USS Bonhomme Richard LHD-6 - on fire

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This completely blew my mind. In France we got a similar incident one month ago, losing one Rubis SNA (attack nuclear sub) the exact same way. MN Perle was the last Rubis build, and its blaze come at the worst moment, when the first Barracuda is in trial with IOC in 2022 only.

In both cases the ship might be written off, with severe consequences.

WTF ?
 
We were 10 mins from loss of a frigate I was on. I hefted fire extinguishers as I was nearby until the response team rocked up and I was sent away (wearing shorts!).

If it had got out of that compartment, there was nothing much to stop it taking the two main central sections. Hence loss of ship.

All down to:
(A) batteries disposed of in normal waste.
(B) operating a frigate designed for 2-3 weeks at sea in the cold Atlantic - for 7 months in the very hot middle east with a crew 30% bigger than designed for. Thus the gash room wasnt big enough (didn’t have a proper disposal unit) and there was far more in there than should have been.
(C) oh and the UK (over?) adhering to dumping at sea regs.

Sailors did well controlling it. Hell of a mess.

But this is just another reason why T45/26/31 are so much bigger. Proper freezers as well vs just cold rooms and lifts to take stores up/down vs by hand.
 
The thing with Bonnie Dick is, she literally just left the dockyard after a $249 million refit. The reason the fire got so bad is that she was still being worked on. Her fire main was out of service, cables wires and pipes were running through hatches so they couldn't close them to isolate the fire, and her Halon fire suppression system was also disabled because the welding equipment being used would set it off and that would basically kill everyone in the compartment. Basically the worst possible luck for her.
 
"(C) oh and the UK (over?) adhering to dumping at sea regs"


Didn't the Kuznetzov have a garbage related fire last year?

Chris

Welding accident during maintenance that ignited some oily rags and in turn lit garbage on fire.

FWIW, they have said that no welding was happening where the BHR fire started.
 
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The view from the Coronado Bridge
That guy has supernatural eyesight!

Why so? It's just over a mile from the bridge to Pier 2, where BHR is berthed. That's not very far to make out broad details, assuming someone else is driving...

Here's the view from the bridge...

View: https://youtu.be/gwfpmcmv9Pk?t=219
The article originally had a typo and instead of "Coronado Bridge," it said "Colorado River."

Ah, yeah, that would be pretty remarkable. :oops:

Sorry.
 
Sadly, LHD-6 will be condemned to the scrappers

 
Sad, but not unexpected given the intensity and duration of the fire. Hopefully Congress will approve the accelerated construction of a new America class ship to replace her. And hopefully they name the new ship Bonhomme Richard.
 
....and just how we know it too. Bloody sad end.
 
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Are they still rolling with Arson? Could it be connected to this:

April 11th, 2020: Fires breaks out on China's new Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship
July 12th, 2020: USS Bonhomme Richard fire

China's been known to go eye-for-an-eye and the new Cold War is certainly underway.
 
Are they still rolling with Arson? Could it be connected to this:

April 11th, 2020: Fires breaks out on China's new Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship
July 12th, 2020: USS Bonhomme Richard fire

China's been known to go eye-for-an-eye and the new Cold War is certainly underway.
Please don't dredge up conspiracy theories. This is one of the few places on the web I can reliably go to anymore that doesn't have any
 
Are they still rolling with Arson? Could it be connected to this:

April 11th, 2020: Fires breaks out on China's new Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship
July 12th, 2020: USS Bonhomme Richard fire

China's been known to go eye-for-an-eye and the new Cold War is certainly underway.

Total paranoid bullshit !
 
Are they still rolling with Arson? Could it be connected to this:

April 11th, 2020: Fires breaks out on China's new Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship
July 12th, 2020: USS Bonhomme Richard fire

China's been known to go eye-for-an-eye and the new Cold War is certainly underway.
Please don't dredge up conspiracy theories. This is one of the few places on the web I can reliably go to anymore that doesn't have any
Well, if they suspected Arson, there would have to be motive to commit that kind of act on a ship that big. I would like to call is speculation.
 
Are they still rolling with Arson? Could it be connected to this:

April 11th, 2020: Fires breaks out on China's new Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship
July 12th, 2020: USS Bonhomme Richard fire

China's been known to go eye-for-an-eye and the new Cold War is certainly underway.
Please don't dredge up conspiracy theories. This is one of the few places on the web I can reliably go to anymore that doesn't have any
Well, if they suspected Arson, there would have to be motive to commit that kind of act on a ship that big. I would like to call is speculation.
Really? Because the USN had a Los Angeles class sub turned into a barbecue because a contractor just wanted the day off and his boss said no.
 
The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), will hold a decommissioning ceremony April 14, 2021 in San Diego, California.

 
I have yet to see any charges filed, is there any potential for this? There appears to be a trend for this, https://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/07/us/navy-submarine-lost/index.html which strikes me as more than a little strange. Knowing how patriotic most Americans are, what is the chance someone will 'find' him during his sentence and give him some 'good news' of his own.
 
I stand by my previously mentioned theory regarding the BHR fire, even if some want to discard it as CT fan-fiction.
 
U.S. Third Fleet Statement on the USS Bonhomme Richard Criminal Investigation
29 July 2021

From Commander, U.S. Third Fleet Public Affairs Office, a statement about the USS Bonhomme Richard criminal investigation attributable to Cmdr. Sean Robertson, U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesperson.

"On July 29, charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice were brought forth against a Navy Sailor in response to evidence found during the criminal investigation into the fire started on USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) on July 12, 2020. Evidence collected during the investigation is sufficient to direct a preliminary hearing in accordance with due process under the military justice system. The Sailor was a member of Bonhomme Richard’s crew at the time and is accused of starting the fire.

"Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, Commander, U.S. Third Fleet is considering court-martial charges and has directed a preliminary hearing at which an impartial hearing officer will make determinations and recommendations required by the UCMJ prior to any further trial proceedings – including whether or not there is probable cause to believe an offense has been committed and to offer a recommendation as to the disposition of the case.

"Contact the Navy Office of Information (CHINFO) for information about the separate and ongoing command investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the fire aboard the former USS Bonhomme Richard."


 
The view from the Coronado Bridge
That guy has supernatural eyesight!

Why so? It's just over a mile from the bridge to Pier 2, where BHR is berthed. That's not very far to make out broad details, assuming someone else is driving...

Here's the view from the bridge...

View: https://youtu.be/gwfpmcmv9Pk?t=219
The article originally had a typo and instead of "Coronado Bridge," it said "Colorado River."

Ah, yeah, that would be pretty remarkable. :oops:

Sorry.
Until you get sent to fix all the electrical problems on a frigate in Continental Marine's shipyard under the bridge (which I've crossed many times) right after 9/11 because the Navy is worried about a terrorist attack dropping something from it onto the ship...
 
Interesting. While I've been retired a while from the Navy (2005), back in the day damage control was taken quite seriously--at least while I was in. Firefighting training that I went to at places like Treasure Island CA (in the middle of the Bay) was realistic and even dangerous. You fought real conflagrations and were shown how to do it with existing equipment.
RefTra was focused on damage control and pretty trying. I'm pretty sure between health, safety, and environmental regulations that's no longer the case--simply to unhealthy, unsafe, and environmentally unfriendly to do that sort of thing for training...
In one of those I was in a repair locker where the majority of the crew assigned was a combination of bosun's mates and nuclear power engineers--I was the locker electrician. That worked out great like having to make a strongback for shoring. The nukes did the math and layout, the bosun's the muscle. The RefTra instructors couldn't take their shoring down with repeated sledgehammer blows...

When you don't use a skill set, you tend to lose it...
 
 

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