Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 914-packet.md (2 sources cited) [museum_official]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: VERIFIED
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-pc-608-pc608-pkt-914-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Naval History, Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PC-608 page (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navsource.net PC-608 page, timeline block, specifications block, and photo caption table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: PC-461-class submarine chaser; laid down 8 January 1942 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, TX; launched 16 May 1942; commissioned USS PC-608 on 18 August 1942; transferred to the Maritime Commission 1 July 1948; transferred to Mexico in 1952 and named ARM Guardacosta (GC 31); 'Struck from the Naval Register in May 1964 and scrapped.' Specifications: 450 t.; 173'8" x 23' x 10'10"; 20.2 kts; complement 65; armament one 3"/50 DP mount, one 40mm, five 20mm, two rocket launchers, two depth-charge tracks; propulsion two 1,440 bhp Hooven-Owen-Rentschler R-99DA diesels (serials 6837 and 6838), Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts. Call sign Nan-Uncle-William-Mike. Page expressly states 'There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-608' and carries a photograph captioned 'c. February 1945 - In a Miami shipyard.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1964
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce (1942); wartime crew (complement 65); Armada de Mexico crew 1952-1964
- Limitations
- NavSource is a curated secondary archive, not a primary record; dates/specs are consistent with ShipbuildingHistory and uboat.net. Documents disposition, not materials or asbestos content. 'Struck from the Naval Register in May 1964' is ambiguous as to which naval register (Mexican disposal vs retained U.S. NVR loan entry) - carried in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-01
-
[3]uboat.net Allied Warships, USS PC-608 (PC-608) page - build record, commanding-officer roster, notable events (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship page 8585: data table, 'Commands listed' table, 'Notable events' entry 31 May 1945
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net record for this hull: ordered 20 September 1941; laid down 8 January 1942; launched 16 May 1942; commissioned 18 August 1942; 'Transferred to Mexico in 1952 being renamed Guardacosta.' Wartime commanding officers listed: Lt. James Levan Brooks Jr. USNR (18 Aug 1942-mid 1943); Lt. Wallis C. Wetlaufer USNR (mid 1943-mid 1944); R. H. McTague USNR (mid 1944-mid/late 1944); Lt. Charles B. Buscher USNR (mid/late 1944-mid 1945); Lt. Samuel O. Baldwin USNR (mid 1945-late 1945). Single 'notable event': 31 May 1945, submarines USS Burrfish, USS Picuda and USS Bang departed San Francisco for Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, 'escorted out by USS PC-608(?) and USS PC-799(?)' - the source itself marks the escort attribution with query marks.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1952
- Population
- wartime crew (complement 65)
- Limitations
- uboat.net is a researcher-curated secondary database; the escort event is expressly flagged uncertain by the source itself. Documents service chronology, not materials or asbestos content. 'End service' field is blank - the decommissioning date is unpublished (carried in gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-02
-
[4]ShipbuildingHistory (Tim Colton), 'Brown Shipbuilding' yard hull table, navalmarinearchive.com mirror - corroborated by 'Sub Chasers PC SC PCE PCS WWII' table (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Brown Shipbuilding hull table, row 5 (PC 608); smallships/pc2.html patrol-craft table, PC-608 row
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Independent shipyard production table corroborates this hull: Brown Shipbuilding, Houston TX, yard hull no. 5, 'PC 608 - Sub Chaser - 8-Jan-42 / 16-May-42 / 18-Aug-42 - To Mexico 1952 as Guardacosta (GC 31), scrapped 1964.' The companion patrol-craft table gives displacement 463 (tons) and length 173 ft, commission date 18 Aug 1942, identical disposition.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1964
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction workforce (1942)
- Limitations
- ShipbuildingHistory is a respected secondary industry reference, not a primary record; its '463' displacement figure differs from NavSource's 450 t (light-vs-full-load convention not documented - carried in gaps). Corroborates dates and disposition only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-03
-
[5]seaforces.org Mexican Navy ship list, 'G 30 class (ex US PC-461 class) Submarine Chaser' block (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- seaforces.org Mexican Navy ships page, G 30 class block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Mexican-service corroboration: the Mexican Navy 'G 30 class (ex US PC-461 class) Submarine Chaser (53 meters / 450 tons)' block lists 'ARM G 31 - ex USS PC608 (1942/52-64)' - i.e., this hull served the Armada de Mexico 1952-1964 as G 31 alongside sisters G 30 (ex-PC-820) and G 32 (ex-PC-614), all retired 1964-66.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1952-1964
- Population
- Armada de Mexico crew 1952-1964
- Limitations
- seaforces.org is a secondary fleet aggregator; it is the located corroboration for the Mexican pennant and service span, but no primary Armada de Mexico record was located. Consistent with NavSource (ARM Guardacosta GC 31; struck May 1964, scrapped).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-04
-
[6]Eric Pearson, 'The Brown Shipbuilding Company's Rise During World War II,' Naval History (U.S. Naval Institute), June 2025, Vol. 39 No. 3 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- USNI Naval History June 2025 feature article (construction-methods and workforce sections)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Builder-yard documentation for this hull's constructor: Brown Shipbuilding Co. was established 1941 by George and Herman Brown (of Brown & Root) on Greens Bayou off the Houston Ship Channel - an emergency wartime yard with no prior shipbuilding experience that received Navy contracts for submarine chasers, destroyer escorts, and landing craft. Brown built 12 PC-461-class submarine chasers (the series including PC-608), 61 destroyer escorts, 32 LCIs and 254 LSMs; peak employment exceeded 25,000 from late 1942, with a largely unskilled workforce trained in company programs; sections were fabricated ashore and hulls launched sideways into the narrow bayou. Sister hull PC-611's launch is described (sponsor Miss Jean B. Berkendorfer).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1946
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding workforce, peak 25,000+ (1942-45); PC-608 among 12 PC-461 hulls built
- Limitations
- Documents the builder environment and production volume, not this specific hull's construction detail and not materials content - the article contains no asbestos information whatsoever. Ship-level asbestos inference from yard context is era-level only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-05
-
[7]NavSource PC-608 specifications block (diesel propulsion line) + PC-461 class characteristics; Atlas shipyard dataset check (Brown Shipbuilding absent - see gaps) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource PC-608 specifications block (propulsion line); shipyards.json yard_id list (37 entries, no brown-shipbuilding)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Era/class inference only: this diesel-propelled 1942 steel patrol craft would have carried period-standard asbestos applications for a small combatant - thermal insulation, machinery and exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve packing, electrical insulation, and deck coverings - but no steam plant, so the boiler/turbine lagging pathway documented on larger combatants does not apply. Brown Shipbuilding (Houston) is not an Atlas shipyards.json entry, so no yard-level tier is attached; NARA RG 19 Bureau of Ships records and RG 24 deck logs are archival leads for hull-level specifications.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1964
- Population
- Brown Shipbuilding construction trades (1942); crew 1942-1948
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no primary source ties any specific asbestos product to this hull. Diesel propulsion is ship-specific fact (NavSource spec block); the application list is era-standard inference, not ship-proven. NARA retrieval not performed (catalog interface JS-blocked to automated fetch).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-06
-
[8]Patrol Craft Sailors Association, 'WW II Patrol Craft (PCs)' class information page - 173-ft PC-461-class characteristics, program statistics, and class war record (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ww2pcsa.org patrol-craft.html: class characteristics table, program statistics block, 'PC WWII SERVICE' narrative, victory table
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Veterans-association class documentation: the 173-foot steel-hull PC-461 class (173'8" x 23', 284-ton figure given, two 2,000 bhp diesels, 21 kt, 3,000 nm at 12 kt, 5 officers + 60 enlisted) was designed for anti-submarine warfare, convoy escort, and coastal patrol - effective along the Atlantic seaboard, Caribbean and South Atlantic in the critical 1942-43 period, later serving in virtually every combat theater; 421 ordered, 60 cancelled, 361 delivered; 45 transferred under Lend-Lease; 35 converted to Patrol Control Craft (PCC). The page's class war record (PC victory table, 1942-44) does not list PC-608 - consistent with the absence of any documented combat action or battle star for this hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1945
- Population
- PC-461-class crews, 1941-45 (class context)
- Limitations
- Association-maintained class summary, not a primary record; figures differ from other aggregators (displacement 284 t vs NavSource 450 t for this hull; engines 2,000 vs 1,440 bhp - different plants were fitted across the class; NavSource's hull-specific serials carried). Class-level role description only - this hull's own station assignments are undocumented (see ev-02).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-07
-
[9]Batch-7983 search ledger (this record): NavSource, uboat.net, ShipbuildingHistory, USNI, seaforces, NVR, NARA catalog, NHHC DANFS index, PCSA class page, and CourtListener exact-name and hull-number opinion/docket queries (see search_ledger) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-608-pc608-01 through sl-uss-pc-608-pc608-16
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or qualifying litigation naming PC-608 was found in the public sources searched (see search_ledger). CourtListener exact-name and hull-number opinion and docket queries (4 base + overflow-justified asbestos variants) returned only loose term matches - published asbestos opinions naming other vessels, reporter page-608 citations, Texas Probate Code 608, Indiana post-conviction case numbers (49A04-1412-PC-608 pattern), docket numerals, and the MDL-875 master docket matched on a law-firm 'PC' token - no case naming the vessel.
- 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 - era-consistent inference still applies. The hull was scrapped in 1964, so no museum/retention-condition record exists. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-608-pc608-08