Posted on 07/16/2020 3:01:06 PM PDT by Coronal
Heard to whispering on the wind, “Scratch two flattops...”
“...after the Apollo 1 fire, they got careless and cut corners trying to make their deadlines and the price for that was 3 astronauts killed.”
NASA choose to use 100% oxygen to pressurize the capsule. Not a good idea, even the Soviets did not do that. My understanding of the specific cause was a technician’s lost screwdriver wedged in the adjustable seat track jamming it which caused the electric motor to burn out.
I work with hyperbaric oxygen every day and I am still amazed that NASA went that route. RIP, Gus Grissam, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
You are correct when you turn off a fire suppression system when the ship is in port makes no sense. That admiral should be court marshaled
If an accident can cause the destruction of the whole ship while sitting in port, what would happen to this ship while under enemy fire? Sounds like someone needs to rethink the design of this ship!
My understanding is that oxygen was used as a weight-saving measure. The oxygen suspended in the air that the body uses is a small (maybe even tiny) fraction of its volume and weight. So NASA went with a pure oxygen system. The Soviets built more powerful boosters that could handle the added weight of a system using air.
This ship under fire would have it's entire crew available to fight the fire, have all it's damage control systems working, and wouldn't have flammable refuse scattered all over the ship.
And if the fire suppression system is dismantled and being worked on?
However, someone told me that they did see about five jap dive bombers flying in low across the harbor just before the first explosion...
Must be a lot of plastic in those boats now days...
Here is an excellent photo of the Well Deck where the fire started.
...........
https://the-drive-2.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fs3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fthe-drive-cms-content-staging%2Fmessage-editor%252F1594800890938-1280px-uss_bonhomme_richard_in_san_diego_dvids338353.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&ixlib=js-1.4.1&s=656ad425b7ee43e9d58d4f14ea3c0e71
The ramp on the right goes up to the Hangar Deck, the large opening in the background is where the LCACs berth and load Marines.
.........
I spent several months on the BHR. The Fire protection system is fed by fire pumps/sea water. The pumps were likely shutdown.
There is some precedent.
Ship-born firefighting Is like being in hell with a garden hose!
Prayers for the responders.
Damn. That was a heck of a fire! Four days of firefighting will wear out 30 firefighting teams. Those guys (and women) must be bone tired.
She will have a new nickname after this. Maybe the Bonfire Richard?
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