Evidence
7 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-7).
-
[1]NavSource Online Submarine Photo Archive + navysite.de ship pages (secondary compilations) [other_primary]
- Locator
- navysite.de/ssn/ssn661.htm; navsource.net/archives/08/08661.htm
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Documented for this hull (secondary compilations): contract awarded 24 October 1963 to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.; keel laid July 1965 (NavSource 27 July; navysite 26 July - day conflict carried in gaps); launched 16 December 1966, sponsored by Mrs. Charles D. Griffin; commissioned 14 December 1967, Cmdr. Chester M. Mack. Atlantic Fleet, homeported Norfolk; 1968 special operation earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation; in 1969 she covertly trailed a Soviet Yankee-class ballistic-missile submarine - the operation that made her the best-known Sturgeon of the trailing program (popularized in 'Blind Man's Bluff'). Decommissioned and stricken 8 August 1992; recycled at PSNSY, completed 25 January 1997. Her sail was preserved as a war memorial at American Legion Post 639, Springfield, Missouri, dedicated 3 July 2005.
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 1965-1992
- Limitations
- Secondary compilations (navysite, NavSource, HMDB marker database, usslapon.org) - no live NHHC DANFS page or hazegray transcription located for this hull; details unverified against a primary Navy record. Award and operation details derive from ship-association and marker material; classified-ops detail cannot be verified. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lapon-ssn661-01
-
[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 ('LAPON (SSN-661)')
- 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 'LAPON (SSN-661)' 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-lapon-ssn661-02
-
[3]Historical Marker Database entry 'USS Lapon (SSN-661)' + USS Lapon Association sail page + National War Memorial Registry listing (memorial corroboration) [other_primary]
- Locator
- hmdb.org marker m=246703; usslapon.org/sail.html; nationalwarmemorialregistry.org listing
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- The submarine's sail was preserved after recycling and dedicated 3 July 2005 as a war memorial on the grounds of American Legion Post 639, Springfield, Missouri (transported from Bremerton; reassembly 2005) - the hull's only surviving major structure.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-18
- Study period
- 2005
- Limitations
- Memorial/registry and veterans-association sources, not Navy records - context for post-disposal status only. The marker text contains its own errors (a 'Dec 19, 1965' launch and 'SSN-651' typos); used only for the sail memorial fact. No asbestos or material content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lapon-ssn661-03
-
[4]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 1965-1967 at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. 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
- 1965-1967
- Population
- Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. 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-lapon-ssn661-04
-
[5]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-lapon-ssn661-05
-
[6]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 (1965-1967) 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-lapon-ssn661-06
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[7]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-lapon-ssn661-07