machinery specification, complement figure, or post-sale disposition. The decommissioning date conflicts with NavSource (12 May 1946) - conflict flagged in gaps; DANFS date carried as the official narrative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-01
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[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-636 - campaign table, occupation/China service periods, commanding-officer roster, LST-542-class specification block, disposal note [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160636.htm header block, campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, CO roster
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull corroborates DANFS and adds granularity: campaigns dated - Luzon operation, Lingayen Gulf landings 4-18 January 1945; Consolidation of the Southern Philippine Islands, Mindanao Island landings 10-12 March and 17-23 April 1945. Postwar service dated - Navy Occupation Service 12 September - 20 October 1945 and 1 December 1945 - 12 May 1946; China Service (extended) 1 December 1945 - 12 May 1946. Decommissioned 12 May 1946 (conflicts with DANFS 25 May 1946 - see gaps); struck from the Naval Register 23 December 1947; sold 5 December 1947 to Bosey, Philippines; 'Final Disposition, fate unknown.' Commanding officers: LT. Thomas M. Hayes, Jr., USNR (31 Aug 1944 - May 1945); LTjg. Gordon E. McCabe, USNR (May 1945 - Feb 1946); LTjg. Eugene M. Harris, USNR (Feb 1946 - 12 May 1946). Class spec block: 2 x GM 12-567A 900hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, 3 diesel-drive 100kW 230V D.C. ship's-service generators, 2 screws 1,700 shp; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troop accommodations 16 officers / 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP; 11.6 kt trial.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Crew (1944-46); embarked troops; Chicago Bridge & Iron construction trades (1944)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestones generally track NVR/DANFS but the decommissioning date conflicts with DANFS (12 vs 25 May 1946; the 12 May date is consistent with the muster-roll end date and the last CO's term end - see gaps). The specification block is class-level data displayed for the hull, not a hull-measured record. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-02
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[4]NARA National Archives Catalog, file unit 'LST-636, 8/31/44-5/12/46' (NAID 126619711), RG 24 Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Series: Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities - 213 digitized images, unrestricted [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 126619711 file-unit page (213 images, Roll 4695); catalog search '"LST-636"' result set
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- This hull's complete crew muster rolls for her entire commissioned life (31 August 1944 - 12 May 1946) are digitized and freely available in the National Archives Catalog: 213 images on microfilm Roll No. 4695, scanned under the Ancestry-NARA collaboration, access unrestricted, paper copy at NARA College Park. NARA catalog search for 'LST-636' (154 hits) additionally surfaces WWII war diaries of COM LST GR 65, the LST group whose records name this hull (Sep 1944 - Jul 1945; NAIDs incl. 139741091, 139807463, 139928734, 633438014, 140053769, 101733162, 101778276), and task-unit operations reports documenting Philippines and Korea-area movements in which she is named.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- All hands carried on the rolls, Aug 1944 - May 1946 (officers and enlisted; embarked troops noted in rolls)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: muster rolls establish who served aboard (a crew-identification pathway for any exposure research), not what materials were aboard; they contain no asbestos information. War-diary hits are unit-level documents that mention the hull in operations, not ship's own logs. No dedicated digitized deck-log file unit for this hull surfaced in the top catalog results - WWII deck logs remain an open lead in the RG 24 logbook series.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-03
-
[5]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. II (NAVSHIPS 250-011, 15 April 1945), LST design table (shipscribe.com scan of the official BuShips publication) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST design table + roster section
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Official BuShips design data for the LST-542-group design this hull was built to: 328 ft overall, 50 ft beam, 2 x General Motors 12-567A diesels approx. 1,700 shp through Falk reduction gears, ~11.6 kt, accommodations approx. 13 officers / 106 enlisted. The plant is diesel - no boilers, no steam propulsion - so the boiler/turbine steam-lagging pathway that dominates asbestos inference for steam combatants does not apply to this hull. Era-standard asbestos applications aboard a 1944 landing ship of this type concentrated instead in engine-room and diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve packing on auxiliary/service systems, deck coverings, and accommodation insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945 (design data)
- Population
- LST construction trades (1944); engine-room and ship's company (era)
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation, not a hull record - the design table does not name this vessel and does not state 'asbestos' content for any system; asbestos presence aboard this hull is era inference, not ship-proven. Does not establish quantity, individual exposure, or present-day presence (hull sold 1947, fate unknown).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-04
-
[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, 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 (1944) and service era (1944-46).
- 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 blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-02) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-05
-
[7]Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The Far East: China, Vol. VII, doc. d1013 - American Consul at Shanghai to Secretary of State, 1 December 1947 (Bosey surplus-sales contract) [other_primary]
- Locator
- FRUS 1947 Vol. VII d1013 (Consul Pilcher despatch 1904, Shanghai, 1 Dec 1947); NavSource sister-hull entries 10/16/160406.htm, 160408.htm, 160427.htm
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The buyer 'Bosey, Philippines' named in DANFS/NavSource was a surplus-property sales agency: FRUS documents that on 25 November 1947 the Central Bank of China concluded a contract with Bosey (General P. Kiang, Chief of Bosey) making it responsible for the sale of the bulk of U.S. surplus property on the Pacific islands - the same month window in which this hull and at least three sister LSTs (LST-406, LST-408, LST-427, all sold to Bosey 5 December 1947 per their DANFS-derived records) went through the disposal pipeline. Bosey functioned as broker/liquidator for China-bound surplus; at least one sister hull sold the same day (LST-406) was reported in Chinese commercial service as late as 1978.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1947
- Population
- Foreign commercial crews and any shipbreakers handling ex-LSTs post-1947 (undocumented for this hull)
- Limitations
- Context only: identifies the buyer and the disposal pathway, not this hull's actual fate - NavSource records her final disposition as unknown; no scrapping or resale record for LST-636 was located. Sister-hull outcomes illustrate the pathway but do not establish this hull's end. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-06
-
[8]Batch-7157 search ledger (this record): DANFS live page; NavSource Amphibious Photo Archive; NARA catalog (muster rolls + COM LST GR 65 war diaries); BuShips Ships' Data 1945 v2 (shipscribe scan); FRUS d1013; GAO product page; CourtListener API v4 (opinions + dockets); secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-636-lst636-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or litigation naming USS LST-636 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener API v4 (authenticated, fleet-paced) returned count: 0 for '"LST-636"' in both the opinion index (type=o) and the docket/RECAP index (type=r) on 2026-10-02 - a clean negative result with no name collisions. Secondary web sweeps surfaced only class-level marketing content (asbestos.com LST/amphibious-ships page - excluded by source policy; it does not name 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 - the hull's fate after the 1947 commercial sale is undocumented, so no disposal or survey record exists to check. Deck logs, builder's material lists, and any post-sale scrapping/merchant records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-636-lst636-07