Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]research packet 918-packet.md (2 sources cited) [other_primary]
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Identity packet verdict: UNVERIFIABLE
- Verification
- unverified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Evidence ID
- uss-pc-637-pc637-pkt-918-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, SC-637 (ex-PC-637) - milestone timeline, specifications, two dated photo captions (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/150637.htm header block (SC-637, ex-PC-637), specifications block, and photo captions
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull: 'SC-497 Class Submarine Chaser: Laid down 24 December 1941 by the Vinyard Shipbuilding Co., Milford, DE; Launched 10 June 1942; Commissioned USS PC-637, 31 July 1942; Reclassified SC-637 in April 1943; Struck from the Naval Register 25 February 1946; Transferred to the Foreign Liquidation Commission 27 October 1948; Fate unknown.' Specifications: displacement 148 t.; length 110' 10"; beam 17'; draft 6' 6"; speed 15.6 kts.; complement 28; armament one 40mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns, two depth-charge projector 'Y Guns,' two depth-charge tracks; propulsion two 880 bhp General Motors 8-268A diesel engines, single-reduction gear, two shafts. Photographic record: 1 October 1942 at Navy Yard Charleston, SC, in drydock with YMS-9, YMS-10 and YMS-49; and c. 1944 at Milne Bay, New Guinea, where SC-731, SC-749, SC-648 and SC-637 are nested together alongside their tender.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Vinyard Shipbuilding construction trades (1941-42); crew (1942-46); Charleston Navy Yard trades during the Oct 1942 drydocking; FLC/disposal-chain workers (1948)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestone dates are the best located source for this hull but are not an official register extract. Ship-specific history only; no asbestos or material content. 'Fate unknown' means the disposal trail ends at the 1948 FLC transfer; no decommissioning date is stated; the page itself notes 'There is no DANFS history available for SC-637.'
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-01
-
[3]NARA file unit NAID 192703609, 'SC-637, 7/31/42-1/17/46' - RG 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Series: Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities (234 images, digitized via Ancestry partnership; unrestricted; microfilm Roll 6759, NARA College Park) [other_primary]
- Locator
- catalog.archives.gov/id/192703609 file-unit page (NAID 192703609; RG 24; Series NAID 594996; microfilm Roll 6759)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- A digitized, hull-specific primary record exists: the muster rolls for SC-637 covering 31 July 1942 - 17 January 1946, scanned as 234 page images in the National Archives Catalog. The coverage start coincides with the commissioning date documented by NavSource, and the end (17 January 1946) sits five weeks before the documented striking date (25 February 1946) - bracketing the hull's entire commissioned career.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-07-31 to 1946-01-17
- Population
- All hands carried on SC-637's muster rolls, 1942-46
- Limitations
- Muster rolls are personnel rosters - they document who was carried aboard over time, not engineering records, material lists, or asbestos content. Coverage dates are log-coverage dates, not commissioning/decommissioning records; the 17 Jan 1946 endpoint is consistent with (but does not document) early-1946 decommissioning. Page-level contents not individually reviewed. The batch brief cited 'NARA corroboration: SC-637 7/31/1942 7/31/1945' - the live record verifies the start date but shows coverage through 1/17/46, not 7/31/45; the verified record is muster rolls, not deck logs.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-02
-
[4]NARA Catalog full-text search '"SC-637"' over digitized textual records - war-diary file units whose extracted text mentions this hull (first-40-results sample, 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA Catalog search results for "SC-637" - file units in Series 'World War II War Diaries, Other Operational Records and Histories' (RG 38)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA full-text search surfaces primary war-diary file units naming SC-637 in their extracted text, consistent with Southwest Pacific service: COMTASKFOR 76 war diaries for Aug 1943 (NAID 134319568) and Mar 1944 (NAID 78404558) - Task Force 76 was the Seventh Fleet amphibious force conducting the New Guinea landings - plus USS Otus (Sep and Oct 1943), USS Rigel (Aug 1943), USS SC-698 (Nov 1943), USS SC-703 (Jun 1943), COMDESRON 14 (Feb-Apr 1945), USS Chepachet (Mar, Apr, May 1945), USS Meade (Apr 1945), USS Leyte (May 1945), and five USS Maui entries (Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct, Nov 1945). The 1943-44 hits sit alongside NavSource's Milne Bay photo (c. 1944) of SC-637 nested with SC-731, SC-749 and SC-648.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1945
- Population
- SC-637 crew during the operations in which the mentioning units participated (1943-45)
- Limitations
- These are extracted-text matches inside other units' records - the search establishes that digitized primary documents mention 'SC-637,' but page-level context (task-organization lists vs narrative events) was not inspected; a mention is not a work or exposure record. One collision exists in the same result set: NARA item 111-SC-637 is a Signal Corps photograph number, unrelated to the vessel.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-03
-
[5]NavSource Submarine Chaser (SC) index page - SC-497 class description (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/15idx.htm class header paragraph; SC-637 listed in the index block
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource's class-level description of the type this hull belongs to: '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 origin of the WW II Submarine Chaser traces back to WW I and the 440 ship SC-1 Class wooden-hulled "Splinter Fleet." The SC was designed for off-shore patrols and anti-submarine warfare. They were one of many weapons used to defeat the Nazi U-Boat menace along the Atlantic seaboard. The SC also played a role in Amphibious Landing, both in Europe and the Pacific. Seventy SCs were converted for use as Beach Control Craft and designated Control Submarine Chasers (SCC).'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1944
- Population
- Crews and builders of the 110-ft wooden subchaser program (1941-44)
- Limitations
- Class-level editorial context only - establishes type and role, nothing about this specific hull. The '580 built' figure conflicts with secondary literature (438 completed); carried as NavSource's claim with the variance noted in gaps. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-04
-
[6]NavSource Submarine Chasers (SC)/(PC)/PCE/PCS index page - 1943 type-symbol split explanation and PC-461-class series definition (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/01idx.htm 'Submarine Chaser - 110' Wooden Hull' and '173' Steel Hull' header paragraphs
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- CORRECTION: this hull was never a PC-461-class vessel. NavSource's index explains the designation system: WWII expansion built two groups of subchasers - the new 110-foot wooden-hulled craft and the 173-foot steel-hulled type. 'By 1943, it was felt desirable to differentiate between the two types. The type symbol PC was retained for the steel 173-footers, and the separate symbol SC was adopted for the 110-foot vessels.' The PC-461 class (steel, 173 ft) ran in the series PC-461 to PC-496, PC-542 to PC-627, PC-776 to PC-826, and PC-1077 to PC-1265 - PC-637 is not in any PC-461 block; it was a wooden 110-footer commissioned under a PC number drawn from 'the same general numerical series' shared by PC, SC, PCE, PCE(R) and PCS types, then reclassified SC-637 when the SC symbol was adopted in April 1943.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- correction
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1943 (designation window)
- Limitations
- Corrects a circulating class misattribution (batch brief noted the hull should carry SC-497, not PC-461); the reclassification is a designation change on one continuous hull, not a second vessel. NavSource index editorial is secondary compilation, though consistent with the hull's own milestone line (ev-01). No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-05
-
[7]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications for this hull (two GM 8-268A diesels, wooden 110-ft hull); NavSource SC-497 class description (wood-hulled 110-ft type); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy-wide asbestos-era documentation (see ev-07) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/150637.htm specifications block; NavSource 12/15idx.htm class paragraph; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A wooden-hulled 110-foot diesel submarine chaser built in 1941-42 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era, but this hull type is at the low end of the WWII asbestos-exposure profile: diesel propulsion on a wooden hull means no boilers, no turbines, and no steam-pipe runs - the dominant asbestos pathways of steam warships do not apply. Era-standard small-craft applications consistent with this type were diesel exhaust and muffler lagging, engine-room insulation, gaskets, valve packing, and electrical insulation.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1948
- Population
- Vinyard Shipbuilding construction trades (1941-42); crew of ~28 (1942-46); yard trades at documented Charleston Navy Yard drydocking (Oct 1942); disposal-chain workers (1948)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for PC-637/SC-637. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity, no manufacturer attribution. The wooden-hull/diesel configuration materially limits which era applications could even have been present; nothing here establishes that any asbestos product was aboard this specific hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-06
-
[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 service era (1942-46).
- 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, re-confirmed 2026-10-03) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-07
-
[9]Batch-8012 search ledger (this record): NHHC DANFS candidate URLs; NavSource hull page + SC/PC index pages; NARA Catalog (muster rolls NAID 192703609 + war-diary mention sweep); NVR; GAO product page; CourtListener (blocked); secondary web litigation/service sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-637-pc637-01 through -09
- 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-637 or USS SC-637 was found in the public sources searched. This matches the batch's hard-hold verification note ('no per-hull record; inside commissioned SC-628-669 range only'). CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet-wide request pace returned 'budget momentarily spent' on every attempt; logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos aboard' material is law-firm listicle content asserting asbestos on SC/PC hull types without primary sourcing - excluded by source policy.
- 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 - and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (paced, not run). The Vinyard Shipbuilding yard file, FLC disposal paperwork, and RG 24 deck logs (if extant) are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-637-pc637-08