Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
-
[1]research packet 899-packet.md [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-pc-503-pc503-pkt-899-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, SC-503 (ex-PC-503) - construction timeline, specifications, designations, transfer to France [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/150503.htm designation block, class header, specifications block, and yard-photo caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (NavSource, filed as 'SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser'): laid down 30 January 1941 by Rice Brothers Corp., East Boothbay, ME; launched 14 March 1942; sponsored by Miss Caroline Rice; commissioned USS PC-503, 24 April 1942; reclassified SC-503 in April 1943; transferred to France 4 November 1944 and reclassified CH-112; fate unknown. Specifications: displacement 148 t.; length 110'10"; beam 17'; draft 6'6"; speed 15.6 kts; complement 28; armament one 40mm mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two depth-charge projectors ('Y Gun'), two depth-charge tracks; propulsion two 880-bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, Snow and Knobstedt single reduction gear, two shafts. Page states: 'There is no DANFS history available for SC-503.' Yard photograph caption (1942, Rice Brothers waterfront): PC-504 (later SC-504) ready for launching, PC-503 (later SC-503) fitting out, YMS-12 dockside - confirming the hull carried its PC number during construction.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1951
- Population
- Rice Brothers construction trades (1941-42); US Navy crew (1942-44); French Navy crew (1944-51)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track NVR/DANFS but rest on secondary sourcing; the page itself documents that no DANFS entry exists for this hull. Contains no asbestos content. 'Fate unknown' means the post-1951 disposition is undocumented, not that the hull survives.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-01
-
[3]Rutgers Oral History Archives, interview of Richard Yoken (engineering officer, later commanding officer, SC-503) - named-crew ship-specific service account [other_primary]
- Locator
- Rutgers OHA interview transcript, Richard Yoken - sections 'Before we get into your time on the SC-503' through the Toulon departure narrative
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Institutional oral history documenting wartime service aboard this hull: Richard Yoken joined SC-503 as engineering officer after diesel-engineering training at Penn State; describes engine-room work ('we're taking the engines apart and I want you to be down there to supervise it'), a crew of 'thirty-five, four officers,' standing deck watches alongside engineering duty, and promotion to commanding officer of the subchaser 'over in Europe' just after the invasion of Sicily (Aug-Sep 1943). He recounts the ship's Southern France presence (post-Dragoon, 'it was very quiet... the armies were pretty far north') and the turnover: 'at Southern France, we got orders to turn the SC-503 over to the French'; the prospective French captain, Roger Guillaume, came aboard about a month before the formal transfer to learn the ship; Yoken departed from Toulon for North Africa and then the States.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- SC-503 wartime crew incl. engineering department (engineering officer + 4 men under him); Rice Brothers trades
- Limitations
- Oral-history recollection recorded decades after the fact - establishes a named officer's presence, crew size (35/4 officers vs the 28 in the spec block), Mediterranean service, and the Toulon-area handover; not an exposure or material record. No asbestos content. Yoken does not use the phrase 'Operation Dragoon' for his ship's employment - the interviewer/editor supplies that annotation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-02
-
[4]SouthCoast Today / New Bedford Standard-Times, 'Brothers in arms' (7 Jan 2018) - Motor Machinist's Mate 1c Joseph G. Rose III served aboard USS SC 503 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- SouthCoast Today article, paragraphs on Joseph G. Rose III (enlistment, rating, ships, Salerno citation)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A second named enlisted crew member of this hull: Joseph G. Rose III of Fairhaven, MA enlisted 3 February 1942, held the rating Motor Machinist's Mate First Class (diesel-engine and auxiliary machinery), trained at the Naval Training School (Diesel), Wentworth Institute and NTS NOB Norfolk, and 'served aboard the USS SC 503 Submarine Chaser and the USS ADAMS, a destroyer minelayer.' Per a 7 January 1944 Standard-Times article quoted in the piece, Rose was cited by his commanding officer for holding his post 'during the Allied landings at Salerno, Italy' (September 1943) - consistent with SC-503's Mediterranean service period documented in ev-02. Rose earned the European-African-Middle Eastern ribbon with three stars.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1944
- Population
- SC-503 engine-room/enlisted crew (1942-44)
- Limitations
- Press account compiled from family/obituary and a wartime newspaper clip - does not pin which hull Rose was aboard at Salerno (SC-503 vs USS Adams); the EAME three-star record is consistent with Mediterranean service but the ship-level attribution for each action is ambiguous. Not an exposure or material record; no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-03
-
[5]Marines de Guerre et Poste Navale fiche 'CHASSEUR CH 112 (1944/1951)'; corroborating Pages 14-18 forum thread citing Vichot's Repertoire des navires de guerre francais and Jean Guiglini's study of US-built chasseurs [other_primary]
- Locator
- postenavalemilitaire.com fiche t5817 (HISTORIQUE/CARACTERISTIQUES blocks); forum.pages14-18.com t44747 (Vichot and Guiglini citations)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- French-service record for this hull: the fiche documents chasseur CH 112, type SC-497, ex-'SC-503 (U.S Navy)', put in French service 4 November 1944 and disarmed (desarme) 6 January 1951; characteristics 110 tonnes, 33.70 m, 28 men, armament 1 x 40mm + 3 x 20mm (French-era fit differs from the US spec block). The Pages 14-18 thread, explicitly citing Vichot's official-adjacent repertoire, records that CH 112 ex-SC 503 was renamed Avalanche and stricken (radie) in 1951; a separate entry citing Jean Guiglini gives 'raye en 1950.' The same thread documents a predecessor on the hull symbol: the WWI-era chasseur C 112 (built Le Havre 1918, launched 1920) had already been renamed river gunboat Avalanche in 1928 and was sunk by Amiral Charner at Mytho, March 1945 - ex-SC-503 inherited both the hull symbol and the name.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1951
- Population
- French Navy crew of CH-112 / Avalanche (1944-51)
- Limitations
- Specialist French naval-postal-history fiche and forum posts citing published French references (Vichot, Guiglini) - secondary sourcing resting on standard French naval references, not archival documents. 'Disarmed 6 Jan 1951' vs 'stricken 1950' vs 'stricken 1951' is an unresolved source conflict (see gaps). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-04
-
[6]Axis History Forum thread 'Italian vs American surface vessels' (post by P108, 2011) - 6 August 1943 Ustica-area encounter between SC-503 and the Italian 7th Cruiser Division [other_primary]
- Locator
- forum.axishistory.com t=183271, post by P108 (07 Nov 2011)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A detailed secondary account asserts that on 6 August 1943, near Ustica, the Italian 7th Cruiser Division (Montecuccoli, Eugenio di Savoia - en route to bombard Palermo harbor) encountered 'the american subchaser SC-503 with a water barge': the lead cruiser fired four shots, SC-503 displayed recognition signals and illuminated first herself then the cruisers believing the fire friendly, the Italian admiral broke off the action, and SC-503 cast off the water barge and ran for Palermo at full speed. The account is consistent with the hull's Sicily-campaign presence documented by the Yoken oral history (ev-02) and the Salerno-campaign crew citation (ev-03).
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-08-06
- Population
- SC-503 crew (August 1943)
- Limitations
- ARCHIVAL LEAD ONLY - enthusiast forum post without cited primary sources in-line; the underlying Italian-side action (7th Division's 6 Aug 1943 Palermo bombardment mission) is documented history, but the SC-503 encounter detail awaits a primary anchor (USMM official history, war diary, or deck log). Not an exposure or material record; no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-05
-
[7]NavSource Online, 110' Submarine Chaser (SC) Photo Index - SC-497-class program context and the 1943 PC-to-SC differentiation note; index lists 'SC-503 ex-PC-503' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/15idx.htm header text; NavSource 12/01idx.htm headnote (S.C.-PC differentiation paragraph) and index line 'SC-503 ex-PC-503'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Class context for this hull: 'Five hundred eighty SC-497 Class wood-hulled, 110-foot Submarine Chasers (SC) were built during World War II, with 142 of these being used by our Allies under the Lend-Lease Program'; the type descends from the WWI SC-1-class 'Splinter Fleet'; 70 were converted as Control Submarine Chasers (SCC). The SC/PC index headnote explains the designation anomaly on this hull: early wartime boats carried a dual 'S.C.-PC' identification, and 'By 1943, it was felt desirable to differentiate between the two types. These now dropped the dual S.C.-PC identification, and were simply identified as USS SC-' - the context for this hull's April 1943 reclassification from PC-503 to SC-503.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- SC-497-class program population (construction trades; crews)
- Limitations
- Program-level context; the 1943 differentiation note explains the reclassification mechanism in general terms - the specific April 1943 date for this hull rests on the SC-503 page (ev-01). Wikipedia's patrol-vessel list (secondary) corroborates that PC numbers 497-507, 511-522, and 524-539 were carried by SC-type submarine chasers. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-06
-
[8]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 (1941-42) and US/French service era (1942-51).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- 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. Full text not retrieved (gao.gov blocks automated fetch, HTTP 403, consistent with prior batches) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-07
-
[9]Era inference built on: NavSource spec block (twin GM 8-268A diesels, wooden 110-ft hull); NavSource class header (SC-497-class design); GAO HRD-80-2 (Navy asbestos-use era through early 1970s) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (ev-01); NavSource class header (ev-06); GAO HRD-80-2 product description (ev-07)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wooden-hulled 110-foot diesel subchaser built 1941-42 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard a small diesel combatant of this type and period were engine and exhaust-system insulation/lagging in the machinery space, machinery gaskets, valve and machinery packing, and electrical insulation in the confined hull volume. As a diesel-powered craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply; the residual exposure pathways are the diesel machinery space, maintenance overhaul (engines 'taken apart' per ev-02), and any period insulation in accommodation spaces.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1951
- Population
- Rice Brothers construction trades (1941-42); US Navy crew incl. engine-room ratings (1942-44); French Navy crew (1944-51); any disposal-yard trades post-1951
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for PC-503/SC-503. Names era-standard applications, 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-pc-503-pc503-08
-
[10]Batch-7878 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull and index pages; Rutgers OHA; SouthCoast Today; French naval-postal fiche and pages14-18/Vichot-Guiglini citations; Axis History Forum lead; GAO product page; secondary web litigation sweep; CourtListener (blocked - fleet pacing, 4 attempts) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-503-pc503-01 through -12
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS PC-503 / USS SC-503 / CH-112 was found in the public sources searched. The secondary-web litigation sweep returned only name collisions (statute and reporter citations 'PC 503'/'S.C. 503', a geology sample ID, phone numbers) - no case naming the vessel. The only asbestos-content claims on the open web are the usual law-firm listicle genre asserting asbestos aboard all WWII hulls without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the authenticated helper returned the fleet-pacing stand-down (exit 2) on four spaced attempts across ~40 minutes; logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result.
- 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 - a 1942 combatant is era-consistent with retained asbestos-bearing components, but nothing was found proving it for this hull. Deck logs, BuShips correspondence, and French disposal records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-09
-
[11]Class-designation correction: NavSource files this hull in the 110' Submarine Chaser archive under 'SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser' (page header on 12/150503.htm); the PC number was administrative - wooden SC-497-class hulls occupied a block of PC numbers (Wikipedia list of patrol vessels: PC 497-507, 511-522, 524-539 carried by SC-type chasers) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/150503.htm class header; NavSource 12/01idx.htm; en.wikipedia.org 'List of patrol vessels of the United States Navy' (PC number blocks)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: intake data assigned this hull to the PC-461 class. The hull is SC-497 class - a 110-ft wooden-hulled diesel submarine chaser built at a wooden-boat yard (Rice Brothers), not the 173-ft steel twin-screw PC-461-class patrol craft design. The PC-503 number she carried at commissioning was one of a block of PC numbers assigned to SC-type hulls; she was reclassified SC-503 in April 1943 when the Navy differentiated the types (index headnote, ev-06).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1943
- Limitations
- Corrects a class assignment, not a material claim. The PC-number-block documentation (497-507, 511-522, 524-539 carried by SC-type chasers) rests on the Wikipedia patrol-vessels list (secondary) corroborating NavSource's classification of this specific hull. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-503-pc503-10