Evidence
8 evidence entries recorded; each entry has a stable permalink (#ev-1 … #ev-8).
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[1]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-665 (verified live 2026-09-30) - build timeline, theater and campaign assignments, Project Hula transfer, Soviet service, specifications, commanding officers; history credited to USS LCI 'Landing Craft Infantry' Vol. II (Turner Publishing, 1995) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150665.htm - class header, campaign table, transfer/disposition block, specifications block, commanding-officers table
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- Timeline for this hull: laid down 6 March 1944 at George Lawley & Sons, Neponset, MA; launched 14 March 1944; commissioned USS LCI(L)-665 on 22 March 1944, LT. O.E. Neidlinger in command. Assigned to the Europe-Africa-Middle East Theater and participated in the Invasion of southern France, 15 August to 10 September 1944. Decommissioned and transferred under Project Hula to the Soviet Union at Cold Bay, AK, 10 June 1945, designated Soviet landing ship DS-36. As DS-36, participated in the Soviet invasion of the Japanese Kuril Islands between 18 August and 1 September 1945. Returned to U.S. naval custody in 1955 and struck from the Naval Register; final disposition unknown. One battle star for World War II service. Commanding officers: LT. O.E. Neidlinger (22 Mar 1944 - 15 Sep 1944); LTjg. Robert Van Keuren (15 Sep 1944 - 10 Jun 1945). Spec block (LCI-351 class): 246 t. light / 264 t. landing / 419 t. loaded; 158'5.5" x 23'3"; 16 kts max, 14 kts continuous; complement 4 officers + 24 enlisted; troop capacity 6 officers + 182 enlisted; two sets of 4 GM diesels (4 per shaft), 1,600 BHP, twin variable-pitch propellers; five single 20mm guns.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1955
- Population
- Construction trades, George Lawley & Sons Neponset (1944); U.S. crew ~28 + embarked troops (1944-45); Soviet crew (1945-55); post-1955 disposal workers (unlocated)
- Limitations
- NavSource is a volunteer secondary compilation, not a primary registry - its stated source is the Turner Publishing LCI history (1995), and no individual DANFS entry exists for this numbered landing craft. Contains no asbestos or material content. 'Struck from the Naval Register' is given without an exact date; 'final disposition unknown.' CO end-date and Cold Bay/Dutch Harbor transfer-detail tensions are logged in gaps.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-01
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[2]Richard A. Russell, Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan (Naval Historical Center, Washington DC, 1997; ISBN 0-945274-35-1), Appendix 'U.S. Navy Combatant Ships Transferred to the [Soviet Union] May-September 1945' - full text mirror at generalstaff.org (verified live 2026-09-30) [other_primary]
- Locator
- Appendix table, LCI(L) block, row 'LCI(L) 665 | DS-36 | 10 June | 1955-returned'
- Finding type
- vessel_history
- Finding
- The Naval Historical Center appendix names this hull in the Project Hula transfer list: 'LCI(L) 665 | DS-36 | 10 June | 1955-returned' - i.e., transferred to the Soviet Navy on 10 June 1945 and returned to U.S. custody in 1955. The same appendix lists 30 LCI(L)s transferred at Cold Bay in the May-September 1945 window; the body text describes the LCI(L) type's role in the program (12,000 Soviet personnel trained by Navy Detachment 3294, 149 ships and craft transferred).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1945-1955
- Population
- Soviet receiving crews trained at Cold Bay (1945)
- Limitations
- Mirror text of an official Naval Historical Center publication - NHHC does not host the book's full text on history.navy.mil; the generalstaff.org copy is the verbatim public text used here. The appendix row gives designation, transfer date, and disposition only - no port name, crew, or condition detail. Contains no asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-02
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[3]NARA Special List #44 - List of Logbooks of US Navy Ships, Stations, and Miscellaneous Units, 1801-1947, by Ship Number (verified live 2026-09-30) [other_primary]
- Locator
- sl-44-ship-number.pdf, PDF page 27, row 'LCI(L)-665 3/22/1944 5/31/1945'
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- NARA holds deck-log coverage for LCI(L)-665 spanning 3/22/1944 through 5/31/1945 - essentially the hull's entire U.S. commissioned career (commissioned 22 March 1944; transferred to the USSR 10 June 1945).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945 (coverage bounds)
- Limitations
- Archival lead only: establishes that paper deck logs exist in NARA custody, not their contents. Per batch discipline, log-coverage endpoints are not assumed to be commissioning/decommissioning dates - the 22 March 1944 start happens to match commissioning, but the 31 May 1945 end precedes the documented 10 June 1945 transfer and is treated as coverage bounds only. Logs are not digitized publicly (RG 24); contents unexamined. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-03
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[4]NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive, USS LCI(L)-665 'Photo Collection and History' by Robert W. Van Keuren, commanding officer (verified live 2026-09-30); includes NARA photo credit 'US National Archives photo # NA 80-G-16390' [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource 10/15/150665a.htm - CO header line, landing photo captions, 'Dutch Harbor, 9 June 1945' caption (NARA 80-G-16390)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Crew-authored documentation: the page is a photo history compiled by Robert W. Van Keuren, commanding officer 15 September 1944 to 17 July 1945 (page header), with a first-person section by XO T.D. Burns on the 15 August 1944 southern France landing. Photographs document the hull at Piombino, Italy, September 1944; the southern France landings (beaching, retracting, unloading wounded to a hospital ship, German POWs aboard); the return to the States; and the Alaska turnover. One captioned NARA photograph (80-G-16390) is dated Dutch Harbor, 9 June 1945 - 'US Navy turns over 17 LCI's to USSR.'
- Verification
- partial
- Role
- archival_lead
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1945
- Population
- Crew and embarked troops (1944-45); wounded evacuated aboard; German POWs carried (Aug-Sep 1944); Soviet receiving crews (June 1945)
- Limitations
- Archival lead and crew testimony, not a Navy record: Van Keuren's photo-page CO dates (to 17 July 1945) conflict with the main page's 10 June 1945 - logged in gaps. The Dutch Harbor 9 June caption sits one day before the documented 10 June Cold Bay transfer - same event cluster, different port/day; unresolved (gaps). NARA catalog is JS-rendered and 80-G-16390 could not be independently verified this session; photo ID transcribed from NavSource caption. No asbestos content.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-04
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[5]Era inference built on: NavSource LCI-351 class spec block (all-diesel GM plant, twin variable-pitch props, welded-steel 158-ft landing craft); Russell/NHC LCI(L) type description; GAO HRD-80-2 Navy asbestos-era documentation (see ev-06) [other_primary]
- Locator
- NavSource specifications block (propulsion line); Russell/NHC LCI(L) type description; GAO HRD-80-2 product page
- Finding type
- asbestos_application
- Finding
- A welded-steel diesel-powered landing craft built March 1944 inside the Navy's documented asbestos-use era. Era-standard applications aboard a diesel LCI(L) of this period: thermal/lagging insulation on diesel exhaust runs and engine-space piping, gaskets and valve packing in fuel/cooling/exhaust systems, electrical insulation, and limited accommodation insulation. The craft carried no steam plant - the boiler and turbine lagging pathway of steam vessels does not apply, which bounds the asbestos surface area relative to steam ships.
- Verification
- inferred
- Role
- supporting
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944-1955 (build and service era)
- Population
- Lawley construction trades (1944); U.S. engine-room crew (1944-45); Soviet crews (1945-55); disposal workers (post-1955, unlocated)
- Limitations
- Class/era inference only - no hull-specific insulation survey, material list, builder's spec sheet, or work package located for LCI(L)-665. George Lawley & Sons was a small-craft (yacht) builder; no yard-level asbestos documentation for Neponset was located either. Names era-standard applications, not confirmed installed materials. No quantity, no manufacturer attribution, no present-day presence (hull's fate after 1955 is undocumented).
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-05
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[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 - spanning this hull's entire construction (March 1944) and U.S. service era (1944-45).
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- context
- Documentation level
- class_or_era
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- 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, confirmed 2026-09-30) - content via product-page description.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-06
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[7]NHHC Navy Department Library, 'D-Day, the Normandy Invasion, 6 - 25 June 1944: Sunk and Damaged Craft' (Operation Neptune administrative-history appendix; verified live 2026-09-30) [nhhc_danfs]
- Locator
- Casualty table, LCT(6) block row '665 | LOST'; LCI(L) block (no 665 entry)
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- Name-collision check: the NHHC Normandy casualty list contains a row '665 | LOST' that superficially matches this hull number, but the row sits under the 'LCT(6) [Landing Craft, Tank (Mark VI)]' header - it is LCT(6)-665, a tank landing craft, not LCI(L)-665. The LCI(L) section of the same list (hulls 83, 85, 87, 88, 91, 92, 93, 209, 212, 219, 232, 416, 497, 553) does not include 665. Consistent with NavSource: this hull's documented combat was the August 1944 southern France invasion, and she survived to be transferred in June 1945.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 1944 (list coverage 6-25 June)
- Limitations
- Establishes only that this hull does not appear in the Normandy casualty list - absence from a casualty table is not proof of non-participation in the operation, and the list covers 6-25 June 1944 'far shore' craft casualties only. NavSource assigns the hull only the southern France campaign and one battle star. Not an asbestos record.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-07
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[8]Batch-5392 search ledger (this record): NavSource main and photo pages; NARA Special List 44; Russell/NHC Project Hula appendix; NHHC Normandy casualty list; CourtListener API v4 (opinion + docket indexes); GAO; secondary web sweep [other_primary]
- Locator
- search_ledger rows sl-uss-lci-l-665-01 through sl-uss-lci-l-665-13
- Finding type
- historical_record
- Finding
- No qualifying ship-specific asbestos record located: no asbestos survey, abatement contract, hazmat disclosure, or material list naming LCI(L)-665 / DS-36 was found in the public sources searched. CourtListener returned zero results in both the opinion index and the RECAP docket index for the hull-number queries '"LCI(L)-665" OR "LCI(L) 665" OR "LCI-665"' (2026-09-30) - no litigation of any kind naming this hull, asbestos or otherwise. Secondary web sweeps surfaced no qualifying case and no law-firm marketing page naming this specific hull.
- Verification
- verified
- Role
- negative_finding
- Documentation level
- ship_specific
- Accessed
- 2026-09-30
- Study period
- 2026-09-30
- Limitations
- Absence of a located public record does not prove absence of asbestos aboard - this is a Tier-2-era hull whose U.S. career (1944-45) and Soviet decade (1945-55) largely predate modern asbestos documentation regimes, and Soviet-era material records are inaccessible. A supplementary CourtListener query on the plain format '"LCI 665"' could not be run at research time (fleet pace-limiter engaged, exit 2) - logged as deferred in the ledger, not a negative. Deck logs (SL44 coverage) and any transfer-condition records are undigitized leads. Does not establish or defeat any claim of exposure or legal eligibility.
- Atlas source
- true
- Evidence ID
- ev-uss-lci-l-665-08