Posted on 07/16/2020 10:49:47 AM PDT by CedarDave
uly 15th came and went with little new official information regarding the ongoing fire fighting operations aboard USS Bonhomme Richard. Then, it was announced at around 11 pm local time this evening, that the Navy cleared the ship and the pier of all personnel due to a rapid shift in the vessel's stability.
The tweet from Naval Surface Warfare stated the following:
Out of an abundance of caution the pier and ship were cleared of personnel due to an initial shift in the ship’s list. Personnel are now pier side. We will continue to monitor as the ship settles.
Bonhomme Richard had begun listing to starboard on July 13th and that list only increased until being brought under control recently. Now it looks like the ship has listed to port, toward the pier, which triggered the evacuation as the fire approaches the four-day mark.
The good news is that crews were able to return at least alongside the vessel to continue emergency response operations. There have been concerns regarding the amount of water the ship has taken on over the last few days via firefighting efforts on board, from the sea, and from the air. It was reported on the morning of July 15th that Navy MH-60S Seahawks have dropped 1,500 Bambi Buckets of water on the ship in an effort to keep its exterior cool.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
An insider would have the best information how to do that.
Someone probably didn't want to deploy for awhile.
Thanks for posting the link.
Gist
Two standards for shipyard - one for nuclear the other for conventional powered ships.
Nuclear is THE Standard - everything that goes on a ship in maintenance in the morning comes off at work day end. No hatches are blocked, no needed systems are left off - like fire suppression, etc
Conventional is: just leave the mess until someone cleans it up sometime; hatches blocked, needed safety systems shut - not a problem
We got us.
Great pics. I don’t see any smoke. Pics from inside the ship.
Is the fire OUT?
Salt water is highly flammable.
The USA is listing.
I don’t think this ship is serviceable. The heat from the fire has weakened the hull
Scuttle it and be done with it before someone gets killed................
That’s true.
I was thinking they would tow it to sea.
They could have a grand ceremony where they retire the Star Spangled Banner and then hoist the Fag Flag before sending it to the bottom while they play “In the Navy” by the Village People.
In the early days of Navy jet aviation, this was a common problem since the Essexes had wooden flight decks.
I’m with you.
Build the sailors a new ship with the same name, and salvage what can be salvaged from the old ship.
This of course will take time, but it is what needs to be done.
I can’t believe the Navy does not have big halocarbon bombs that can exploded inside the ship to extinguish the fire.
Agree, one report I saw said the tires on the side of the pier were smoking during the height of the fire due to the radiant heat coming from the hull. I suppose it could have been steam from fire hose water hitting the hot tires; either way the hull was very hot and the metal strength has been compromised.
It’s worse with the F-35B (VTOL) as the jet engine nozzle is pointing straight down at the deck from a distance of about a foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW28Mb1YvwY
The Halon fire extinguishing system was taken offline for the refit.
Write this one off and take the entire crew and re-assign them as a precomm crew for the new LHA to be completed at a later date.
It also appears to be down by the stern a bit.
Couldn’t they just open the seacocks and let the water out? /sarc
This story does seem odd. Something is off about it?
I served in the navy under Carter... The biggest threat we had was sabotage.... Commies were everywhere...as a plane captain, we found screws taped to the back of jet engine rotors, hell I found a handful of screws dumped under the pilot seat of my aircraft.... Sabotage is more than likely the cause
I think that’s probably what’s going to happen. We already have a couple more impending orders for America class LHAs - in part because the first two didn’t have a well deck and all the follow ons do/will.
That said, it would also be good to salvage what gear we can off it. Wasp-class LHD gear isn’t cheap.
I know you’re joking - but if they could get it to the dry dock that it just left on the other side of the harbor, they actually could.
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