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-874-lst874-pkt-738-packet-md
-
[2]Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS entry 'LST-874' (live page verified 2026-10-03 via Firecrawl scrape) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'LST-874' entry, full text (3 paragraphs)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- LST-874 was laid down 16 October 1944 at Evansville, Ind., by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co.; launched 25 November 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Ernest B. Rainey; commissioned 18 December 1944. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto April through June 1945; performed occupation duty in the Far East until early January 1946; decommissioned 29 May 1946; struck from the Navy list 3 July 1946; sold 8 June 1948 to Donald P. Loker for operation. 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
- US Navy crew 1944-1946
- Limitations
- Identity and service history only - DANFS contains no asbestos, material, or hazmat information, gives no spec/complement block for this hull, and does not mention the subsequent French transfer (covered by ev-02/ev-03).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-874 / RFS Chelif (L9006) page (live .net page verified 2026-10-03; navsource.org is dead, .net is canonical) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160874 - timeline, campaign table, specifications block, CO table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Unit assignments: LST Flotilla Thirty-One (CAPT. H. S. Covington USN), LST Group Ninety-One (CDR. Jesse Hogan Motes Jr. USN), LST Division One Hundred Eighty-One. Campaign: Okinawa Gunto operation, assault and occupation 18 April-30 June 1945. Navy Occupation Service Medal periods: 20 Sep-3 Oct, 15 Oct-5 Nov, 13-21 Nov 1945 and 20 Dec 1945-4 Jan 1946. Sold to Donald P. Loker 8 June 1948; resold to the Republic of France in 1948, commissioned RFS Chelif (L9006); decommissioned and disposed of by the French Navy, dates unknown. Specifications: 2 x GM 12-567A 900hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, 1,700 shp, 2 shafts; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers / 147 enlisted. Commanding officers: LT. Walter S. Grimala USNR (18 Dec 1944-3 Jul 1945); LT. Jesse E. Spencer USNR (3 Jul 1945-29 Jan 1946); LTjg. Howard J. Fisher USNR (29 Jan-29 May 1946). Photographic record includes the hull at anchor off Naval Station Treasure Island 22 February 1946 and extensive French-service photography in Indochina 1949-1954.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1969
- Population
- US Navy crew 1944-1946; French Navy crew 1949-1969
- Limitations
- Volunteer-compiled reference transcribing official records; no asbestos information. French disposal stated as 'dates unknown' - the French Navy journal (ev-03) supplies the actual retirement narrative. Spec block is class-standard for the LST-542 design, not hull-surveyed figures.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-02
-
[4]'adieu au CHELIFF', Cols Bleus (journal of the French Navy) No. 1087, 24 May 1969 - scanned article hosted on NavSource, OCR-extracted 2026-10-03 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource-hosted PDF 160874a.pdf, single-page article (image-only scan; OCR with visual spot-check of the build-year line)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- French-service record for ex-LST-874 as 'Cheliff' (named for the Chelif river/oued near Mostaganem, Algeria): purchased by France 18 October 1948 ('as is, where is') for $135,000; after repairs at San Pedro, first French crew sailed for Toulon 14 April 1949, arrived 11 June 1949; departed for Indochina 23 September 1949, arrived Saigon 13 November 1949; served throughout Indochina until 25 September 1955 with drydockings at Uraga, Japan in 1951 and 1954; North African service including DBFM support at Nemours; landed men and materiel at Port-Fouad 6 November 1956 with the Suez intervention force; Cyprus materiel recovery and AFN transport through 1957; major drydock at Dakar; AFN rotations 1958-1963; reassigned to the Centre d'Experimentation du Pacifique (CEP), refitted at Brest, departed 12 September 1963, arrived Mururoa 30 November 1963 carrying the first engineering materiel for the atoll airstrip; 5+ years CEP service (412 vehicles moved between atolls in the 1968 campaign alone); a major machinery breakdown on the return voyage forced decommissioning at Papeete rather than in metropolitan France, where the hull was to be retained as a DCAN floating stores ship; ~450,000 miles and 7 years 3 months at sea under the French flag.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1948-1969
- Population
- French Navy crews 1949-1969; CEP Mururoa workforce; refit-yard workers at Uraga (1951, 1954), Dakar (1957-58), Brest (1963)
- Limitations
- A genuine French Navy service publication (OCR-verified against the scan) but contains three US-period errors NOT adopted in this record: 'construit en 1943' (actual keel 16 Oct 1944 per DANFS), US-flag 'operations de Mediterranee' (DANFS records only the Asiatic-Pacific theater for this hull), and 'desarme fin 1945' (US decommission was 29 May 1946). Contains no asbestos information; its value is the otherwise undocumented French disposition and the repeated major refits (Uraga, Dakar, Brest) relevant to maintenance-disturbance context.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-03
-
[5]Era inference built on: NavSource specification block (2 x GM 12-567A diesels, Falk reduction gear, 2 shafts - no boilers); LST class profile propulsion data (BuShips SD-1945 v2 design grouping, LST-542 group); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era documentation (ev-05) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications; lst-1-class class profile propulsion_summary (BuShips SD-1945 v2); GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LST-542-class hull built at an inland mass-production yard in late 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era. As a diesel ship she carried no boilers - the boiler/steam-line lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply. Era-standard applications aboard a vessel of this type and period were diesel-engine and exhaust lagging, machinery-space thermal insulation, gaskets and valve packing, electrical insulation, deck coverings, and accommodation insulation. Her repeated major refits under French service (Uraga 1951 and 1954, Dakar 1957-58, Brest 1963) are maintenance-disturbance periods for any era materials retained in the hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1969+
- Population
- MVB&I construction trades (Evansville, 1944); US crew (1944-46); French crews (1949-69); refit-yard workers (Uraga, Dakar, Brest, and routine dockings); DCAN Papeete stores-ship period
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or photograph of insulation was located for LST-874. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantities; no manufacturer attribution for this hull. Whether original insulation survived the 1949 French refit, the four later major dockings, or the hull's final conversion to a floating stores ship is unknown.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-04
-
[6]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) and entire US service era (1944-46), and overlapping most of her French service (1948-69).
- 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 fetches (HTTP 403, same standing defect noted in BATCH-01 and BATCH-98); content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-05
-
[7]National Park Service, 'Places of WWII History in Evansville, IN' (American WWII Heritage City article, verified live 2026-10-03) [nps]
- Locator
- NPS article, Evansville Shipyard section; peak-workforce figure corroborated by Clarence Mitchell Papers description of FEPC records for the yard
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NPS documents that the Navy built the 40-acre Evansville Shipyard on the Ohio River, operated by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. as chief contractor; production began within four months of the February 1942 announcement; by February 1945 the yard had produced 167 LSTs - one ship every four days in 1944 - plus 13 ammunition lighters and 17 oceangoing barges, making it 'the world's largest inland producer of ocean-going ships' with a peak wartime work force reported at 19,200. This hull's construction (laid down 16 October 1944) falls inside that mass-production window.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Evansville Shipyard construction workforce (peak ~19,200)
- Limitations
- Yard- and city-level documentation; does not name LST-874 and contains no asbestos or material information. Establishes the build environment (wartime mass production, compressed schedules) in which this hull was assembled.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-06
-
[8]Woolsey v. Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co., 119 Ind. App. 391, 88 N.E.2d 54 (Ind. App., Oct. 17, 1949) [court_record]
- Locator
- 119 Ind. App. 391; 88 N.E.2d 54; 1949 Ind. App. LEXIS 196
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- An occupational-disease claim reaching appellate adjudication from this hull's own builder and construction window: Elbert Woolsey worked for Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron as a pipe fitter 'in the compartment of ships' 21 June - 11 November 1944 (the period in which LST-874 was laid down and launched) and died 29 October 1945; his estate alleged poisoning from inhaling fumes and gases from galvanized metal being welded. The Industrial Board of Indiana found no compensable occupational disease (two members dissenting); the Appellate Court affirmed the award for the employer on 17 October 1949.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1949
- Population
- MVB&I Evansville ship-compartment trades (1944)
- Limitations
- NOT an asbestos case and does not name this hull - a metal-fume occupational-disease claim, carried as yard-level litigation context only. Merits outcome was a defense win (board finding affirmed), which is a negative for that claimant, not exposure evidence for the yard. Opinion text reviewed via the exa.ai legal aggregator because CourtListener was quota-blocked this session (see sl-04); parallel citation confirmed against two reporter indexes (exa.ai note prints '87 N.E.2d 54' - treated as an aggregator typo against 119 Ind. App. 391 / 88 N.E.2d 54).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-07
-
[9]NARA RG 24 series 'Logbooks of U.S. Navy Ships and Stations, 1941-1978' (NAID 594258); NARA deck-log digitization program pages [other_primary]
- Locator
- NAID 594258 series; https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online and /navy-deck-logs-1941-1959
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- LST-874's 1944-46 US Navy deck logs should exist within NARA RG 24's logbook series (the 1941-1959 deck-log program covers WWII-era logs including monthly officer lists and daily remarks); digitization status for this specific hull could not be verified - the National Archives Catalog is JS-rendered and its API returned an HTML error page to automated queries this session. French-service records (1948-69) would rest with the Service historique de la Defense (Marine), not consulted.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (US logs)
- Limitations
- Lead only - deck logs are operational records (movements, personnel, drills), not insulation documentation; nothing here establishes or defeats an asbestos finding. French archival holdings for Chelif (L9006) unsearched.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-08
-
[10]Batch-7417 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS live page; NavSource page and French Navy journal PDF; NPS Evansville article; GAO product page; CourtListener (blocked); NVR; NARA catalog; shipyards.json; secondary web litigation and BVA sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-874-01 through sl-uss-lst-874-09
- 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-874 or RFS Chelif (L9006) was found in the public sources searched. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated API reported the shared daily quota exhausted (~8.8 h to reset); logged as blocked in search_ledger row sl-04, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos aboard' material is law-firm marketing content (navyshipexposure.com class-page boilerplate and similar) asserting asbestos without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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's survival to 1969 as an operational landing ship, then stores hulk, is itself consistent with retained era materials. The litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (quota-blocked, not run). French-language litigation/claims records were not searchable. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-09
-
[11]Cross-source conflict check (this record): DANFS; NavSource; French Navy journal (Cols Bleus 1087); NPS; Wikipedia infobox (secondary, not cited); shipbuildinghistory.com (secondary, not cited); navypedia.org (secondary, not cited) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ev-01, ev-02, ev-03 citation sets; secondary conflicts itemized in gaps
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Four propagating errors in secondary and French-journal sources are corrected here, not adopted: (1) French Navy journal 'construit en 1943' - the keel was laid 16 October 1944 per DANFS (verified visually against the article scan; the '1943' is in the source itself); (2) French journal's claim of US-flag Mediterranean operations - DANFS records this hull only in the Asiatic-Pacific theater; (3) shipbuildinghistory.com 'sold 1947' - DANFS dates the Loker sale 8 June 1948, and the French journal dates France's purchase 18 October 1948; (4) Wikipedia's French 'commissioned 8 June 1948' - that date is Loker's purchase; the French journal puts the purchase at 18 October 1948 and the first French crew's arrival at Toulon on 11 June 1949 (a '18/12/1948 transfert' variant circulates on alabordache.fr - unadjudicated).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1949
- Limitations
- Corrections rest on DANFS and the French Navy journal as the strongest located sources; where both are secondary (French transfer date), residual uncertainty is carried in gaps rather than resolved.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-874-10