Evidence
13 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-13).
-
[1]research packet 944-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-823-pc823-pkt-944-packet-md
-
[2]NavSource Naval History, Submarine Chaser Photo Archive, PC-823 hull page (page creator Gary P. Priolo; maintainer Tom Bateman) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource PC-823 page, PC-461 Class Submarine Chaser chronology block and Specifications block; photo table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NavSource chronology and specifications for this hull: laid down 8 November 1943 by Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Corp., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; launched 15 January 1944; commissioned USS PC-823, 24 July 1944; served in the western Atlantic during World War II, assigned to air-sea rescue duties during at least some of that time; decommissioned 11 February 1946 and transferred to the Maritime Commission; transferred 18 May 1948 to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island, NY as training ship Ensign Whitehead; struck from the Naval Register June 1948; purchased by the Republic of Korea Navy September 1949 with funds donated by ROKN personnel and renamed Pak Tu San (PC-701); decommissioned 21 August 1960 and scrapped (conflicts with Korean official sources - see gaps). Specifications: 280 t. light / 450 t. full load; 173 ft 8 in x 23 ft x 10 ft 10 in; 20 knots; complement 65; one 3-inch/50 dual-purpose mount, one single 40 mm mount, three 20 mm guns, two rocket launchers, four depth-charge projectors, two depth-charge tracks; two 2,560 bhp Hooven-Owen-Rentschler RB-99DA diesel engines (serial 7333/7334), Westinghouse single-reduction gear, two shafts. Photographic record includes the ship dressed for VJ Day at Bermuda, 14 August 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1960
- Population
- U.S. Navy crew 1944-1946; USMMA cadets 1948-1949; ROKN crew 1949-1959/60
- Limitations
- Archival photo/history compilation, not a primary document: chronology and specs are consistent with NHHC Online Library and Korean official sources where they overlap, but the complement figure and the 21 August 1960 ROKN decommissioning date are NavSource-only (the 1960 date conflicts with the Korea Heritage Service register's 1 July 1959 - carried in gaps). No DANFS entry exists for this hull per the same page. No asbestos or materials content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-01
-
[3]Naval Historical Center (NHHC), Online Library of Selected Images, 'USS PC-823, 1944-1948' ship page, dated 18 October 1999 - verbatim text via HyperWar/ibiblio transcription; the original history.navy.mil/photos URL is dead [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC Online Library ship page text (ibiblio HyperWar mirror)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Official Naval Historical Center narrative for this hull: USS PC-823, a 173-foot submarine chaser, was built at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin; commissioned in July 1944; served in the western Atlantic during World War II, assigned to air-sea rescue duties during at least some of that time; decommissioned in February 1946 and transferred to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy for use as a training ship, 'apparently receiving the name Ensign Whitehead'; stricken from the Navy List in June 1948. In 1949 personnel of the Republic of Korea Navy donated funds to obtain their service's first significant warship; the former PC-823 was purchased and renamed Pak Tu San (Korean Navy # PC-701); provided with weapons by the U.S. Government, she arrived in South Korea shortly before the June 1950 outbreak of the Korean War and remained in ROK Navy service until 1960.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-1960
- Population
- U.S. Navy crew 1944-1946; USMMA 1946-1949; ROKN 1949-1960
- Limitations
- NHHC ship page, not a DANFS entry - none exists for this hull. The official narrative hedges the Ensign Whitehead name ('apparently'), gives only month-level dates, and closes ROKN service 'until 1960' where Korean official sources say retired 1 July 1959 (carried in gaps). No materials or asbestos content. Mirror transcription cited because the original history.navy.mil page is dead.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-02
-
[4]NHHC photo catalog page, NH 97002, Pak Tu San (Republic of Korea Patrol Craft, PC-701, formerly USS PC-823), Official U.S. Navy Photograph [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- NHHC NH-97002 catalog page, Description block quoting the 14th Naval District PIO caption
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Live NHHC catalog entry for official photograph NH 97002: the former PC-823 (as ROK PC-701 'Bak Dusan') receiving her 3-inch/50 main gun at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, March 1950. The 17 March 1950 14th Naval District PIO caption states Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard began placing guns on the craft's vacant mounts - one 3-inch antiaircraft gun and six .50-caliber machine guns - work authorized by the Secretary of Defense, the ship having arrived in the Islands from New York on 24 January en route to her homeland.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1950
- Population
- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard trades, March 1950; ROKN crew in transit
- Limitations
- Documents a named-yard work event aboard this hull (re-arming at PHNSY, March 1950) but not its scope beyond gun installation, materials, or asbestos content. Confirms New York origin and transit dates; does not identify which New York facility performed the pre-departure repairs reported by Korean sources.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-03
-
[5]Edward J. Marolda, 'Republic of Korea Navy,' NHHC online reading room (reproduced with permission from Tucker, ed., Encyclopedia of the Korean War, ABC-CLIO, 2000) - live page [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Marolda, 'Republic of Korea Navy,' paragraphs 2-3 (first-night action); paragraph 1 (force comparison)
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- NHHC-published monograph names this hull: 'The first night of the war, submarine chaser PC 701 sortied from Pusan, made contact with the North Korean freighter, and sank her. The enemy ship's embarked troops would no longer pose a threat to the vital port of Pusan.' Context paragraph records that North Korea sent a 1,000-ton freighter loaded with 600 troops toward Pusan on 25 June 1950; ROKN strength at outbreak was 6,956 men and 71 vessels versus 13,700 men and 110 vessels for the North.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1950-06-25/26
- Population
- ROKN crew, PC-701; embarked North Korean troops on the sunken transport
- Limitations
- Identifies the hull only by its ROKN pennant (PC 701); linkage to PC-823 is established by ev-02/ev-03. Describes the engagement at fleet-history granularity - no ship-specific operational detail beyond sortie, contact, and sinking. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-04
-
[6]MARAD Vessel History Database record, PC-823 (detail ID 10255), including scanned U.S. Maritime Commission Vessel Status Card (Form MC-7146a, 1/49; Bureau of Government Aids) [other_primary]
- Locator
- MARAD detail 10255, Status Cards section, image 5IA_01.png
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- MARAD maintains a PC-823 record (naval combatant) with no narrative, milestones, or documents, but holds one scanned primary document: the U.S. Maritime Commission Vessel Status Card naming PC-823, type 'Sub Chaser,' with an allocation line to 'Maritime Training' and port of delivery 'Kingsport' [Kings Point] - the federal custody record matching the NHHC/NavSource account of transfer to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1946-1949
- Population
- U.S. Merchant Marine Academy trainees/staff, 1946-1949 window
- Limitations
- The card image is heavily faded - fields legible are the name, type, the 'Maritime Training' operator fragment, and the Kingsport delivery port; allocation date and agreement-form fields are illegible, so the card corroborates but does not date the transfer. Card says 'Kingsport,' a near-certain clerical error for Kings Point. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-05
-
[7]Korea Heritage Service (national heritage register), entry for Baekdusan-ham tot-dae (Mast of the Navy Battleship Baekdusan), National Registered Cultural Heritage No. 463 [other_primary]
- Locator
- heritage.go.kr register detail, basic-info block (designation 2010.06.25; location; owner) and description text (Korean + English narration)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Korean national heritage register entry for this hull's mast: the Baekdusan (PC-701), 'Korea's first warship,' was purchased in the United States on 17 October 1949 with money donated by naval officers and their families; on 25 June 1950 the ship spotted a North Korean naval vessel in the Korea Strait and sank it the following day - the first naval battle fought independently by the ROK Navy during the Korean War; she was retired from active service 1 July 1959 and her mast was removed and installed at the naval academy's Haesabando point in 1966; designated Registered Cultural Heritage No. 463 on 25 June 2010; held by the ROK Naval Academy Museum, Angok-dong, Jinhae-gu, Changwon.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1949-1966 (service and preservation); register current
- Population
- ROKN crew and Naval Academy midshipmen/staff; museum visitors
- Limitations
- Register names the ROKN hull (PC-701); linkage to PC-823 rests on NHHC/NavSource (ev-02, ev-03, ev-01). Register states retirement 1 July 1959, conflicting with NavSource's 21 August 1960 decommissioning - the Korean official date is carried and the conflict logged in gaps. No construction-material or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-06
-
[8]NARA Special List 44, ship-number index to National Archives Navy deck-log holdings [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, PC-823 row (7/24/1944 - 5/31/1945); archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/navy-online digitized-logs listing
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Special List 44 indexes PC-823 deck logs covering 24 July 1944 through 31 May 1945 - the hull's commissioning through the end of the European war and most of her WWII service. The underlying logbooks are not digitized (NARA's online digitized-deck-logs page lists only PC-1264 and PC-1265 among PC-class hulls) and were not reviewed in this batch.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1944-07-24 to 1945-05-31
- Population
- U.S. Navy crew, WWII service window
- Limitations
- Index-level lead only: the list confirms logs exist for that date range but does not reveal their contents - no evidence they contain material, repair, asbestos, or exposure information. Coverage ends 31 May 1945; later-1945 and 1946 logbooks are not indexed in this source.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-07
-
[9]Busan Nam-gu Shinmun (Busan Nam-gu official district newspaper), '[6.25 outbreak 65th anniversary feature] Baekdusan-ham comradeship president Hwang Sang-young recounts the Battle of the Korea Strait,' 15 April 2016 [reputable_press]
- Locator
- Busan Nam-gu Shinmun article body (Korean), 2016-04-15
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Official local-government press feature interviewing a surviving crewman (ammunition handler Hwang Sang-young, president of the Baekdusan veterans' association): PC-701 Baekdusan was the ROKN's first combat vessel, purchased for $60,000 collected from naval personnel and families; repaired at a U.S. shipyard and fitted with her 3-inch gun in Hawaii; arrived at Jinhae on 10 April 1950; on 25 June 1950 she moved to the East Sea on alert and that night engaged a roughly 1,000-ton armed transport carrying ~600 North Korean special-forces troops off Oryukdo, sinking her near 01:38 on 26 June with two ROK sailors killed; 73 crew fought in the action; the ship retired 1 July 1959 and was dismantled; her mast is preserved at the Naval Academy museum (registered cultural property 2010), while the historic 3-inch gun was not preserved.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1949-1959 (vessel events); 2016 (publication)
- Population
- ROKN crew of PC-701 (73 in the June 1950 action per this source)
- Limitations
- Eyewitness retrospective in local-government press, 66 years after the event: corroborates official sources (retirement date, mast, purchase-by-donation, arrival month) and adds detail not in official records ($60,000 price, 10 April 1950 Jinhae arrival, 73 crew in action, engagement timeline). The unverified-by-official-source details are attributed to this source only. No materials or asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-08
-
[10]Era inference built on: NavSource specifications block for this hull (twin Hooven-Owen-Rentschler diesels, two shafts, no steam plant); GAO HRD-80-2 Navy-wide asbestos documentation (see ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-10); Atlas shipyards.json dataset - builder Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding is absent from the 37-yard dataset and no official yard-level asbestos documentation was located for it [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block; shipyards.json (37-yard dataset, absence verified 2026-10-03); GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A steel-hulled PC-461-class diesel patrol craft built 1943-44 sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era (GAO: insulation substitution did not begin until the early 1970s). As a diesel boat she carried no steam plant - the boiler/turbine-lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply - so any asbestos aboard would have been era-standard secondary applications for a vessel of this type and period: machinery and diesel-exhaust insulation, gaskets, packing, and electrical insulation. Her builder, Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Corp. of Sturgeon Bay, is not in the Atlas yard dataset and no official yard-level asbestos documentation was located for it.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1943-1960
- Population
- Leathem D. Smith construction trades 1943-44; U.S. Navy crew 1944-46; USMMA trainees 1948-49; Pearl Harbor NSY trades March 1950; ROKN crew 1949-1959/60; scrappers circa 1959-60
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, work package, or builder-yard asbestos record located. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials; no quantities; no manufacturer attribution. Absence of a builder-yard record means the inference rests on Navy-wide era documentation alone.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-09
-
[11]GAO, Navy Efforts To Protect Workers From Asbestos Exposure, HRD-80-2 (18 October 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 (1943-44), U.S. service (1944-46), and maritime/ROKN eras.
- 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); content via product-page description, matching the batch-98 approach.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-10
-
[12]NHHC NH 97002 (Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard gun installation, March 1950) + Atlas shipyards.json record for pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard (EPA site HI6170024339, listed Superfund; peer-reviewed cohort studies: PMID 4016758 mesothelioma SMR 11.6x; PMID 7918819 case-control OR ~10) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NHHC NH-97002 caption; shipyards.json record 'pearl-harbor-naval-shipyard' (epa_site_id HI6170024339; PMIDs 4016758, 7918819)
- Finding type
- environmental_record
- Finding
- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard - the named yard that re-armed this hull in March 1950 - is a documented asbestos site: EPA Superfund listing HI6170024339 with asbestos contamination documented around Dry Dock 3, in multiple buildings, and throughout the yard's pipe systems, and peer-reviewed studies finding shipyard-worker mesothelioma rates an order of magnitude above baseline. The March 1950 event aboard this hull was weapons installation on 'vacant mounts' per the official caption.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-10-03
- Study period
- 1950
- Population
- Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard trades, March 1950 availability
- Limitations
- Yard-level documentation only: establishes asbestos presence in the yard environment, not aboard this hull. The documented work event was a short gun-installation availability; no insulation work, drydocking, or material disturbance is recorded for this hull in that source. No hull finding is made or implied.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-11
-
[13]Batch-8194 search ledger (this record): NavSource hull page; NHHC Online Library (ibiblio mirror); NHHC NH 97002 live page; NHHC Marolda ROKN monograph; MARAD vessel history + status card; Korea Heritage Service register; Busan Nam-gu newspaper; NARA Special List 44 + digitized-logs index; NVR; asbestos-qualified web sweeps; CourtListener API v4 (partial - throttled) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-pc-823-pc823-01 through -11
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located for this hull: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, material inventory, environmental/hazmat disclosure, or qualifying asbestos litigation naming PC-823, Ensign Whitehead, Pak Tu San, or Baekdusan was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener status: of the four required base queries, hull-number opinion ('PC-823', type=o) returned 0 results; the exact-name opinion ('USS PC-823') and both docket queries were blocked by the fleet-wide pacer (helper exit 2) - logged as blocked, not as a negative result; asbestos-qualified variants were not run because base queries did not overflow.
- 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. The CourtListener sweep is incomplete (1 of 4 base queries run) - litigation status is an open gap, not a settled negative. NARA deck logs for this hull are indexed but undigitized and unreviewed; no survey or abatement record is expected for a hull scrapped in Korea circa 1959-60.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-pc-823-pc823-12