I’m tossing this out there - this is a US Navy vessel, no? How could it be possible that they couldn’t extinguish the fire quickly? Doesn’t that seem a little fragile for a war ship?
I could be way off base here, but It isn’t like Japan dropped 10 torpedo bombs on her...
Ship fires burn very hot - over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. There are a lot of volatiles, especially the paint. You could see the fireboats spraying down the hull trying to control the temps inside, and complicated by the fact it's hard to deliver water inside the ship to the affected areas. Not like putting out a house fire...