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
Hahaha some poor bastards with little hammers would do the trick!
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>>Only in gvt does the screwup get a chance to screw it up again. <<
Not quite true. Local weather forecasters by the hundreds get it wrong everyday for weeks and they don’t get fired.
When I was in Sasebo last month a Tsunami headed straight for the port while the ship was being worked on. The Bonhomme Richard had to get underway to avoid the storm... it turned out that the Tsunami went to the east and Sasebo barely got a rain drop!
I slept port side third deck more or less below the aft mess decks chow line. We could hear the planes land even that far down and had to hear the sonar dome pinging 24/7 at sea. It sounded like a cross between a door in needing oiling and a whale. We were the only carrier built with a sonar dome from what the guys operating said. It was taken out in the 80 overhaul I think.
Another Obamanation.
I believe you meant “typhoon”, not tsunami...
You’re making the assumption that no one in the logistics system was bought. This is the New Federal Supply System. That’s the Chicago Mob. The Navy should consider itself lucky it wasn’t old motor oil.
I left in 2001 and it has changed considerably even since then. I had to do a double take on the photo-what in the heck is that LHD doing in Juliet Basin? Then I did a little research and found out it has been dredged to make new berths.
Yes they did. And the Midway before her and a lot of other '60s built FDNF hulls. When we swapped Dubuque for Juneau, it was the SRF maintained Dubuque that was able to steam back to San Diego on schedule. We spent a lot of time and money on Juneau getting her up to the level that Dubuque had been.
I disagree with you about McScum criticizing 99 other senators. He only does that to other Republicans.
USS Franklin CV13 was the fifth ship of that name and was nick-named “Big Ben”. She was repaired after the horrific kamikaze attack but was never recommisioned.
They admitted a week or so ago that they had no clue what happened to $700,000,000,000.00 so why are you surprised?
My ship, AO 62 fueled Bonhomme Richard several times in the Tonkin Gulf I made three cruises 63, 64, 65.
How many aircraft carriers do we have total and where deployed?
I read that the size of the US navy is now 50% of what it was a few years ago.
Here you go. http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org9-4.htm#1993 I think with ENTERPRISE gone were at ten. The Gerald R Ford was launched last year and should be close to comissioning.
The entire Atlantic Carrier Fleet is now home ported in the same city and must cross the same tunnels. They are also about a mile or two downstream of the International Piers. IOW we have planners who are fools. My guess is Norfolk was expanded because at that time it was likely assumed the carrier fleet would be expanded by two or more carriers. That didn't happen. The USSR break up changed things but not anywhere near enough IMO to justify the severity of cuts we've seen.
“Added to that the fact that McInsane stopped trying to win in July for some reason. He gave up at that point for some reason.”
I remember that well! Three weeks before the election he hadn’t made any statements. Two weeks before the election I wondered why he was still silent. One week before, I knew we had already lost the election.
I believe we have 10
5 east coast, 5 west coast.
Check ‘Stratfor’ site for deposition.
You can refuse to call China a threat all you want.
and I will refuse to acknowledge Reagan is no longer president
I had a friend who served on The Bonhomme Richard in the early 1960s.
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I served on the FDR (CVA-42) in the early ‘60s in the Med and recall the earlier Bonnie Dick was there. That ship was not a helo carrier like the one presently, as far as I recall.
The DoD cutbacks are setting up the US for disaster by killing funding for Navy ships/aircraft and Air Force aircraft. ....Their policy changes regarding females and LGBT are not doing anything but weakening our forces.
Very few know the history of this Country. Very few know about the Founding Fathers. Very few know why the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. Few know who the Supreme Court justices are. Few know their State Representative, County Commissioner, or City Council Representative. most can tell you what color their NFL or NBA player's toilet paper is. Spend their paycheck on drugs and at the sporting event or rock concert, thus no rent or food money. No problem, just go down to the food stamp office and get food stamps then go to the welfare department to get rent money. Buy a house they know they can't afford on their salary and it is repossessed because they can't make the mortgage payment. Again, no problem, just go to, the Section 8 Housing office and they will put then in a house and pay the rent for them. Get sick, just go to the emergency room at the local hospital.
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