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Posted on 08/23/2014 4:07:48 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan – The USS Bonhomme Richard will likely miss its next underway deployment after a botched $3 million resurfacing of the amphibious assault ship’s flight deck.
The ship had undergone the resurfacing less than a month ago.
“A recent application of non-skid coating on the flight deck of the USS Bonhomme Richard was not up to Navy safety standards and is being reapplied,” Cmdr. William Marks, spokesman for 7th Fleet, said in an email to Stars and Stripes. “This will cause an increase in port time and decrease in underway days for Bonhomme Richard.”
An “accidental gouging” of the flight deck on Aug. 8 led to a visual inspection, during which time officials from Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center Detachment Sasebo saw the non-skid surface was flaking.
Further testing confirmed the nonskid material had not set properly, making the surface unsafe for flight operations, something preliminary quality-assurance testing didn’t indicate, Marks said.
The problem was immediately reported to Naval Surface Forces Pacific.
“We are now researching the root cause of the failure,” Marks said. “There could be a number of reasons it didn’t set properly and we won’t know the final details until additional testing takes place.”
As a result, the ship will likely have to delay its next deployment, which was set for late September or early October. The ship is currently conducting sea trials, and the repairs will take place afterward.
Personnel from SRF-JRMC Detachment Sasebo are working with technical experts from Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock on a rework plan, the Navy said. The same contractor, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, is expected to reapply the nonskid with increased oversight.
“At this time, the contract for this rework is not yet complete,” said Marks. “SRF is still reviewing what it can do to hold the original contractor accountable for paying for the rework.”
The Bonhomme Richard — which can carry a crew of 100 officers, 1,000 sailors and 1,900 Marines, along with four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters — is often called into duty when disaster strikes. Most recently, the ship spent more than a week in the Yellow Sea, assisting South Korean officials after the April 16 sinking of a South Korean ferry.
While the ship is out of commission, Navy officials say they will lean on the USS Peleliu — which arrived Friday in Sasebo a port visit — and the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group to pick up the slack.
“Peleliu can be configured to conduct the same operations and take the same types of aircraft and landing and attack craft as USS Bonhomme Richard in different numbers,” Marks said. “Her characteristics are different, but she can support the same mission as USS Bonhomme Richard and this will not affect our participation in planned exercises throughout the deployment.”
The Bonhomme Richard arrived in Japan in April 2012 to replace the USS Essex, which had its share of problems during its final days in Sasebo.
In the months before the hull swap, mechanical and maintenance issues made the Essex unfit to fulfill its mission. In July of 2011, the ship was unable to take part in the Talisman Sabre exercise in Australia, and it never left port in February of 2012 when it was to participate in Cobra Gold training in Thailand.
Ironically, the Bonhomme Richard broke down while en route to Sasebo to replace the Essex. Problems with its boiler forced the ship to stop in Okinawa for repairs before making it to Sasebo.
For years, Navy officials have said that the high operations tempo placed on ships have led to advanced wear and tear.
Testifying before Congress in 2012, then-Vice Adm. William Burke, who was serving as deputy chief of naval operations for fleet readiness and logistics, said the Navy has “a limited supply of forces.”
“When you have these additional deployments, you sometimes impact the maintenance, or you impact the training, which will impact the maintenance,” Burke said. “So what we have is one event cascading into another, so we don’t get either of them quite right.”
kimber.james@stripes.com Twitter: @james_kimber
It cost $2,000,000 when Obama left his Vacation to attend a Bachelor Party in D.C.
Obama Vacations from his Vacations. That’s a new one.
(Musta really sucked to be a Chippendale's guy that night!)
I assume the Japanese Workers who screwed this up will be committing mass Suicide due to the shame they have brought upon Themselves, their Families, their Employer and their Nation.
The guy who had the Bachelor Party isn’t Gay.
It’s actually worse, he is Marrying a Gal that works for MSNBC.
The flight deck wears from normal use and weather just like a road surface. All flight decks get resurfaced on a regular schedule and is typically contracted at the ships local port. Out of schedule resurfacings occur when abnormal damage (accidents, etc) occur. In this case it will likely be bad mix, improper prep, or contamination. Given it was surface flaking it is likely mix or contamination - sumitomo will do again at no charge and lose some smaller ship work to Yoko and other ports for a short time.
Thanks for the prompt correction. I was misinformed.
“Definitely his fault we had NO deployed carriers in the pacific when the Chinese buzzed the P8.”
I refuse to consider Red China a threat while freighters full of their lead-painted junk are offloading here; this is nonsense. We continue to strengthen them evey minute with trade; seems silly to pretend we’re enemies at this point. Our enemies are internal, the paid pawns of Red China’s leadership (starting with the communist president in the White House).
That, and plus, I bet it was a rush job, with the limited number of ships now available for duty. Clear indication of the Navy’s deterioration in readiness.
That would have been USS Bonhomme Richard (CV-31),
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
We used to ‘call’ her “Bonnie Dick”, the USS Kearsarge (CVS33) was the “Queer Barge”
That was before the word Gay means what it means today
There was a DD named Brinkley Bass (DD887) and one night someone painted over the two B’s...
Of course the ‘other’ name was supposedly reserved for use by the crew members and they could very quickly turn into ‘fighting words’...
Usually the Japanese shipyards do a pretty good job with the repairs they do. I sailed in Independence back in the late nineties and they kept that old boat running. We did have a non-skid issue on our last cruise but that was because we were given a 4 day notice to get underway for what turned out to be a 5 month deployment.
Lowest bidder.
I’m sure the other Chef, the Gay one who left his Gig at The Spite House is already involved. LOL
Nothing like the sound of a deck grinder taking up non skid. Right? Huh? I said Nothing like the sound of a deck grinder taking up non skid. Right? Huh? LOL I loathed that sound especially a deck below the hanger bay. That will be the major time consumer on this unless they have a faster way now.
**Just wanted to clarify for the younger Freepers that there has been more one Bon Homme Richard.**
Well, it was news to me too.
Every once in a while I would check out the flight deck just to make sure nobody had painted “please drops chains here from 2200-0600 daily” above my stateroom.
thanks for posting the picture of Sasebo where I was stationed from Aug 69 to May 71. My oh my has it changed.
""One gen-u-ine Hari Kari knife. Maybe some of you have a use for it. Feel free to pass it around."
FUBAR
LOL...I had three cruises right underneath the wires...I still remember hearing the planes as they approached, then...WHAM!
The sound of the cables running out, then hearing them retracted back into place finally going “click...click...click” as they cam to rest on to top of the metal thingies that pushed them a few inches off the deck!
Over, and over, and over again!
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