Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PC-784 (12/010784) - construction milestones, Amchitka collision, WSA disposal, specifications, photographic record (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/010784.htm header block, specifications block, and photo captions (c. 1944-45, Adak, Alaska)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource record for this hull: laid down 16 December 1942 at Commercial Iron Works, Portland, OR; launched 18 January 1943; commissioned 17 August 1943. 'Collided with Army tug LT-666 in dense fog off entrance to Amchitka, AK harbor 1 August 1945; both vessels suffered damage, but there were no injuries to either crew.' Transferred to the War Shipping Administration for disposal 17 March 1948; 'Fate unknown.' Photo captions place the hull alongside Tatoosh (YAG-1) at Finger Bay, Adak, Alaska, circa 1945, and nested at Adak with PC-793, PC-785, and PC-781 (c. 1945); page states 'There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-784.' Spec block: displacement 450 t.; length 173'8"; beam 23'; draft 10'10"; speed 20.2 kts.; complement 65; armament one 3"/50 dual-purpose mount, one single 40mm mount, three 20mm guns, two depth charge projectors, two depth charge tracks, two hedgehog projectors; propulsion two 2,880 bhp Hooven-Owen-Rentschler R-99DA diesel engines (serial nos. 7041 and 7042), Westinghouse single reduction gear, two shafts. Call sign Nan-Xray-Nan-Jig.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1948
- Population
- Commercial Iron Works construction trades (1942-43); wartime crew (design complement 65); Aleutian-area operators (1944-45)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its milestones generally track official sources but are not independently sourced here. Contains no asbestos content. No decommission or stricken date is given; 'fate unknown' leaves the post-1948 disposition undocumented.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-01
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[2]ShipbuildingHistory (Tim Colton), 'Commercial Iron Works, Portland OR' yard page - hull-by-hull delivery list and yard history (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- shipbuildinghistory.com Commercial Iron Works hull table, row 57 (PC 784); page header yard history
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The builder's yard list names this hull: yard hull no. 57, PC 784, US Navy sub chaser, 463 (type/series), 173 ft., delivered 17-Aug-43, disposition 'Sold 1948.' Yard history: Commercial Iron Works was started in November 1916 by William T. Casey, Otto J. Hoak and Robert Boogs on a 30-acre site just south of the Ross Island Bridge; it closed in 1946 after building 188 boats during WWII; the site was sold to Zidell Marine as a ship dismantling facility. Sister hulls in the same yard block (PC 776-789) show the class-typical split: several named in 1956 (Pikeville, Waynesburg, Gallipolis, Mechanicsburg, Maynard, Metuchen, Glenolden, Frostburg), others 'Sold 1948' like PC-784.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1948
- Population
- Commercial Iron Works construction trades (1942-43)
- Limitations
- Secondary compiled yard list; 'Sold 1948' is consistent with the documented WSA disposal transfer but the buyer, use, and scrapping site are not identified. Yard-narrative portions are background on the builder, not this hull. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-02
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[3]uboat.net Allied Warships, USS PC-784 (PC-784) page - order date and wartime commanding-officer list (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net warships/8613.html data table and 'Commands listed' section
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net record for this hull: ordered 27 February 1942; laid down 16 December 1942; launched 18 January 1943; commissioned 17 August 1943 (all consistent with NavSource). Wartime commanding officers, all USNR: Lt. E. L. Considine (17 Aug 1943 - early 1944), H. C. Owen, Jr. (early 1944 - mid/late 1944), K. Kurth, Jr. (mid/late 1944 - early 1945), H. H. Earl (early 1945 - late 1945).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1945
- Population
- Wartime crew (design complement 65) under four USNR commanding officers
- Limitations
- Specialist secondary compilation; the 'end service' field is blank - no decommission date is given and the CO list is WWII-scope only. Build dates agree with NavSource. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-03
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[4]'Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1940-1945 - Submarine Chasers' (HyperWar/ibiblio transcription), PC-461 class specification block and hull-range table (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HyperWar ships-sc.html, 'PC-461 Class' specification block and hull table (PC-784 inside the PC-783-798 range entry)
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- Class-level design documentation: the PC-461 class was the mass-production steel-hulled submarine chaser of WWII - 284 tons, 173'8" x 23' x 10'10", 21 knots, diesel engines on two screws, complement 65, armed with one 3"/50, one 40mm, five 20mm, two depth-charge throwers (mousetraps), two K-guns, and two depth-charge racks - the design envelope this hull was built to. A diesel-powered steel combatant of 1942-43 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications aboard small diesel craft were engine-exhaust lagging, machinery thermal insulation, gaskets, valve packing, electrical insulation, and asbestos-cement sheet in joiner and fire-boundary work. As a diesel craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1948
- Population
- Commercial Iron Works construction trades (1942-43); wartime crew (1943-46); any later operators to 1948 disposal
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, or work package located for PC-784. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product names are normalized era terms; no manufacturer attribution for this hull. Class spec figures differ slightly from NavSource's hull-level spec block (284 t vs 450 t; five vs three 20mm guns; mousetraps/K-guns vs hedgehog projectors - see gaps).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-04
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[5]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 (1942-43) and service era (1943-48).
- 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, confirmed 2026-10-03) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-05
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[6]Jefferson Public Radio (NPR member), Cassandra Profita, 'Portland's Toxic Graveyard For World War II Ships' (Dec 2, 2016) - Battle Ready series on the military's environmental legacy in the Northwest (verified live 2026-10-03) [reputable_press]
- Locator
- ijpr.org article body - 'A Business Opportunity' section and cleanup-history paragraphs
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Environmental history of this hull's construction site: after WWII Zidell leased a portion of the former Commercial Iron Works shipyard and built what became the nation's largest shipbreaking operation, dismantling obsolete WWII warships on the same Willamette River frontage where this hull was built. The reporting documents that the scrapped ships' 'insulation on the ships, the wiring, the linoleum on the floors and even the paint was full of contaminants' - ship scraps 'laced with toxic pollutants like lead, asbestos and the industrial chemical polychlorinated biphenyl, or PCB,' with insulation burned off copper wiring in open pits. Oregon DEQ flagged the property in 1986; Zidell entered a voluntary cleanup program in 1994; remediation ran more than 20 years and $20 million across 30 acres of land and a half-mile of riverbank.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- context_only
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946-2016
- Population
- Zidell shipbreaking workers (post-1946); South Waterfront site
- Limitations
- Site-level environmental journalism about the former Commercial Iron Works/Zidell property - documents the contamination profile of WWII-vintage warship scrapping at Portland generally. Does not name PC-784 or any specific hull; whether this hull was scrapped there, went merchant, or ended elsewhere is undocumented (sold 1948, fate unknown). Not evidence of materials aboard this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-06
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[7]Batch-8157 search ledger (this record): NavSource PC-784 page; NHHC DANFS (none exists); uboat.net; ShipbuildingHistory CIW yard list; navypedia PC-461 table; HyperWar ships-sc class page; JPR Zidell-site reporting; Atlas shipyards.json cross-check; class-profile worktrees (class-a through class-f); CourtListener (blocked); NARA deck-log lead [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-784-pc784-01 through sl-uss-pc-784-pc784-11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or verified litigation naming USS PC-784 was found in the public sources searched. No DANFS entry exists for this hull (NavSource states none), and no PC-461 class profile exists in the Atlas class worktrees. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet pacing gate returned 'request budget momentarily spent' on repeated attempts; 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 1942-43 steel diesel combatant is era-consistent with retained asbestos applications, and the litigation repository search is a genuine open gap (throttled, not run). Deck logs (NARA RG 24), WSA disposal file, and any sale/scrapping record are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-07
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[8]NARA Record Group 24, U.S. Navy deck logs for PC-784 (1943-46); WSA/MARAD disposal file for the 17 March 1948 transfer; NARA still-picture series 80-G (Aleutian-area naval photography covers the documented Adak operating area) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NARA College Park, RG 24 deck-log series (not digitized for this hull/era); WSA disposal records
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Undigitized primary records exist that would close this record's open items: PC-784's WWII deck logs (RG 24) would document her Aleutian employment, the LT-666 collision of 1 August 1945, and her stateside return/decommissioning; the WSA disposal file for the 17 March 1948 transfer would document the buyer and post-Navy fate that NavSource lists as unknown. Neither is digitized in public sources.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- Wartime crew; disposal-process parties (1946-48)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only - the records are expected to exist (deck logs were required; the WSA transfer is documented) but were not examined. Nothing in this row speaks to asbestos.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-784-pc784-08