Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
-
[1]research packet 738-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-870-lst870-pkt-738-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-870 (archived NHHC page via Wayback Machine; live NHHC page returned 404 on 2026-10-03) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS entry 'LST-870' (Vol. VII appendix listing), archived NHHC page
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (DANFS entry, verbatim): 'LST-870 was laid down on 4 October 1944 at Jeffersonville, Ind., by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machinery Co.; launched on 15 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Opal M. Burke; and commissioned on 10 January 1945. Following World War II, LST-870 performed occupation duty in the Far East until early February 1946. She returned to the United States and was decommissioned in June 1946 and struck from the Navy list on 28 August that same year. On 29 August 1947, the ship was sold to Consolidated Builders, Inc., Seattle, Wash., for scrapping.' The entry lists no WWII combat operations and no battle stars.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- JeffBoat construction trades (1944); crew (1945-46)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. Live NHHC DANFS page 404s (standing NHHC link-rot noted since BATCH-01); entry cited from the archived Wayback capture of history.navy.mil/danfs/l26/lst-870.htm. DANFS gives decommissioning only as 'June 1946' - the precise 26 June 1946 date comes from NavSource (ev-02).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-870 (10/16/160870) - designation timeline, flotilla assignment, commanding officers, awards, occupation periods, specifications, disposal [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160870.htm header block, awards block, occupation-service table, specifications block, commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: 542 Class Tank Landing Ship; laid down 4 October 1944 at Jeffersonville Boat & Machinery Co., Jeffersonville, IN; launched 15 December 1944; commissioned USS LST-870, 10 January 1945, LT. Donald J. Dennison USNR in command. WWII assignment: Asiatic-Pacific Theater - LST Flotilla Thirty-One (CAPT. H. S. Covington USN), LST Group Ninety-Three (CDR. E. R. Sperry USN), LST Division One Hundred Eighty-Six. Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp) periods: 12-29 September 1945; 7 November-1 December 1945; 20 December 1945-7 February 1946. Decommissioned 26 June 1946; struck from the Naval Register 28 August 1946; sold for scrapping 29 August 1947 to Consolidated Builders, Inc., Seattle, WA. Commanding officers: LT. Dennison (10 Jan 1945 - 13 Dec 1945), LTjg. Daniel E. Foley USN (13 Dec 1945 - 26 Jun 1946). Awards listed: American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp) - no battle stars. International radio call sign NIUV.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- JeffBoat construction trades (1944-45); ship's company 13 officers/104 enlisted + embarked troops (1945-46); shipbreakers, Consolidated Builders Seattle (1947-48)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestone dates generally track DANFS; the 26 June 1946 decommissioning date is NavSource-specific (DANFS gives only 'June 1946') but is corroborated by the commanding-officer table ending LTjg. Foley's command that date. 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-870-lst870-02
-
[4]NARA: 'USS LST-870 - Report of operations in the occupation of Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan, 9/27-28/45' - the ship's own confidential action report, LST870/A-12 Serial No. 169, dated 1 November 1945, signed D. J. Dennison, Commanding (WWII War Diaries microfilm, Roll A2039; Fold3-scanned images 0780-0782, read at image level 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog record NAID 77631759; images A_2039/0780-0782.jpg (3 pages)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The ship's own action report documents her part in the initial occupation of Japan: on 1 September 1945 at Kewalo Basin, Honolulu, T.H., she embarked Company 'C', 1298th Engineer Combat Battalion, U.S. Army (Maj. C. W. Bush, Capt. J. L. Howard, nine officers, 199 men); she departed Pearl Harbor 2 September in Task Unit 54.22.2 (eighteen LSTs, one DE escort) for Sasebo, Kyushu. Anchored Kuyushima Wan 24 September; ordered with LST-828, LST-390 and LST-1022 to Nagasaki; anchored Nagasaki Ko 25 September (Nagasaki already partially occupied 22 September). Beached at Baker landing, Nagasaki Harbor, at 0717 on 27 September; completed unloading all Army equipment - 11 officers and 199 men of Co. 'C' - by 0926 on 28 September with no casualties, including a mooring alongside the Mitsubishi Dock Yard; departed 1325 the same day for Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in company with Task Unit 54.18.4 (21 LSTs). No hostile action observed; rough weather from a nearby typhoon encountered 30 September-5 October.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-09-01 to 1945-10-05 (report dated 1945-11-01)
- Population
- Ship's company (~13 officers/104 enlisted); embarked Co. C, 1298th Engineer Combat Battalion (~11 officers/199 men), Sep-Oct 1945
- Limitations
- Primary-source ship history (the commanding officer's own report to CincPac via ComLSTGroup 14, cc ComLSTGroup 93 and ComLSTFlot 31). No asbestos or material content. The report's text shows minor internal variants on consort hull numbers ('383'/'398' vs '390' in different paragraphs) - LST-828 and LST-1022 are unambiguous. Documents presence at Nagasaki during the initial occupation ~7 weeks after the atomic bombing; this record makes no exposure claim of any kind from that fact.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-03
-
[5]NARA WWII War Diaries (microfilm, Fold3-scanned, digitized on catalog.archives.gov): USS LST-870 war diaries for 4/45 (NAID 139992215, Roll A1579), 5/45 (NAID 140040746, Roll A1653), 6/45 (NAID 101736249, Roll A1742), 7/45 (NAID 83536336, Roll A1821), 8/1-9/30/45 (NAID 77542764, Roll A1928) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog records NAID 139992215 (Apr), 140040746 (May), 101736249 (Jun), 83536336 (Jul), 77542764 (Aug-Sep); cover, first and last daily pages read at image level for Apr/Jun/Jul/Aug diaries
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The ship's digitized war diaries document her spring-summer 1945 movements (cover pages, first and last daily pages read at image level): April 1945 - in Hawaiian waters, moored at Pearl Harbor (Iroquois Point dolphins, then berth 'Tare #1') unloading Naval Construction Battalion cargo and loading ammunition (9 April: 20mm, .30-cal, .45-cal, .22-cal, smoke floats, 40mm HEITSD; through 25 April: 2,000 complete AR rockets); shifted to a Kaneohe Bay buoy 27 April and ended the month on a training cruise off Maui with LST training group 13-10-10, firing anti-aircraft exercises (1,724 rounds 20mm and 450 rounds 40mm expended 29 April); June 1945 - 1 June steaming Pearl Harbor to Eniwetok in company with USS LST-72; July 1945 - 1 July steaming in Convoy SOK-18 enroute Saipan to Okinawa Shima, ship darkened, Condition II, escort made sound contact and attacked with depth charges that morning; August-September 1945 - at Saipan Harbor/Tanapag early August (loaded 3 LCMs and 4 LCVPs plus 11 officers for transportation 4-5 August, fueled from YO-185), departed 6 August for Eniwetok; by 1 September at Kewalo Basin, Honolulu (per the action report, ev-03). War-diary letterhead (LST870/A12-1, Fleet Post Office San Francisco) references ComLSTGr 93 Memo 2-45 and diaries are copied to ComLSTGr93/ComLSTFlot31, consistent with the NavSource-reported LST Flotilla 31 / Group 93 assignment.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-04-01 to 1945-09-30
- Population
- Ship's company (~13 officers/104 enlisted), Apr-Sep 1945; convoy consorts USS LST-72 (June), Convoy SOK-18 (July)
- Limitations
- Primary-source ship history. Diary cover pages and first daily entries were read at image level; full-page coverage of every day was not extracted - interior days of May-July 1945 are unreviewed. No asbestos or material content. Diaries for October 1945-June 1946 (covering the second and third occupation periods) were not located in the digitized catalog results - see search_ledger/gaps. Diaries establish ship movements, not materials or exposure.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-04
-
[6]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. II (NAVSHIPS 250-011, 15 April 1945), LST design table (shipscribe.com scan; live PDF verified 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 (NAVSHIPS 250-011), LST design/machinery table (LST section, pp. 168-191 of the scan)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official BuShips design table lists the LST542-931 design group - which includes this hull - as powered by 2 x G.M. Diesel 12-567A engines, 1,700 shaft horsepower, 2 propellers, with the boiler columns empty: a diesel plant with no steam boilers. (Engine-variant groups: LST932-979 and LST1060-1080 carried GM 12-278A.) This is the authoritative class-machinery source confirming this hull's design group carried no boiler plant.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- n/a - design data
- Limitations
- Class/design documentation, not a hull record - the table describes design groups, not the as-built material fit of LST-870 specifically. Contains no asbestos content. Note: the class-profile citation path for this document (shipscribe.com/styles/usnaux/sdb/SDB1945v2.pdf) returned 404 on 2026-10-03; the working URL is shipscribe.com/pubs/SDB1945v2.pdf.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-05
-
[7]Naval Marine Archive builder record: Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Company (JeffBoat), Jeffersonville, IN (secondary compilation, verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NMA builder detail page, ships.navalmarinearchive.com/builder/1579
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Builder context for this hull's construction yard: JeffBoat was organized in 1938 by American Barge Line on the site of the former M. A. Sweeney yard; in 1942 the Navy condemned the neighboring Howard Shipyard & Dock Co. and leased it to JeffBoat for the duration of the war, in which it was a major builder of LSTs with employment peaking at about 13,000 (secondary compilations count 123 LSTs built at the yard). In 1947 ABL bought the Howard portion and merged it into JeffBoat, later the largest inland barge/towboat builder in the U.S.; the yard closed permanently 23 April 2018.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1938-2018 (yard history); 1944-45 (this hull's build)
- Population
- JeffBoat wartime workforce (~13,000 peak, 1942-45)
- Limitations
- Yard-level context only - documents the scale of wartime LST construction at the yard that built this hull; contains no asbestos content and says nothing about materials used on any specific hull. Secondary-source compilation (NMA); '123 LSTs' and the ~13,000 employment peak are uncorroborated against a primary source this session. JeffBoat is not an Atlas shipyards.json entry - see gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-06
-
[8]Era inference built on: BuShips SDB 1945 v2 LST design table (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, no boilers - ev-05); NavSource specifications block (GM 12-567A diesels, Falk reduction gear, diesel-drive generators); LST-1-class profile (class-f worktree) consolidated era assessment of diesel-LST asbestos applications [other_primary]
- Locator
- BuShips SDB1945v2 LST machinery table; NavSource 10/16/160870 specifications; class-f lst-1-class.class.json ev-lst-1-class-03
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LST built 1944-45 sits squarely inside the Navy's asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a ship of this type and period were GM diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, valve and flange gaskets and packing, deck coverings/tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings. As a diesel ship she carried no boilers - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply; the relevant volume is the engine room, exhaust runs, and accommodation spaces.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- JeffBoat construction trades (1944-45); ship's company and embarked troops (1945-46); Consolidated Builders shipbreakers (1947-48)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for LST-870. 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-870-lst870-07
-
[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 - spanning this hull's entire construction (1944-45) and service era (1945-46).
- 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. Marginal relevance noted: this hull was scrapped in 1947-48, decades before the 1975/1979 program milestones the report describes.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-08
-
[10]NARA catalog: COM LST FLOT 31 - War History (NAID 77706647); COM LST GR 93 war diaries (NAIDs 139892507, 139945433); RG 24 deck logs for USS LST-870 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA catalog 'LST-870' search results (NAIDs 77706647, 139892507, 139945433); RG 24 deck-log series (undigitized)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Open archival leads for this hull: (a) the LST Flotilla 31 war history and LST Group 93 war diaries exist in the same NARA WWII War Diaries series - the commands this ship reported to, likely containing flotilla/group-level operational context naming LST-870; (b) RG 24 deck logs for this hull exist at NARA College Park but are not digitized in the public catalog; (c) October 1945-June 1946 war diaries covering the second and third documented occupation periods (Nov-Dec 1945, Dec 1945-Feb 1946) were not located in the digitized index.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945-1946
- Population
- Ship's company (1945-46); flotilla/group staff
- Limitations
- Archival leads only - the flotilla/group records and deck logs were identified in the NARA catalog but not reviewed. Whether they contain material, maintenance, or availability detail relevant to this hull is unknown. No asbestos content established.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-09
-
[11]Batch-7413 search ledger (this record): archived DANFS/NHHC entry; NavSource 10/16/160870; NARA war diaries (5 file units) + Nagasaki action report (read at image level); NVR detail check; shipbuildinghistory JeffBoat table; NMA builder record; NIOSH/CDC Stacks JeffBoat survey; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; CourtListener (blocked); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-870-lst870-01 through -11
- 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-870 was found in the public sources searched. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated helper reported the shared daily quota exhausted (~9 h to reset) on the first request; logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos aboard' material is law-firm marketing content (mesowatch.org JeffBoat page and similar listicles) asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy. The located NIOSH report for the JeffBoat yard (CDC Stacks, 2000) is an ergonomic risk-factor survey of barge construction with no asbestos content.
- 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). The hull was scrapped 1947-48, before modern survey/abatement documentation existed, so the documentary silence is partly structural. Deck logs, JeffBoat hull work packages, and any Consolidated Builders scrapping-contract records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-870-lst870-10