Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
-
[1]DANFS, 'Firm' (AM-98) entry (hazegray.org transcription by Y. Hubert; live hazegray domain unresolvable, live NHHC page returns 404 - Wayback capture 2024-05-26 cited) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS 'Firm' entry, full text (one line)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- DANFS entry for this hull is a one-line pointer: name etymology 'Firm: Unyielding' and 'Firm (AM-98) was redesignated PC-1602 (q.v.) 1 June 1944.' Establishes the hull's identity, the PC-1602 reclassification and its date; carries no operational narrative.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1944 (event); entry as transcribed
- Limitations
- DANFS is the authoritative Navy vessel-history source but this entry is minimal - no service history, no specifications, no materials information. Nothing in it bears on asbestos content or exposure. Live NHHC and hazegray pages were unreachable at research time; a 2024 Wayback capture of the transcription is cited.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-01
-
[2]NavSource Online, Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PCC-1602 ex-PC-1602 ex-Firm (AM-98) page (curated archival compilation citing National Archives photos) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 12/011602, chronology + specifications blocks
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Full documented chronology for this hull: laid down 21 October 1941 by Penn-Jersey Corp., Camden, NJ; launched 29 May 1942; commissioned USS Firm (AM-98) 10 April 1943; reclassified submarine chaser PC-1602 on 1 June 1944; reclassified control submarine chaser PCC-1602 on 1 August 1945; decommissioned January 1946; struck from the Naval Register 21 May 1946; transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 15 June 1948 and sold to Walter H. Wilms; fate unknown. As-built specifications: 295 t.; 173'8" x 23' x 11'7"; 16.8 kts; complement 65; one 3"/50 DP mount, one 40mm, five 20mm, two depth-charge projectors, two depth-charge tracks, two rocket launchers; two 1,440 bhp Busch-Sulzer BS 539 diesel engines (serials BS1145/BS1146), Farrel-Birmingham single reduction gear, two shafts. One commanding officer listed: LTJG L. Reed, USN, 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Wartime crew (design complement 65); Penn-Jersey construction trades 1941-43
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated private archive (not a government primary record), though its data track official sources and it cites NARA photo numbers. Contains no materials or asbestos information. Its figures conflict with the HyperWar compilation on displacement, complement, and engine make - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-02
-
[3]HyperWar, 'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945' - PC-1602 (USS Firm) specifications page (compiled from official sources by Patrick Clancey) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar PC-1602 page, specifications block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Compilation record for this hull in her patrol-craft configuration: 'PC-1568 class Submarine Chaser (ex Adroit class Minesweeper)' - displacement 450 tons, 173'8" x 23' x 11'7", 17 knots, armament 1 3"/50 + 1 40mm, complement 105, 'Alco diesel engine, twin screws, 1,440 shaft hp'; 'Built at Penn-Jersey and commissioned as AM-98 1943. Converted to Sub Chaser (PC-1602) 1944.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1944-1946
- Population
- PC-1602 crew 1944-46
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation, not a contemporaneous document. Its PC-configuration figures (450 t, complement 105, 'Alco diesel') conflict with NavSource's minesweeper-fit data (295 t, complement 65, Busch-Sulzer engines) - unresolved and logged in gaps; the diesel plant itself is consistent across sources. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-03
-
[4]Shipbuilding History, 'Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding, Camden NJ' yard list (T. Colton's U.S. shipbuilding reference) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Penn-Jersey yard table, row 8
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Yard build list confirms this hull: Penn-Jersey yard hull no. 8, 'Firm (AM-98)', US Navy minesweeper, 295 LDT, 174 ft LOA, delivered 10 April 1943, 'later PC-1602, sold 1948'. Yard context: Penn-Jersey Shipbuilding formed March 1940 in the Cooper Point section of Camden on the site of the defunct Camden Shipbuilding Company (north end of North 5th Street); it closed in June 1945 after delivering its last ship. Hull no. 9 was sister Force (AM-99), later PC-1603.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Penn-Jersey construction trades 1941-43
- Limitations
- Reputable secondary reference work (standard for U.S. yard build lists), not an official record. Confirms builder/delivery/disposal-consistent dates; contains no materials or asbestos information. 'Delivered' date coincides with the commissioning date given by NavSource.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-04
-
[5]National Archives photo 80-G-214332 (caption and attribution as published by NavSource; original NARA catalog record not separately retrieved) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource page 12/011602, first image block (80-G-214332)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The single located operational data point for the minesweeper period: a National Archives photograph (80-G-214332) showing USS Firm off Boon Island Light, near York, Maine, dated 14 February 1944, painted in Camouflage Measure 22 - placing the ship on the New England coast ten months after commissioning.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1944-02-14
- Population
- Crew aboard, February 1944
- Limitations
- Establishes location and date only; says nothing about mission, activity, materials, or asbestos. The NARA catalog entry itself was not independently retrieved - attribution is via the NavSource caption, a reputable archival compilation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-05
-
[6]NavSource/DANFS specification data for this hull (diesel propulsion, WWII construction dates) + era-standard naval-materials context [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specification block (propulsion); era-materials characterization is inference
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era inference: a Navy vessel built at a small emergency yard 1941-43 would have carried period-standard asbestos-containing materials. This hull was diesel-powered (no boilers, no steam system), so the boiler/steam-line lagging typical of steam combatants does not apply; era-consistent asbestos applications for a small diesel minesweeper are engine exhaust-system insulation, gaskets and flange packing, electrical insulation, deck coverings, and joiner/bulkhead insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Penn-Jersey construction trades 1941-43; crew 1943-46; 1948 disposal/scrapping workers
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no document names this hull's materials and no ship-specific asbestos record exists. Inference is deliberately narrowed to a diesel plant: no boiler lagging can be inferred. Does not establish presence, quantity, location, or exposure aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-06
-
[7]Batch-1450 search ledger (this record): DANFS (live + Wayback transcription), NavSource, HyperWar, Shipbuilding History, NARA photo attribution, CourtListener API v4, web-indexed litigation and veteran references [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-firm-am98-01 through sl-uss-firm-am98-08
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, museum hazmat disclosure, or docketed case naming USS Firm, AM-98, PC-1602, or PCC-1602 was found in the sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener API v4 returned HTTP 429 (2,800/day quota exhausted, retry-after ~3.9 h) at research time - the litigation check used web-indexed searches instead, which surfaced only law-firm marketing lists (excluded by sourcing rules) and veteran references attaching to the later USS Firm (AM-444/MSO-444), a different hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 2026-09-22
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - a 1941-43 Navy-built hull plausibly carried era-standard materials, and her 1948 sale for disposal forecloses any modern survey. Docket-index confirmation via CourtListener is pending on the throttled API; a future direct search could return a hit this pass missed.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-07
-
[8]NavSource DE-572/HMS Holmes page + destroyers.org DE-572 page + Shipscribe AN-38 class notes (Walter H. Wilms & Co., Detroit, documented as repeat buyer of surplus Maritime Commission vessels subsequently scrapped) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 06/572 disposition line; destroyers.org DE-572; shipscribe.com/usnaux/AN/AN38.html class notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Buyer-pattern context for the 1948 disposal: Walter H. Wilms & Co. of Detroit purchased multiple surplus government vessels from the Maritime Commission in the same window (e.g., DE-572/HMS Holmes sold October 1947 and 'subsequently scrapped'; net-layers Corkwood, Manchineel, Viburnum delivered to Wilms in 1947). Consistent with scrapping as the likely - but unverified - end for this hull, which NavSource lists as 'fate unknown.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-09-22
- Study period
- 1947-1948
- Limitations
- Pattern evidence from other vessels only; does not document what happened to this hull after the 1948 sale. 'Fate unknown' remains the finding for PC-1602.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-firm-am98-08