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........

——————————————-

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

Forgive my ignorance but there will be no ammunition on board when works are done pierside?

Presume that all ammo etc will have been removed before the maint. work started but fighting a fire on top of 1M gallons of fuel? - braver people than me, thats for sure; please take care. I wonder if they have started to evacuate the docks area, if that lot goes off it will be one hell of a bang.

It was in dock for a pre-planned 24 month maintenance cycle so hopefully nothing serious aboard apart from some small arms ammo.

Certainly nothing that would go up better than the 1,000,000 gallons of fuel down below. . .


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....75868c9e22.jpg

Also the Empress of Canada in Liverpool in the 1950s and a Danish ferry the Kronprins Frederik at Parkeston Quay (Harwich) also in the 1950s.

How about towing her to some remote safe place and let her burn out there? Right now we have a major fire inside some huge military port with many ships next to her.

Why not simply scuttle her where she is, recovery of everything will be a damned sight easier?

Who in their right mind would go aboard to do that? Same with towing.

Why would they leave 1,000,000 gallons of fuel on board during a 24 month refit? Doesn't it go off like petrol?

If it’s shallow enough it might prevent a capsize

Nowhere to store it? Is there an issue that you can't just stick it back into a general storage tank without potentially contaminating that fuel somehow? Does seem odd, I agree.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigho...ety-practices/

USS Bonhomme Richard Burns, Likely A Victim Of Lax Fire Safety Practices

The boiler is said to have exploded due to over pressure for some reason. Not sure what that necessarily has to do with fire safety practices? Maybe better wait for the report?

Possibly to ballast the ship?. after all if it wasn't a reason like that you would expct them to run down the fuel prior to refit.

That's what I thought as they said it had a list on. At least if its sitting on the bottom it is stable as you rectify the problem, it could also be possible to refloat it in the future

The main thrust of the article is the litany of previous dockyard fires and mishaps which have preceded this one. To quote:

”....America’s Navy has seen these scenarios play out far too many times. In 2012, America lost the multibillion-dollar attack submarine USS Miami (SSN 755) because a shipyard worker, eager to leave work early, set the sub on fire. Last year, 11 U.S. sailors were injured in a fire aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), a critical Marine-toting mini-carrier. USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) also suffered a fire in November 2018, and subsequent damage will keep the ship out of the fleet for almost two years longer than planned. According to USNI News, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) suffered a shipyard fire as well. In 2011, a fire torched the stacks of the USS Spruance (DDG 111). Other recent shipyard mishaps have included over $30 million worth of damage to the future destroyer Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) after a collision in April 2019. These, along with other avoidable incidents—fires at sea, groundings, collisions and other accidents—have essentially sunk or sidelined an entire U.S. battle fleet.....”

That looks like its toast..


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....928c988a5d.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....6970a479c2.jpg

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/american-assault-ship-uss-bonhomme-richard-on-fire/ and the Telegraph

Fair argument which I also considered.

But the DOD doesn't like losing assets for any reason and will find somebody didn't do their job. Whether it is easy to correct or not, remains to be seen

I'm really not interested in the accidental cause as much as I am in the reasons for the spread (ala the Midway Jap disaster)

From roughly when the fire started, go to 3.40 ish the radio conversations says there are munitions on board but not in the fire area but one floor above and some / good distance aft?. Appears to spread awful quick considering its a warship.

The good old Press;

KUSI TV (San Diego TV station) reporting; "Apparently, there are hover-jets on board that can land down horizontally..."

Here is an aerial photograph taken sometime yesterday:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....bac7515fb6.png

Sad to see such a proud vessel in peril.

- Ed