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Fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)

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  • #76
    This doesn't bode well for thoughts of her ever returning to the fleet;
    https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...homme-richard/

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    • #77
      Yeah, that was my reaction when I saw it yesterday.
      “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
      Mark Twain

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      • #78
        Then there will be the cost of scrapping....
        Even a SINKEX involves a level of abatement of hazardous substances.

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        • #79
          NASSCO, who was working on the ship when the fire started, got a $10 million contract to clean the ship.

          https://news.usni.org/2020/07/22/nas...ghter-response

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          • #80
            ATF joins the investigation.
            https://news.usni.org/2020/07/24/atf...tigation-board

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            • #81
              I think this article misses the mark.

              https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigho.../#325ff62f308a

              I haven't read the reports for the G.W. fire, but I think I know the basics (I just downloaded the report and endorsement from links in the article and will read them directly). I still place a lot of emphasis for the severity of the BHR fire to the general shipyard activity and reduced staffing. The materiel condition of BHR while undergoing yard maintenance and whatever were the conditions on GW while deployed underway should not be compared directly as is done in the article.

              Yes, the GW fire, Fizgerald and McCain collisions, and a few other incidents point to command, training, and manning deficiencies. I still await a report on the BHR fire to make a judgement that blame can be pointed anywhere. That doesn't mean that improvements aren't needed. Also, the reported fires on Kearsarge and Kennedy are probably not as newsworthy as they would have been prior to the BHR fire (or likely, soon after everyone forgets about it and moves on to the next bright, shiny thing). Reports of a 'minor' incident recall my memories of being firewatch in the radar room on an FFG in the 80's. One of the welders working on a platform shouted that there was a fire on the deck. It was about the size of a sparkler. I knew if I used an extinguisher on it, I'd have to report it. I dumped my coffee on it and it was out. That would probably make headlines today.

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              • #82
                A sign of things to come.
                https://news.usni.org/2020/08/04/nav...nce-of-caution

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                • #83
                  For a shipyard novice, of which I am clearly one, this article goes into some of the details on why shipyard fires are a global phenomenon.

                  Link:
                  https://warontherocks.com/2020/08/sm...hipyard-fires/

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                  • #84
                    She is beyond done. Her island is a hollow shell. Four decks just gone. One can make out the bottom side of the CWIS.
                    https://twitter.com/mercoglianos/sta...918780929?s=21
                    Last edited by surfgun; 09 Aug 20,, 22:29.

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                    • #85
                      Navy Investigation Into USS Bonhomme Richard Fire Now Has An Arson Suspect: Report

                      Channel 10 News, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, reports that a sailor is under investigation for the fire that burned for days aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. The blaze has likely destroyed the multi-billion-dollar capital ship.

                      Channel 10 News states:

                      Multiple sources with close ties to Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) told ABC 10News that investigators determined the July 12 fire may have been set intentionally. Investigators identified a sailor as an arson suspect in their probe, sources said.

                      The sources added multiple search warrants were executed at the sailor’s home and property. The sailor’s name and rank were not disclosed.

                      The outlet also stated that the NCIS team dealing with the investigation has "requested help from the National Response Team for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) because the agency provides resources and expertise on complex, large-scale incidents like the massive ship fire."

                      If indeed a serviceperson caused this, it could represent the most expensive single losses of property due to arson anywhere, let alone from within the Navy. It's worth noting that a civilian contractor was to blame for what is now the second-worst fire aboard a U.S. Navy vessel in recent memory. In 2012, Casey Fury, a painter and sandblaster, lit the Los Angeles class nuclear fast-attack submarine USS Miami (SSN-755) on fire. The damage was pegged at the better part of $1B and the ship was removed from service as a result.

                      We have to highlight that just because there is a suspect, doesn't mean they are guilty or that arson is even the definitive cause for the fire. Still, if this ends up being the case, it will be another gut-punch to the U.S. Navy and will have wide-ranging impacts.

                      We will keep you informed as the investigation continues to unfold. Link
                      ________
                      “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                      • #86
                        No good options indeed.

                        From rebuilding, to new construction, to pulling the Peleliu or Nassau out of slumber, to simply accepting the loss of capability and going down one large F 35 capable ship with no replacement.


                        https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...20Bird%20Brief

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                        • #87
                          This is probably the best-case scenario....
                          The consensus among Navy analysts who have seen the damage to Bonhomme Richard in pictures and heard it described by the chief of naval operations in a July memo obtained by Defense News, is that large sections of the ship will need to be re-fabricated entirely.

                          “You may have to just cut it off and rebuild it above the hangar deck," said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with the Telemus Group. "Put her into dry dock and rebuild her from the hangar deck on up.”

                          Industry officials who spoke on background said It may be possible to build sections of the ship at Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where the ship was built and float them through the Panama Canal to assemble on the West Coast. But it’s unclear if Ingalls has the capacity to accommodate that kind of an interruption to the already jam-packed schedule with more than a dozen amphibious assault ships, dock landing ships, destroyers and Coast Guard National Security Cutters already either under construction on in the planning process, according to an Ingalls Shipyard fact sheet.

                          It’s also unclear if the West Coast’s limited dry dock infrastructure, already strained to keep up with maintenance jobs and new ship construction, would be able to support a plan like that.

                          Likewise, the ship may be able to be towed through the Panama Canal to Ingalls Shipbuilding but the same capacity question arises, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and now a senior fellow at Hudson Institute.

                          If the repair requires “Bonhomme Richard to go back to Ingalls, it is unclear if they have the space and manpower to support the job without significant growth in the workforce,” Clark said.
                          ....but then there's the elephant in the room:

                          But even that option may not be feasible, and the ship may be much more damaged than we know yet, said Sal Mercogliano, a former civilian mariner and maritime historian with Campbell University who studies the maritime industry closely.

                          “I think Bonhomme Richard is a total constructive loss and they’re just not admitting it yet,” Mercogliano said. "The amount of damage done to her is difficult to assess because she burned and held all that heat for so long.

                          "Even in a building that catches on fire, you immediately start worrying about the integrity of the structure. That’s magnified on a ship because you have all that steel that conducts all that heat throughout the structure. You would have to analyze every centimeter to see where the weaknesses in the steel are, let alone getting her underway and putting all those stresses on the hull.

                          “She was cooked for six days. In the commercial industry, we’d write it off and get the insurance money.”
                          I think the initial assessment was correct: She's got a one-way ticket to Brownsville.
                          “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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                          • #88
                            If they were to keep her, it makes no sense. The Navy has a handful of ships that are conventional steam powered and she was one of them. I'm quite surprised that they are keeping the entirety of the Wasp class around due to them being powered by that steam.

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                            • #89
                              Originally posted by dundonrl View Post
                              The Navy has a handful of ships that are conventional steam powered and she was one of them. I'm quite surprised that they are keeping the entirety of the Wasp class around due to them being powered by that steam.
                              Probably too valuable an asset to get rid of until they're in the 40-45 year old range. The oldest is "only" 31 years old. Those are capital ships, in effect, handier than a Swiss Army knife, and worth a mint to replace ($3.9 billion, supposedly)
                              “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

                              Comment


                              • #90
                                Originally posted by TopHatter View Post

                                Probably too valuable an asset to get rid of until they're in the 40-45 year old range. The oldest is "only" 31 years old. Those are capital ships, in effect, handier than a Swiss Army knife, and worth a mint to replace ($3.9 billion, supposedly)
                                She and her sisters are capable of handling the F-35...that is another reason to keep them.
                                “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                                Mark Twain

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