Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet 726-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-788-lst788-pkt-726-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-788 (NHHC live page; published 2015-08-03; verified via firecrawl scrape - direct curl fetch returns 404 edge filtering) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS service narrative + NHHC photo caption (LST-788/-760/-724 and LSM-264 at Iwo Jima beach, February 1945)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS documents for this hull: 'LST-788 was laid down on 9 July 1944 at Pittsburgh, Pa., by the Dravo Corp.; launched on 19 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Gerard H. Nickerson; and commissioned on 18 September 1944, Lt. Walter R. Benson, USCGR, in command.' Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; 'participated in the assault and occupation of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto in April that same year.' Occupation duty in the Far East until late October 1945; 'decommissioned on 16 April 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 5 June that same year. On 26 September 1947, LST-788 was sold to the Boston Metals Co., of Baltimore, Md., for scrapping.' 'LST-788 earned two battle stars for World War II service.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1944); USCG crew (1944-46); embarked troops
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. DANFS gives commissioning without a location; the New Orleans commissioning and detailed chronology rest on the USCG Historian's Office file (ev-02).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-01
-
[3]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, USS LST-788 cutter file (4-pp PDF; live uscg.mil URL dead - HTTP 403/404 on 2026-10-03; Wayback capture 2017-05-07 used, labeled archived) [museum_official]
- Locator
- USCG Historian's Office LST-788 file, 'History' narrative pp. 1-3; spec block p. 1; CO list p. 1; Wayback capture 2017-05-07
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official USCG historian file for this Coast Guard-manned hull: 'The Coast Guard-manned USS LST-788 was built by the Dravo Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and arrived at New Orleans, Louisiana, via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on 18 September 1944, when she was commissioned.' Shakedown at St. Andrews Bay, FL (27 Sep-9 Oct 1944); departed New Orleans 20 Oct 1944; Pearl Harbor 7 Dec 1944. Departed 21 Jan 1945 in TG 51.5 for Iwo Jima carrying Battalion C, 14th 155mm Battalion, First Provisional Field Artillery Corps, USMC; reached Iwo Jima at daybreak 20 Feb 1945 (D+1); made three beachings 22-28 Feb; port rudder jammed by another LST retracting and hull damage sustained lying alongside an APA in heavy seas; drydocked at Saipan (arrived 5 Mar 1945) for rudder and emergency repairs. Loaded HQ 1398th Engineer Construction Battalion, 24th Corps, U.S. Army; to Okinawa as unit of TU 51.13.4; arrived 2 Apr, anchored Kerama Retto; unloaded on western beaches 7-8 Apr; 'manning battle stations 47 times during the 15 days in the area'; credited with downing two enemy planes, one splashing 50 ft off the starboard quarter and causing slight underwater damage; smoke-making duty in transport area until 16 Apr; drydocked at Ulithi (arrived 22 Apr) for bottom inspection and repairs to port-side plates and frames. Manus 24 May, Russell Islands 31 May, Noumea 8 Jun, Guam 30 Jun - port shaft out of alignment, repairs not completed until 20 Aug 1945. Then Saipan; loaded troops and equipment of 'Headquarters and Service Company, Second Motor Transport Battalion, Second Marine Corps' (file wording; the embarked formation was the Second Marine Division per the ComTransRon 12 action report, ev-04); departed Saipan 17 Sep 1945 as a unit of the Southern Occupation Force for Nagasaki, reached 24 Sep; departed 26 Sep for Leyte (diverted into Hagushi, Okinawa, 28 Sep for Typhoon Plan X-ray); Leyte 7 Oct; Davao 13 Oct to load elements of the 34th Infantry Division and 63rd Field Artillery; beached at Mitsuhama 26-27 Oct; Manila 6 Nov; departed 12 Nov for the U.S., reaching San Pedro 18 Dec 1945; decommissioned at San Pedro 16 Apr 1946. Commanding officers (all USCGR): LT Walter R. Benson (18 Sep 1944-9 Nov 1945), LT Bernard J. Kearns (9 Nov 1945-30 Jan 1946), LT Bradley A. Kendis (30 Jan-8 Mar 1946), LT(jg) Russel D. Erickson (8 Mar-16 Apr 1946). Specs: length 327'9" oa, beam 50', displacement 1,625 light / 4,080 full, 2 x GM 12-567 diesels twin shafts, 11.6 kt, range 24,000 nm at 9 kt, complement 111, troops 163, initial armament 7 x 40mm + 6 x 20mm + machine guns. Stated sources: 'LST files, Coast Guard Historian's Office'; The Coast Guard At War, Vol. V Transports and Escorts Vol. 2 (1949); DANFS Vol. VII (1981).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1944); USCG crew (~111) incl. embarked Marine/Army units; yard workers at Saipan and Ulithi drydockings (1945)
- Limitations
- Official secondary compilation by the USCG Historian's Office, not a contemporaneous deck log; complement figure (111) conflicts with NavSource spec block (13 officers + 104 enlisted = 117) and length (327'9") conflicts with NavSource (328' oa) - conflicts carried in gaps. No asbestos or material content. Archived copy used - the live uscg.mil URL returned Access Denied/404 on 2026-10-03.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-02
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[4]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-788 (10/16/160788.htm, live; last updated 2018-01-26) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160788.htm - header block, campaign table, specifications block, CO table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: USCG-manned banner ('USS LST-788 was manned by the US Coast Guard during World War II'); LST-542 class; laid down 9 July 1944 at Dravo Corp., Pittsburgh, PA; launched 19 August 1944; commissioned 18 September 1944, LT Walter R. Benson, USCGR. Wartime organization: LST Flotilla Twenty-Nine (CAPT C. H. Peterson USCG), LST Group Eighty-Six (CDR S. R. Sands USCG), LST Division One Hundred Seventy-One. Campaigns: Iwo Jima operation 20-28 Feb 1945; Okinawa Gunto operation 2-15 Apr 1945. Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp) periods 20-26 Sep 1945 and 18-29 Oct 1945. Decommissioned 16 April 1946; struck 5 June 1946; sold 26 September 1947 to Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, MD, for scrapping; two battle stars. Awards include Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, Iwo Jima). Spec block: displacement 1,625 lt / 4,080 fl / 2,366 beaching; length 328' oa; speed 11.6 kt; complement 13 officers + 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers + 147 enlisted; 2 x GM 12-567A 900 hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, three diesel-drive 100 kW 230 V DC ship's service generators, 2 shafts 1,700 shp. Call sign NGYH. Photo record: launching at Dravo Pittsburgh 19 Aug 1944 (contributed by Nathan Lott in memory of his grandfather Foster Lott, USS LST-788); beached at Iwo Jima February 1945; the USN photos S-193-1/S-193-A2 series (24-25 Feb 1945) showing LST-788 beached with LST-808, LST-760, LST-724, LSM-264 and LST-779 below Mount Suribachi.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1944); USCG crew (1944-46); Boston Metals shipbreakers (1947)
- Limitations
- Volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry; milestone dates track DANFS/USCG but complement (13+104) conflicts with the USCG file's 111 and the 328' length conflicts with USCG's 327'9" - carried in gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-03
-
[5]Commander Transport Squadron TWELVE (ComNagasaki Group and CTG 54.3, Commodore H. B. Knowles USN, USS Cambria flagship), 'Action Report - Landings at Nagasaki, 18-24 September 1945,' serial 0474, confidential, 30 September 1945 (52-pp declassified scan contributed to NavSource by Douglas Gritzinger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/03/pdf/03138a.pdf: forwarding letter pp. 2-3 (serial 0474, 30 Sep 1945), task organization p. 5 (LST-788 ship list), dispatch log p. 17, unloading table p. 36
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Contemporaneous action report naming this hull: TG 54.3 (Nagasaki Group) embarked the Second Marine Division at Saipan and landed troops and equipment in the Nagasaki harbor area commencing 23 September 1945 'without enemy opposition'; transport unloading completed 28 September. In the task-organization ship list, LST-788 appears under LST Flotilla 23 (temp), LST Group 13 (temp), marked '(Csy Sec)' - a causeway section embarked - in a ship list of roughly fifteen LSTs (OCR-degraded enumeration not fully reconciled). The dispatch log shows CTG 54.3 ordering LSTs including 788 to proceed to Leyte when ready (consistent with the USCG file's 26 Sep departure). LST-788 also appears in the per-ship unloading-progress table for 23-28 September.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-09
- Population
- USCG crew of LST-788; embarked 2nd Motor Transport Bn elements (2nd MarDiv)
- Limitations
- Physical-presence and task-organization documentation, not a work or material record; no asbestos content. Content verified by OCR spot-check (pp. 2-3, 5, 17, 36) of a 52-page typewriter scan - OCR quality is poor in places; page-level figures not independently reconciled. The Nagasaki task organization (LST Flot 23 Grp 13, temp) differs from her standing organization (Flot 29 Grp 86) - a temporary wartime attachment, not a source conflict.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-04
-
[6]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, Falk reduction gear, diesel-drive generators); BuShips Ships' Data 1945 Vol. 2 LST design table via class profile lst-1-class (shipscribe.com SDB1945v2.pdf); era amphibious-ship construction practice [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; class profile lst-1-class ev-01/ev-03 (BuShips SDB-1945 v2)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LST-542-class hull built 1944 at Dravo Pittsburgh carries no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply. Era-standard asbestos applications for the type and period were diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal and acoustic insulation, deck coverings/tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings. Wartime service damage and repair events documented for this hull (Saipan drydocking Mar 1945; Ulithi drydocking Apr 1945; Guam shaft repair Jun-Aug 1945) are the kind of disturbances under which era insulation would have been worked.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Dravo construction trades (1944); USCG crew (1944-46); repair-yard workers at Saipan, Ulithi, Guam (1945); Boston Metals shipbreakers (1947)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LST-788. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity; no manufacturer attribution. The drydock/repair events are documented as events; any asbestos-handling scope within them is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-05
-
[7]In re Dravo LLC - Derivative Claims Against Carmeuse Lime, Inc., and Certain Affiliated Entities, Nos. 33 & 34 WAP 2024, J-79A-2025 & J-79B-2025 (Pa. May 22, 2026) (slip opinion PDF hosted by US Chamber Litigation Center, verbatim); reversing In re Dravo LLC, 307 A.3d 146 (Pa. Super. 2023) [court_record]
- Locator
- Slip op. pp. 1-2 (question presented, stipulated background), pp. 5-7 (bar-date claims administration), pp. 24-26 (holding/conclusion); uschamber.com PDF verified live 2026-10-03
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Pennsylvania appellate record documenting asbestos mass litigation against this hull's builder corporation: stipulated facts - 'Beginning in at least the early 1990s, a number of plaintiffs sued Dravo, alleging asbestos-related injuries (Asbestos Claims). These Asbestos Claims typically were based on allegations of exposure to asbestos during Dravo's operations from the 1940s through the 1980s.' 'Hundreds of asbestos claimants' asserted claims by the July 13, 2020 bar date, and under court oversight Dravo resolved all timely-filed claims except where releases were not returned. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (May 22, 2026) held veil-piercing unavailable against parent Carmeuse Lime for claims filed after the two-year LLC-dissolution bar - reversing the Superior Court (307 A.3d 146).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1940s-1980s (alleged exposure era); 2018-2026 (dissolution/litigation)
- Population
- Dravo Corp. workers across operations 1940s-1980s incl. shipbuilding trades; asbestos claimants in the Dravo dissolution proceedings
- Limitations
- Builder-corporation record, not a hull or shipyard finding: 'Dravo's operations' spanned shipbuilding, lime, engineering and construction businesses; the opinion does not limit the asbestos claims to the Neville Island yard and names no vessel. The underlying asbestos claims are allegations; the decided issue was statutory timeliness/veil-piercing after dissolution - no exposure facts adjudicated. Class/era builder context only; does not establish materials aboard LST-788.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-06
-
[8]OSTI bibliographic records for NIOSH surveys at this hull's builder yard: 'Industrial-hygiene survey report of Dravo Corporation, Engineering Works Division, Neville Island, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania' (survey July 1981; report July 1985, Bloom/Dooley/Peguese) and 'Walk-through survey report, Dravo Corporation, Engineering Works Division, Neville Island, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1979' (June 1980, Billings/Lazar; OSTI biblio 6587634) [other_primary]
- Locator
- OSTI biblio 6065127 and 6587634 (abstract text)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- NIOSH conducted a walk-through survey (Jan 30, 1979) and an industrial-hygiene survey (July 1981, report 1985) at the Dravo Corp. Engineering Works Division shipyard, Neville Island, Pittsburgh - the facility that built this hull in 1944. By survey era the yard was building barges and towboats; scope was painting/coating exposures (solvents, metals, nuisance dust), with lead and dust exceedances found.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1979-1985
- Population
- Dravo Engineering Works painters/trades (1979-81 survey era)
- Limitations
- Bibliographic records only - OSTI holds no digital full text; content via abstracts. The surveys address painter solvent/metal/dust exposure, not asbestos, and postdate WWII LST construction by 35+ years. Value is confirming the Neville Island yard's identity and continued operation - not evidence about this hull's materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-07
-
[9]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 - postdating this hull's entire existence (built 1944, scrapped 1947) but establishing the government-acknowledged era in which her construction materials were specified.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- 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, confirmed 2026-10-03) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-08
-
[10]Batch-7325 search ledger (this record): DANFS live page; USCG Historian's Office file (Wayback); NavSource page + hosted action-report scan; NVR; NARA; OSTI/NIOSH Dravo records; PA appellate Dravo records; secondary web litigation sweep; CourtListener (blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-788-lst788-01 through -10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, material schedule, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, crew medical record, or docketed case naming USS LST-788 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet-shared authenticated API reported the daily quota exhausted (~10.7 h wait on 2026-10-03); logged as blocked, not a negative result. A class-level 'USS LST' CourtListener sweep (lst-1-class profile, 2026-09-16) found only an incidental reunion-notice mention of LST-579. Secondary web sweep for 'LST-788' asbestos litigation surfaced no qualifying case and no hull-specific law-firm page.
- 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 - the hull was scrapped in 1947, predating modern survey and hazmat documentation regimes, and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (throttled, not run). USCG crew records, Dravo work packages, deck logs, and the 1947 scrapping contract are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-788-lst788-09