Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet 714-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-716-lst716-pkt-714-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-716 - construction, sponsor, commissioning, Iwo Jima and Okinawa Gunto operations, occupation/China service, decommissioning, Lend-Lease transfer to the Republic of China, striking, battle stars (archived Wayback capture 2025-12-09 of the NHHC page; live URL returned 404 on 2026-10-02) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-716 entry, service narrative (published 2015-08-03)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: laid down 16 June 1944 at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co.; launched 25 July 1944; sponsored by Miss Nancy L. Duggins; commissioned 18 August 1944, Lt. Richard H. Perry in command. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; participated in the assault and occupation of Iwo Jima (February 1945) and of Okinawa Gunto (May and June 1945). Postwar occupation duty in the Far East and China service until early June 1946; decommissioned 12 June 1946; transferred to the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China under lend-lease 7 February 1948; struck from the Navy list 12 March 1948. Earned two battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Jeffersonville Boat & Machine construction trades (1944); crew (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; contains no asbestos or material content. Live NHHC DANFS page returned 404 on 2026-10-02 (standing NHHC link-rot defect also noted in BATCH-01) - the archived Wayback capture of 2025-12-09 is cited and labeled as archived. Launch date conflicts with NavSource (24 July) - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-716 - designation timeline, flotilla/group/division assignments, campaign dates, occupation and China service periods, specifications, commanding officers, NARA-captioned photography (verified live 2026-10-02) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160716.htm header block, campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, commanding-officer table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: LST-542 class; laid down 16 June 1944 at Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville, IN; launched 24 July 1944; commissioned USS LST-716, 18 August 1944, LT. Richard H. Perry USNR in command. WWII Asiatic-Pacific assignment: LST Flotilla Twenty-One (CAPT. W. H. Brereton USN), LST Group Sixty-One (CAPT. R. M. MacKinnon USN), LST Division One Hundred Twenty-Two. Campaigns: Iwo Jima assault and occupation 19-26 February 1945; Okinawa Gunto assault and occupation 2 May-30 June 1945. Occupation service 20 September-2 October 1945, 18 October-5 November 1945, 26 December 1945-12 June 1946; China Service Medal (extended) 26 December 1945-12 June 1946. Decommissioned 12 June 1946; transferred 7 February 1948 to the Republic of China under the Lend-Lease Act, named ROCS Chung Chien (LST-205); struck from the Naval Register 12 March 1948; two battle stars; 'Final Disposition, fate unknown.' Specifications: 328 ft oa, 50 ft beam; two GM 12-567A 900hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, two propellers 1,700 shp, twin rudders; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troop accommodations 16 officers / 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP. Commanding officers: LT Richard H. Perry USNR (18 Aug 1944-28 Nov 1944); LT Patrick Henry Shea USNR (28 Nov 1944-Dec 1945); LTjg. James J. McDermott USNR (Dec 1945-12 Jun 1946). Photography includes NARA-captioned images placing the ship in the Iwo Jima bombardment group 19 February 1945 (NAID 205585242 / 26-G-4475, USCG photo) and shipping off Iwo Jima 20 February 1945 (80-G-0311363, NHHC collections), plus a 6x6 of the 6th Reconnaissance Group disembarking at Okinawa 26 July 1945, and ROC-era photographs including ROCS Chung Chien at Xinbin Barracks 17 May 2013.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-2013
- Population
- Jeffersonville Boat & Machine construction trades (1944); crew (1944-46); embarked troops; ROC Navy crew (1948-present if still in service)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track DANFS/NVR but conflict on the launch date (24 vs DANFS's 25 July - see gaps). 'Final Disposition, fate unknown' is the US-side summary only; the hull is well documented in ROC Navy service. Contains no asbestos content; no hazmat or material record for the hull was located here.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-02
-
[4]The National WWII Museum Digital Collections, oral history of Joseph Barger (machinist's mate, USS LST-716, June 1944-1946) - biographical narrative and annotations (verified live 2026-10-02) [museum_official]
- Locator
- National WWII Museum Digital Collections, Joseph Barger oral history, biographical narrative + segment annotations
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Crew-level testimony for this hull: Joseph Barger joined the Navy in 1943 at 17, trained at Great Lakes, and was sent to Jeffersonville, Indiana to board USS LST-716, serving aboard from June 1944 as a machinist's mate in the engine rooms. His account documents the shakedown route down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal, amphibious training in Hawaii, four days unloading supplies and LVTs at Iwo Jima (where he witnessed a kamikaze strike on USS Birmingham (CL-62) alongside and the ship nearly sinking in weather), repair before Okinawa, supply and personnel runs there, transporting Ernie Pyle ashore before his death, anchoring in Japan after the surrender, prisoner-recovery and supply trips around China, and turning the ship over to the Chinese before he returned to the US and was discharged in October 1946.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- LST-716 engine-room crew (1944-46); machinist's mates and engineering watchstanders
- Limitations
- Oral-history recollection recorded ~60 years after events: establishes that a named enlisted man worked in this hull's engine room 1944-46 and the operational detail above. It is NOT an exposure record - the interview contains no asbestos or material content, and this record makes no exposure claim for Barger or any individual. His 'transferred to the Chinese government in 1946' phrasing reflects the decommissioning-year handover window; the formal Lend-Lease transfer is documented as 7 February 1948 (DANFS). The Ernie Pyle detail is carried as his recollection only - Pyle was killed on Ie Shima 18 April 1945, before this hull's documented Okinawa campaign window (2 May onward), so either the ship was in the area before her credited dates or the recollection compresses events.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-03
-
[5]Republic of China Navy official website, 'Chung Hai-class tank landing ships' ship-introduction page (updated 2024-04-12), corroborated by secondary hull-level reporting (navypedia Chung Hai class page; warsearcher ROCN landing-ships survey; Taiwan op-ed of January 2023) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navy.mnd.gov.tw Chung Hai-class page (AID=30037, updated 2024-04-12); navypedia.org/ships/taiwan/tai_ls_zhongcheng.htm; warsearcher.com ROCN landing ships; chaoyisun.pixnet.net op-ed 2023-01-31
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Disposition follow-through for this hull: the ROC Navy's official website still carries the Chung Hai class (ex-USN LSTs transferred from 1946 onward) as a current ship type homeported at Zuoying under the 151st Fleet, tasked with offshore-island personnel/vehicle/fuel/water resupply and wartime amphibious, infiltration-resupply, logistics, and sea-borne replenishment missions - page updated 2024-04-12. Secondary sources name the individual hull ROCS Chung Chien (LST-205), ex-USS LST-716, among the remaining in-service Chung Hai-class ships (navypedia 'in service (2019)'; warsearcher 'still active as of 2021'; a January 2023 Taiwan commentary lists '中建 (205)' among five WWII-era hulls still in service and argues for their retirement). No decommissioning notice for LST-205 was located; if still in service she is among the oldest active naval vessels in the world.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1948-2024
- Population
- ROC Navy crew of Chung Chien (LST-205) and ROC shipyard/depot workers maintaining her (1948-present)
- Limitations
- The official ROCN page is class-level - it does not name hulls; the hull-level identification of LST-205 as still in service rests on secondary sources, none more recent than January 2023, plus the ROCN's continued class listing as of April 2024. Status could have changed since; no 2024-26 hull-specific status statement located. No asbestos, material, survey, or hazmat content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-04
-
[6]Consolidated era inference - NavSource specifications block for this hull (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, no boilers); BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 2 LST design data (via class profile lst-1-class, accessed 2026-09-16); era amphibious-ship construction practice [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160716.htm specifications block; class profile lst-1-class.class.json evidence ev-lst-1-class-01/-03
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- An LST-542-class diesel tank landing ship built in 1944 sits inside the wartime naval-construction asbestos era. Diesel-powered (two GM 12-567A engines, no boilers), so the steam-plant lagging pathway does not apply; the era-standard asbestos-relevant applications aboard a ship of this type and period were diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal and acoustic insulation, deck coverings and tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, valve packing, and winch/crane brake linings. The hull's ~80-year service life to date implies repeated ROC Navy refits; whether 1944-era materials survive aboard is undocumented.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-present
- Population
- Jeffersonville Boat & Machine construction trades (1944); US crew (1944-46); ROC Navy crew and yard workers (1948-present)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or refit record located for LST-716 or for ROC Navy LST-205. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity; no manufacturer attribution. The BuShips SDB-1945 v2 scan previously cited (shipscribe.com) now returns 404 and is not relied on as a URL.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-05
-
[7]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 US construction (1944) and service era (1944-46), and the era in which she and her class were built.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- 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. gao.gov blocks automated fetch sitewide (HTTP 403 on product page and full text, confirmed 2026-10-02); description corroborated by prior batch retrievals of the same product page (BATCH-01, BATCH-98, class profile lst-1-class accessed 2026-09-16).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-06
-
[8]Indiana Department of Environmental Management, State Cleanup Program - 'Further Site Investigation Work Plan, Old JB LLC Property (the Jeffboat site), 1030 East Market Street, Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana' (Linebach Funkhouser Inc. for American Commercial Barge Line, April 4, 2023; IDEM State Cleanup Site #0001106) [other_primary]
- Locator
- IDEM document ecm.idem.in.gov dDocName=83463891, FSIWP text (site history, analyte list, engineered-controls section)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Government environmental record for this hull's builder site: the ~74-acre former Jeffersonville Boat & Machine (Jeffboat) yard launched its final barge 23 April 2018 and was decommissioned; it is now in the IDEM State Cleanup Program for residual contaminants of historic operations. The work plan targets VOCs, PAHs, 8 RCRA metals including hexavalent chromium, PCBs (PCB-1254), and total petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater across the former industrial site, with engineered controls (buildings, pavement, clean fill) to manage residual contaminants pending redevelopment.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2018-2023
- Population
- Former Jeffboat site; redevelopment/construction workers; neighboring mixed-use parcels
- Limitations
- Site-level environmental record, not a hull record and not an asbestos record: it documents the builder yard's post-2018 cleanup status and lists asbestos among NEITHER the analytes NOR the site history - a documented scope limitation, not evidence for or against asbestos use at the yard or aboard this hull. The WWII construction-era record for the site is absent from this document.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-07
-
[9]NARA photographs referenced in NavSource captions: NAID 205585242 (local ID 26-G-4475, USCG photo, Iwo Jima bombardment 19 Feb 1945) and 80-G-0311363 (NHHC collections, shipping off Iwo Jima 20 Feb 1945); plus fold3-sourced Okinawa 26 July 1945 photo; RG 24 deck logs undigitized [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160716.htm photo captions (images 1016071603, 1016071605, 1016071602); NARA catalog NAID 205585242; RG 24 deck logs (undigitized)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads documenting this hull's physical presence at the Iwo Jima landings (19-20 February 1945) and at Okinawa (26 July 1945): two NARA-held photographs are identified by NAID/local ID in NavSource captions, and a third image (6x6 of the 6th Reconnaissance Group disembarking, Okinawa) is credited to fold3.com. RG 24 deck logs for this hull are the natural next record group for underway/maintenance detail but are not digitized.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Crew and embarked troops at Iwo Jima/Okinawa (1945)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: photographs establish presence, not materials or work performed. The NARA catalog is JS-rendered and could not be independently fetched this session - NAID and caption metadata transcribed via NavSource; direct catalog verification remains open. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-08
-
[10]Batch-7246 search ledger (this record): DANFS via Wayback; NavSource; National WWII Museum oral history; ROC Navy official class page; IDEM Jeffboat site record; GAO product page (blocked); CourtListener authenticated API (opinion + docket searches); secondary web sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-716-01 through -14
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, museum/operator material disclosure, or docketed case naming USS LST-716 (or ROCS Chung Chien / LST-205) was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener (authenticated API, 2026-10-02) returned zero results for the quoted hull designation in BOTH the opinion index and the RECAP docket index; the unquoted opinion query returned 113 hits that are all reporter-citation noise (e.g., '716 S.W.2d'), not vessel references - a documented name-collision class for numeric hull designations. The only 'asbestos aboard LSTs' material on the open web is law-firm marketing content asserting asbestos 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 - the hull's era and class sit inside documented Navy-wide asbestos use (ev-06), and a ship still in service for ~80 years could equally have shed or retained era materials; no survey exists either way. US-side litigation indexes also cannot capture ROC Navy-era maintenance or Taiwanese worker claims. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-716-09