Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
-
[1]research packet 629-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-stark-county-lst1134-pkt-629-packet-md
-
[2]DANFS, 'Stark County' entry (NHHC, published 2015-09-24) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC DANFS 'Stark County' page, full entry; live-verified 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official NHHC history: laid down 18 December 1944 at Seneca, Ill., by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co.; launched 16 March 1945 (sponsor Miss Ella Arne); commissioned 7 April 1945 (Lt. C. R. Barheght, USNR). Shakedown then 800 tons cargo from Theodore, Ala., 12 May 1945 to western Pacific; Okinawa 28 July-29 August unloading ammunition; Japan/western-Pacific runs to January 1946; San Diego yard overhaul from 29 January 1946; sailed 15 July, reached Apra Harbor, Guam, 18 September; October 1946-September 1950 passengers/cargo among western Pacific islands; September-December 1950 Korea support (Inchon, Hungnam, Pusan); Pearl Harbor from 14 June 1951 for overhaul and Hawaiian Islands tour to 1966; named Stark County 1 July 1955 (for counties in Illinois, North Dakota, Ohio); transferred to Thailand on loan 16 May 1966 as Pangan (DANFS prints pennant 'LST-3'); loan made permanent grant April 1972; name subsequently struck from the Navy list. Spec block: dp. 4,080; l. 328'0"; b. 50'0"; dr. 14'1"; s. 11.6 k (tl.); cpl. 119; trp. 147; a. 8 40mm; cl. LST-542.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1972
- Limitations
- Vessel history only - contains no asbestos, material, or exposure information. Does not establish presence or absence of asbestos aboard. DANFS's Thai pennant 'LST-3' conflicts with NavSource/NavalCoverMuseum 'LST-13' (carried in gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-01
-
[3]NavSource Online Amphibious Photo Archive, USS Stark County (LST-1134) page 161134 (last updated 2024-03-01) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 10/16/161134: timeline, campaign table, specifications block, photo captions, CO list; live-verified 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Per-hull archival page: LST-542 class; laid down 18 December 1944 Chicago Bridge & Iron, Seneca IL; launched 16 March 1945; commissioned 7 April 1945 (LT Charles R. Barheght USNR); WWII assignment LST Flotilla 34 / Group 100 / Division 199; Far East occupation service 15 September 1945-4 January 1946; Korean War campaign table - Inchon Landing 13-17 September 1950, North Korean Aggression 18-24 September 1950, Communist China Aggression 14-27 December 1950; named Stark County 1 July 1955; decommissioned 16 May 1966 and commissioned into the Royal Thai Navy as HTMS Pangan (LST-13); struck from Naval Register, date unknown; renumbered LST-713 by Thai Navy between 1995 and 1997; Thai decommissioning date unknown, retained as museum/tourist attraction at Koh Phan-gan. Photo captions: beached with USS LST-1090 circa 1945; berthed Mare Island 8 February 1946; beached South Korea circa December 1948-February 1950; 'Hilo Queen' at Smugglers Cove, Kahoolawe, October 1964 (Seabee support); Naval Station Pearl Harbor (All Hands, April 1961); as Pangan entering Saigon 15 July 1967 with Royal Thai Army 521st Engineer Company; museum-ship photography at Ko Pha-ngan 2011, 2018, 2020 (near Thong Sala Pier). Awards: American Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign, WWII Victory, Navy Occupation (Asia clasp), National Defense, Korean Service (3 stars), UN Service, ROK War Service (retroactive). Specs (ONI-1945): 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full; 328 ft oa; 50 ft beam; 12 kt max; endurance 24,000 mi @ 9 kt; complement 7 officers / 104 enlisted; troops 16 officers / 147 enlisted; 2 LCVP; armament 2 twin 40mm, 4 single 40mm, 12 single 20mm (ultimate design); 2 x GM 12-567 900-hp diesels, two shafts, twin rudders.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-2020
- Population
- Ship's company: 7 officers / 104 enlisted (ONI-1945 via NavSource); DANFS spec block cpl. 119
- Limitations
- Secondary archival aggregator (naval-history photographic archive) - timeline and spec data consistent with DANFS and the BuShips design table, but NavSource is a compiled secondary source; contains no asbestos information. Does not establish presence or absence of asbestos aboard. Thai strike/retirement dates marked unknown on the page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-02
-
[4]Naval Cover Museum wiki, 'STARK COUNTY LST 1134' ship name and designation history [museum_official]
- Locator
- NavalCoverMuseum 'STARK COUNTY LST 1134' page, 'Ship Name and Designation History' table; live-verified 2026-10-02
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Post-transfer chronology: commissioned USS LST-1134 7 April 1945; named USS Stark County LST-1134 1 July 1955; decommissioned 16 May 1966; struck from Naval Register (date unknown); transferred to Thailand and commissioned into the Royal Thai Navy as HTMS Pangan (LST-13); renumbered LST-713 between 1995 and 1997; retired from the Royal Thai Navy 5 June 2008 and used as a training ship alongside other LSTs; now a museum and tourist attraction at Koh Phangan, Thailand (Google Maps listing embedded on the page).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-present
- Limitations
- Compiled museum wiki (naval-cover philately site) - secondary source; the 2008-06-05 Thai retirement date is carried on its authority (consistent with Wikipedia's '2008'). Contains no asbestos information. Does not establish presence or absence of asbestos aboard.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-03
-
[5]U.S. National Archives catalog: RG 38 WWII War Diary, USS LST-1134, 4/7/45-8/31/45 (NAID 77508477); RG 24 deck logs, Stark County (LST-1134), monthly file units digitized in the VA Blue Water Navy (BWN) scan batches (e.g., NAIDs 215308633 Nov 1961, 284641856 Jun 1956, 217171700 Mar 1957, 296909018 Feb 1959, 296909932 Dec 1959, 217173406 Mar 1960, 215308363 Sep 1961, 217174530 May 1962, 217174666 Jun 1962, 215309849 Aug 1963, 296910186 Nov 1963, 296910274 Dec 1963, 296910598 Apr 1964, 296910734 Jun 1964, 179677674 Apr 1965, 296911156 Dec 1964) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov searches '"LST-1134"' (613 hits) and '"USS LST-1134"' (75 hits); war diary at catalog.archives.gov/id/77508477
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds digitized primary records for this hull: an RG 38 WWII war diary covering commissioning through August 1945 (7 April-31 August 1945) and a run of RG 24 monthly deck logs spanning at least 1956-1965, scanned in the VA_Batch/BWN series. Catalog search '"LST-1134"' returned 613 hits (610 file units), predominantly these deck-log file units plus records mentioning the hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945; 1956-1965 (visible span)
- Population
- Ship's company recorded in deck logs
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: the logs and war diary were located in the catalog but not individually reviewed page-by-page; whether they record asbestos work, yard periods, or material handling is unknown. Deck logs document locations and events, not materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-04
-
[6]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (Jan 1945), LST design table and roster (shipscribe.com scan with text layer) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB-1945 Vol. 2 LST design table + roster (LST1081-1152 block)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official BuShips design table for the LST groups: 328 ft oa, 50 ft beam, ~2,366 t light / 3,960-4,080 t trial, 11.6 kt, propulsion 2 x GM 12-567A diesels ~1,700 shp (engine-variant blocks 932-979 and 1060-1080 carried GM 12-278A); accommodations 13 officers / ~106 enlisted. LST-1134 falls in the LST1081-1152 design block built at Chicago Bridge & Iron, Seneca - a diesel plant with no boilers.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Population
- n/a
- Limitations
- Class design documentation, not a hull record - establishes the design series' machinery and dimensions; does not name this hull's materials and contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-05
-
[7]Era/design inference for diesel-powered LST-542-class hulls (per BuShips SDB-1945 v2 plant description + WWII-era Navy material practice) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB-1945 v2 LST design table (propulsion plant); era materials practice
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era-consistent inference only: with no boilers, the asbestos-relevant applications aboard an LST-542-class ship concentrate in diesel engine and exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and valve packing, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, deck coverings and tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/windlass brake linings - insulation and friction/gasket products of the period were commonly manufactured with asbestos fiber.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (construction); service 1945-2008; museum 2011-present
- Population
- WWII-era shipyard trades at Chicago Bridge & Iron Seneca (construction); ship's company engine room / maintenance rates; post-1966 Royal Thai Navy crew and (post-2011) museum workers/visitors
- Limitations
- Design-era inference, not a ship record: no material schedule, specification, survey, or ship-specific document establishes asbestos products aboard this hull; asbestos presence is inferred from era practice, not proven for LST-1134. Does not establish quantity, location, or any individual exposure. The hull survives in Thai museum custody - whether original material remains aboard is undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-06
-
[8]VA Compensation Service, 'Navy and Coast Guard Ships Associated with Service in Vietnam and Exposure to Herbicide Agents' (2014 edition, mirrored PDF; identical Category I designation entry present in the 2021 edition) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Ship list Category I designation block (tf116.org mirror); cross-checked against sibling-batch verification of the 2021 edition
- Finding type
- regulatory
- Finding
- The VA ship list's Category I ('ships operating primarily or exclusively on Vietnam's inland waterways') includes the blanket designation entry 'All vessels with the designation LST [Landing Ship, Tank]' for Agent Orange herbicide-exposure presumption purposes under 38 CFR 3.307(a)(6)(iii). Stark County is not individually named; her type is covered at designation level. Caveat for this hull: her U.S. service ended 16 May 1966 with transfer to Thailand, before the major Vietnam buildup; her only documented Vietnam-area presence (Saigon harbor, 15 July 1967, per NARA photo carried by NavSource) was under the Royal Thai Navy flag.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1962-1975 (presumption window); list editions 2014 and 2021
- Population
- Vietnam-era LST crew members (herbicide presumption class)
- Limitations
- Herbicide (Agent Orange) adjudication record, not an asbestos record - included as veteran-population context only. The blanket entry covers the LST designation; this hull has no documented U.S.-era Vietnam service, and VA presumption applies to qualifying U.S. service. Cited copy is a VSO-organization mirror of the VA Compensation Service document (PDF creation date 2014-09-03); the identical designation line appears in the 2021 edition.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-07
-
[9]GAO HRD-80-2, report on Navy asbestos hazards / asbestos-protection program (product page) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO product page HRD-80-2 (blocked to automated fetch; description-level)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented the Navy's asbestos-protection program: standing policy (1975) removed asbestos insulation only when damaged or required for repairs, modified 1979 to selective replacement in high-maintenance areas - meaning original-era insulation typically remained in place for decades unless a yard period disturbed it. Program-level context only; this hull left U.S. custody in 1966, before the documented policy window.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979-1980 (report); policy window 1975-1979
- Limitations
- Program-level, not hull-level: the report does not name LST-1134, and the policy window (1975-1979) postdates this ship's 1966 transfer to Thailand - its relevance is limited to showing the era's retained-ACM norm for U.S. sister ships. gao.gov returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch on 2026-10-02 - product-page description relied on; full-text pull remains an open lead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-08
-
[10]Batch-6623 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS live page; NavSource 10/16/161134; NavalCoverMuseum; NARA catalog; CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket sweeps; VA ship list; NVR; GAO; secondary/name-collision sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-stark-county-lst1134-01 through sl-uss-stark-county-lst1134-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record was located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or adjudicated opinion names this hull, and no litigation naming the hull was found. CourtListener exact-phrase searches for 'LST-1134' returned zero opinions and zero dockets. The one known multi-ship Guam asbestos pleading - Jacob v. PLENCO, D. Guam 1:19-cv-00108, whose Exhibit A deck-log summary names ~40 ships including sister LST-1122 - was fetched and OCR'd page-by-page this session: 'LST-1134' and 'Stark' appear nowhere in its 13 pages (the exhibit's LST presence windows are 1963-1969, after this hull's May 1966 Thai transfer). Law-firm/marketing ship-list pages that assert asbestos aboard LSTs were excluded by source policy.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 2026-10-02
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - the era/design is consistent with retained ACM, and unusually for a WWII landing ship the hull survives intact as a Thai museum ship, so any original material could persist undocumented. The 'Stark County' asbestos name sweeps could not be completed - the shared fleet CourtListener pacer stayed saturated through six retries across the session - and are logged blocked (open), not as negative results. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-stark-county-lst1134-09