Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 739-packet.md (4 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-881-lst881-pkt-739-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-881 - construction, sponsor, commissioning, occupation duty, disposal (live NHHC page verified this session) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-881 entry, full text
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'LST-881 was laid down on 10 November 1944 at Evansville, Ind., by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co.; launched on 20 December 1944; sponsored by Miss Pat Shobe; and commissioned on 15 January 1945. Following World War II, LST-881 performed occupation duty in the Far East until late September 1945. She returned to the United States and was decommissioned on 14 February 1947 and struck from the Navy list on 5 March that same year. On 24 November 1947, the ship was sold to E. G. Fontes & Co. for operation.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- MVB&I construction trades (1944-45); crew (1945-47)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. The entry does not mention Operation Crossroads or World War II operating detail - those come from other rows. 'Sold ... for operation' documents a commercial sale, not scrapping.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-881 - construction/milestone timeline, theater organization, awards, CO roster, specifications, disposal (live page verified this session; page last updated 1 November 2024) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160881.htm header timeline, organization lines, awards display, CO table, specification block, photo 1016088101 caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: laid down 10 November 1944 at Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co., Evansville, IN; launched 20 December 1944; commissioned USS LST-881 15 January 1945, LT Robert B. Godfrey USNR in command. World War II assignment to the 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. Occupation service in the Far East 2-29 September 1945. Assigned to Joint Task Force 1, Task Unit 1.3.1 Transportation Group (Transport Division, TRANSDIV 31) for Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll, July 1946. Decommissioned 14 February 1947; struck from the Naval Register 5 March 1947; sold for operation 24 November 1947 to E. G. Fontes & Co. Awards: American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia clasp). Call sign NIXX. CO roster: LT Robert Bruce Godfrey USNR (15 Jan 1945-1 Nov 1945); LT Leon M. Robinson USNR (1 Nov 1945-12 Jan 1946); LTjg Leon Marchant Scott USN (12 Jan 1946-?). Photo documents the ship at anchor in San Francisco Bay east of Treasure Island, circa 1946-1947 (US Navy photo via Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1947
- Population
- Crew (1945-47); embarked troops (16 officers/147 enlisted capacity); Crossroads-period crew of record 71 (per DNA 6032F)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates here agree with DANFS. Contains no asbestos content. The awards display shows no battle stars on the Asiatic-Pacific ribbon, consistent with the absence of documented combat operations. Specification block carried as displayed; minor conflicts with BuShips SDB-1945 v2 figures are logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-02
-
[4]NHHC, Composition of Joint Task Force One (Operation Crossroads) - online reading room document listing LST-881 in Transport Division 31 (live page verified this session) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC JTF-1 composition page, 'Task Group 1.3 (Transport Group)', TU 1.3.1 / TRANSDIV 31 listing
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official JTF-1 order of battle for Operation Crossroads lists USS LST-881 in Task Unit 1.3.1 (Transport Group), Transport Division 31 [TRANSDIV 31], alongside USS LST-817 and attack-transports/cargo ships (Bayfield, Bexar, Bottineau, George Clymer, Henrico, Ottawa, Rockingham, Rockwall, Rolette, Saint Croix). Per the same document, TG 1.3 'transported personnel and equipment to Bikini Atoll as well as evacuating personnel of the Target Vessel Group ... supplied two AKAs and two LSTs for the construction unit, and transported and quartered the press and observers.' LST-881 is a support-group ship, not a target-array vessel (the target/nontarget asterisk convention on the page marks TG 1.2 vessels; LST-881 carries none).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946
- Population
- TRANSDIV 31 ship crews; transported Seabees/stevedores, press and observers
- Limitations
- Order-of-battle document establishes assignment and group function only; it gives no per-ship positions, doses, or dates - those come from DNA 6032F (ev-04). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-03
-
[5]Defense Nuclear Agency, 'Operation CROSSROADS - 1946,' United States Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Tests / Nuclear Test Personnel Review, report DNA 6032F (Kaman Tempo KT-83-006(R); report date 1 May 1984) - full text retrieved via OSTI this session [other_primary]
- Locator
- DNA 6032F support-ship per-vessel entry 'USS LST-881' (p. ~356-357 area); narrative p. ~330 (stevedore delivery); Table 15 (support ships and decontamination locations); Table 31 (reconstructed dose for support ship crews)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- NTPR per-ship entry for USS LST-881: 'Crew Size: 71; Bikini Atoll Arrival: 14 March 1946; Bikini Atoll Departure: 22 August 1946; Shot ABLE Location: 18 nmi ENE; Shot BAKER Location: 25 nmi E; Decontamination Location: San Francisco; Operational Clearance: 13 December 1946; Final Clearance: 23 December 1946.' Task unit and function: TU 1.3.1 (Transport Unit) - with USS LST-817, loaded with construction materials and Seabees at Pearl Harbor; at Bikini both ships 'served as barracks and storage ships for Seabees.' Narrative text records that on 14 March 1946 LST-881 delivered 175 stevedores from Pearl Harbor (for cargo handling, mooring assembly, instrument installation, sonobuoy and life-raft assembly; berthed on Saint Croix, Ottawa, and Rolette). Shot ABLE log: 10 June underway for operating area; 1 July 0900 observed shot ABLE; 1821 anchored in the lagoon after entering Bikini Lagoon. Table 15 lists the ship among support ships decontaminated at San Francisco (via Pearl Harbor). Table 31 gives the reconstructed (calculated) crew dose for this hull: 71 personnel, 0.193 rem gamma at Bikini departure (22 Aug 46), 0.260 rem gamma total at clearance (13 Dec 46). The report elsewhere identifies the San Francisco Naval Shipyard's Radiation Safety Laboratory at Hunters Point, California, as the center of the decontamination/clearance program.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946 (operation); 1984 (dose reconstruction)
- Population
- LST-881 crew of record (71 during Crossroads); 175 embarked stevedores (delivered, berthed elsewhere); Seabees berthed/stored aboard
- Limitations
- This is a radiological-exposure reconstruction for the atomic-test program, NOT asbestos documentation - included as ship-specific government documentation of a crew-level exposure event and a documented decontamination-yard event at San Francisco (Hunters Point). Doses are reconstructed population-level values for largely unbadged support crews, not individual film-badge readings; they do not establish any individual's dose. PDF text layer is degraded OCR; the per-ship block values above are legible, but the Table 15 Kwajalein transit dates for this hull are partially illegible and are not relied on. 'San Francisco' is equated to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard (Hunters Point) via the report's own text, not a named yard in the per-ship block. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-04
-
[6]Nashville Public Library, Veterans Oral History Project index - entry for Ward DeWitt, Jr., crew member of LST-881 at Bikini (catalog record and index PDF verified live this session) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Nashville Public Library VHP index (supplemental file, CARL0000302715), DeWitt entry p. ~6
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A documented crew member's firsthand account exists: 'WARD DEWITT, JR., a Nashville native, served in the Navy amphibious corps during World War II. He spent most of his early service in training, and after the war was assigned to duty aboard LST 881. He tells about witnessing both of the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll, and provides vivid details about this experience' (interview 9 May 2002; VHP tapes #13-14, transcript; digital file VHPDeWittW).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946 (events); 2002 (interview)
- Population
- Ward DeWitt Jr.; LST-881 Crossroads-era crew
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: the index abstract is verified; the underlying transcript/audio was not reviewed this session. A single crew memoir is not an institutional record of ship conditions, and it contains no asbestos content. Nashville PL VHP is a Library of Congress Veterans History Project partner collection.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-05
-
[7]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (Jan 1945) - LST design-group table for LST542-931 (shipscribe.com scan with text layer; retrieved this session) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB-1945 v2, LST design table (LST542-931 rows), pp. ~168ff of the Landing Ships, Tank section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips design data for the group containing this hull (LST542-931): 328 ft oa, 50 ft beam, 2,366 t light / 4,080 t full (trial displacement 3,960 t), 11.6 kt trial; machinery 2 x G.M. 12-567A diesels, 1,700 shp, single Falk main reduction gear; 3 diesel-drive 100 kW 230 V DC ship's service generators; diesel fuel 4,320 bbls; complement 13 officers / 106 enlisted; armament 2 twin + 4 single 40-mm mounts. Confirms a diesel plant - no boilers or steam propulsion machinery in the design.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Design/trades reference population: construction trades and crew of group vessels
- Limitations
- Design-group data (LST542-931), not a hull-specific record - it establishes the as-designed plant and accommodations for the group to which LST-881 belongs, not this ship's as-built condition or material list. Complement shows 106 enlisted vs NavSource's 104 (see gaps). No asbestos content in the table; the diesel/no-boiler fact bounds which asbestos pathways are plausible by era inference.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-06
-
[8]Era inference built on: BuShips SDB-1945 v2 LST542-931 machinery data (diesel plant, no boilers); DANFS/NavSource construction dates (Nov 1944-Jan 1945, peak wartime asbestos era); GAO HRD-80-2 program-level documentation of Navy asbestos insulation use (see ev-08); LST-1-class class-profile notes (class-f worktree, background only) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB-1945 v2 LST542-931 machinery rows; NavSource specification block; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A diesel-powered LST built in late 1944 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a ship of this type and period were diesel-engine and exhaust lagging, gaskets, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, deck coverings/tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings. Because she carried no steam plant, the boiler/turbine lagging pathway prominent on steam vessels does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1975
- Population
- MVB&I construction trades (1944-45); crew (1945-47); San Francisco decontamination workers (1946); later merchant crews and breakers (1947-75, secondary career)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material schedule, or work package located for LST-881. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantity; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-07
-
[9]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (published Oct 18, 1979; publicly released Oct 22, 1979) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page, Highlights section
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO program-level documentation: review of 'the use of asbestos in Navy ships, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, and compensation programs for asbestos-related disabilities' at the Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards; the Navy's 1975 policy was to remove and replace with nonasbestos materials only insulation that was damaged or had to be removed for repairs, modified in 1979 to selective replacement of asbestos insulation in high-maintenance areas.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1979 (report); policy window 1975-79
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (survey yards: Long Beach, Norfolk)
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull - LST-881 left Navy service in 1947, decades before the policy era described. Full report PDF blocked to direct fetch (gao.gov HTTP 403 confirmed this session); content via the official product-page Highlights.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-08
-
[10]Batch-7424 search ledger (this record): DANFS live page; NavSource live page; NHHC JTF-1 composition; DNA 6032F full text (OSTI); BuShips SDB-1945 v2 full text (shipscribe); GAO product page; MARAD Vessel History Database; Nashville PL VHP index; secondary web litigation sweep; CourtListener (blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-881-lst881-01 through -14
- 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-881 was found in the public sources searched. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated API reported the fleet daily quota exhausted (server-requested wait ~8.6 h); logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case naming this hull; generic 'asbestos aboard LSTs' marketing-listicle material exists (mesotheliomahope.com, simmonsfirm.com, asbestos.com and similar) asserting asbestos without hull-level 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 - and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (quota-blocked, not run). NARA deck logs, builder records, and any post-sale survey files are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-09
-
[11]Disposition cross-check: DANFS disposal line ('sold to E. G. Fontes & Co. for operation') vs shipbuildinghistory.njscuba.net Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron yard table (cell 'scrapped 1947') vs uswarships.jounin.jp secondary registry (Brazilian merchant career) - all secondary compiler sources except DANFS [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory Missouri Valley yard table, LST-881 row (hull 155); uswarships.jounin.jp LST pages, LST-881 entry
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: the shipbuildinghistory Missouri Valley yard table carries 'scrapped 1947' for LST-881, inconsistent with the authoritative disposal line - DANFS records the ship 'sold to E. G. Fontes & Co. for operation' on 24 November 1947. Secondary merchant registries (uswarships.jounin.jp; Brazilian merchant-marine compilations) carry a post-sale career: merchant Rio Douro; renamed Rio dos Sinos (1951), Clarion (1956), Sao Sebastiao (1964), call sign PUUP; burned and sank at Rio de Janeiro 3 August 1973; sold for breaking 1975.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1947-1975
- Population
- Post-sale merchant crews; Rio de Janeiro fire/casualty responders (1973); breakers (1975) - if secondary career is accurate
- Limitations
- The merchant-career chain rests on secondary registries only - Miramar Ship Index and official Brazilian registry data were not independently verified; treat the renamed-career narrative and 1973 loss as reported, not verified. The 'scrapped 1947' cell is documented here as a source defect, not adopted. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-881-lst881-10