Evidence
12 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-12).
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[1]research packet 725-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-781-lst781-pkt-725-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-781 - construction, sponsor, commissioning, Okinawa campaign, decommissioning, strike, disposal (live NHHC page, HTTP 200 with browser UA; bare curl returns 404 - UA-gated, re-verified 2026-10-03) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-781 entry, full text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents for this hull: laid down 4 June 1944 at Pittsburgh, Pa., by the Dravo Corp.; launched 15 July 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Stuart D. Brown; commissioned 18 August 1944. Asiatic-Pacific operations: 'participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto in April 1945.' 'She returned to the United States and was decommissioned on 27 June 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 15 August that same year. On 20 December 1947, the ship was sold to the Humble Oil & Refining Co., Houston, Tex., for operation. LST-781 earned one battle star for World War II service.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Construction trades (Pittsburgh, 1944); ship's company and embarked troops (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific official history only; no asbestos or material content. DANFS does not state the Okinawa detail (reef grounding, machinery damage), the occupation-service dates, or the decommissioning port - those come from the NARA action report, NavSource, and the Pratt oral history rows respectively.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-781 (10/16/160781.htm, last updated 28 April 2017) - unit assignments, campaign table, spec block, commanding-officer list, awards, NHHC photo NH 83641 caption, disposal [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160781.htm header block, campaign table, specifications block, CO table, photo caption NH 83641
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource documents for this hull: LST-542-class tank landing ship laid down 4 June 1944 at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA; launched 15 July 1944; commissioned USS LST-781 18 August 1944, LT Percy D. McPartland USNR in command. Assigned to LST Flotilla Twenty-One (CAPT. W. H. Brereton USN), LST Group Sixty-One (CAPT. R.M. MacKinnon USN), LST Division One Hundred Twenty-One. Campaign table: Okinawa Gunto operation, assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, 2 to 10 April 1945. Occupation service in the Far East 1 November 1945 to 11 March 1946 (printed under a mislabeled 'LST-780' heading - LST-780's own page carries different dates; treated as a transcription typo for LST-781). Decommissioned 27 June 1946; struck from the Naval Register 15 August 1946; one battle star; sold 20 December 1947 to Humble Oil & Refining Co., Houston, TX, for operation. Spec block (LST-542 class): 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full; 328 ft oa x 50 ft; 11.6 kt; 2 x GM 12-567A 900 hp diesels, single Falk reduction gear, 2 shafts 1,700 shp, 3 x 100 kW DC generators; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers / 147 enlisted; radio call sign NGVZ. CO list: LT McPartland USNR 18 Aug 1944-1 Oct 1945; LTjg Ralph Oswald Teague USN 1 Oct 1945-27 Jun 1946. NHHC photo NH 83641 shows her entering San Francisco Bay June 1946 with homeward-bound pennant.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- Ship's company (~117) plus embarked troops (1944-46)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - dates cross-check cleanly against DANFS and the NARA action report. The occupation-service dates are carried with the 'LST-780' mislabel caveat noted. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-02
-
[4]NARA NAID 140066206, 'USS LST-781 - Report of operations in the occupation of the Okinawa Gunto, Ryukyu Islands, 4/2-8/45' (serial 0163, dated 26 April 1945, from the Commanding Officer via CTG 55.7/CTF 55; RG 38, World War II War Diaries; micro serial 127620, Roll A1683; 4 images; digitized via Fold3) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 140066206, images 0605-0608 (downloaded and OCR-read 2026-10-03)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The ship's own action report (all 4 pages downloaded and OCR-read this session; spot-checked against the scans) documents verbatim: departed Saipan 26 March 1945 for Okinawa, attached to Task Unit 51.13.4 (Commander Southern Defense Group, Cdr. Zelenka on LST-244); mission to land 25 officers and 250 men of Marine Fighting Squadron 441, Marine Air Group 31, with 2,500 drums of 80-octane gasoline and vehicles (1,107.8 short tons total, loaded at Roi Island 15 February-2 March 1945). Arrived Okinawa area 2 April; beached on reef 400 yards off Red Beach 1 on 4 April; under 25-knot winds and swells on 5 April 'in process of retracting we were set onto reef and motion of water kept pounding us against it. Starboard shaft severely damaged, causing loss of starboard engine.' Re-beached 6 April (hung on the same reef again, no further damage), completed unloading 0010, 8 April; retracted to How Anchorage. Air action 6 April: ~10 enemy planes sighted, all shot down in the area; 'Ammunition expended: 140 rounds of 40MM, and 684 rounds of 20MM' (verified verbatim against the scan).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-03-26 to 1945-04-26
- Population
- Ship's company (~117) plus embarked VMF-441/MAG-31 personnel (Mar-Apr 1945)
- Limitations
- Primary ship-produced record; covers only 2-8 April 1945 and contains no asbestos or material content. The starboard shaft/engine casualty is documented as an event; where and how it was repaired is not stated in this document (the Ulithi repair and Guam retrofit are veteran recollection, ev-05). Microfilm scan is legible; quoted text verified against the image.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-03
-
[5]NARA NAID 126470897, 'LST-781, 8/18/44-6/1/46' (RG 24, Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities; Roll No. 4833; 181 images; digitized via Ancestry) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 126470897 record page; image 1 (roll header) downloaded and OCR-checked
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Muster-roll file unit covering the hull's entire commissioned life (18 August 1944 to 1 June 1946, matching her commissioning-to-decommissioning span) is digitized at NARA - 181 images constituting the ship-specific personnel roster source. Sampled the roll-header image this session; individual muster sheets not read.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-08-18 to 1946-06-01
- Population
- Ship's company (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Archival coverage row: the muster rolls are the authoritative crew-complement source for this hull but were not individually read; the carried complement figure remains the NavSource class spec block. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-04
-
[6]The National WWII Museum (New Orleans), oral history interview with Robert W. 'RW' Pratt, gunnery officer aboard USS LST-781 (annotated transcript segments, incl. 'Stuck on a Reef at Okinawa' and 'Minesweeping and Hiroshima') [museum_official]
- Locator
- ww2online.org/view/robert-pratt - annotated segment summaries (segments covering New Orleans fitting-out, Okinawa reef, Ulithi/Guam repair-retrofit, minesweeping, discharge)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Pratt's museum oral history corroborates and extends the documentary record: picked up the ship at Pittsburgh and took her down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans (where her anti-aircraft and anti-submarine guns were installed), then through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor; supply runs to Tinian for the B-29 base; at Okinawa 'they hit a reef and became stuck' and 'his LST was pulled from the reef' (corroborating the action report's grounding and shaft casualty); 'They made it to a Navy base in Ulithi - they rested while the LST was repaired. They headed to Guam to prepare for the invasion of Japan. Their ship was taken to the shipyard to be retrofitted'; after V-J Day LST-781 continued minesweeping in Japanese waters (a Japanese lieutenant boarding to guide her through minefields); Pratt stayed for occupation duty in Japan and was discharged in Houston September 1946.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Ship's company under gunnery officer Pratt (1944-46)
- Limitations
- Veteran recollection recorded ~70 years after the fact - demonstrably memory-soft: it misidentifies 'USS Oklahoma (BB-37)' among the Okinawa fleet (that battleship was sunk at Pearl Harbor in 1941) and places a Shreveport stop in 'April 1944,' months before the ship's August 1944 commissioning. Carried only where consistent with documentary sources (reef grounding; repair and retrofit events; Japan occupation duty). No asbestos or material content; the repair/retrofit scope is unitemized.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-05
-
[7]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (1945), LST design table (shipscribe.com scan); NavSource LST-781 spec block; lst-1-class class profile (class-f worktree, 2026-09-16) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB 1945 v2 LST design table (verified live HTTP 200, 2026-10-03); NavSource 160781.htm specifications block
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference for this hull: the LST-542 design group ran a diesel plant (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, 1,700 shp total, Falk reduction gear, twin screws - BuShips design table and this hull's NavSource spec block) with no boilers, so the steam-plant lagging pathway of boiler vessels does not apply. Asbestos-relevant applications aboard a 1944 diesel landing ship of this type were the era-standard set - diesel-exhaust and machinery-space lagging, gaskets and packing, accommodation thermal insulation, deck coverings - and this hull's documented disturbance history is concrete: the 5 April 1945 starboard-shaft/engine casualty at Okinawa (action report, ev-03) followed by repair at Ulithi and a shipyard retrofit at Guam (oral history, ev-05) involved engine-room and interior rework aboard this hull inside the Navy's asbestos-use era.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1960s
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1944); ship's company/embarked troops (1944-46); Ulithi and Guam repair/retrofit trades (1945, recollection-level); post-1947 Humble Oil merchant crews and any conversion-yard workers
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material schedule, or repair work package was located for LST-781. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantities; no manufacturer attribution. Repair-yard identities rest on veteran recollection, and neither Ulithi nor the Guam facility is itemized in the sources located.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-06
-
[8]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 construction (1944), her Pacific service, the documented 1945 machinery-damage repairs and retrofit, her 1947 sale into commercial service, and any subsequent scrapping.
- 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 returns HTTP 403 to automated fetch, reconfirmed 2026-10-03) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-07
-
[9]lst-1-class class profile CourtListener sweeps (2026-09-16): the only document-level 'USS LST' asbestos hit was Gitto v. A.W. Chesterton Co. Inc., S.D.N.Y. No. 1:07-cv-04771 - an incidental LST-579 mention inside a reunion-notice compilation, not an exposure record [court_record]
- Locator
- class-f/lst-1-class.class.json evidence ev-lst-1-class-04 + search_ledger sl-lst-1-class-05; this record's search_ledger sl-uss-lst-781-lst781-09 (blocked)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Class-level negative: prior authenticated CourtListener sweeps found no asbestos docket naming any specific LST hull (the Gitto incidental mention aside), and the sibling LST-790 record's hull-specific queries (2026-10-02) returned zero qualifying hits. For this hull specifically: NO CourtListener query was executed this session - the authenticated helper reported the fleet daily quota exhausted (~10.9 h reset), and per policy the queries were not retried or run unauthenticated. The LST-781-specific litigation check remains an open gap, not a verified negative.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2026-10-03
- Limitations
- This is a borrowed class-level result, not a hull-verified negative: LST-781 exact-name and hull-number queries in the opinion and docket indexes were not run this session (quota). Even when run, CourtListener covers published opinions and RECAP dockets only - state filings, MDL-875 pleading-level vessel lists, and non-digitized dockets are outside coverage.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-08
-
[10]Batch-7318 search ledger (this record): DANFS; NavSource; NARA catalog + action-report file unit read in full + muster-roll file unit; COM LST GR 61 unit diaries; BuShips SDB 1945 v2; GAO product page; National WWII Museum oral history; International Maritime Library; NVR; NIOSH HHE; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-781-lst781-01 through -16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, material schedule, or docketed case naming LST-781 was found in the public sources searched. The strongest ship-specific documentation is operational (the action report, muster rolls, and oral history) and confirms documented repair events - the April 1945 starboard-shaft/engine casualty and subsequent Ulithi repair and Guam shipyard retrofit - but no primary source read names asbestos aboard this hull.
- 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 - construction at a wartime inland yard, a documented machinery-damage repair history, and decades of post-Navy commercial barge service sit squarely inside the asbestos-use era. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility. The hull-specific CourtListener check is unexecuted (quota), logged as a gap rather than a verified negative.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-09
-
[11]NARA catalog, 'COM LST GR 61' - 12 file units: monthly war diaries of the hull's parent unit digitized for Jan-Mar (consolidated), Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Sep, Oct, Dec 1945 (NAIDs incl. 633438842 Apr/45, 633449285 May/45, 101733157 Jun/45, 77555148 Aug/45, 77574507 Sep/45, 140083826 Oct/45, 77595728 Dec/45); related unit diaries VMF-441 (NAID 140037890) and MAR AIR GR 31 (NAID 139991341) also digitized - the embarked unit this hull landed at Okinawa [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov 'LST-781', 'USS LST-781', 'COM LST GR 61' result sets; NAID record pages
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Primary archive coverage for this hull is digitized but uneven: ship-titled file units are the April 1945 Okinawa action report (NAID 140066206, read in full) and the full-service muster rolls (NAID 126470897, 181 images, unmined). No ship-titled monthly war diaries were surfaced; the parent-unit COM LST GR 61 monthly diaries (digitized, ~8 months of 1945 coverage) are the coverage bridge, and the VMF-441/MAR AIR GR 31 diaries document the embarked unit she carried. No ship-titled casualty report was surfaced. WWII deck logs proper for this hull are not in the digitized deck-log program checked.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Ship's company (1944-46); researchers
- Limitations
- Archival-lead row: the GR 61 group diaries, VMF-441/MAG-31 diaries, and the 181-image muster roll set were located but not read; repair-period records for the Ulithi/Guam events (RG 181 yard files, Base/shipyard war diaries) are an open archival lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-10
-
[12]International Maritime Library registry transcription: 'LST-781 > HUMBLE ST-3' - official no. (MVUS) 256365, radio WB9024, rig Barge, 2,777 grt / 2,641 nrt, registered length 311.7 ft x beam 50 ft x depth 21.6 ft, built PA/Neville Island, owner Humble Oil & Refining Co. (DE), homeport Houston TX, service listing 1960 (page verified live HTTP 200, 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- internationalmaritimelibrary.org/lst-781-humble-st-3/ registry data block
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Post-Navy trail (secondary source, flagged): the DANFS-documented 20 December 1947 sale to Humble Oil & Refining Co. 'for operation' was not a scrapping - a maritime-registry transcription shows the hull documented in merchant service as the barge HUMBLE ST-3 (USCG official no. 256365), Houston-registered, still listed in 1960-era register data. Beam (50 ft) and depth (21.6 ft) match the LST-542 hull. The hull therefore plausibly remained in commercial petroleum service for a decade-plus after Navy disposal.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1947-c.1960s
- Population
- Merchant crews aboard HUMBLE ST-3 (1947-c.1960s, unverified span); conversion-yard workers (unidentified)
- Limitations
- SECONDARY transcription of official register (Merchant Vessels of the United States) data - not itself an authoritative source and not independently verified against the MVUS volume this session; carried as an archival lead only. Establishing the ST-3 identity, service span, conversion yard, and final disposition requires the USCG/MVUS register and Humble/Exxon records. Does not establish that Navy-era materials remained aboard or that any exposure occurred.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-781-lst781-11