Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
-
[1]research packet 837-packet.md (1 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-lst-937-lst937-pkt-837-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, LST-937 (live NHHC page; published 2015-08-04) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-937 entry (verbatim; live page, no transcription mirror needed)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'LST-937 was laid down on 11 July 1944 at Hingham, Mass., by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc.; launched on 12 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. W. H. Hartt; and commissioned on 6 September 1944.' Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; participated in the Mindanao Island landings in April 1945. Post-war occupation duty in the Far East and service in China until late May 1946. 'The ship was decommissioned on 24 May 1946 and transferred to the State Department on that date. She was struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946.' Earned one battle star for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades (1944); crew (1944-1946)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. DANFS does not name the post-State-Department recipient (NavSource supplies 'Republic of China'), does not give the decommissioning location (NavSource supplies Shanghai), and says nothing about the ship's post-transfer fate. Page verified live 2026-10-03.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LST-937 (10/16/160937.htm) - timeline, specifications, campaign/occupation periods, commanding officers, awards, photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160937.htm header block, campaign/occupation tables, specifications block, commanding-officers table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: commissioned 6 September 1944 with LT. George W. Mitchell USN in command; Asiatic-Pacific campaign credit 'Consolidation and capture of Southern Philippines - Mindanao Island landings, 17 to 23 April 1945'; Navy Occupation Service and China Service Medal (extended) periods both 7 September 1945 to 24 May 1946; 'Decommissioned at Shanghai, China, 24 May 1946 and transferred to the State Department'; 'Transferred by the State Department to the Republic of China'; 'Struck from the Naval Register, 3 July 1946'; 'Final Disposition, fate unknown'; one battle star. Specifications: 1,625 t. light / 4,080 t. full (seagoing draft w/1,675-ton load) / 2,366 t. beaching; 328 ft oa; 50 ft beam; 11.6 kts; complement 13 officers + 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers + 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP; diesel fuel 4,300 bbls; two GM 12-567A 900 hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, three 100 kW diesel-drive ship's-service generators, two propellers 1,700 shp, twin rudders; ultimate armament 2 twin + 4 single 40 mm, 12 single 20 mm. Awards shown: China Service Medal (extended), American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific (1 star), WWII Victory, Navy Occupation (Asia clasp), Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, Philippine Liberation Medal (1). Commanding officers: LT. George Wilbur Mitchell USN (6 Sep 1944 - 5 Jan 1946); LTjg. Daniel E. Welch Jr. USNR (5 Jan 1946 - 24 May 1946). Photo captions place the hull beached at Labuan Island, Borneo, 11 June 1945 (Australian War Memorial photos OG2922/OG2923); beached at Ie Shima near Okinawa 21 February 1946 alongside LST-970 and LST-690; and beached at Manila, P.I., circa 1945 alongside LST-714 and LST-614.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946 (page updated 2015-11-06)
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades (1944); crew (1944-1946)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation tracking NVR/DANFS data - milestone dates corroborated by DANFS where they overlap; specifications are class-level boilerplate (its 12-567A engine line conflicts with the official BuShips design table for this hull's block - see ev-04 correction). Contains no asbestos content. Page verified live 2026-10-03 (www.navsource.net, not the dead navsource.org domain).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-02
-
[4]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (January 1945) - LST vessel roster (shipscribe.com scan, text layer) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST roster, LST937 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips January 1945 roster entry for LST-937: builder 'Bethlehem Steel Co., Hingham, Mass.' (ditto block); laid 11 Jul 44; launched 12 Aug 44; completed 6 Sept 44 - corroborating the DANFS/NavSource build dates and the Hingham builder under the yard's parent-name form.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades (1944)
- Limitations
- Roster corroboration only; the January 1945 data book predates her Pacific service and contains no asbestos/material content. Text-layer OCR is staggered; builder captured via the ditto block under 'Bethlehem Steel Co., Hingham, Mass.'
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-03
-
[5]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (January 1945) - LST design table, engine-variant column [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST design table, 'Manufacturer, type of engines and model' column, LST932-979 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: the official BuShips design table assigns engine variants by hull block - LST1-490, LST491-541, LST542-931, LST980-1059, and LST1081-1152 carry 2 x GM 12-567A diesels (1,700 shp), while blocks LST932-979 and LST1060-1080 carry 2 x GM 12-278A diesels (1,700 shp). LST-937 falls in the LST932-979 block, so her documented engines were GM 12-278A units - not the 12-567A shown by the NavSource hull page and repeated by Wikipedia (both carry generic class specifications). Design-table block figures: 328 ft oa, 50 ft beam, 2,366 t light / 4,080 t trial, 11.6 kts.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Corrects a circulating specification error, not a material/asbestos claim. BuShips design table is the authoritative official source and controls; whether the as-built hull received the block-designated engines is not contradicted by any located primary source but is technically a design-table assignment, not a machinery-certificate record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-04
-
[6]ShipbuildingHistory.com (Tim Colton), Bethlehem-Hingham, Hingham MA - yard production table [other_primary]
- Locator
- Bethlehem-Hingham production table, row hull no. 3407 / LST 937
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Yard production table row for this hull: yard hull no. 3407, type LST, no. 937, FY1943, keel laid 11-Jul-44, launched 12-Aug-44, delivered 6-Sep-44 - 32 days on the ways, 25 days in the water, 57 total days. Yard context from the same page: Bethlehem Hingham Shipyards, Inc. was built in 1941 for destroyer-escort construction with $35M in Navy funding, had 16 ways, was managed by Bethlehem Quincy, employed over 23,000 at peak, and was closed and liquidated after the war. Disposition column for this hull reads 'Scrapped 1947' - which conflicts with the Chinese-service narrative (see ev-06 and gaps).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1947
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades (1941-1945; 23,000+ peak)
- Limitations
- Respected secondary yard reference, not an official registry; build dates corroborate DANFS exactly. The 'Scrapped 1947' disposition is unexplained and conflicts with both NavSource ('fate unknown') and Chinese-language sources (1949 mutiny, PLAN service) - treated as an unresolved disposition variant, not a finding. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-05
-
[7]Chinese Wikipedia, Zhong-hai-class (Zhong-class) LST article - sourced member table mapping LST-937 -> China Merchants 'Chung 102' -> PLAN '922 Taihangshan'; corroborating mutiny narrative in Liu Nongjun biography (krzzjn.com) and CCP Party History & Literature Research Institute memoir (dswxyjy.org.cn) [other_primary]
- Locator
- zh.WP Zhong-class article, member table row 937 and fleet-narrative paragraph (ref 25); krzzjn.com Liu Nongjun biography; dswxyjy.org.cn memoir 2015-04-22
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Post-1946 disposition claim documented in Chinese-language sources: LST-937's sourced table row reads '937 [LST-937] ... 1946/05/24 ... China Merchants (Zhaoshangju) "Chung 102" -> PLA "922 Taihangshan".' The same article's fleet narrative states China Merchants Steam Navigation Co. (Zhaoshangju - the ROC state shipping carrier) received a first batch of five ex-US LSTs in May 1946, numbered Chung 101-105, and that in April 1949 Chung 102, carrying the ROC Army 3rd Parachute Regiment from Shanghai toward Fuzhou, defected with the regiment and sailed to Communist-held Lianyungang. The mutiny is independently narrated by two party-history sources: a biography of regiment commander Liu Nongjun (krzzjn.com) and a participant memoir on the CCP Party History and Literature Research Institute site (dswxyjy.org.cn), both describing 'landing craft 102' sailing 13 April 1949, defecting, arriving Lianyungang 15 April 1949, and being 'incorporated into the People's Navy' - neither names ex-LST-937 explicitly.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946-1949 (claimed service window)
- Population
- ROC/Chinese crews and mutineers (1946-1949+); PLAN crew (claimed)
- Limitations
- Disposition claim only - the explicit LST-937 = Chung 102 = PLAN 922 Taihangshan linkage rests on a zh.WP table citing Chinese-language references; the mutiny sources describe 'craft 102' without naming the US hull. Conflicts with shipbuildinghistory's 'Scrapped 1947' and NavSource's 'fate unknown.' Chinese party-history organs are official PRC sources but not independent of the events narrated. No US official source traced for the post-transfer fate; treated as unresolved, not asserted. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-06
-
[8]Australian War Memorial collection, photograph OG2922 (J. T. Harrison; copyright expired - public domain) [museum_official]
- Locator
- AWM collection record OG2922 (description, place, maker fields); OG2923 via NavSource caption
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official Australian War Memorial record documenting this hull at Labuan Island, Borneo, 1945-06-11: 'A POWER SHOVEL, FOR USE IN LOADING GRAVEL FOR THE AIRSTRIP COMING ASHORE FROM LST (LANDING SHIP, TANK) NO. 937.' Companion AWM negative OG2923 (per NavSource captions) shows RAAF trucks unloading the same day - placing the ship in direct support of RAAF airfield construction at Labuan the day after the 10 June 1945 North Borneo landing.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- Crew; RAAF unloading/airfield-construction parties, Labuan 1945
- Limitations
- Physical-presence documentation - a dated, hull-numbered photograph; establishes location and activity on one date, not campaign credit (DANFS credits only the Mindanao operation). Contains no asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-07
-
[9]Era inference built on: BuShips Ships' Data 1945 v2 LST design table (diesel plant, no boilers; engine-variant blocks); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-use era (see ev-09); lst-1-class class-profile reasoning for diesel-LST applications [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST design table (diesel/no-boiler plant); GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- An LST built July-August 1944 at a wartime emergency yard sits inside the documented Navy asbestos-use era. The BuShips-documented diesel plant means no boiler or steam-turbine lagging pathway; era-standard asbestos-relevant applications for the type were diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, deck coverings, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings. Postwar conversions of sister hulls (ARL/AGP repair and mother-ship work) added interior insulation scope, but this hull's short USN career (20 months) and foreign disposal make postwar US refit exposure unlikely.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- Bethlehem-Hingham construction trades (1944); crew (1944-1946); post-1946 Chinese crews (claimed)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation schedule, material list, or work package located. Names era-standard applications for the type, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. No manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-08
-
[10]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) and USN service era (1944-46).
- 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 fetch, HTTP 403, consistent with prior batches) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-09
-
[11]Batch-7480 search ledger (this record): DANFS live; NavSource live; BuShips SDB-1945 v2; shipbuildinghistory; AWM OG2922; zh.WP/krzzjn/dswxyjy disposition chain; NVR; CourtListener (blocked); secondary web litigation/asbestos sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lst-937-lst937-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement record, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS LST-937 was found in the public sources searched. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated API reported the shared daily quota exhausted (~7.5 h to reset); logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case or hull-specific asbestos material; the only 'asbestos' content is law-firm marketing material (mesotheliomatreatmentcenters.org, gorilaw.com, mesotheliomahope.com and similar listicles asserting asbestos aboard LST-type ships without primary sourcing - one such page lists 'boiler room' and 'steam pipes' for the diesel LST-542 class, a factual error illustrating the source class) - 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 litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (quota-blocked, not run). Deck logs (RG 24), BuShips work packages, State Department disposal records, and China Merchants/PLAN records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lst-937-lst937-10