Evidence
14 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-14).
-
[1]research packet 876-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-pc-1261-pc1261-pkt-876-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PC-1261 page - construction timeline, specifications, loss and striking dates (live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource PC-1261 page, specifications block + 'Sunk 6 June 1944' banner
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: PC-461-class submarine chaser laid down 20 October 1942 by Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, WI; launched 28 February 1943; delivered April 1943; commissioned 22 May 1943; 'Sunk by German shore batteries 6 June 1944 off Iles Saint-Marcouf during the invasion of Normandy, France, making her the first U.S. Navy ship lost during the invasion'; struck from the Naval Register 29 July 1944. Specs: 280 t (lt) / 450 t (fl); 173'8" x 23' x 10'10"; 20.2 kts; complement 65; one 3"/50 DP, one 40mm, three 20mm, two rocket launchers, four depth-charge projectors, two depth-charge tracks; two 1,440 bhp Fairbanks-Morse 38D8-1/8 diesels, Westinghouse single-reduction gear, two shafts. Page notes 'There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-1261.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Leathem D. Smith construction trades 1942-43; wartime crew (complement 65)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer-maintained photographic/historical archive, not a Navy publication - data is normally transcribed from official sources but is not itself primary. Its 'sunk by German shore batteries' mechanism conflicts with the Operation Neptune after-action conclusion (probably mined) and DANFS (mine) - conflict carried, not resolved (see ev-03, ev-04). Documents no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-01
-
[3]DANFS, Minden (PC-1176) - service narrative naming PC-1261's D-Day role and loss (live NHHC page, verified) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- DANFS Minden (PC-1176) entry, Normandy paragraphs
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The DANFS entry for sister PC-1176 (live NHHC page) documents this hull: 'At 0430, D-Day, 6 June, she [PC-1176] set out from the transport area with PC-1261, primary control vessel for Uncle Red sector. Leading the assault wave, each patrol craft escorted four LCTs, each of which, in turn, carried four dual-drive amphibious tanks (DD tanks).' 'At 0542, however, PC-1261 struck a mine and sank.' PC-1176 then assumed Uncle Red control duties in addition to her own Tare Green duties.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06-06
- Population
- Wartime crew (complement 65)
- Limitations
- DANFS documents the loss as a mine strike at 0542; the contemporaneous Operation Neptune after-action report concluded only 'probably struck a mine' and its casualty table reads 'Enemy shellfire, or mined,' while NHHC's own casualties list, the CO's account, and the USCG history say shellfire - the mine/shellfire conflict is carried, not resolved. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-02
-
[4]Operation Neptune after-action report (Commander Task Force 122 / ANCXF history), Chapter 9 'The NEPTUNE Assaults,' Utah Beach section (NHHC Online Reading Room, live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Chapter 9, section D 'The Assault on UTAH Beach,' paras 21-28 and footnote 1 to para 21; casualty table, footnote 3 to para 28
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The official after-action report names this hull as Red Primary Control Vessel: 'Red Primary Control Vessel (PC 1261) none the less took the assault waves in. But at H minus 35 minutes, when still 7,000 or 8,000 yards from the beach, she too became a casualty.' Its footnote records the mechanism uncertainty: 'At first it was thought that PC 1261 had been hit by enemy batteries but as no shot was observed to fall in the area, and it was later discovered that the Cardonet minefield was located in that area it was concluded in the end that she probably struck a mine.' The report's own Force U casualty table nonetheless lists 'PC 1261 | 6 June | Sunk | Enemy shellfire, or mined,' and its narrative identifies the Cardonet Shoals minefield as Force U's 'greatest enemy,' claiming PC-1261 in the early morning and LCTs 362, 592, 777 and LCF 31 over the following hours.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06-06 (report written post-action 1944-45)
- Population
- Wartime crew; Force U assault waves
- Limitations
- Primary after-action source: records the contemporaneous ambiguity directly - initial shellfire assessment revised to 'probably' mined on the strength of the later-discovered Cardonet field, while the casualty table still hedges. Eyewitness accounts (CO Sewell via USNI, CG-16 via USCG) support a shell hit. The report documents no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-03
-
[5]NHHC, 'Casualties: Navy and Coast Guard Ships' reference list - PC-1261 loss entry (live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC casualties list, Submarine Chaser (PC) section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC's official ship-casualty reference list states: 'USS PC-1261 sunk by shellfire from shore batteries off Normandy, France, 6 June 1944' - attributing the loss to shore-battery shellfire, in direct tension with the Operation Neptune after-action conclusion ('probably struck a mine') and with DANFS ('struck a mine and sank').
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06-06
- Population
- Wartime crew
- Limitations
- Carried as the official shellfire attribution within NHHC's own publications; it does not resolve the mine-vs-shellfire question (the after-action report's ambiguity and eyewitness shellfire accounts both stand). No casualty count and no asbestos content on this page.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-04
-
[6]Operation Neptune report annex, 'Sunk and Damaged Ships and Craft' - casualties-to-ships table (NHHC Navy Department Library, live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Casualties to Ships and Craft table, PC [Patrol Craft] section
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Operation Neptune documentation set's official casualties-to-ships table lists 'PC [Patrol Craft] 1261 - LOST' among Force U losses alongside Corry, Glennon, Meredith, Rich, Osprey, Tide, Susan B. Anthony, HMS Minster, Partridge, and MMS 229 - the official record that this hull was a total loss during Operation Neptune.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06
- Population
- Wartime crew
- Limitations
- Confirms the hull's total-loss status; gives no date, mechanism, casualties, or asbestos content by itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-05
-
[7]NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch, 'Archaeological Remote Sensing Survey of Operation Neptune' (James S. Schmidt) - 2000-2002 side-scan/magnetometer survey (live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Project Results section, Banc du Cardonnet paragraph
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NHHC's 2000-2002 remote-sensing survey of the Normandy wreck sites lists the charted remains of PC-1261 inside the Banc du Cardonnet survey grid (with LCT-777, LCT-244, LCT-305, LCI-232, USS Meredith, LST-523, HMS Minster, USS Rich, and unidentified sites). The report cautions that the branch 'positively identified only Meredith and Minster' in that grid - the PC-1261 wreck is charted but its identity at the surveyed position was not confirmed by the survey.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2000-2002 survey
- Limitations
- Establishes a charted wreck location consistent with the Cardonnet Bank sinking area; does not confirm the wreck's identity, condition, or contents. No hazmat/materials documentation - the survey was remote sensing only, not a materials inventory.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-06
-
[8]U.S. Coast Guard (official historian feature), 'The Long Blue Line: D-Day, 1944 - MoMM2 Swierc and the heroic saviors of CG-16' (live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Article body, CG-16 rescue narrative
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The official USCG account of rescue cutter CG-16 documents this hull's loss and the survivor rescue: 'The control ship for Utah Beach, USS PC-1261, was obliterated when an artillery shell slammed into its starboard side, instantly killing nearly half the crew. PC-1261 had led the first wave of landing craft to shore and was the first Allied ship sunk on D-Day.' CG-16 plucked survivors from 'the oil-slicked waves' under shellfire and mine explosions, delivered 90 rescued men to USS Joseph T. Dickman, and rescued 126 men in total on 6 June - the most of any vessel present.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06-06
- Population
- PC-1261 survivors; CG-16 crew
- Limitations
- An official service history feature, not a casualty report: 'nearly half the crew' killed instantly is a narrative figure exceeding the ~14-15 total dead in published casualty lists - treated as descriptive, not a count. Its shellfire mechanism agrees with the CO's account and NHHC's casualties list but conflicts with the after-action 'probably mined' conclusion. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-07
-
[9]U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History Magazine vol. 28 no. 3 (June 2014), 'Lost to Enemy Action' - account of Lt. Cmdr. Rency F. Sewell, USNR, commanding officer of PC-1261 (live, verified) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- 'Early D-Day Loss' section, Sewell account
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The commanding officer's own account, published by USNI: 'The PC-1261 was primarily a control vessel for Utah Red Beach... Upon reaching about 5,000 yards from the beach the coastal batteries opened fire upon us with shells that seemed to hit about 30 yards off the starboard quarter. I knew immediately that they had our range and the next one would probably hit us, which it did. It hit us right in the starboard side aft midships. The ship immediately took a 20-degree list to starboard with the fantail under the water... two minutes later the ship took a 90-degree roll and the order was given to abandon ship.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-06-06
- Population
- Wartime crew
- Limitations
- First-person eyewitness support for the shellfire mechanism - but it is a recollection published for a historical magazine, and the after-action report explicitly weighed such accounts against the absence of observed shell splashes and the later-discovered minefield. Establishes the CO's name (Lt. Cmdr. Rency F. Sewell, USNR) and the hit/abandon sequence; no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-08
-
[10]Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, 'A Ship Built in Wisconsin Led the Normandy Invasion' (James Heinz, 2024/2025) - WMHS file dates, casualty list, and service details compiled from 'The U.S. Navy at Normandy' and crew interviews (live, verified) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Article body; casualty list at article end ('The casualties of PC 1261 are listed below, from the book The US Navy at Normandy')
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- A state historical-society compilation carrying this hull's otherwise-undocumented details: WMHS files give a laid-down date of 20 November 1942 (conflicting with NavSource's 20 October 1942); crewman Everett Keffer's account of seven months of convoy-escort runs between Cuba and New York before a March 1944, 26-day passage to England; the PCC control-craft retrofit (34 PCs modified, ~12 extra crew); PC Squadron One, Red Assault Group TF 125.5 assignment; and a casualty list drawn from the book 'The U.S. Navy at Normandy' - 11 missing-declared-lost, 4 died of wounds, 6 wounded in action. The 26-day March-April 1944 New York-to-Falmouth convoy passage is independently corroborated by Lt. Cmdr. Ralph S. Stevens, USNR - a PC squadron and task-group commander at Normandy - in the August 1946 Proceedings ('Peter Charlie - A Plea for Recognition').
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Wartime crew (complement ~65-77); 15 dead/missing per cited list
- Limitations
- Secondary compilation from a reputable regional historical society - individual details trace to named books and a 1994 crew interview but are not independently verified against Navy records here. Casualty total (15 dead) differs from USNI's '14 crewmen' - count carried as ~14-15 pending a primary casualty report. The 20 November laid-down date conflicts with NavSource; October carried per NavSource, conflict logged in gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-09
-
[11]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block (diesel twin-screw plant, 1942-43 construction); PC-461-class construction era; GAO HRD-80-2 program context [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; class context
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class/era inference: a steel-hulled PC-461-class patrol craft built in 1942-43 with diesel propulsion would have carried period-standard asbestos applications - machinery and exhaust thermal insulation, gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and possibly sheet/deck materials. There is no steam plant, so the boiler/turbine-lagging pathway prominent in steam vessels does not apply; the relevant systems are diesel-machinery and habitability-space applications typical of wartime small combatants.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- Leathem D. Smith construction trades 1942-43; crew 1943-44
- Limitations
- Inference only - no manifest, survey, or work package documents asbestos aboard this hull. Diesel plants carry less insulation scope than steam plants of the era; the specific applications, quantities, and whether any crew member contacted them are undocumented. The wreck has never been surveyed for materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-10
-
[12]GAO, 'Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure,' HRD-80-2 (Oct 18, 1979) - product page (live, verified) [gao]
- Locator
- GAO HRD-80-2 product page, Highlights
- Finding type
- gov_survey
- Finding
- GAO program-level documentation that the U.S. Navy used asbestos insulation in ships and that asbestos exposure was a recognized hazard in naval shipyards: the review covered 'the use of asbestos in Navy ships, the cost of removing asbestos from Navy ships, and compensation programs for asbestos-related disabilities,' with Navy policy as of 1975 limiting removal to damaged insulation and a 1979 modification adding selective replacement in high-maintenance areas.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1979 report on mid-1970s policy
- Population
- Navy shipyard workers (program level)
- Limitations
- Program-level context only - the GAO fieldwork covered Long Beach and Norfolk Naval Shipyards in the 1970s, three decades after this hull was built and sunk. It establishes that the asbestos era brackets this hull's 1942-43 construction; it says nothing about this vessel, this class, or this builder.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-11
-
[13]Batch-7756 search ledger (this record): NavSource; DANFS PC-1176; Operation Neptune report + casualties annex; NHHC UA survey; USCG historian; USNI Naval History; WMHS; GAO product page; NVR (no entry - pre-1987 disposal); NARA catalog (JS-rendered, not retrievable); CourtListener (see ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-01 through -10
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, government health study, or litigation naming USS PC-1261 was found in the public sources searched (CourtListener sweep completed - see ev-13). The hull sank in June 1944 - predating the asbestos-litigation era and every abatement regime - and the wreck is a war grave in French waters that has never had a materials survey. Web sweeps surfaced no law-firm marketing claims about this specific hull (unlike famous-name vessels); the only asbestos content found anywhere associating PC-1261 is generic era description.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2026-10-03
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - it proves the absence of documentation. Deck logs, Leathem D. Smith work packages, and any builder material specs are undigitized leads (NARA RG 19/RG 24/RG 38). Does not establish or defeat any individual exposure or legal-eligibility claim.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-12
-
[14]CourtListener API v4 sweep (authenticated, fleet-paced): "PC-1261" opinions 0; "PC-1261" dockets 5; "PC 1261" opinions 0; "PC 1261" dockets 5 [court_record]
- Locator
- CourtListener API v4 search, queries "PC-1261"/"PC 1261" x type=o/type=r, 2026-10-03; search_ledger sl-10
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Four base CourtListener queries executed against the full corpus (exact-name and spaced-variant, type=o and type=r): "PC-1261" opinions returned 0; "PC-1261" dockets returned 5; "PC 1261" opinions returned 0; "PC 1261" dockets returned the same 5. All five docket hits are name collisions, not vessel references: Joseph Bisaccia v. Revel Systems (N.D. Cal., FLSA), In Re Terrorist Attacks on September 11 (S.D.N.Y., 9/11 MDL), Fennelly v. Islamic Republic of Iran (S.D.N.Y., Anti-Terrorism Act), Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy (D.N.J.), Steward Health Care bankruptcy (S.D. Tex.) - 'PC-1261' appears in their indexed text as a form/schedule/docket-reference string. No qualifying asbestos litigation and no litigation of any kind naming this vessel was located.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 2026-10-03
- Limitations
- CourtListener coverage is not the universe of U.S. litigation - state-court records outside RECAP coverage and non-indexed dockets are not captured. Given this hull's 12-month wartime life and 1944 sinking, litigation naming it was always unlikely; the clean sweep is consistent with that, not proof no sailor ever filed. No asbestos-qualified variants were run because no base query overflowed its 20-result page (per batch rule).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-1261-pc1261-13