Evidence
10 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-10).
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[1]research packet ah-packet.md (3 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED — real identity: USS APc-21 (NEVER named)
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-apc-21-apc21-pkt-ah-packet-md
-
[2]Shipscribe.com APc-1 (APC-1) class compilation (reproduces corrected U.S. Navy register / Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels figures): construction table and per-ship notes [other_primary]
- Locator
- APC-1 class page, construction table row 21 and per-ship note 21; class data block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- APc-21 construction and disposition per official-register compilation: ordered 19 February 1942, Hodgdon Bros., East Boothbay, ME; keel laid 4 April 1942; launched 12 September 1942; commissioned 25 February 1943. Per-ship note: 'Ex AMc-172. Sunk by Japanese aircraft bomb off New Britain (Arawe).' Class data: 103.25 ft oa, diesel machinery 400 HP single screw, wooden-hull type derived from the AMc coastal minesweeper design.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Limitations
- Compilation of official register data, not the raw primary record; keel/launch dates conflict with NavSource (laid down 24 May 1942, launched 2 September 1942) - shipscribe adopted for the date fields, variant disclosed in gaps. Contains no asbestos or materials information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-01
-
[3]NavSource Naval History, Service Ship Photo Archive - USS APc-21 page (archive of official U.S. Navy records; curator Gary P. Priolo) [other_primary]
- Locator
- USS APc-21 page: chronology block, campaign table, specifications block, commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Commissioned USS APc-21 on 25 February 1943, LT. William N. Vlachos USNR in command; LTjg. William J. Bates USNR commanding December 1943 to loss. Asiatic-Pacific campaigns: Eastern New Guinea operation (Lae occupation, 8-12 September 1943) and Bismarck Archipelago operation (Arawe, New Britain, 15-17 December 1943). Lost to enemy air attack 17 December 1943. Struck from the Naval Register 5 June 1946. Earned two battle stars. Specifications: displacement 100 t light / 234 t full / 258 t lim; 103'3" x 21'3" x 9'3"; 10 kts; complement 3 officers + 22 enlisted; troop capacity 66; four single 20 mm AA mounts; one Atlas 6HM2124 diesel engine, two diesel-driven 30 kW 120 V DC ship's-service generators, single propeller, 400 shp. Page states no DANFS entry exists for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943; struck 1946
- Population
- Ship's company, approx. 25 (3 officers, 22 enlisted); embarked troops up to 66
- Limitations
- Volunteer-maintained archive republishing official records, not the primary record itself. Page internally mislabels the loss location 'Arawe, New Georgia' - Arawe is on New Britain (the page's own campaign table, the official USN chronology, and the CNO loss report all agree on New Britain). Its AMc-173 designation claim conflicts with NavSource's own APc index (ex AMc-172) - see correction row. Contains no asbestos information.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-02
-
[4]NavSource APc class index (ex-AMc cross-reference) + Shipscribe.com APc-1 class per-ship notes, which both list APc-21 as ex-AMc-172 and APc-22 as ex-AMc-173 [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource APc index ex-AMc column; shipscribe APC-1 class notes row 21
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Hull-designation correction: the NavSource APc-21 ship page claims 'Originally planned as a Coastal Minesweeper AMc-173,' but NavSource's own APc class index ('APc-21 ex AMc-172', 'APc-22 ex AMc-173'), the shipscribe official-register compilation ('APc-21: Ex AMc-172'; 'APc-22: Ex AMc-173'), and the sequential Hodgdon block mapping (AMc-170/171/172/173 to APc-19/20/21/22) all place this hull at ex-AMc-172. The class notes document that 'AMc 150-199 thus became APc 1-50, though not respectively,' making ship-page shorthand claims unreliable without the cross-reference.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1942
- Limitations
- Correction rests on two independent compilations of official register data agreeing against a single archive page. The originally ordered AMc designation was never commissioned - the hull was completed and commissioned only as APc-21.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-03
-
[5]United States Naval Chronology, World War II (Navy Department, 1955; HyperWar/ibiblio transcription): 17 December 1943 entry; corroborated by Admiral King's official report 'U.S. Navy at War 1941-1945,' Appendix C troop-transport loss list ('APc 21, Off New Britain, 17 December 1943') [other_primary]
- Locator
- chr43-12.html 12/17 entry; USN-King-C.html Appendix C, TROOP TRANSPORTS section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official U.S. Navy loss record: 'United States naval vessel sunk: Coastal transport APc-21, by dive bomber, off New Britain, 06 d. 15' S., 149 d. 01' E.' The CNO's official report to the Secretary of the Navy lists APc 21 among troop transports lost, 'Off New Britain, 17 December 1943.' Establishes date, mechanism (dive bomber), and loss position.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1943-12-17
- Population
- Ship's company at loss (approx. 25) - casualties not stated
- Limitations
- Loss-level detail only: the chronology establishes sinking agent and position but states no casualty count and no damage detail; secondary compilations claim all 25 crew were rescued, unverified against the primary sources located. HyperWar is a transcription mirror of the official publication, not the scanned page itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-04
-
[6]Oral history OH 1420, William J. Bates (USNR), interviewed 7 February 2001 - University of North Texas Oral History Program / National Museum of the Pacific War collection (118 pp. transcript) [other_primary]
- Locator
- OH 1420 catalog record, interview description
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- First-person primary account from the hull's final commanding officer: assignment to APc-21 at East Boothbay, Maine, 1942; the ship's voyage Maine to Brisbane, Australia (including Panama Canal transit); operations off the New Guinea coast with the VII Amphibious Force in 1943; escort duty for LCTs during assaults along the New Guinea coast; the sinking of APc-21 by Japanese aircraft off New Britain in December 1943; and his recuperation in New Guinea afterward.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1942-1943 (events); 2001 (interview)
- Population
- Commanding officer (final), USS APc-21
- Limitations
- Oral-history metadata record consulted; interview content per catalog description. Personal recollection decades after the events; no asbestos, materials, or industrial-hygiene content expected or claimed. Bates's survival establishes that at least part of the crew survived the sinking but does not count casualties.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-05
-
[7]ShipbuildingHistory (Tim Colton), 'U.S. Navy Coastal Transports (APc)' class table - '100 wooden-hulled fast coastal transports'; row: 'APc 21, Hodgdon Bros., East Boothbay ME ... Lost to air attack off New Britain 1943'; corroborated by shipscribe machinery data (diesel, 1 screw, 400 HP) and NavSource specification block (Atlas 6HM2124 diesel) [other_primary]
- Locator
- auxapc.htm class preamble and APc-21 row; shipscribe APC-1 class data block (machinery line)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class configuration bears on asbestos scope: the APc-1 class were wooden-hulled, diesel-powered 103-ft coastal transports - no boilers, no steam plant, no steam-line lagging. Any asbestos aboard would have been confined to era-typical diesel-era applications (engine exhaust lagging, machinery gaskets and packing, electrical panel insulation, fire blankets) rather than the steam-system insulation dominant on larger combatants. No product-level materials list was located for the class or this hull.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Limitations
- Class/era characterization only - documents hull construction and propulsion type, not asbestos content. Does not establish that asbestos was or was not present aboard this hull, in what products, or in what quantity; the absence of a steam plant narrows plausible applications but proves nothing about gaskets, electrical gear, or crew-area materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-06
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[8]Batch-2413 search ledger (this record): NavSource archive page and APc index; shipscribe APc-1 class compilation; shipbuildinghistory APc table; official USN loss records (CNO report Appendix C, USN WWII chronology); UNT/National Museum of the Pacific War oral history; CourtListener API v4 opinion and docket sweeps [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-apc-21-apc21-01 through sl-uss-apc-21-apc21-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or docketed litigation naming APc-21 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). The hull was sunk in December 1943 - barely ten months after commissioning - so no postwar overhaul, reserve-fleet layup, museum stewardship, or demolition record was ever generated for this vessel; no U.S.-regulated abatement record was ever expected to exist.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 2026-09-25
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard; it documents that the public record contains no ship-specific asbestos claim. The 1943 loss forecloses postwar documentation pathways (no NDRF status cards, no museum file, no scrap-sale condition report) that generate such records for surviving hulls.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-07
-
[9]CourtListener API v4 sweeps, 2026-09-25: opinion search '"APc-21" asbestos' = 0 results; opinion search '"APc-21"' = 1 result; docket search '"APc-21" asbestos' = 28 results [court_record]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-apc-21-apc21-08 through sl-uss-apc-21-apc21-12
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- No qualifying asbestos litigation naming this hull was located. The single opinion hit ('In Re: Koi Design LLC v. Marron Lawyers, Apc,' 9th Cir. 2026) is a name collision - 'APC' is a professional-corporation suffix in a law-firm name, not the vessel. All 28 docket hits under '"APc-21" asbestos' are unrelated civil matters (employment, consumer, civil-rights cases in California federal courts) with no vessel reference - name collisions only.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 2026-09-25
- Limitations
- Partial sweep: the shared fleet pacing budget blocked four supplementary queries ('USS APc-21' and 'APC-21' opinions, 'AMc-172' opinion, 'APc-21' unfiltered dockets) at sweep time - logged in the ledger; residual discovery risk is low for an unnamed 1943 loss but the sweep is not exhaustive. Even a completed negative would not prove no claim was ever filed - non-indexed state dockets are outside CourtListener coverage.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-08
-
[10]NARA archival leads not yet retrieved: WWII deck logs (RG 24) for APc-21 (Feb-Dec 1943); Seventh Amphibious Force action reports for the Arawe operation (RG 38/313); Bureau of Ships records on the AMc-to-APc conversion design (RG 19) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA RG 24 (deck logs), RG 38/313 (action reports), RG 19 (BuShips) - not pulled
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Undigitized primary records plausibly bearing on this hull exist: the ship's own deck logs would log operations and damage events; the VII Amphibious Force Arawe action reports would document the 17 December 1943 air attack in detail; BuShips design files would describe the APc conversion materials and outfitting. None were retrieved in this pass.
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-25
- Study period
- 1942-1943
- Limitations
- Leads only - existence inferred from standard Navy recordkeeping practice for the period; contents unknown and unverified. Retrieval requires NARA pull or researcher visit.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-apc-21-apc21-09