Bonhomme Richard Fire

[Rod Sheridan]

The average Home Depot store is just over 100,000 square feet, this boat is 88,620 square feet on the deck, slightly less below... Within THAT much space, there's gonna be plenty of stuff to catch on fire. Just the sheathing on all the electric wiring that must be in that ship would fuel a pretty good fire I'd think...

I would expect that on a ship all insulation would be fire retardant....Rod

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I would expect that on a ship all insulation would be fire retardant....Rod

One of the admirals was talking about the lower v being full of pallet sized cardboard boxes the navy calls "tri-walls." The press not having the sense God gave a mouse reported that as the fire starting in a hold full of "drywall." The tri-walls along with whatever was in them was presumably the initial fuel. Of course that admiral is the same one who said she will definitely be rebuilt and back in the fleet, so who knows if he has any idea what he is talking about.

In ordinary operation, when the air squadron and the ground combat element are aboard, the ship is packed full of flammable stuff. In addition to her own fuel, she carries ordnance for the ship itself, as well as the embarked ground combat element and the composite squadron. Then there is all of the fuel and barrels of lubricants for the aircraft and the embarked Marine equipment (tanks, howitzers, trucks, amtracs and landing craft). Hence the institutional paranoia about damage control, with strict no smoking rules, firewatches, daily damage control drills, heaven help you if you open a hatch without following the proper procedure, etc.

The Marines do not have enough spare gear to leave it on ship for two years while she is being worked on, so I am sure all of that was off. I would think the POL would have been taken off as well.

But then if you asked me if somebody would open all the hatches, disable the fire suppression systems, fill the hold with cardboard, and then set it on fire, all while she was manned with a skeleton crew I also would have thought that answer would also be no.

My guess is they allowed unnecessary gear, debris, and supplies (paint is my guess) to build up during this maintenance period. With people cycling out for leave, formal schools, mandatory don't rape each other training, etc., nobody ever thought about the fire hazard they were creating. Once it got going, there is plenty of wiring, paint, nonskid, along with the electronics and other gear in the crew quarters, offices, mess decks, etc. to keep it going. "Fire-resistant" does not mean it won't burn, particularly when you have 1000 degrees temperatures and open flame.

[Bill Dufour]

Nasa learned from Apollo one that fires do happen. I think that is a lesson the navy forgot. At least the navy does not flood everthing with pure oxygen.
Bill D

[Jerry Bruette]

Nasa learned from Apollo one that fires do happen. I think that is a lesson the navy forgot.
Bill D

I can't give the reply I'd like to. I'd probably be banned from site for life.

[Mel Fulks]

We need the Navy. I predict they will write and make public a report that will be blunt and lengthy.
I further predict the phrase "cou'da happened to any big boat" will not be in it.

[Jim Becker]

The bottom line here is that there was an unfortunate accident. Something or someone failed and that will be identified by the service and steps will be taken accordingly. It's sad that there were casualties, but fortunate the number was low because of the vessel being in-port with a minimum of folks onboard during the work that was being done. Mel, I agree that the phrase will not likely be stated, but honestly...accidents can happen in any situation in any venue with any vessel/vehicle.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

The bottom line here is that there was an unfortunate accident. Something or someone failed and that will be identified by the service and steps will be taken accordingly. It's sad that there were casualties, but fortunate the number was low because of the vessel being in-port with a minimum of folks onboard during the work that was being done. Mel, I agree that the phrase will not likely be stated, but honestly...accidents can happen in any situation in any venue with any vessel/vehicle.

Yeah, I don't agree with that last part. These ships are made to go into harms way, and it is one thing if the enemy sets it on fire or puts a hole in it. They run air operations, sometimes at a very high tempo, and you could understand an accident on the flight deck setting the thing on fire. But when the nation entrusts you with a billion dollar asset, it is going to be pretty much impossible to explain letting it burn down at the dock as "well, it could happen to anybody."

[Lee Schierer]

From what I saw of the fire fighting efforts in the video was that they were pouring water on the ship. If they had oil or electrical fires internally the water probably made the fire worse and caused it to spread. One of the lessons learned from the USS Forrestal fire was that all sailors on ships all need to know how to properly fight fires. Every sailor and officer goes to firefighting school and they actually fight fires in ship like environments. I went to firefighting school while on active duty and each time I took sailors under my command to fire training. The mistake in the Forrestal fire was that there was an oil/fuel fire. The correct fire fighting method was foam, which the fire crews before the explosion were doing. However, after the explosion knocked out some of the fire parties, inexperienced sailors grabbed additional started spraying water which dispersed the foam and allowed the fire to reignite and caused it to spread where the water flowed.

Fires on ships are not uncommon when ships are undergoing repairs by civilian contractors. Any hot work done normally on a ship has to be approved by the DCA and a full time fire watch has to be set on both sides of a deck or bulkhead.

[Mel Fulks]

Many years ago I toured a big military ship in Norfolk. A school trip thing. It was a dreary light rain day and every thing
on the ship seemed to be "battle ship grey". Near the end we were allowed to buy snacks in what ,to us ,was a store ;
might have been a rec- room for the sailors. I will never forget the shock and ...relief of seeing colors again. What a
dreary work environment. I can understand grey might make it a little harder for an enemy to see it. But I think
people function better in a "stimulating environment ". We might eventually hear that a momentary lapse of focus
contributed to the fire.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Not looking good according to the CNO:

“There is fire and water damage, to varying degrees, on 11 of 14 decks,” Gilday wrote. “With the flight deck as a reference, I walked sections of the ship 5 levels below and had the opportunity to examine the superstructure."


“The island is nearly gutted, as are sections of some of the decks below; some perhaps, nearly encompassing the 844 ft length and 106 ft beam of the ship ([Naval Sea System Command’s] detailed assessment is ongoing). Sections of the flight deck are warped/bulging.”