Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
-
[1]research packet 723-packet.md (2 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-771-lst771-pkt-723-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-771 - construction at American Bridge Co., Ambridge PA; sponsor; commissioning; Okinawa Gunto campaign; occupation duty; decommissioning, striking, and 1947 disposal (live NHHC page, verified 2026-10-03; UA-gated, fetched via Firecrawl; identical text mirrored at ibiblio HyperWar) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative, LST-771 entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'laid down on 5 August 1944 at Ambridge, Pa., by the American Bridge Co.; launched on 21 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Marion Morrow; and commissioned on 18 October 1944, Lt. T. L. Becton in command.' Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto March through June 1945. Post-war occupation duty in the Far East until mid-December 1945; returned to the United States; decommissioned 14 May 1946; struck from the Navy list 5 June 1946; sold 26 September 1947 to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Md., for scrapping. One battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- American Bridge Ambridge construction trades (1944); crew (1944-46); embarked troops
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. DANFS names 'Lt. T. L. Becton' as commissioning CO; NavSource names LT Robert O. Bracken USCG for the entire commission - an unresolved documented conflict (see gaps). DANFS does not name a class in this entry's prose; class assignment (LST-542) comes from NavSource header and standard references.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-771 (10/16/160771.htm, last updated 7 January 2022) - designation, USCG-manning banner, unit assignments, specifications, campaign dates, commanding-officer list, captioned photography (live page, verified 2026-10-03 via Firecrawl) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160771.htm header block, awards/campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, photo captions, commanding-officer list
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource header identifies this hull as an LST-542 Class Tank Landing Ship; page banner: 'USS LST-771 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II'; call sign NGOS. Unit assignment: LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine (CAPT. C. H. Peterson USCG), LST Group Eighty-Seven (CDR. E. Anderson USCG), LST Division One Hundred-Seventy-Three. Campaign table: Okinawa Gunto operation, assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 26 March to 7 June 1945. Navy Occupation Service periods: 15-29 September 1945 and 12 November-23 December 1945. Commissioned 18 October 1944 'LT. Bracken, Robert O. USCG in command'; CO table lists Bracken 18 October 1944 - 14 May 1946 (the entire commission). Specifications: displacement 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full / 2,366 t beaching; 328 ft o.a.; 50 ft beam; 11.6 kt trial; endurance 24,000 mi at 9 kt; complement 13 officers + 104 enlisted; troop accommodations 16 officers + 147 enlisted; two General Motors 12-567A 900-hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, two propellers 1,700 shp, twin rudders, three 100-kW diesel-driven ship-service generators; 2 LCVP. Awards: American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1), World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). Photo captions place the hull at anchor and beached at Kerama Retto during the Okinawa campaign and carrying a wounded 77th Division soldier from the Aka Shima beach (Keramas), and show one of her LCVPs being lowered.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- American Bridge Ambridge construction trades (1944); USCG ship's company (1944-46); embarked troops incl. 10th Army/77th Division elements; Boston Metals shipbreakers (1947-48)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates track DANFS but the spec block is unattributed and armament figures are the class's 'ultimate armament design,' not an outfit record for this hull. Its commissioning-CO name (Bracken USCG) conflicts with DANFS (Becton) - unresolved, see gaps. The Aka Shima casualty photo's ship attribution is NavSource's; NARA's own caption says only 'a Coast Guard-manned LST' (see ev-04). Contains no asbestos content. The 1947 scrapping predates modern ACM-handling regulation; no hazmat or material record for the breakup was located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-02
-
[4]NHHC, 'United States Pacific Fleet Organization, 1 May 1945' - wartime administrative-organization tabulation (live NHHC page, verified 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC online reading room, Pacific Fleet Organization 1 May 1945, LST GROUP 87 / LST DIVISION 173 table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official Pacific Fleet organization list for 1 May 1945 places 'LST 771' in LST GROUP 87 under Comdr. E. Anderson (USCG), within LST DIVISION 173 alongside LSTs 770 (GF), 794, 796, 829, and 885 - corroborating NavSource's unit assignment for this hull with a contemporaneous administrative document, and corroborating the USCG command element of the group (Anderson USCG).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-05-01
- Population
- LST Group 87 / Division 173 staffs and unit crews (1945)
- Limitations
- Administrative unit listing only - establishes the formation assignment on 1 May 1945, not materials, manning detail, or operations. The page's table hyperlinks for these hulls mis-point to the DANFS LST-886 page (a table-generation artifact); the row text itself reads 'LST 771' under LST GROUP 87 / DIVISION 173. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-03
-
[5]NARA still-picture catalog record NAID 205586352 (RG 26, Records of the U.S. Coast Guard; local ID 26-G-4349; USCG photo #4349), 'First Casualty Comes Off Beach in Ryukyus' (live catalog page, verified 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov/id/205586352, image 026-g-075-035-001, original caption text; NavSource 160771.htm photo table for the ship attribution
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Digitized USCG combat photograph documenting an operational moment of the campaign this hull participated in: NARA's original caption reads, 'An American soldier of the 10th Army's 77th Division is the first casualty of the assault into the Ryukyu Island chain close to the Jap homeland. Wounded by a Jap sniper on the beach of Aka Shima in the Keramas, he is carried by Coast Guardsmen through the big bow doors into the tank deck of a Coast Guard-manned LST participating in the operation. The Aka Shima landing was six days before the Easter invasion of Okinawa' (i.e., ~26 March 1945). NavSource captions this same image aboard USS LST-771.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-03
- Population
- USCG ship's company; embarked/wounded 10th Army 77th Division soldier (March 1945)
- Limitations
- Ship attribution rests on NavSource/photo-donor captioning, not on NARA - the catalog's original caption identifies the vessel only as 'a Coast Guard-manned LST.' The attribution is plausible (LST-771 was the type's USCG-manned unit at the Kerama Retto landings per NavSource and the fleet-organization document) but is not established by the primary caption. Operational/photographic context only; no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-04
-
[6]NARA catalog search 'LST-771': 123 digitized file units (fuzzy), all textual records - principally Record Group 38 WWII War Diaries including seven COM LST GR 87 group war diaries, Dec 1944 and Jun-Nov 1945 (e.g., NAID 139807486, COM LST GR 87 War Diary 12/1-31/44) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov search 'LST-771' (123 results, RG 38-dominated; seven COM LST GR 87 diaries listed) and 'USS LST-771' (17 fuzzy results)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Digitized group-level operational records covering this hull's parent formation exist: the NARA catalog returns 123 file units matching 'LST-771,' dominated by the RG 38 WWII War Diaries series - including COM LST GR 87 war diaries for December 1944 (NAID 139807486), June 1945 (77464497), July (83534068), August (77486702), September (77578691), October (77595736), and November 1945 (77584009). LST-771 was a unit of LST Group 87 / Division 173 (NavSource; NHHC fleet-organization document), so these diaries are the primary record series for the ship's movements and operations. The narrower 'USS LST-771' query returns 17 fuzzy units - other units' war diaries, muster rolls, and the RG 24 muster-roll index range covering this hull (NAID 118967604, 'USS LSM-144 to USS LST-1005').
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- LST Group 87 staff and unit crews (1944-45)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: catalog metadata and file-unit titles verified; individual diary contents not read this session - the records name the hull within group rosters and operations, not ship-specific entries. No ship-level USS LST-771 war diary, action report, or digitized RG 24 deck log or muster roll for this hull was located (contrast USCG-manned sibling LST(H)-790, for which a ship-level war diary surfaced). No asbestos content expected in operational diaries.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-05
-
[7]MARAD Vessel History Database, LST-771 (Detail/9503) - stub entry, type 'LST Tank Landing Ship', MARAD type 'Military', fate 'Sold - No Further Info' (live page, verified 2026-10-03) [marad_nrc]
- Locator
- vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov ShipHistory/Detail/9503, all tabs
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- MARAD's vessel-history database carries an entry for this hull that is a bare stub: all specification fields blank, 'Year Built' set to the database's 9999 placeholder, no historical narrative, no images, no status cards, no documents, no milestones. The sole substantive datum is 'Fate: Sold - No Further Info' - consistent with the documented 26 September 1947 sale to Boston Metals Co. (DANFS) but adding no detail.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1947
- Limitations
- Stub-quality record: confirms only that MARAD indexes the hull and codes its fate as a sale. 'Year Built 9999' is a placeholder, not data. No disposal instrument, status card, or builder record attached - unlike sibling LST-753's MARAD entry, which carried launch photographs. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-06
-
[8]Wolsko v. American Bridge Co. et al., 158 Pa. Super. 339, 44 A.2d 873 (1945) - Pennsylvania Superior Court, workmen's-compensation 'premises' appeal (full opinion verified live on Justia 2026-10-03; also listed in CourtListener's Pa. Super. vol. 158 reporter index) [court_record]
- Locator
- 158 Pa. Super. 339, 44 A.2d 873 (1945), Justia full text - Board's findings of fact as recited in the opinion
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- OTHER litigation (non-asbestos): published appellate opinion whose findings of fact document this hull's builder constructing landing ship tanks at the Ambridge yard - the decedent, a 'tester of landing ship tanks,' was killed 28 September 1943 in a 35-foot fall from the bow of landing ship tank No. 286 on the southways of defendant's shipyard, after working the prior night on LST No. 282 on the northways; the yard is described as American Bridge's shipyard 'at Pittsburgh, Pa.' with its employment office in Ambridge a mile away. Contemporaneous court documentation of the same yard building the same ship type about eleven months before LST-771 was laid down there.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- American Bridge Ambridge-area shipyard trades (1943)
- Limitations
- Classified DOWN per litigation-stage discipline: this is not asbestos litigation - a workmen's-compensation coverage dispute with no asbestos, exposure, or product content; it does not name LST-771 (hulls 282 and 286 were earlier Ambridge LSTs). Establishes only builder/yard/product context. Opinion text read in full this session.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-07
-
[9]Era inference built on: DANFS construction record (American Bridge Co., Ambridge, 1944); NavSource specifications (LST-542 class, GM 12-567A diesel plant); Fleischer et al. 1946 PHS survey (ev-09); GAO HRD-80-2 (ev-10) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Fleischer et al. 1946 (PMID 21016030); GAO HRD-80-2 product page; DANFS/NavSource construction and spec records
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A tank landing ship built Aug-Oct 1944 in a Navy-contract yard sits inside the documented wartime asbestos-construction era: the PHS industrial-hygiene survey of pipe covering in naval-vessel construction found amosite asbestos was 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels,' with asbestos cloth and asbestos cement also used; GAO documented asbestos thermal insulation as the Navy's major shipboard asbestos use through the early 1970s. Era-standard applications aboard a diesel landing ship of this type and period were pipe and machinery insulation/lagging, diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets, valve packing, electrical cable insulation, winch/windlass brake linings, and interior finish materials in quarters and mess spaces. Diesel plant - no boilers aboard.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- American Bridge Ambridge construction trades (1944); USCG ship's company (1944-46); Boston Metals shipbreakers (1947-48)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LST-771. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-08
-
[10]Fleischer WE, Viles FJ Jr, Gade RL, Drinker P, 'A health survey of pipe covering operations in constructing naval vessels,' J Ind Hyg Toxicol 1946 Jan;28:9-16 (PMID 21016030) - U.S. Public Health Service industrial-hygiene survey of two Government Navy yards and two Navy contract yards [other_primary]
- Locator
- PubMed record PMID 21016030 (verified via NCBI E-utilities); article text pp. 9-16 (pipe-covering materials section; X-ray results)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- Wartime government survey documenting the asbestos regime inside naval-vessel construction: amosite asbestos was 'an important ingredient of pipe covering material used on U.S. Navy vessels,' valued for low thermal conductivity, light weight, and refractoriness; asbestos cloth and asbestos cement were likewise used. X-ray examination of 1,074 pipe coverers across four yards found three asbestosis cases, each with 20+ years in the trade. Surveyed operations (layout and cutting, band-saw cutting, cement mixing, installing, sewing asbestos cloth, stuffing with amosite) generated the era's principal insulation-trade dust exposure.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (survey era)
- Population
- Navy yard and contract-yard pipe coverers/insulators (wartime)
- Limitations
- Era-level occupational survey, not a hull record: the four yards are anonymized (Navy Yards A-B, Contract Yards C-D), and Ambridge and LSTs are not named - pipe covering was principally a steam-plant application, so the asbestos cloth/cement and general-insulation findings carry the weight for a diesel hull. Does not establish materials aboard this hull, individual exposure, or quantity. Citation metadata re-verified 2026-10-03 via NCBI E-utilities (esummary 21016030); the pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov page itself is reCAPTCHA-gated to automated fetch.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-09
-
[11]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 all Navy ships contained some asbestos in components such as clutches and electric cables, and that asbestos thermal insulation was the Navy's major asbestos use aboard ships; the Navy did not substitute alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s and adopted removal policies only in 1975/1979 - postdating this hull's entire life (built 1944, sold for scrapping 1947).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- 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, reconfirmed 2026-10-03) - content via product-page description and report abstract.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-10
-
[12]American Bridge Company, 'History' corporate page (live page verified 2026-10-03 via Firecrawl; curl blocked by mod_security) [other_primary]
- Locator
- americanbridge.net/about/history, 1940s section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Builder documentation from the company's own published history: '100% of American Bridge's capacity was utilized for National Defense projects from 1941-1945. American Bridge manufactured 199 LST's' along with aviation repair vessels, carrier components, cargo ships, tankers, and barges. The Ambridge plant was the company's original 1903 fabricating facility and company town ('Ambridge' = 'American' + 'Bridge'). LST-771 is one of the yard's documented 199 wartime LSTs.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1945
- Population
- American Bridge Ambridge construction trades (1941-45)
- Limitations
- Corporate-published history (builder's own source) - primary for the company's own production claims, secondary for anything else. Yard-level production total; does not document materials or conditions aboard any single hull, and contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-11
-
[13]Batch-7307 search ledger (this record): live NHHC DANFS; NavSource; NHHC Pacific Fleet organization document; NARA catalog (two queries + RG 26 photo record); MARAD vessel-history entry; NVR; BVA decisions index; GAO product page; PubMed/NCBI E-utilities; CourtListener (blocked); USCG historian site; secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-771-lst771-01 through -18
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS LST-771 was found in the public sources searched, and no post-1948 hull record can exist (sold for scrapping 26 September 1947). CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated API reported the shared daily quota exhausted (server-requested wait ~11.3 h); logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. The BVA decisions index returned no results for 'LST-771'; the Naval Vessel Register carries no entry; secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case - only a veteran's obituary naming 'LST 771' service (non-qualifying secondary), a fleet-organization listing, history sites, and an unreliable AI-generated list that misattributes this hull's builder.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2026-10-03
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (quota-blocked, not run). COM LST GR 87 war diaries, RG 24 deck logs/muster rolls, and any 1947-48 scrapping records are undigitized or unsearched leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-771-lst771-12