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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| The Bonnie Dick is Burning.... 21 injured at Naval Base San Diego |
| 2020-07-13 |
| ...USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) is on fire at San Diego. Witnesses are reporting at least one major explosion - an acquaintance of mine was a couple miles from the yard, and he felt it. It was a three alarm fire, but there are now reports that it is out of control and all firefighters have been pulled back. There were approximately 200 crew aboard when the fire started; and there are unconfirmed reports of about a dozen injuries. Pray God that's as bad as it gets. Mike [FoxNews] At least 21 people suffered minor injuries on Sunday after an explosion and fire broke out on the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego, military officials said. "Seventeen Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital. All inport ships have been contacted and directed to provide fire parties to possibly assist with firefighting efforts," the Navy said in a statement. The blaze was reported on the ship shortly before 9 a.m., said Krishna Jackson, the base's public information officer. As of Sunday evening, the fire had yet to be contained. The Navy said Federal Fire San Diego is the on-scene lead for firefighting efforts on Naval Base San Diego combatting the fire. “Currently there are two firefighting teams fighting the fire aboard the ship,” Federal Fire San Diego Division Chief Rob Bondurant said. “Federal Fire is rotating their crews aboard the ship with U.S. Navy firefighting crews from the waterfront to fight the fire in order to, find the seat of the fire and extinguish it. Also, Navy Region Southwest tugs are also continuously combatting the fire from the bay” The origin of the fire is still unknown and is pending investigation. Later Sunday, the Navy said two guided-missile destroyers were moved away from the Bonhomme Richard after it caught fire. One of the warships forced to switch births was the USS Fitzgerald, which had just returned to the fleet following a collision at sea off the coast of Japan three years ago that killed seven sailors. "At approximately 1:00 p.m., USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) shifted berths to a pier further away from the fire. USS Russell (DDG 59) moved approximately 30 minutes later," the Navy said. U.S. Pacific Fleet Naval Surface Forces had tweeted earlier that 18 sailors "have been transferred to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries," adding that 160 were on board at the time of the explosion. The cause of the fire was under investigation. Jackson didn't know where on the 840-foot amphibious assault vessel the explosion and the fire occurred. Images of the fire initially showed a huge plume of smoke visible around San Diego. The city is the home port of the Bonhomme Richard, which was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday released a statement Sunday night, saying: "Today, we suffered a terrible tragedy aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) when a fire broke out aboard the ship while in port San Diego. At this point, 17 Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a local hospital. The remainder of the crew is accounted for. We are grateful for the quick and immediate response of local, base and shipboard firefighters aboard USS Bonhomme Richard. Our thoughts and prayers are with our BHR Sailors, their families and our emergency responders who continue to fight the fire. Godspeed."
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| Posted by:Mike Kozlowski |
| #20 Dunno, either, TW... and yes, 3DC there were fire tugs onsite, keep in mind it was berthed so only one side was accessible by tug |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-07-13 18:20 |
| #19 I have no idea why he was unable to post the above here. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-07-13 17:56 |
| #18 Seeking Cure For Ignorance commented in the O Club: Re #4 "To lose a hull is total BS." No it's possible for an otherwise intact hull to be a total loss. Keep in mind it's a warship and as such the hull has to use special grades of steel in order to withstand torpedos and missiles. A massive fire will weaken the steel to the point where (almost) a BB gun and shoot a pellet thru the hull, in which case, it's unsuitable to be a warship and thus be declared a total loss. So not BS after all. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-07-13 17:55 |
| #17 Doesn't San Diego have fireboats anymore? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2020-07-13 17:47 |
| #16 Ah, Franklin (Poor Richard's Almanack)? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-13 14:15 |
| #15 Here are some comments from a professional. |
| Posted by: Matt 2020-07-13 13:49 |
| #14 ^ Named for John Paul Jones' ship, which was donated to the cause by France. The present one is the third ship to bear that name. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-07-13 13:46 |
| #13 USS Bonhomme Richard? The good-natured Dick? Who named that ship; Barney Frank? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-07-13 13:09 |
| #12 Worse, if the Dems win, it's not real clear that we build another ship for a long time. If Dems win, you won't need to. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-07-13 12:16 |
| #11 I'm perfectly willing to assume this was an accident, but (a) we just lost a major fleet unit and (b) the Navy is having an awful lot of accidents lately (McCain, Fitzgerald, etc., and I suppose you could consider the LCS class an "accident".) Worse, if the Dems win, it's not real clear that we build another ship for a long time. |
| Posted by: Matt 2020-07-13 12:12 |
| #10 Thirty miles north of the ship the air smells like an electrical fire, much different from the smell of brush fires that we get in October but no less disturbing. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2020-07-13 12:10 |
| #9 Still on fire. They are doing Helo water drops this AM |
| Posted by: Frank G 2020-07-13 09:37 |
| #8 Amazing how there are no news. |
| Posted by: Thorong Grundy1520 2020-07-13 08:25 |
| #7 No way to get that gas out of these ship from outside I suppose? |
| Posted by: gorb 2020-07-13 07:47 |
| #6 Chinese and now Americans. Doesn't anybody know how to play this game? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-07-13 07:42 |
| #5 #4 One wonders if it was sabotage. Where were the damage control parties. As former Navy, we all went through shipboard fire fighting. They could have broke out the OBA's, Applicators and fought this fire like it is taught in school. To lose a hull is total BS. Posted by: Cloting B. Hayes6173 2020-07-13 07:26 ...There were only about 200 folks aboard BHD when this took place - and most of them were shipyard workers. On top of that, I'm hearing that the firefighting foam system on the hangar deck - where this mess started - was tagged out due to the work being done. Occam's Razor tells us that the simplest explanation is almost always the accurate one, and I'm guessing that 'accident' is the explanation. A billion dollar accident that just whacked an appreciable fraction of our amphibious strike power, but an accident nevertheless. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2020-07-13 07:34 |
| #4 One wonders if it was sabotage. Where were the damage control parties. As former Navy, we all went through shipboard fire fighting. They could have broke out the OBA's, Applicators and fought this fire like it is taught in school. To lose a hull is total BS. |
| Posted by: Cloting B. Hayes6173 2020-07-13 07:26 |
| #1 ...An update from friends in San Diego and otherwise in the Business: the BHD is apparently totally engulfed in flames. The fire spread upwards to the island and the bridge, and God alone knows how deeply downwards in the hull. At this point, the ship is most likely a total loss. This will be the largest combatant hull (40,500 tons) ever lost for any reason by the USN. The new America class is starting to come online (2 new ships with 9 more ordered) but there have been quiet rumors that the first two - America and Tripoli - were being shopped to South Korea. That may be on hold now if for no other reason than we can't afford to lose another big deck. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2020-07-13 05:39 |