diff --git a/docs/ship-policy.md b/docs/ship-policy.md
index 0b3ec14a5..12fb02e3c 100644
--- a/docs/ship-policy.md
+++ b/docs/ship-policy.md
@@ -878,7 +878,9 @@ under #3526's version without it). verify prints `STAMP_VERSION:` from the head
 itself. A post-merge confirmation needs GitHub to report the PR MERGED: an open
 PR whose stamp-only diff already matches main (a release-only PR, #3530) takes
 the pre-merge path, and any other open or unreadable PR refuses
-`QUEUE_PROOF_MISSING` without freezing. Anything else is
+`QUEUE_PROOF_MISSING` without freezing, as does a verify that could not read
+the PR's current head (`--no-fetch` or a failed fetch) instead of judging the
+unstamped pin. Anything else is
 `QUEUE_TRAIN_TREE_MISMATCH` (or `QUEUE_TRAIN_MOVED`). When nothing of the train
 has merged, that is a plain refusal, and a new train is built on current main. When
 earlier slots already merged, main holds a prefix no gate covered on its own,
diff --git a/docs/troubleshooting.md b/docs/troubleshooting.md
index bb13de79a..23c67405b 100644
--- a/docs/troubleshooting.md
+++ b/docs/troubleshooting.md
@@ -4361,7 +4361,10 @@ train still building, running or merging, `train watch` on an unknown record,
 unreadable run), `verify --pr <n> --train <nonce>` when main's tree mismatches
 and whether a slot merged on GitHub cannot be read (so whether the queue must
 freeze is unknown; it never answers "nothing merged" from an unreadable
-state), `train land` when the base or the train branch cannot be fetched or
+state), `verify --pr <n> --train <nonce>` when GitHub does not report the PR
+MERGED and it is not a release-only PR whose stamp-only diff already matches
+main, or when it could not read the PR's current head (`--no-fetch` or a failed
+fetch), without freezing the queue, `train land` when the base or the train branch cannot be fetched or
 the record's T0 and S_1..S_k are not the gated head's first-parent chain
 (each S_i's second parent slot i's pin), `train land` when main's tree is the
 slot's S_i but GitHub does not report the PR as MERGED (a record whose slot