Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 998-packet.md (4 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-flagstaff-pgh1-pkt-998-packet-md
-
[2]U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 'Flagstaff, 1974 (WPBH-1)' - official cutter history page (sources: Flagstaff's Cutter History File, USCG HQ; Scheina, U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft 1946-1990) [museum_official]
- Locator
- USCG Historian's Office Water Assets article 2461575, 'Flagstaff, 1974 (WPBH-1)' - spec block and 'Cutter History' narrative; verified live 2026-10-04
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official USCG documentation for this hull. Spec block: Builder - Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Stuart, Florida; Length 73' (82' o.a.); Beam 21'6"; Draft 4'4" foils retracted / 18' foils extended; Displacement 67 tons; Rolls Royce Tyne gas turbine with supercavitating propeller (foil-borne) plus 2 General Motors diesels with water-jet pumps (hull-borne); max 45+ knots foil-borne / 8 knots hull-borne; complement 12 (1974), 13 (1977); small arms only; navigation-type radar. Commissioned 14 September 1968 (USN), 8 November 1974 (USCG on loan), 2 March 1977 (USCG); decommissioned 30 September 1978; disposition 'returned to USN'. Narrative: 'built by Grumman Aerospace Corporation of Bethpage, New York. She was delivered to the Navy in September of 1968. After an operational evaluation period she was deployed to South Vietnam with her sister ship USS Tucumcari (PGH-2). She conducted patrol missions there until 1970.' Then assigned to Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, as a test-bed for the Navy's Advanced Hydrofoil Development Program. First USCG evaluation period 8 November 1974 - 18 February 1975 out of San Diego under the Coast Guard Hydrofoil Test and Evaluation Team; commissioned under LT Douglas F. Gehring, USCG. Evaluation ended after machinery breakdowns, spare-parts shortages, and 'a collision with a gray whale off the Point Loma Lighthouse that caused $250,000 in damage to her aft strut gearing assembly (and killed the whale).' Reacquired 29 September 1976 in San Diego; repaired at Boston; in-commission-special 2 March 1977 (LT Terrance Hart, USCG); in-commission-active 17 July 1977; homeported Woods Hole, MA. Only 305.2 hours operating time (71.6 foil-borne) 26 May - 27 October 1977; March 1978 transmission failure; turbine deterioration. Decommissioned at Woods Hole 30 September 1978 and returned to the Navy.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1966-1978
- Population
- Grumman Stuart construction workers (1966-68); USN crew (1968-70, 1974-76); USCG crew (1974-75, 1976-78); repair trades at Boston (1976-77)
- Limitations
- Ship-specific history from an official .mil source; no asbestos or material content. The whale-collision damage figure ($250,000) conflicts with a crew member's memoir figure ($25,000) - the official figure is carried. Date variants vs NavSource (loan start 8 Nov 1974 both agree; press-release text elsewhere gives 4 Nov 1974 - see gaps). The page's own underlying source (Cutter History File, USCG HQ) is not itself digitized.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-01
-
[3]NavSource Online: Patrol Gunboat (Hydrofoil) Photo Archive, USCGS Flagstaff (WPBH 1) ex-USS Flagstaff (PGH 1) - timeline, specifications, commanding officers, photo captions [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/1001.htm header block, specifications block, photo caption table, commanding officers list; verified live on navsource.net 2026-10-04 (navsource.org domain is defunct)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline for this hull: laid down 1 June 1966 by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, Stuart, FL; launched 15 July 1966; commissioned USS Flagstaff (PGH-1) 14 September 1968; decommissioned 1 September 1970; loaned to the Coast Guard 8 November 1974 and commissioned USCGS Flagstaff (WPBH 1) at San Diego, CA; returned to U.S. Navy 18 February 1975; reacquired by the Coast Guard 29 September 1976; placed in commission (special) 2 March 1977; placed in commission (active) 17 July 1977; decommissioned 30 September 1978 'and returned to U.S. Navy custody and scrapped.' Spec block: displacement 67 t.; length 82' o.a.; beam 21'6"; draft 4'4" retracted / 18' extended; speed 45+ kts foil-borne, 8 kts hull-borne; complement 16; armament one 40mm gun mount, four .50 cal. machine guns, one 81mm mortar (small arms only in Coast Guard); propulsion one Rolls Royce gas turbine with supercavitating propeller (foil-borne), two 160-hp GM diesels with two water-jet pumps (hull-borne). Photo captions document: transport to Vietnam aboard USS Gunston Hall (LSD-5) c.1969; refueling from USS Platte (AO-24) February 1970; off Florida 1971 (photo 428-GX-USN1149130 credited to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy); fitted with the 152mm M81 low-velocity gun of the M551 Sheridan c.1971. Page states verbatim: 'There is no DANFS history available for Flagstaff (PGH-1).' Commanding officers: LT Nathan Howard Beason USN; LT Douglas F. Gehring USCG (8 Nov 1974); LT Terrance Hart USCG (2 Mar 1977).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1966-1978
- Population
- Grumman Stuart construction workers (1966-68); USN crew (1968-70); USCG crew (1974-75, 1976-78)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestones generally track official records but the complement figure (16) conflicts with the USCG Historian spec block (12/13), and the 'scrapped' disposition conflicts with later correspondence showing the hull extant in private hands in 1998-2000 (see ev-08 and gaps). Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-02
-
[4]Contemporaneous U.S. Coast Guard documents compiled at foils.org (International Hydrofoil Society): COMCGDONE INST P5723.31 characteristics sheet (8 Feb 1977); First District acquisition/meeting memo (18 Nov 1976); 'Hydrofoil Joins Coast Guard Fleet' release (Mar 1977); First District evaluation letter (27 Oct 1977); press release No. 117-78 (31 Aug 1978); CO interim evaluation report (6 Feb 1978) [other_primary]
- Locator
- foils.org 0153-Flagstaff-USCG-Eval.pdf (compiled USCG document package); verified live 2026-10-04
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Primary USCG documents for this hull. Spec sheet (COMCGDONE INST P5723.31, 8 Feb 1977): LENGTH 73 feet; LENGTH OVERALL 82 feet; BEAM 21 feet 6 inches; draft 4'4" retracted / 18' extended; DISPLACEMENT 69.5 long tons; design speed foilborne 45+ knots, hullborne 8 knots; hullborne - two GM diesels with water-jet pumps; foilborne - Rolls Royce Tyne gas turbine with supercavitating propeller; CREW: 1 Officer, 12 Enlisted. First District planning memo: 'It should be treated as a boat, as it doesn't have habitability and will not support onboard living.' Press release No. 117-78 (Boston, 1 Sep 1978, issued 31 Aug): 'The Coast Guard Cutter Flagstaff will be decommissioned on September 30, 1978... The decision to decommission the Flagstaff is based in part on the cost of repairs to the vessel and the fact that the Coast Guard feels that sufficient information on the use of hydrofoils has been gathered... the vessel currently requires an engine replacement due to turbine deterioration... built in 1968 by the Grumman Corporation... saw service in South Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict.' First District letter (27 Oct 1977): 305.2 hours operating time including 71.6 foilborne since arrival at Woods Hole 26 May 1977; extensive electrohydraulic/electromechanical casualties; 'in a real sense, FLAGSTAFF is more airplane than ship.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1976-1978
- Population
- USCG evaluation crews, First District (1976-78); maintenance trades at Boston repairs
- Limitations
- Transcriptions of official USCG documents hosted on a private society site - documents themselves are primary, host is secondary; originals not independently fetched from USCG. Content is operational/engineering - no asbestos statement anywhere in the package. Release No. 117-78 gives the 1974 loan date as November 4 vs 8 November in the spec block elsewhere - minor variant carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-03
-
[5]T. P. Hart, LT, USCG, Commanding Officer USCGC FLAGSTAFF (WPGH-1), 'Evaluation of the Hydrofoil Concept for Use in the United States Coast Guard as Determinable by the Operation of USCGC Flagstaff (WPGH-1), Interim Report,' 6 February 1978 (within the foils.org compiled package) [other_primary]
- Locator
- CO interim report, Section 2.2(3) Cold Weather Operations and 2.3 Habitability, within 0153-Flagstaff-USCG-Eval.pdf
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Ship-specific material/habitability statements from the cutter's own CO: on cold-weather operations, 'one of the major reasons ice could not build up on the hull is the lack of interior insulation, allowing a large amount of through-hull heat loss'; the craft 'doesn't have habitability and will not support onboard living' (District memo); habitability section documents cramped berthing, a single microwave oven, no dedicated cook, no waste holding tank, 110-gallon fresh-water limit after the evaporator was removed. Engineering sections document the foilborne transmission coolers 'of all aluminum construction,' fastener-and-riveted struts requiring epoxy dent repair, the GM 6V55 hullborne diesel plant ('a fairly standard diesel engine (GM 6V55)'), and the single Rolls-Royce Tyne turbine.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1977-1978
- Population
- USCG crew, Woods Hole evaluation period (1977-78)
- Limitations
- The 'lack of interior insulation' statement refers to thermal hull insulation for icing/habitability - it does not name or exclude asbestos, and it does not address machinery-space lagging, gaskets, or packing. Interim report only; the final evaluation report (promised by the CO) was not located. Transcription host is a private society; the document itself is an official cutter report.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-04
-
[6]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, HTTP 403)
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO documented that the Navy used asbestos insulation extensively aboard ships and did not begin substituting alternative insulation materials until the early 1970s - spanning this hull's entire construction (1966-68) and Navy service era (1968-70, custody to 1978).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1979
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers; asbestos program review
- Limitations
- Program-level documentation; supports era context only, not any fact specific to this hull. As an experimental weight-critical 73-ft hydrofoil with documented 'lack of interior insulation,' era inference applies with less force than for steam combatants. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, confirmed 2026-10-04) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-05
-
[7]Era inference built on: USCG Historian spec block (gas turbine + diesel propulsion, 67 tons); CO report 'lack of interior insulation' and 'no habitability' statements; NavSource specifications; GAO HRD-80-2 era documentation (see ev-05) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ev-01 spec block; ev-04 CO report; ev-05 GAO; NavSource specifications
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A naval craft built 1966-68 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a small combatant of this period were gaskets, valve packing, exhaust lagging, and electrical insulation. However, this hull carries no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway does not apply - and her own CO documented 'the lack of interior insulation,' a weight-critical design discipline, and minimal habitability fit-out, all of which reduce the plausible scope of any installed insulation compared with conventional combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1966-1978
- Population
- Grumman Stuart construction workers (1966-68); USN crew (1968-70); USCG crew (1974-75, 1976-78); repair trades at Boston (1976-77)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for PGH-1, and the ship-specific statements that do exist (no interior insulation, weight-critical minimal fit) partly cut against the inference. Names era-standard application types, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-06
-
[8]Batch-8572 search ledger (this record): USCG Historian cutter page; NavSource patrol-gunboat archive; USCG document package (foils.org); DANFS URL candidates; NVR; GAO product page; CourtListener (4 base queries); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS Flagstaff (PGH-1) was found in the public sources searched. No DANFS entry exists for this hull (two candidate NHHC URLs returned 404; NavSource states 'There is no DANFS history available'). No NVR entry (hull disposed before NVR online coverage; detail URL redirects to the register index). CourtListener: the 'USS Flagstaff' opinion query returned 0 hits; the remaining three base queries could not be run this session - the fleet pacer returned 'request budget momentarily spent' on every attempt over ~2 hours (hourly pacing shared across batch sessions, not the daily quota). Logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; occasional law-firm listicle mentions of hydrofoil/patrol-craft asbestos assert exposure without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 2026-10-04
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (3 of 4 base queries pacer-blocked, not run). Deck logs (1968-70) and Grumman Stuart work packages are undigitized leads; the USCG Cutter History File at USCG HQ may contain maintenance detail not in the published summary. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-07
-
[9]Disposition cross-check: NavSource timeline ('returned to U.S. Navy custody and scrapped'); USCG Historian disposition line ('Returned to USN'); foils.org correspondence section - Duane Leiker inspection letter [18 Jul 00] and Ken Plyler sale notice [18 Aug 98 / 22 Nov 00]; Wikipedia disposition paragraph (hull in a Tuckahoe, NJ boatyard ~1999, sold to an Arkansas company, present condition unknown) [other_primary]
- Locator
- foils.org flagstaff.htm 'Correspondence - Condition of FLAGSTAFF' (Leiker 18 Jul 00; Plyler 18 Aug 98/22 Nov 00); NavSource timeline; USCG Historian disposition line
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: NavSource compresses the post-1978 disposition to 'scrapped.' Contemporaneous correspondence compiled at foils.org documents the hull extant and substantially intact in a Tuckahoe, NJ boatyard in 1998-2000 (turbine present, hull/deck 85% sandblasted, offered at $30,000, owner-imposed 1 Aug 2000 deadline), with a sale to an Arkansas company reported; a promotional project ended on the owner's death. Final disposition is therefore undocumented - 'scrapped after 1978' is not supported and the hull's present status is unknown. The USCG designation also appears in two spellings: WPBH-1 (USCG Historian title, NavSource) and WPGH-1 (all contemporaneous 1976-78 USCG documents).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-04
- Study period
- 1978-2000
- Limitations
- Post-1978 private-hands trail rests on personal correspondence hosted by a private society plus an unsourced Wikipedia paragraph - leads, not registry records. Whether the 2000 sale/scrap deadline was executed is undocumented. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-flagstaff-pgh1-08