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Bonhomme Richard Still Burning Navy Ship Fire San Diego Updates By Kyle Mizokami | Jul. 16th, 2020
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.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Mar'Queon A. D. Tramble The USS Bonhomme Richard is still burning after it caught fire while undergoing maintenance in port on Sunday. The ship has taken extensive damage, but it isn't in as bad of shape as originally feared. Navy helicopters have dumped more than five million pounds of water onto the ship, preventing the fire from overrunning the ship.
The USS Bonhomme Richard is still burning, five days after the Navy's amphibious assault ship caught fire in port in San Diego. The 847-foot-long warship has suffered extensive damage, but there are some glimmers of hope as the fire has reportedly spared key areas of the ship. Navy helicopters have dropped more than 600,000 gallons of seawater on the fireravaged vessel, dowsing the fire and helping prevent the flames from spreading.
Bonhomme Richard caught fire on the morning of Sunday, July 12. “The fire was first reported in a lower cargo area where ship maintenance supplies, including cardboard and rags, were stored,” Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told reporters. The ship’s crew managed to escape and were all accounted for, but the fire rapidly turned into one of the worst aboard a Navy ship in the post-Vietnam era.
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The ship’s fire suppression system was inoperative, part of the vessel’s stand-down procedure during a maintenance period. The Navy’s initial efforts to contain the fire were reportedly frustrated by the condition of the ship, which had electrical and other cables running through key areas to facilitate maintenance while the engines were powered down. The large, heavy cables prevented sailors from closing doors and other hatches to prevent the fire from spreading. The temperature of the fire inside the ship reached as high as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit—so hot that firefighting ships poured water on the hull in an attempt to cool the interior. Others poured water straight into the ship’s interior, and by Monday, the ship was listing to the right due to the amount of seawater inside. By Wednesday, the Navy had commenced “dewatering” the ship, or evacuating water from the interior. Much of the damage is internal, though the fire inevitably found a way out. The ship’s flight deck is melted through and collapsed in several places, and the island and bridge are destroyed. Here’s a pair of before and after images from the ship: This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Over 400 personnel, including local firefighters, federal firefighters, and Navy personnel, were sent to fight the fire. As of this writing, the fire has injured 63 naval personnel and civilians—none seriously—with most already discharged from medical supervision. Despite the devastating damage, there are some bright spots. The ship’s engineering spaces, including the engines, are untouched. And the fuel tanks, reportedly holding a million gallons of ship fuel, are safe, Adm. Sobeck told reporters.
The helicopters of Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 3, the “Merlins,” are heavily involved in fighting the fires. The squadron’s MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters have flown more than 1,600 missions dropping seawater from so-called “bambi buckets,” or sling-loaded buckets designed to scoop up standing water and drop them on fires. Each bambi bucket can carry 420 gallons of water, so HSC-3 has probably dropped a total of 672,000 gallons (5.3 million pounds) of water. It’s still not clear, and may not be clear for months, whether Bonhomme Richard can ultimately be saved. Even if vital spaces were spared, much of the ship was not, and it could simply be too expensive to return the 22-year-old ship to action. The U.S. Marine Corps has also recently argued for a fleet of smaller, more agile amphibious assault ships. The Navy and Marines may elect to accelerate development of these ships instead of repairing the “Bonnie Dick.” This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
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