Evidence
11 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-11).
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[1]research packet 939-packet.md (5 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-791-pc791-pkt-939-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PC-791 page - milestone timeline, specifications, call sign, disposal note (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 12/010791.htm header block, specifications block, and footer notes
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource timeline and specs for this hull: laid down 13 March 1943 at Commercial Iron Works, Portland, OR; launched 17 April 1943; commissioned 28 March 1944; transferred to the War Shipping Administration in June 1948; 'fate unknown.' Call sign Nan-William-Sugar-Jig. Specifications: 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 40mm mount, five 20mm guns, two rocket launchers, two depth-charge tracks; propulsion two 1,440 bhp Hooven-Owen-Rentschler R-99DA diesel engines, Westinghouse single-reduction gear, two shafts. Page states: 'There is no DANFS History currently available for PC-791' and no image of the hull is held.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- CIW construction trades (1943-44); crew (1944-46, complement 65); disposal/merchant personnel (1948)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - milestone dates generally track NVR/DANFS but no DANFS entry exists for this hull to corroborate against (the absence of DANFS coverage is itself documented here). Page contains no asbestos content. Disposal is documented only to the June 1948 WSA transfer - 'fate unknown' thereafter.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-01
-
[3]uboat.net Allied Warships of WWII, USS PC-791 (PC-791) - contract/milestone dates, commanding-officer roster, documented Seadragon escort event, decommissioning date (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- uboat.net ship page 8620 - data table, 'Commands listed' roster, 'Notable events' 31 Aug 1944 entry
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- uboat.net record for this hull: ordered 27 February 1942; laid down 13 March 1943; launched 17 April 1943; commissioned 28 March 1944; 'Decommissioned on 6 March 1946.' Commanding officers: Lt. John P. Hinckley, USNR (28 March 1944 - early 1945); Jewel D. Brown, USNR (early - mid 1945); Norman Anderson, USNR (mid 1945 - 6 March 1946). Single documented event: '31 Aug 1944 - With her refit completed, USS Seadragon (Cdr. J.H. Ashley, Jr., USN), departed the Mare Island Navy Yard for Pearl Harbor. She was escorted out by USS PC 791 (Lt. J.P. Hinckley, USNR).'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1942-1946
- Population
- Crew under three successive COs (1944-46); Mare Island operating population (Aug 1944)
- Limitations
- uboat.net is a secondary reference compiled from naval records, not a primary source; its CO roster covers only the WWII period and its event log lists a single dated event - thinness here reflects what public sources carry, not a complete service record. The decommissioning date (6 March 1946) rests on this single secondary source; stricken date is not documented anywhere located. Escorting a departing submarine out of Mare Island documents Bay-area operations, not a yard availability for this hull. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-02
-
[4]Shipbuilding History (T. Colton dataset), Commercial Iron Works build list - yard hull table, row 64 (verified live 2026-10-03) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Commercial Iron Works yard table, row 64 (PC 791)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Commercial Iron Works construction list records this hull as yard hull number 64: 'PC 791 - US Navy - Sub Chaser - 463 tons - 173 ft - delivered 28-Mar-44 - Sold 1948.' The same table places her among 49 consecutive sub-chaser hulls and confirms the disposal outcome as 'Sold 1948' (consistent with NavSource's June 1948 War Shipping Administration transfer; the njscuba.net mirror of this dataset returned HTTP 500 this session - the original shipbuildinghistory.com table was used).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1948
- Population
- 1948 purchaser and any post-sale commercial crew - unidentified
- Limitations
- Shipbuilding-compilation table, not a government register; 'sold 1948' establishes the disposal path out of WSA custody but names no buyer, flag, or subsequent fate. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-03
-
[5]Tualatin Life, 'Retired Tualatin Businessman Ed Casey's Family ran shipyard - Commercial Iron Works in Portland, Built 206 WWII Navy ships' (Dale Potts; drawing on the Casey family and Amphibious Forces Memorial Museum historian Dave McKay) - verified live 2026-10-03 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Tualatin Life veterans section article text (yard history paragraphs)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Yard-scale documentation for this hull's builder: Commercial Iron Works, founded by William T. Casey in 1916 on a 30-acre Willamette River site straddling the Ross Island Bridge (shipways south of the bridge, outfitting dock north), produced 206 ships for the WWII emergency shipbuilding program - 106 landing craft (159'), 49 sub chasers (173'), 16 tugs, and barges - and converted seven Liberty ships into escort carriers. At peak it employed more than 15,000 workers on three shifts around the clock; women filled production roles ('Wendy the Welder'). Some hulls went keel-to-launch in 30 days.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1941-1945
- Population
- CIW wartime workforce, peak >15,000 incl. women production workers
- Limitations
- Local-press retrospective with family/museum-historian sourcing, not a government record - the 206-ship and 15,000-worker figures are the yard's own accounting as retold, unverified against primary payroll or contract records. Describes the yard and its workforce generally - PC-791 is not named. No asbestos content in the article itself.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-04
-
[6]Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality, 'Zidell Waterfront Property Cleanup' community-advisory presentation (Scott Manzano, DEQ, 2012; live) + ECSI Site Summary Report, Site ID 689 'Zidell Waterfront Property' (archived capture 2025-08-24; live deep-link now redirects to DEQ index) [other_primary]
- Locator
- ph-ZidellCAG.pdf slides 'Background', 'Site Contaminants', 'Regulatory Milestones', 'Summer 2010: Upland Remedial Action'; ECSI detail seqnbr=689 via web.archive.org/web/20250824132302 (Contamination Information, Manner and Time of Release, Status of Investigative or Remedial Action fields)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Government environmental record for this hull's builder site: the Zidell Waterfront Property, 3121 SW Moody Ave., Portland (west side of Ross Island Bridge - the former Commercial Iron Works yard), is ECSI Site No. 689. DEQ's site summary records: remedial investigation 1997-2004; contaminants above screening values in upland and bankline soil including PCBs, metals, PAHs, VOCs, petroleum hydrocarbons, and 'Asbestos is also prevalent in upland and bankline soil'; release sources including 'former wire burning incinerators, transformers, oil water separators, oil storage areas and no-point source releases during historical ship dismantling and process operations, and waste materials placed as fill'; voluntary agreement 1994/1995; Record of Decision 2005; Consent Judgment 2006; upland remediation 2010; sediment cap and shoreline work 2011-2013. DEQ's advisory presentation documents site background - 'Ironworks shipyard before WWII; Building, repair and salvage of Victory Ships during WWII; Purchased by Zidell in 1946: 336 ships dismantled over 30 years - scrap sold, waste used as site fill' - lists asbestos among site contaminants, and records a 2010 'Asbestos abatement project - all workers certified, air monitoring, bulk ACM disposal.'
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1987-2013 (investigation/remedy); contamination period 1946-1976+
- Population
- Zidell shipbreaking workforce (1946-c.1976); remediation workers (2010-13); site redevelopment population
- Limitations
- Site-level record, not a hull record: the contamination is attributed by DEQ to decades of ship DISMANTLING (336 vessels, 1946-onward) and waste fill at the former CIW/Zidell property - it does not document construction-era asbestos use at Commercial Iron Works, does not name PC-791, and does not establish that any material aboard this hull contained asbestos. Its asbestos relevance is indirect: confirmation that WWII-era naval vessels broken at this site carried asbestos materials. ECSI live deep-link redirected to the DEQ index this session; site-summary content is from the 2025-08-24 Wayback capture (archived). DEQ presentation live on oregon.gov.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-05
-
[7]Jefferson Public Radio / EarthFix, 'Portland's Toxic Graveyard For World War II Ships' (Cassandra Profita, Dec 2, 2016; 'Battle Ready' series) - verified live 2026-10-03 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- IJPR article body (site history and contamination paragraphs)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Press documentation of asbestos in WWII-vessel materials at this hull's builder site: reporting on the former Commercial Iron Works / Zidell shipbreaking property, the article records that Zidell leased the old CIW shipyard in 1946 and built 'the nation's largest shipbreaking operation' cutting up WWII warships; that 'the insulation on the ships, the wiring, the linoleum on the floors and even the paint was full of contaminants'; that workers 'burn[ed] the toxic insulation off copper wires in open pits alongside the Willamette River'; that 'some of it - like asbestos and PCBs causes cancer'; and that the site was flagged by regulators in 1986, entered Oregon DEQ voluntary cleanup in 1994, and took more than 20 years and $20 million to cap 30 acres and a half-mile of riverbank.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946-2016
- Population
- Zidell shipbreaking workers (1946-c.1976); riverside community
- Limitations
- Journalistic account (with company-historian and regulator sourcing), not a survey: documents asbestos and other contaminants in the WWII-ship material stream broken at this site, not materials aboard PC-791 specifically and not construction-era practice. The hull's fate after 1948 is unknown - there is no evidence she was herself broken at this site. Ship-specificity is at site/era level only.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-06
-
[8]Era inference built on: NavSource PC-791 spec block (diesel propulsion, 173'8" steel hull); PC-461 class data (PCSA class page); GAO HRD-80-2 era documentation (see ev-08); Oregon DEQ ECSI 689 site record documenting asbestos in the WWII-ship material stream (see ev-05) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; PCSA class specifications; GAO HRD-80-2 product page; DEQ ECSI 689 record
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A steel submarine chaser built in 1943 for the U.S. Navy sits inside the documented Navy asbestos-use era. As a diesel-driven craft she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply - but era-standard applications aboard a small steel combatant of this period were thermal insulation on hot machinery surfaces, diesel-exhaust lagging, gaskets and valve packing, and electrical insulation in a 173-foot enclosed hull; the WWII-ship material stream broken at her own builder's site is government-documented as asbestos-bearing (insulation, wiring, linoleum).
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1948
- Population
- CIW construction trades (1943-44); crew (1944-46); disposal/breaking trades (1948+)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, build specification, or work package was located for PC-791. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity. Product terms are normalized era descriptions; no manufacturer attribution for this hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-07
-
[9]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 construction (1943), entire commissioned service (1944-46), and disposal window (1948).
- 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-791-pc791-08
-
[10]ArchiveGrid / Oregon Historical Society Research Library, 'Commercial Iron Works (Portland, Or.) photographs collection, 1943' (Henry Persha, collector; OCLC 182549484) - verified via ArchiveGrid record 2026-10-03 [other_primary]
- Locator
- OCLC ArchiveGrid collection record 182549484
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The Oregon Historical Society holds 67 photographs (0.36 cu. ft., one document box) collected by Henry Persha documenting wartime ship construction at Commercial Iron Works, Portland, in 1943 - this hull's build year and yard (PC-791 was on the ways 13 March - 17 April 1943 and fitting out through March 1944). Subjects include completed ships and launching ceremonies, shipyard views, and shipyard workers including women workers; photographers include Herbert F. Alden and Paul B. Edmundson. An unexamined primary-source set for the construction environment of this hull.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943
- Population
- CIW construction workforce, 1943
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: the collection record establishes the photographs exist at OHS; whether PC-791 (yard hull 64) is depicted, and what materials/work practices the images show, is unexamined. Photographs of construction cannot establish material composition. No asbestos content in the catalog record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-09
-
[11]Batch-8164 search ledger (this record): NavSource; uboat.net; CIW build list (shipbuildinghistory.com); Tualatin Life; Oregon DEQ ECSI 689 + CAG presentation; IJPR; GAO product page; OHS/ArchiveGrid; NARA catalog; CourtListener (blocked); secondary web litigation sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-791-pc791-01 through -13
- 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-791 was found in the public sources searched. The documentary base for this hull is itself thin - no DANFS entry exists, NavSource holds no photograph, NVR carries no entry (pre-1987 disposal), and only one dated operational event is publicly documented. CAVEAT: CourtListener could not be queried this session - the fleet pacing budget was spent on four attempts spaced across the session (helper enforces ~58/hr fleet-wide); logged as blocked in search_ledger, not as a negative result. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case; the only 'asbestos' material touching the hull's context is law-firm marketing content (e.g., asbestos-ships.com's Commercial Iron Works yard page) asserting exposure 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 (blocked, not run). NARA RG 24 deck logs, BuShips specifications for the PC-461 class, WSA disposal files, and the OHS construction photographs are unexamined leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-791-pc791-10