Posted on 08/05/2021 9:34:55 AM PDT by rktman
The U.S. Navy's leadership has drawn a lot of criticism for its wokester focus as its mission goes fallow.
Now we're seeing this report:
Just before a fire started on a warship that burned for nearly five days in San Diego last summer, a witness told investigators he saw a fellow sailor — known to his leadership for showing disdain toward the Navy — walking to the spot where the blaze first ignited.
Ryan Sawyer Mays, a 20-year-old from Kentucky, carried a metal bucket into the vessel’s lower storage area, according to new court documents identifying him as the person accused of destroying the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard. Navy officials announced last week that a sailor had been charged with aggravated arson and willful hazarding of a vessel in connection to the July 2020 fire, but they did not publicly identify the suspect.
Mays is not only accused of intentionally setting the blaze, but also of tampering with fire-safety equipment on the ship and crime-scene evidence in an attempt to hinder the federal investigation, according to documents filed in the Southern California U.S. District Court and unsealed Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Agreed. I’ve served on many US warships. FIRE is the # 1 enemy of any warship anywhere. It is the first thing you hear in boot camp and your reminded of it constantly every day. Ryan Sawyer Mays might have struck the match but it’s the Navy Brass from CNO down that didn’t put the damn fire out. If you can drive a destroyer into a cargo ship and kill six sailors and get away with it you can damn sure light a match and the Navy, run by certified WOKE idiots, can’t put it out because they let everybody go home for vacation.
Glad to do it. Most of my fires were swab fires. Guys stripped floors to wax them and didn't clean the mop good. Spontaneous combustion at about 0200-0500 that night LOL
Fires on ship are a very serious matter at the pier or at sea. More so at sea because the crew absolutely must stop the fire to stop the carnage. In home port you have civilian base or shipyard FD back up.
Back on about Sept. 80 I was a short timer and they put me on R&A detail aka Rescue and Assistance. We were in overhaul and a ship a couple piers down had an explosion below deck. We mustered for stand-by but evidently and crew and yard FD handled it. A yardbird welder and a ships crew fire watched perished.
Did they actually recognize it, or merely 'said' they recognized it, after the fact?
BTW the fire I was involved in was spontaneous combustion. It was a storeroom off Hanger Bay 2 that was padlocked and a sizeable amount of oily rags and cardboard inside. I imagine Air Dept officers got a royal chewing over that one.
Keel haul the traitor.
Interesting that even after a whole year, this guy’s name and info wasn’t released. Then Bannon started harping about it on War Room a few days ago. TPTB must’ve been bombarded with demands to release the info.
The Sailor was TAD to my Command as part of a contingent from another command sent to help us during the war. Lots of long hours and hard work. He was protected at his parent command by a Senior Chief who retired and ask me to not let them screw with this kid. I found out there was a plot between a couple of Chiefs to push him out for the good of the service. The Sailor was clueless. I derailed their plan, I convinced my CO to give all the Sailors TAD to us a NAM. He agreed and the Sailor got his NAM too. Hard to justify incompatibility and for the good of the service when he just got a NAM. I know, not the purpose of the award. Sailor, went back to parent command and an old grizzled Chief Bosun took him under his charge and the Sailor continued to mow lawns till Honorably Seperated.
for centuries The Captain of a Navy Warship was held responsible no matter what. Sometimes that was unfair but the principal involved worked. Warship Captains worried about their ship 24/7.
Now, with rampant PC, ACCOUNTABILITY is a joke and has been for at least 2 decades. Weak kneed admirals are afraid of the press and politicians. That’s the problem and bs like the Fitzgerald with 7 killed, the McCain with 10 killed and the Cole with 17 killed will continue to happen until a CNO with balls takes over and order in the ranks is restored.
One other observation is many times Captain's hands are tied from defensive actions and it goes high up the chain of command again often to The Pentagon and even the White House. They are caught in a political game of Mother May I while someone is weighing political considerations. If the Captain is to blame if attacked as Cole was then Captain's should have full discretion to act in a defensive manner. I would give pilots the same leeway as well.
Sometimes even with the best of Captain's things can and do go wrong. We almost became the first aircraft carrier to land in Yugoslavia literally. An Alpine Express which didn't show up on radar until about a couple minutes before it struck caught us and we began dragging anchor right off Dubrovnik. The Captain was on the beach meaning ashore at the time and his boat unable to transit back and we had to cut our launches loose and send all boats to the beach as we got underway literally in seconds. IT was a very close call but the XO did his duty and gave orders to get the ^^^^ ship underway and get it underway now over the 1MC..
BTW The Captain a few months later had his star which he had very well earned in his service. If we had of grounded the Navy did not have a punishment worse than what that man endured as one of the longest held in the Hilton.
I saw the same thing happen later at NOB Norfolk. This time we were moored at pier 12 and the ship stayed put. Many of the rest were broke loose from their piers & out in the river channel after the storm hit.
.........perhaps you didn’t intend to but in a way you make my point when you say.......One other observation is many times Captain’s hands are tied from defensive actions and it goes high up the chain of command again often to The Pentagon and even the White House. They are caught in a political game of Mother May I while someone is weighing political considerations.
Of course you are absolutely correct in what you say. But my retort (respectully) is that what you say is THE WHOLE POINT!!! Time after time throughout our history military commanding officers on scene made tough decisions that they knew when they did it put their asses on the line. Today, top admirals and officers admit they are AFRAID to do that anymore because of the PRESS and politicians. Service academies need to start teaching the history of officers who put their butts on the line at critical moments.
I’m sure officers on the Bonhomme Richard wanted to please as many of their crew as they could (by giving liberty) based upon pressure from on high. THAT WAS A BIGGGG MISTAKE. Top Brass should pay for that mistake, severely. Top officers are not where they are to be “CLASS FAVORITE”. Bottom line is the damn ship was undermanned and that is SOMEBODIES fault!!! To conclude anything less is to invite further disasters in our beloved Navy.
.......a follow up........the ships crew (normally) is 983 enlisted and 98 officers PLUS up to approximately 2,000 marines.
So, including the marines, who are part of the Navy, the Navy let approximately 95% of the crew GO on leaves or Liberty.
Basically the Navy invited disaster and it got it. Now, it wants off the taxpayers hook.
Our typical duty section was less than 500 likely closer to 350. That is not the same thing as a work day. This was persons assigned to be onboard after work hours or weekends. I've done three section duty before while we were in the shipyards and it just plain stinked with the 12 hour work day for a year.
LIberty meaning time off is a necessity for ships crews especially ships company the ones permanently attached to the ship. We were lucky to be in port 2-3 months a year total. The cycle went like this Leave the shipyards after maintenance. Do about 9 months of readiness and qualification work ups 30 of which were off GITMO under simulated battle conditions meaning very little rest. After that we would deploy close to three months to somewhere like South America and then come back. About two months of in and out trips mostly out we would then deploy for the MED SEA for 6-7 months. Upon completion we returned and went back to the yards for repairs for 3 months. The 5th year required a year long extensive shipyard overhaul. That meant everyone but about 100 people or less were ordered off the ship as far as sleeping space went and only the duty section stayed the night. I spent many a night sleeping on the deck of min my shop and have the back aches to prove it.
I am assuming that the Bonhomme Richard after overhaul went to San Diego Naval Base likely from Bremerton, Washington. That is a guess. You would also have a bunch of greenhorns to train and training takes time and being at sea. When a ship goes in for overhaul about 90% of the crew with over a year left gets orders to another ship. When you consider that most firefighting duties are done by E-4 and below and in this case likely 75% of them came from different class ships etc you have chaos for a while. Of the men in my shop of about 16 only 4 I knew before the shipyards overhaul were still there when I got out. Training wise I was the senior NCO as an E-4 and myself and another E-4 had to train a new shop. The ship went out to sea for 3 days before I got out. Then it had to go back in the yards for 2 weeks of final tweaking.
BTW when we went to Europe or wherever we had to stay steaming so we usually did 3 or 4 section duty. You have to let the sailors have Liberty aka down time. At sea life goes like this 0700 begin work day 1800 knock off work day. 0000am begin mid watch until 0400 then try and hit the rack for about an hour before 0700 work day starts again. You stood two 4 hour watches a day in addition to your 7 days a week workdays at sea. At Sea is best described like the movie Groundhog Day. Every day same routine.
Retention levels in 1980 was so bad guys including myself turned down $18K to re-enlist. My rating was based on a 6/2 sea/shore duty station rotation meaning 6 years on a ship and 2 years on a Naval Base somewhere in the world.
I just did some looking up.30 plus aircraft and 1900 Marines plus what she could haul in the vehicle bay. Yeap Marines were Squadron or amphib assault units and not ships company. Planes are ALWAYS flown off before entering port and all squadron personnel go where the planes are based out of for maintenance as soon as the ship is docked. They leave before anyone goes on Liberty. Ships Company was 1100 permanently assigned sailors onboard.
.........Once again, you make my point. Lawyers have a famous saying in court which goes “So What!?” Respectfully, I would apply “So What?!” to the question of whether or not the Marines are considered part of the crew as I believe they are generally and absolutely for certain ARE in fire fighting scenarios. As I know you know, “every man on ship is considered a fire fighter and every man is trained at the fire fighting school”.
I’ve been on Liberty in ports all over the world and I know how important Liberty is. But, AGAIN, you make my point. The COMMAND BRASS are paid to take the heat of pissed off people and there simply were not enough people on board to protect that ship...........period. That’s someone’s (or multiple someone’s) fault. Historically, that person is the CNO. If a CNO can’t be held responsible for the loss of a 4 billion dollar warship then nothing else he does matters.
All the stats you quote are good ones and germane to the argument but they ignore the OVERARCHING fact that regardless of what may be good reasons (or excuses) the ship was UNDERSTAFFED which was a major contributing factor to the loss of the ship to stupidity of the BRASS not the enemy.
As a former naval guy, I’m wondering how in the hell this fire could have been able to burn through so much of the vessel without it being detected almost immediately. All naval vessels have active watches posted, and fire details are standing by. This is the case even in a ship that is dry-docked.
Somebody screwed the pooch. I’m willing to bet it was the OOD.
I’ve spent many times in dry dock on a naval vessel. Yes, there are fires. And yes, they get fought. I’ve also fought many fires at sea including Class A,B,C and whatever you call an oxygen candle fire on a submarine. The navy used to train us to fight the fire aggressively. I would wager that the new navy does not fight anything aggressively except racism, transphobia, sexism, islamophobia, and homophobia.
And that is why the ship burned up.
Thanks. We will try to take care.
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