Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
-
[1]research packet 652-packet.md (4 sources cited) [museum_official]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-usat-lst246-pkt-652-packet-md
-
[2]Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 'LST-246' (NHHC, history.navy.mil) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS LST-246 entry, full text (live NHHC page verified 2026-10-02 - unlike the standing Batch-01 link-rot defect, this page resolves)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS: LST-246 was laid down 12 May 1943 at Evansville, Ind., by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co.; launched 22 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph Shaw; commissioned 23 August 1943. Assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater; participated in the Marshall Islands operation (Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, Jan-Feb 1944; Eniwetok Atoll, Feb 1944), capture and occupation of Saipan (Jun-Jul 1944), Tinian (Jul 1944), southern Palau Islands (Sep-Oct 1944), Lingayen Gulf landing (Jan 1945), and the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto (May 1945). Postwar occupation duty in the Far East until early February 1946; returned to the United States and decommissioned 14 February 1946; transferred to the U.S. Army 26 June 1947; struck from the Navy list 12 March 1948. Six battle stars for World War II service.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Limitations
- Establishes identity, construction, campaign participation, and transfer/strike dates. Contains no asbestos, materials, insulation, or condition information; supports no asbestos claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USAT LST-246 ex USS LST-246 page (10/16/160246) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Hull page: designation timeline, campaign table, occupation service table, specifications block, commanding-officer table, photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource Amphibious Photo Archive hull page ('USAT LST-246 ex USS LST-246'): adds organizational and post-Navy detail beyond DANFS - LST Flotilla Thirteen (CAPT J.G. Sampson), LST Group Thirty-Eight (LCDR M.F. Stiling USNR), LST Division Seventy-Five; Navy Occupation Service Medal periods 16 Nov-17 Dec 1945 and 16 Jan-15 Feb 1946; after decommissioning 14 Feb 1946 assigned to COMNAVFE Shipping Control Authority for Japan (SCAJAP) and redesignated Q061; transferred to the US Army Transportation Service 26 Jun 1947 and commissioned USAT LST-246; struck from the Naval Register 12 Mar 1948; final disposition 'lost due to grounding, date and location unknown,' with a contributed photograph of USAT LST-246 aground. Specifications: 1,625 t light / 4,080 t full / 2,366 t beaching; 328 ft oa x 50 ft; 11.6 kt; complement 13 officers / 104 enlisted; troop accommodations 16 officers / 147 enlisted; 2 x GM 12-567A 900hp diesels, single Falk main reduction gear, two propellers 1,700 shp, twin rudders; three diesel-drive 100 kW 230 V DC ship's-service generators; 2 LCVP; ultimate armament design 2 twin + 4 single 40mm, 12 x 20mm.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained archival compendium - reputable and consistent with DANFS here, but not itself an official Navy publication; the second Occupation Service Medal window (ending 15 Feb 1946) extends one day past the stated 14 Feb 1946 decommissioning (see gaps). The grounding loss has no date/location in located sources. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-02
-
[4]Robert Carol Bingham memoir, 'Robert Carol Bingham - LST 246' (NavSource contributed crew account) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/160246a.htm, full memoir text
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- First-person account by Robert Carol Bingham, wartime First Lieutenant and navigator of LST-246 (contributed by Brian R. Bingham): commissioning detail at Evansville; delivery via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, then through the Panama Canal to Hawaii; combat landings at Kwajalein and Eniwetok (ran the ship onto the beach at full speed, bow doors open, ~20-minute unload cycle); practice-landing grounding off Hawaii that damaged a propeller shaft and delayed her return to Pearl Harbor - the ship thereby arrived the morning after the West Loch explosion and fire of 21 May 1944 (see ev-uss-usat-lst246-05) and watched flotilla LSTs burning at the pier; combat landings at Saipan, Tinian, Peleliu (Vice Admiral Wilkinson's III Amphibious Force), Leyte Gulf, and the Lingayen Gulf convoy under kamikaze attack (witnessed the staging of MacArthur's return-photograph landing); Okinawa combat landings under kamikaze attacks on surrounding ships, during which LST-246 dispatched her doctor and corpsmen to a stricken cruiser; reef damage at Okinawa requiring return to San Francisco for repairs; postwar repatriation service ('loaned to the Japanese to repatriate Japanese stranded on Pacific Islands').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1946
- Population
- Ship's officers and crew, 1943-1946
- Limitations
- Personal recollection written decades after service and contributed by family - corroborates officially documented operations but is not date authority: its postwar framing ('decommissioned and loaned to the Japanese') compresses the documented SCAJAP Q061 interlude, and its harbor-fire description (four ships lost, about 200 men) is an eyewitness approximation vs. NHHC's 163-dead/396-injured figure (ev-05). No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-03
-
[5]Thomas W. Alexander memoir, 'The Dead Engine Incident of LST 246' (NavSource contributed crew account, scanned PDF, OCR-extracted this session) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/16/pdf/160246a.pdf, 2-page scanned memoir (image-only PDF; text recovered by local OCR, 2026-10-02)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- First-person engineering account by Thomas W. Alexander, MoMM1/c (contributed by Bill Alexander), 'The Dead Engine Incident of LST 246': in convoy in the Philippine Sea en route to the Okinawa reinforcement, the last of three auxiliary diesel generators shut down at night and the ship went dead in the water and was left behind by the convoy; bad lubricating oil had eaten the bronze liners of the piston-rod and main bearings on two auxiliary engines, and no spares were available in port; main engines could not run because ship's-service power drove the air compressors needed to operate the reduction-gear transmission units; Alexander and Lt. John Macabee (engineering officer) transferred usable bearings between engines by battle-lantern light, reset the engine, and restored power. Documents the ship's machinery arrangement (three diesel ship's-service generators; two main diesels with air-compressor-dependent reduction-gear transmissions) and overnight in-place machinery repair in the auxiliary engine room.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945 (Okinawa reinforcement convoy)
- Population
- Auxiliary/main engine-room watchstanders and repair party
- Limitations
- Personal recollection of an engineering casualty - machinery details are consistent with the published specification block (three diesel generators, Falk reduction gear) but the document contains no asbestos, insulation, or materials information; the memoir's value here is ship-specific machinery-space documentation, not exposure evidence.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-04
-
[6]NHHC, 'Pearl Harbor Ablaze Again: The West Loch Disaster' (history.navy.mil browse-by-topic page) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC West Loch topic page (live, verified 2026-10-02); casualty figure via Morison as cited there
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC 'Pearl Harbor Ablaze Again: The West Loch Disaster': on 21 May 1944 an ordnance accident beginning aboard LST-353 spread among 29 LSTs berthed at West Loch, Pearl Harbor; Samuel Eliot Morison's count puts 163 dead and 396 injured, with precise multi-service counts impossible; the cause was never determined; the disaster did not delay the Saipan operation. This is the harbor fire the Bingham memoir describes LST-246 arriving just after (ev-03) - official identification and casualty context for the ship-specific memoir claim.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1944-05-21
- Population
- 29 berthed LSTs' crews and embarked troops (event context)
- Limitations
- NHHC does not name LST-246 - the page establishes the event (date, location, casualties, cause-undetermined) that the ship-specific Bingham memoir describes arriving after; the linkage is memoir-level, and the memoir's 'about 200 men / four ships' is an approximation vs. the 163-dead figure carried here. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-05
-
[7]U.S. Naval Institute News, 'The Strange Navy That Shipped Millions of Japanese Home' (Scot Christenson) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI article, SCAJAP program description (live, verified 2026-10-02)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- U.S. Naval Institute (Scot Christenson): the SCAJAP program under COMNAVFE (RADM D. B. Beary; chief of staff RADM Charles Momsen) gave Japan 85 decommissioning-bound LSTs and 100 Liberty ships operated by Japanese crews (instruments and hatches remarked in Kanji), growing to about 400 vessels for the mass postwar repatriation effort; SCAJAP was dissolved 1 April 1952. Program context for this hull's 1946-47 SCAJAP Q061 period documented by NavSource (ev-02).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945-1952
- Population
- Japanese merchant crews under U.S. control (program context)
- Limitations
- Program-level description - does not name this hull; establishes that decommissioned LSTs were Japanese-crewed on repatriation service under U.S. control, matching this hull's documented Q061 designation and the Bingham memoir's repatriation claim. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-06
-
[8]Bureau of Ships, Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (Jan 1945), LST design table + roster (shipscribe.com scan, text layer) [other_primary]
- Locator
- SDB1945v2 LST design table + roster section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Bureau of Ships Ships' Data, U.S. Naval Vessels, Vol. 2 (Jan 1945), LST design table and roster: class machinery - 328 ft oa, 50 ft beam, ~2,366 t light / 3,960-4,080 t trial, 11.6 kt, 2 x GM 12-567A diesels at 1,700 shp (blocks 932-979 and 1060-1080 carried GM 12-278A engines); accommodations 13 officers / 106 enlisted; the official design table for the class to which this hull belongs.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1945
- Limitations
- Class design documentation, not a hull record - establishes the class machinery and accommodation figures only; BuShips complement (106 enlisted) differs by two from NavSource's hull-page figure (104) - see gaps. No asbestos or materials schedule in this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-07
-
[9]Consolidated era inference - BuShips SDB-1945 v2 machinery data (cited at ev-uss-usat-lst246-07) + LST-1-class profile era analysis [other_primary]
- Locator
- Class/era inference built on the cited BuShips design data
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/design inference for diesel-powered LST-1-class hulls: no boilers, so the steam-lagging pathway is absent; asbestos-relevant applications for the type concentrate in GM diesel exhaust lagging and gaskets, engine-room thermal/acoustic insulation, deck coverings/tile, bulkhead and accommodation insulation, and winch/crane brake linings. LSTs were mass-produced 1942-1945 during the period when asbestos was standard shipyard insulating material; sister-hull museum ships (LST-325, LST-393, LST-510) retain era fabric but their hazmat/survey records were not retrieved this session.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1942-1948
- Population
- Construction trades (Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron, Evansville, 1943); ship's crew and embarked troops
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no ship-level asbestos record exists for this hull. Establishes no quantities, locations, condition, exposure for any individual, or present-day presence; the hull was lost to grounding in Army service at an unknown date and location.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-08
-
[10]Corn, Jacqueline Karnell, and Jennifer Starr, 'Historical perspective on asbestos: Policies and protective measures in World War II shipbuilding,' American Journal of Industrial Medicine 11(3):359-373 (1987) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Abstract and article, AJIM 11(3):359-373
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Peer-reviewed historical study documents that asbestos was used extensively as a fireproofing and insulating material in U.S. shipbuilding during WWII - the era and program under which this 1943 LST-1-class hull was mass-produced - and that wartime demand drove unprecedented asbestos utilization in naval and merchant construction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1940s era documented; article 1987
- Population
- WWII shipyard workers and ship crews (era context)
- Limitations
- Program/era-level scholarly documentation of asbestos use in WWII shipbuilding generally; does not name this vessel and does not establish that asbestos was aboard this hull, nor quantity, location, condition, exposure, or causation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-09
-
[11]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 to automated fetch, HTTP 403 - same standing defect as Batches 01/98; content via product-page description)
- 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 - Navy-program context for the era in which asbestos insulation was standard practice, though this hull left Navy custody in 1946-47, decades before those policies applied to her.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Fleet program-level documentation; this hull had already been transferred to the Army before the 1975/1979 policies existed - included only to characterize the Navy's documented asbestos-management era, not to imply any action aboard this ship.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-10
-
[12]Batch-6793 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS and NHHC West Loch; NavSource hull page + hosted crew memoirs + hosted operation-order scans (OCR-reviewed); USNI SCAJAP article; Naval Vessel Register; MARAD ShipHistory; NARA catalog; Kansas Historical Society MVB&I records; CourtListener; secondary-web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-usat-lst246-01 through sl-uss-usat-lst246-12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming LST-246 / USAT LST-246 / SCAJAP Q061 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener phrase searches on "LST-246" returned zero opinions and zero dockets, and '"LST 246" AND asbestos' returned zero opinions (authenticated API v4, 2026-10-02); an unquoted tokenized variant returned only unrelated-name noise. The ship's museum-track analog is closed - the hull was lost to grounding in Army service, so no museum hazmat file exists as it does for surviving sisters LST-325/393/510.
- 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 - a 1943 mass-production amphibious hull is era-consistent with asbestos-containing materials. Does not establish presence or absence; does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-11
-
[13]NARA Guide to Federal Records RG 24/RG 19; Kansas Historical Society 'Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company records' (kansashistory.gov/archives/40167) [other_primary]
- Locator
- KHS collection record 40167; NARA record-group mapping only - no box-level retrieval performed
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Archival leads (not retrieved - require research-room or reproduction orders; no spend authorized): (a) NARA RG 24 deck logs for LST-246 (Aug 1943-Feb 1946) - WWII-era deck logs are not digitized; (b) NARA RG 19 (Bureau of Ships) construction/contract records for the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron LST block - outfitting and insulation specifications would sit here; (c) Kansas Historical Society, Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company records collection (Leavenworth parent firm) - builder's own records for the Evansville yard, which secondary yard histories credit with roughly 167-171 LSTs built 1942-1945; (d) U.S. Army Transportation Service records for the USAT period (1947-loss) would document Army operation and the grounding loss the Navy-side record leaves undated.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-02
- Study period
- 1943-1950s records
- Limitations
- Record-group mapping only - existence of asbestos-specific documents for this hull is unknown until surveyed in person. The 167-171 LST yard-production figure is from secondary yard histories (Naval Marine Archive / Wikipedia / University of Southern Indiana library exhibit), not yet confirmed against the KHS records themselves. Nothing in this row is an asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-usat-lst246-12