Fire - USS Bonhomme Richard LHD-6 - 12 Jul 20
 

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) on fire following an explosion - reportedly in the hangar bay.

Change of command comes early again this year for some folks.

Looks like serious damage on the Bonnie Dick. :sad:

A little more information:

By Karla Rendon-Alvarez • Published 2 hours ago • Updated 6 seconds ago

NBCUniversal, Inc.Eleven sailors were hospitalized after an explosion erupted during a roaring blaze aboard a military assault ship at Naval Base San Diego Sunday morning, according to Naval Surface Forces.

Plumes of smoke arose from USS Bonhomme Richard as firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze on the 3400 block on Senn St. The vessel is an amphibious assault ship homeported in San Diego, according to Krishna Jackson of Naval Base San Diego.

Fortunately no major injuries have been reported.

- Ed

Ship was undergoing maintenance alongside so probably no aircraft in the hangar deck.

Photo from happier times:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e4853cd4d1.jpg

The SDFD Chief was on CNN around 11pm UK time saying that all personnel were off the ship; and that it was basically being left to burn. There was no way the fire could 'be attacked' as he put it. The fire barges were simply trying to take heat out of it. He suggested it could burn for days.

CG

Latest update from CNO - 17 sailors and 4 civilians injured - all non-life threatening.

Latest from Naval Surface Forces - Pacific Fleet.

Federal Fire San Diego Division is leading the effort - 2 x firefighting teams remain on board trying to identify the seat of the fire - rotating with USN firefighting teams from the waterfront.

2 x DDG have been moved to more distant berths.

Press Conference - RAdm Sobeck - Commander Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

The ship has 1 million gallons of fuel on board.

Don't we build and man ships for war with a damage vulnerability assessment. I just don' understand how a navy ship that large can be lost. Was a civilian crew in charge or do we also have the navy manning the ship under their control?

At around 20 years old no matter the outcome of the fire I think she will be only good for spare now. Sad but at least it seems no casualties. She is one of 8 of the Wasp class so it might be a bit hard to justify a repair.

One answer seems to be the report that there were only about 160 crew on board: https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-...ort-san-diego/

You'd also assume, in any case, that damage control parties, and especially those in command of them, would have different priorities and risk-assessments alongside, compared to at sea in combat.

Float Fight Move or Float Move Fight are the two usual DC priorities in harbour of in combat.

Fighting big shipboard fires is hard. Lots of things to think about as well as firefighting. Bristol and Bulwark reminded the RN about that. You need a lot of manpower for boundary cooling, stability and disposal of the fire fighting water are major issues and then shore-side fire brigades are usually more worried about saving lives than putting out a fire and saving a ship.

N

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...into-the-night

USS Bonhomme Richard's Bridge Engulfed In Flames As Fire Rages Into The Night (Updated)

The USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) continued to burn after the sun had set in San Diego. It now appears that the fire has migrated to the ship's island superstructure with its bridge seen engulfed in flames, which is a verybad thing. Additional large booms were also heard as the blaze continued to rage aboard some 14 hours after it started......

The future of the vessel, which is in the middle of its service life, is likely more in question now after seeing that the fire is burning missionized spaces in its island, which also points to the fire now being far more widespread than originally indicated. This is despite the Admiral stating that the ship would be repaired and would sail again, which seemed like a dubious claim at this time.

The island is also packed with the ship's most critical electronics, including its radars, electronic warfare arrays, and many of its communications systems. Just forward of the island is a large structure that houses half of the ship's Rolling Airframe Missile and Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile launchers. One of the ship's Phalanx close-in weapon systems is also mounted atop the island itself.......

The ship is listing now according to one source........

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The planned 24 month maintenance, modernization and repair overhaul started in 2018 and supposed to end in May of 2020 but completion was delayed due to COVID-19.

Rumours are she is a write-off. Main reason they fighting the fire is to stop it reaching the 1M gallons of fuel on board.

In those circumstances is it safer to let her burn in port near the ciity or tow her out to sea? Is the pollution risk greater in port or offshore?

Sad to see. Took a few snaps of her on her last visit to MEL in 2017.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1fa883cce2.jpg

If she's listing, pressumably its the water from being poured on to her, and not being able to be pumped out............isn't that what caused the SS Normandie to turn over in New York after catching fire during WW2 while being refitted as a troopship.

No deaths so far thank God.

Doing maintenance is often when fires occur - just look at major buildings - Windsor Castle, Notre Dame, the Art School in Glasgow (TWICE!), Cutty Sark ............... sloppy workers, not many people around, warning systems and fire fighting systems turned off

I'd guess as a heritage design and 22 years old it would be more effective to scrap and just order another "America" or rather a "Bougainville" with the well deck

All pretty open below decks, this shows the upper v etc