All Known Fires On USS Bonhomme Richard Have Been Extinguished (Updated)

The Drive - The War Zone ^ | July 16, 2020 | Tyler Rogoway

[CedarDave]

After over four days of frantic firefighting aboard the stricken amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard berthed in San Diego Bay, the U.S. Navy says all the fires aboard have been put out. This great news comes after the ship listed in the opposite direction overnight, forcing the evacuation of the vessel and the pier it is tied up to for a period of time while the situation was assessed.

Below is a statement from Rear Admiral Philip E. Sobeck Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group THREE - ESG-3:

After four days of firefighting, all known fires have been extinguished aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6).

Our fire teams, are investigating every space to verify the absence of fire. Until every space is checked and there are no active fires we will not be able to commence any official investigations.

We did not know the origin of the fire. We do not know the extent of the damage. It is too early to make any predictions or promises of what the future of the ship will be.

We cannot make any conclusions, until the investigation is complete.

What we do know is, that brave Sailors from commands all across San Diego worked tirelessly alongside Federal Firefighters to get this fire extinguished and I want to thank them for their efforts. This was a Navy team effort. We had support from the air and sea. Three helicopter squadrons conducted more than 1,500 water bucket drops, fighting the fire and cooling the super structure and flight deck enabling fire crews to get onboard to fight the fire. Tugs also provided firefighting support from the waterline, cooling the ship’s hull.

We had 63 personnel, 40 U.S. Navy Sailors and 23 civilians, treated for minor injuries including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. We have no personnel hospitalized.

The Navy continues to work together with regulators, county and state in protecting our environment and preparing to address the community’s concerns as we move forward to the next phase.

I’d like to thank our partners from state and county, the U.S. Coast Guard, and all agencies for continued support.

There will be a press conference held shortly. We will update this post with all the important information after it concludes.

UPDATE:

From today's [7/16] press conference:

• The painstaking process of going compartment by compartment to begin to assess the damage and to make sure the fires are indeed put out is underway. There still may be high heat in some areas. In other cases, the hatches may be sealed shut due to a vacuum, in which case teams must cut through to gain access. This can provide oxygen that could restart the fire or result in a backdraft situation. It's dangerous and slow work with crews rotating every 15 minutes or so.
• Temps reached 1,200 degrees in some areas.
• The superstructure is largely made of aluminum that clearly didn't take the heat well.
• Rear Admiral Sobeck stated that the ship has proven to be survivable.
• He also says that it can be rebuilt, but will it be is the question.
• The list is caused by the "free water effect" of water shifting around the ship's spaces and hull. It has remained stable throughout the ordeal regardless of the list the Sobeck said, but dewatering will further stabilize it and reduce the list now.
• 85 crewmen were living aboard when the fire broke out.
• The fire began and then caused an explosion.
• The ship was roughly two-thirds of the way through its deep maintenance cycle with systems being moved back aboard when the fire hit.
• The loss will impact the Navy's force mix and combat capacity, but the Rear Admiral says there are enough ships to fill the gap.
• Hundreds of sailors from 20 ships based in San Diego pitched in to fight the fire.

[CedarDave]

More at the link.

One comment this morning said there are reports of reflashes, "but that is normal for a shipboard fire where things are far from ventilated and cooled down."

[DesertRhino]

Complete incompetence of U.S. Navy

[mylife]

Heads will roll.

[CedarDave]

Love your tag line - mine’s asleep under my desk here at work (101° here in Oil Patch City today)

[DesertRhino]

“We do not know the extent of the damage. It is too early to make any predictions or promises of what the future of the ship will be.”

Freepmail me... i think I have a good take on that.

[DesertRhino]

LOL...mine is too. Literally!

[centurion316]

Complete incompetence of U.S. Navy

Well, no need for an investigation then. You have taken very spotty and limited information and reached the predetermined conclusion. Rig a yardarm on the remains of the mast and start launching the guilty into eternity beginning with the Captain. Bravo Zulu.

[higgmeister]

My old boxer is lounging on his bed behind me.

[Toughluck_freeper]

I read that the ships fire went out of control because the Halon fire suppression system was under repair.

Halon? With no water backup system? A WAR ship that will burn uncontrollably if it runs out of a few canisters of a rare gas? Come on, this is ‘technological innovation’s run amok.

I bet it doesn’t even have bilge pumps to avoid harbor water contamination. Perhaps it has ‘water droplet levitation’ through magnetic rail guides imbedded in the pipes.

Or perhaps bilge water recirculation and recovery system with evaporator, condenser, and ph measurements..

Sometimes a big hammer is better than a fancy tech gizmo..

[gandalftb]

Repairing it for some other purpose, maybe.
.........
The BHR was not well suited for rapid onboard mission deployment. It had a number of safety and livability problems. Time to move along to a better design and an evolving mission.

[DesertRhino]

It ain’t rocket science sport. During construction which is a high risk operation, and when the fire suppression system was offline, try had insufficient fire watch and fire response. And the hatches were wide open from stem to stern allowing fire to spread, and firefighting water to flood everywhere.

It’s pretty obvious that ship is done for. Due to incompetence.
But the crew will have a fabulous rainbow tranny wake party for her.

[gandalftb]

There were Halon systems in some parts of the ship. The wet sprinkler systems used fire pumps and sea water and were powered down.
..........
Contractor work required temporary ventilation that kept the bulkhead doors open, allowing the fire to quickly spread.

[faucetman]

Scrap it for parts! Build a NEW one. The new revised, better one.

[Shark24]

How does this compare with the Yorktown before Midway? Just asking, I would love to hear Navy comments:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yorktown_(CV-5)#:~:text=Although%20estimates%20were%20that%20the,of%20Midway%20in%20early%20June.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Heads will roll.

Not unless you cut the noses off.

[The Westerner]

Thanks for that info.

[CedarDave]

Scrap it for parts! Build a NEW one. The new revised, better one.

Supposedly the engineering spaces below the water line and the fuel bunkers survived the fire, though obviously water from the fire-fighting effort made its way down to cause the list.

[The Westerner]

Unfortunately, accidents on Navy vessels in the last few years inclines one to assume the cause of this ship’s destruction is inadequate leadership. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

[Bull Snipe]

BHR’s damage is much more extensive. Yorktown’s primary damage was from a single 500 lb bomb penetrating the flight deck, hangar deck and exploding between the 3rd & 4th deck near repair five. One near miss bomb had caused a external leak in a fuel tank. BUSHIP’s authorized temporary repairs to get her to sea again. Interior damaged compartments were not fully repaired, damage structural members were reinforced, damaged decks replaced with the minimum plating and structural supports. Electrical & piping was rerun through the spaces without the required supporting. The hole in the armored hangar deck was patched with a 1 inch thick plate. Hole in the flight deck was repaired with 2 x 1 inch plates of steel, with wood laid over the top. She was drydocked so the leaking fuel tank seam could be repaired. No other work was done at the time. All this in two days. Full BUSHIPs, by the book repairs, would have taken at least two weeks.

[Lockbar]

Hate to say it, but this will make the second largest artificial reef since the Oriskany. All depends if the propulsion system was ruined.