July 13, 2020

"No Bonfire!" Fire on USS Bonhomme Richard, Naval Base San Diego, 21 injured

AP via Australia’s Government owned ABC News reports July 13, 2020, 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-13/us-naval-ship-fire-leaves-21-injured-uss-bonhomme-richard/12448428 :

“Fire on US naval ship USS Bonhomme Richard [LHD-6] docked at San Diego port leaves 21 injured”

"An explosion and fire on board a ship at a naval base in the United States have injured 21 people.

Key points:

-  The cause of the fire is still under investigation
-  The ship was undergoing routine maintenance at the time
-  About 160 sailors were on board.

The blaze at Naval Base San Diego in California was reported shortly before 9am on July 12, 2020 (California time/date) on USS Bonhomme Richard, US Navy spokesman Mike Raney said.

Seventeen sailors and four civilians were taken to hospital with "non-life threatening injuries", Mr Raney said in a brief statement.

Officials earlier said at least one person was treated for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire was under investigation and it was not immediately known where on the 255-metre amphibious assault vessel the blast and fire occurred.

The flames sent up a huge plume of dark smoke, visible around San Diego.

San Diego is the Bonhomme Richard's home port and it was undergoing routine maintenance at the time of the fire.

About 160 sailors and officers were on board, Mr Raney said — far fewer than the thousand typically on the ship when on active duty.

...Two other docked ships, USS Fitzgerald and [destroyer] USS Russell, were moved to berths away from the fire, Mr Raney said."

[Pete Comment: USS Fitzgerald was one of the two US destroyers involved in major collisions in 2017.]


Firefighting boats spray water onto the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard.        (Above photo courtesy Reuters: Bing Guan).

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Fox News Youtube Video Possible welding accident?
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No Bonfire!

1 comment:

Shawn C said...

Not sure it was a welding accident. The fire happened deep in the well deck, in space usually used for USMC storage.

She's probably a total constructive loss - live video a couple hours ago (from when I'm posting this) showed the superstructure on fire and her mast melted.

Sad end to a naval warrior. :(