USCGC Comanche (WPG-76)

Evidence

8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).

1. [1]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, "Comanche, 1934 (WPG-76)" cutter history page [other_primary]

   Locator

   Full page text: specifications block, Class History section, Cutter History section

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office official cutter history page for this hull: built by Pusey & Jones Company, Wilmington, DE ($499,800 contract cost); launched 6 September 1934; commissioned 1 December 1934; 165-foot 'A' class (fifth of six: Algonquin WPG-75, Comanche WPG-76, Escanaba WPG-77, Mohawk WPG-78, Onondaga WPG-79, Tahoma WPG-80), design derived from the 1915 Tallapoosa/Ossipee cutters, first Coast Guard class with geared-turbine drives, built for light icebreaking (up to 2 ft) under Public Works Administration funding. Homeported Stapleton, NY 1934-1940; transported first American consul to Ivigtut, Greenland in 1940; assigned South Greenland Patrol 1 June 1941; transferred to Navy operational control (CINCLANT/DESLANT) 1 July 1941, homeport Boston, primarily convoy escort to Greenland. Detailed war diary of convoy escort, weather-station patrol, and logistics support 1941-1945, including the rescue of 97 survivors of the torpedoed USAT Dorchester (convoy SG-19, 3 February 1943, escorting with Tampa and Escanaba) using a volunteer 'retriever' line technique, and the December 1943 rescue of 29 survivors from the abandoned USAT Nevada. Postwar: armament removed, new homeport Norfolk, VA; placed in commission-in-reserve 23 April 1946; brief February 1947 reactivation; decommissioned 29 July 1947, stored at Coast Guard Yard, Curtis Bay, MD; declared surplus 13 July 1948; sold to Virginia Pilots Association 10 November 1948.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   1934-1948

   Population

   Coast Guard officers and crew, 1934-1947 (design complement 6 officers/56 men); Dorchester and Nevada survivors rescued 1943

   Limitations

   Documents construction, specifications, and a detailed WWII service history (including the Dorchester and Nevada rescues) but contains no statement about asbestos, insulation materials, or shipboard hazardous materials of any kind. Establishes vessel history only. Live URL returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch in this session; content verified via Wayback Machine capture (timestamp 20260615231648) and cross-checked against the page's own cited sources (The Coast Guard at War V: Transports and Escorts, 1949; Scheina, U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II, 1982).

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-01

2. [2]South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Guide to South Carolina Marine Artificial Reefs (2015 ed.), Comanche Reef / PA-27 entry [other_primary]

   Locator

   PDF page containing 'Comanche Reef' structure list and coordinate table (extracted via pdftotext, matched to preceding 'PA-27' reef-site header)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   South Carolina Department of Natural Resources official artificial-reef guide identifies 'Comanche Reef' as reef site PA-27, an unmarked reef bearing 135 degrees at 22.5 nautical miles from the Charleston Harbor channel buoy 'C,' water depth 105 feet. The reef's listed structure includes, as item 1, a '165' Ship (Comanche)' alongside a tug, bridge rubble, a trawler, and subway cars, with individual GPS coordinates given (approx. 32 27.395 N / 079 19.073 W for the ship component). The 165-foot length matches this hull's specifications exactly, and no other 165-foot vessel named Comanche is documented in the sources reviewed.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   1992-2015 (guide publication date; reef established 1992 per SC state legislative and museum sources, see ev-03)

   Population

   Recreational and commercial divers/anglers; no occupational population

   Limitations

   Confirms the hull's final disposition and location as a sunk artificial reef; documents no asbestos content, no pre-sinking hazmat survey, and no confirmation that any asbestos abatement was performed on this hull before sinking. Does not itself state the sinking year; 1992 is sourced to ev-03 and secondary accounts, not to this document.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-02

3. [3]S.C. Gen. Assemb., 109th Sess., S. 50 (1991-1992), amending S.C. Code Ann. Title 51, Ch. 1 (adding Sec. 51-1-65) [other_primary]

   Locator

   Bill text, museum-vessels enumeration clause

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   South Carolina General Assembly, 1991-1992 session, S. 50 (amending S.C. Code Title 51, Chapter 1, adding Section 51-1-65), transferring Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum from the Patriot's Point Development Authority to the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism: 'The museum also includes six United States naval vessels: the Yorktown, Laffey, Savannah, Clamagore, Ingham, and Comanche.' This is a primary state legislative record confirming Comanche's status as one of six vessels formally associated with the Patriots Point museum as of the 1991-92 session.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   supporting

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   1991-1992

   Population

   N/A (legislative/administrative record)

   Limitations

   Confirms museum affiliation and naming only; contains no statement about the vessel's material condition, hazardous materials, or asbestos. Does not itself document the 1984 donation, 1989 Hurricane Hugo damage, or 1992 reefing - those dates derive from secondary museum/press accounts (Wikipedia's own cited footnotes: a 1984 NASOH newsletter and a 1990s Charleston maritime-history book) that were not independently retrieved as primary sources in this session and are therefore not cited directly; they are carried in gaps rather than asserted as verified.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-03

4. [4]USCG Historian's Office propulsion/machinery specification block (ev-01) plus general era-construction inference; no class-specific material specification document was located [other_primary]

   Locator

   Specification block (Propulsion/Machinery)

   Finding type

   asbestos_application

   Finding

   Class/era inference only: a 165-foot Coast Guard cutter built in 1934 with a geared-turbine, oil-fired-boiler steam plant (2 x Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 x Westinghouse turbine) would be expected to have carried contemporary-standard boiler and turbine insulation, steam-line lagging, gaskets, and packing consistent with 1930s-40s naval/maritime steam-plant construction practice generally.

   Verification

   inferred

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   class_or_era

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   1934-1947

   Population

   Pusey & Jones construction trades, 1934; Coast Guard/Navy engineering crew, 1934-1947

   Limitations

   Inference from era and machinery type only - the specification page itself does not mention asbestos or insulation material composition. No ship-specific finding is supported by this row; it does not establish that asbestos-containing material was installed on, remained aboard, or was removed from this specific hull at any point in its history.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-04

5. [5]U.S. EPA, "Disposal of Vessels at Sea" (MPRSA general permit program overview, 40 C.F.R. 229.3) [federal_register]

   Locator

   Page sections on hazardous-material removal requirements and land-alternative preference

   Finding type

   regulatory

   Finding

   EPA's current Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) general-permit framework for vessel disposal at sea (40 C.F.R. 229.3) requires removal, to the maximum extent practicable, of oil, fuel, lubricants, PCBs, asbestos, and floatable materials before a vessel is sunk as an artificial reef.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   context

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   MPRSA enacted 1972; current program description reflects present-day EPA guidance, not necessarily 1992-era practice

   Population

   N/A (regulatory-program description)

   Limitations

   This describes the general federal regulatory framework and current EPA guidance for vessel reefing; it is not a ship-specific record and does not establish that an asbestos survey or abatement was performed on this hull before its 1992 sinking, nor what specific standards (if any, formalized after the 2004 NDAA and 2006 EPA Best Management Practices document) applied to a 1992-era reefing project. No pre-sinking survey or abatement record for this hull was located.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-05

6. [6]DANFS, "Comanche" (ex-Windom, 1917-1919) - confirmed non-applicable name collision [nhhc_danfs]

   Locator

   Full DANFS entry text (verified via Wayback Machine capture, timestamp 20241224001935, live URL returned HTTP 404 in this session)

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   Name-collision exclusion: NHHC's DANFS entry titled "Comanche" (history.navy.mil) describes a different vessel entirely - the former revenue cutter Windom, renamed Comanche on 13 December 1915, transferred from the Coast Guard to the Navy on 6 April 1917, commissioned 11 April 1917, served on New Orleans-area patrol duty, stricken 1 August 1919, and returned to the Treasury Department 28 August 1919 - fifteen years before WPG-76 was even launched. Separately, a reference in HAER-adjacent Coast Guard cutter documentation states that USCGC Resolute (WMEC-620, commissioned 1966) replaced a cutter "Comanche" in the Coast Guard's Twelfth District; that reference is to the later, unrelated USCGC Comanche (WMEC-202, in commission 1959-1980), not to WPG-76 (sold out of service in 1948). Neither source is evidence for this vessel_id and both are excluded from the record.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   1898-1919 (unrelated vessel)

   Population

   N/A - excluded record

   Limitations

   This row documents and resolves a name collision; it contributes no historical or asbestos information about WPG-76. Recorded so that future research does not re-attribute the ex-Windom Comanche's 1917-1919 Navy service to this hull.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-06

7. [7]CourtListener API v4 search, type=opinion, query="USCGC Comanche" [court_record]

   Locator

   API response: {"count": 0, "next": null, "previous": null, "results": []}

   Finding type

   litigation_documented

   Finding

   CourtListener API v4 (via mandated fleet helper), searched as exact phrase "USCGC Comanche", type=opinion (published case law): zero results (count: 0). No published federal or state opinion in CourtListener's opinion index names this hull under that exact phrasing.

   Verification

   verified

   Role

   negative_finding

   Documentation level

   ship_specific

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   N/A

   Population

   N/A - negative search result

   Limitations

   Confirms only that no published opinion uses the exact phrase "USCGC Comanche"; does not rule out opinions referring to the ship as plain "Comanche," "the cutter Comanche," or "WPG-76," nor unpublished/RECAP docket-only filings (the docket/RECAP search for this hull was attempted via a sustained background-poller retry window and remained blocked by fleet-wide pacing for the duration - see search_ledger sl-uscgc-comanche-08 and gaps). Given "Comanche" alone is a high-collision term (see ev-06), a bare-name opinion search was not run in this session to avoid an unmanageable false-positive volume without time to disambiguate each hit; this is logged as a scope limitation, not a completed exhaustive search.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-07

8. [8]National Archives Catalog (catalog.archives.gov) - search attempted, no retrievable result [other_primary]

   Locator

   N/A - search interface did not return parseable content

   Finding type

   vessel_history

   Finding

   National Archives Catalog search for "USCGC Comanche" / "WPG-76" was attempted but the catalog's public search interface (catalog.archives.gov) did not return retrievable/parseable results via automated access in this session (JavaScript-rendered results; direct API query also failed to return). No NARA holdings for this hull were confirmed or ruled out.

   Verification

   unverified

   Role

   archival_lead

   Documentation level

   context_only

   Accessed

   2026-09-24

   Study period

   N/A

   Population

   N/A

   Limitations

   This row records a research attempt and its inconclusive result, not a finding. NARA Record Group 26 (Coast Guard) is a plausible location for a General Information Book or material-specification file for WPG-76 but was not retrieved.

   Atlas source

   true

   Evidence ID

   ev-uscgc-comanche-08