Evidence
9 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-9).
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[1]NavSource Online Submarine Photo Archive + navysite.de ship pages (secondary compilations) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navysite.de/ssn/ssn665.htm; navsource.net/archives/08/08665.htm
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (secondary compilations + official congressional record): contract awarded 18 December 1964 to Mare Island Naval Shipyard; keel laid 9 December 1965; launched 27 July 1968, sponsored by Mrs. John McNay Taylor. On 15 May 1969, while fitting out at Mare Island (reactor not yet installed, no fuel aboard), she sank beside the pier in ~35 feet of water after two uncoordinated civilian work crews pumped water into fore and aft tanks - the accident was investigated by the House Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee, which held hearings 26-28 May 1969 and issued a report finding culpable negligence; damage estimates ~$15-21 million and commissioning delayed to 9 September 1972. navysite accident list adds: 17 May 1984 battery-well fire 65 miles NW of San Diego; July 1986 minor valve mishap. Decommissioned and stricken 29 May 1992; recycling finished 18 October 1994.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1965-1992
- Limitations
- The sinking and its investigation are documented by an official congressional publication (HASC hearings + report, GPO 1969); post-recovery milestones rest on navysite/NavSource secondary compilations; 1984/1986 accident entries unverified against primary sources. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-01
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[2]Cooks v. General Electric Company, No. 3:07-cv-05451-EMC (N.D. Cal.), complaint Exhibit A work-history, ECF No. 1-2 (filed 2007-10-25) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 1-2, Exhibit A vessel list ('GUITARRO (SSN-665)')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Asbestos complaint exhibit (plaintiff Alvin Cooks's work-history/exposure exhibit) lists vessels and locations of alleged asbestos exposure, expressly including 'GUITARRO (SSN-665)' among dozens of hulls. Cooks worked at Mare Island Naval Shipyard as a marine machinist 1974-1995 (helper through general foreman); the exhibit's job-duty recitals describe gasket and valve-packing removal and replacement, lagging-residue removal, and pipe cut-outs aboard listed vessels including work in reactor compartments.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1974-1995 (alleged exposure window); 2007 (filing)
- Population
- Alvin Cooks (Mare Island NSY marine machinist, 1974-1995)
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegation (complaint exhibit), unadjudicated; a vessel-list entry is not an individualized exposure finding and does not establish that asbestos products were aboard this hull, that any exposure occurred, causation, or legal eligibility. The same exhibit mislabels 'FLASHER (SSN-670)' (SSN-670 is Finback's number) - a list-generation anomaly noted for reviewer awareness; the entry for THIS hull carries its own correct hull number.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-02
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[3]Halseth v. General Electric Co., No. 3:07-cv-02543-EMC (N.D. Cal.), consolidated complaint Exhibit A work-histories, ECF No. 1-2 (filed 2007-05-14) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 1-2, Exhibit A, Robinson section, alphabetical vessel list ('GUITARRO (SSN-665)')
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Asbestos complaint exhibit (work-history of plaintiff Larry Robinson, a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard pipefitter 1975-2004) lists 'GUITARRO (SSN-665)' in an alphabetical roster of vessels he worked on or around; duty recitals describe engine-room, fire-room, and reactor-room piping and valve work, steam-trap gasket changes, and close proximity to laggers and other trades 'blowing around asbestos dust', including work around General Electric and Westinghouse turbines and Johns-Manville insulation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1975-2004 (alleged exposure window); 2007 (filing)
- Population
- Larry Robinson (Puget Sound NSY pipefitter, 1975-2004)
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegation (complaint exhibit), unadjudicated; an alphabetical roster entry is not an individualized exposure finding and does not establish asbestos aboard this hull, exposure, causation, or eligibility. The roster spans many hulls at one yard (PSNSY Bremerton); it documents a work assignment universe, not per-hull materials.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-04
-
[4]U.S. Congress, House Committee on Armed Services, Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee, 'The Sinking of the U.S.S. Guitarro (SSN665)', Hearings, 91st Cong. 1st sess., under H. Res. 105, May 26-28, 1969 (Washington: GPO, 1969, 254 pp.) + companion committee report (catalog-verified: Google Books id 96cfAAAAMAAJ; HathiTrust record 100667694) [other_primary]
- Locator
- HASC hearing volume title/record; navysite accident compilation for the casualty summary
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- An official congressional investigation documents this hull's most consequential construction event: on 15 May 1969, while fitting out at Mare Island Naval Shipyard (San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard era), Guitarro sank beside the pier in ~35 feet of water after two uncoordinated civilian work crews flooded fore and aft ballast tanks; her reactor was not yet installed and no fuel was aboard. The subcommittee held hearings 26-28 May 1969 and issued a report (cataloged as finding culpable negligence in secondary characterizations); salvage and reconstruction delayed commissioning to September 1972.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1969 (casualty and hearings)
- Population
- Mare Island NSY construction crews (1969)
- Limitations
- Official government record of a construction casualty - documents the sinking investigation, not asbestos or materials content. Hearing volume catalog-verified but not full-text-read; the culpable-negligence characterization is per catalog/secondary descriptions. No asbestos finding.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-05
-
[5]Era inference built on: NavSource/navysite spec blocks (S5W-class nuclear plant, steam turbines, single shaft); shipyard-exposure-map documented asbestos product lists for mare-island-naval-shipyard, newport-news-shipbuilding, electric-boat-groton, and puget-sound-naval-shipyard (thermal insulation, submarine steam/propulsion lagging, gaskets, packing, block insulation) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource/navysite spec blocks; shipyards.json product lists for mare-island-naval-shipyard, newport-news-shipbuilding, electric-boat-groton, and puget-sound-naval-shipyard
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A Sturgeon-class nuclear attack submarine built 1965-1972 at Mare Island Naval Shipyard and maintained through Navy-yard availabilities across the 1970s-90s sits inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era; era-standard applications on the secondary steam plant and auxiliary systems included thermal/pipe insulation, gaskets, packing, and machinery insulation. The building and maintenance yards' asbestos product use in this period is independently documented at the yard level.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1965-1972
- Population
- Mare Island Naval Shipyard construction trades; Navy-yard overhaul trades; crew
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey or material list located. Names era-standard applications on non-nuclear secondary/auxiliary systems, not confirmed installed materials; the reactor plant establishes nothing. No quantity; material disposition at recycling undocumented per-hull.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-06
-
[6]Kase v. Metalclad Insulation Corp., Cal. Ct. App. (4th Dist.) 2021 (CourtListener opinions 4324658, 4332654) [court_record]
- Locator
- Opinion, specification-history discussion (SUBSAFE/MIL-I-24244)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- A docketed asbestos personal-injury opinion recounts that after USS Thresher's 1963 loss the Navy created the SUBSAFE program, which issued procurement specification MIL-I-24244 covering asbestos-containing insulation for submarines - court-documented evidence that asbestos-containing insulation was specified in the submarine-construction regime in force when this hull was built (all batch-39 hulls were laid down 1964-1967, inside the post-SUBSAFE era).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2021 (opinion); regime described 1963-forward
- Population
- Navy submarine construction/maintenance trades, SUBSAFE era
- Limitations
- Documents the era procurement-spec regime, not this hull's installed materials; the case concerns a different claimant aboard different vessels. Does not establish exposure, causation, quantity, or eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-07
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[7]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 - covering this hull's construction (1965-1972) and most service-era insulation events.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- 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.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-08
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[8]Batch-39 search ledger (this record): DANFS mirror sweep; navysite + NavSource compilations; NVR; archive.org RECAP exhibit PDFs (Cooks, Halseth, Cronin); HathiTrust/Google catalog records; GAO product page; CourtListener (blocked) [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows on this record
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located beyond the pleading-stage litigation references carried on this record: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or adjudicated exposure case naming this hull was found. CourtListener direct searches (exact name + hull number, opinions and RECAP) could not be run this session - API and site returned HTTP 403/throttled (125/day exhausted; retry-after ~16h) - logged as blocked, not 'no result'.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2026-09-18
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard. Hull recycled through the Nuclear-Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program; per-hull hazmat handling records, if any exist, are not public. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-09
-
[9]Halseth v. General Electric Co., No. 3:07-cv-02543-EMC (N.D. Cal.), consolidated complaint Exhibit A work-histories, ECF No. 1-2 (filed 2007-05-14) [court_record]
- Locator
- ECF No. 1-2, Exhibit A, Wagenman section (vessel table p.5; recall narrative pp.7-8)
- Finding type
- litigation_documented
- Finding
- Asbestos complaint exhibit (work-history of plaintiff Robert Wagenman, a Mare Island Naval Shipyard electrician 1970-1976) lists 'GUITARRO (SSN-665)' both in his vessel table (1970-95 window column) and in a narrative recall list of submarines he performed 'ship sightings' on at Mare Island (Building 866), where he describes crawling on and around pipes insulated with asbestos cloth and cement and disturbing the insulation.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1970-1976 (alleged exposure window); 2007 (filing)
- Population
- Robert Wagenman (Mare Island NSY electrician, 1970-1976)
- Limitations
- Pleading-stage allegation (complaint exhibit), unadjudicated; a recall-list naming is not an adjudicated exposure finding and does not establish asbestos aboard this hull, exposure, causation, or eligibility. More individualized than a bare list entry - the plaintiff recounts a specific work practice - but remains untested allegation.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-guitarro-ssn665-03