Massive Fire Aboard USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego

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Rapier108
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1:40p, 7/12/20


https://www.facebook.com/News8/live_videos/

https://www.facebook.com/ABC10News/live_videos/

https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/219

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USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, and the third ship of the United States Navy to bear the name. She was named in honor of John Paul Jones' famous frigate, which he had named in French "Good Man Richard," in honor of Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Ambassador to France at the time; "Richard" is derived from Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.

The primary mission of Bonhomme Richard is to embark, deploy and land elements of a Marine landing force in amphibious assault operations by helicopter, landing craft and amphibious vehicle, and if needed, to act as a light aircraft carrier.

Bonhomme Richard is currently in active service and is the flagship for Expeditionary Strike Group Three
Quoted part is from Wikipedia.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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atmtws
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1:42p, 7/12/20
AG
Praying everyone made it out safely.
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zoneag
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1:48p, 7/12/20
Aviation fuel? It's too far forward and high above the waterline for an engine room fire in my opinion. Looks to be near the hanger deck. Scary, hope they can get it under control soon, fire aboard ship is a bad deal.
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HowdyTAMU
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In reply to zoneag • 1:50p, 7/12/20
AG
The hangar deck? I thought those were only on aircraft carriers?
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dermdoc
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1:50p, 7/12/20
AG
Prayers
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Rapier108
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In reply to HowdyTAMU • 1:52p, 7/12/20
HowdyTAMU said:
The hangar deck? I thought those were only on aircraft carriers?
Wasp class Marine assault ships carry VTOL (Harriers and F-35Bs) fighters along with helicopters and V-22s.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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DCPD158
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In reply to HowdyTAMU • 1:52p, 7/12/20
AG
HowdyTAMU said:
The hangar deck? I thought those were only on aircraft carriers?
Assault ship. Harriers, attack choppers etc...
Company I-1, Ord-Ords '85 -12thFan and Websider-
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GAC06
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1:52p, 7/12/20
AG
That looks bad
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HowdyTAMU
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In reply to Rapier108 • 1:59p, 7/12/20
AG
Thanks, Rapier and DCPD. If I had simply read the first post, I would have known.
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Scruffy
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2:12p, 7/12/20
AG
Accident, design flaw, failure or sabotage?
Sailor unhappy or China getting frisky?

I hope everyone on board is ok.
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NavyAg95
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2:17p, 7/12/20
AG
My initial take:
Ship looks like it's in a maintenance availability. Ships crew would be berthed in a berthing barge. Very minimal crew would be onboard on a Sunday. Fire most likely started by a civilian shipyard worker doing hot work. Depending on the extent of the maintenance package being done, shipboard installed firefighting systems maybe down. Looks like the fire is contained mid ships possibly in the forward hanger deck. Will take hours to extinguish.
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Ulysses90
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2:17p, 7/12/20
AG
I know that the Commandant has expressed disdain for the need of big-deck amphib ships for the Marine Corps' mission but I didn't think he would take it to this extreme.
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GAC06
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In reply to NavyAg95 • 2:18p, 7/12/20
AG
Lots of fire aft as well now
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Sailor
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2:22p, 7/12/20
Agree with NavyAg. Looks like they are in a maintenace mode due to all the containers and equipment on the flight deck. Hot Work that got away from the firewatch could be a likely cause.

As I've been watching it does seem as if the fire has spread from amidships to the aft of the ship. Spreading. Not good. If they don't get this out soon, it will be an empty shell, total loss.
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Sailor
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2:24p, 7/12/20
Smoke N' Scan live feed

Wow, they are calling for all fire response people to vacate the pier. Again, not good.
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Rapier108
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2:26p, 7/12/20
Looks like they finally brought in another fire boat.

Surprising they didn't have every single fire boat there from the beginning, even if at the start all they needed was for them to standby.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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CanyonAg77
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In reply to Sailor • 2:26p, 7/12/20
AG
Quote:
If they don't get this out soon, it will be an empty shell, total loss.
All I see is a couple of fireboats on one side. Doesn't really look like they're seriously fighting it.

And agree with previous posters, all the containers on deck imply it was being worked on.
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Rapier108
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In reply to Sailor • 2:27p, 7/12/20
Sailor said:
Smoke N' Scan live feed

Wow, they are calling for all fire response people to vacate the pier. Again, not good.
There was an explosion early on in the fire, so most likely they're worried about another one.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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CanyonAg77
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2:28p, 7/12/20
AG
I'm going to show my complete ignorance here.

Are there valves where they can scuttle the ship? Sink it to put the fire out? Would it be salvageable after? Would that be more or less damaging than fire?

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?
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Decay
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 2:30p, 7/12/20
AG
CanyonAg77 said:
I'm going to show my complete ignorance here.

Are there valves where they can scuttle the ship? Sink it to put the fire out? Would it be salvageable after? Would that be more or less damaging than fire?

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?
Well for starters the boat's abandoned so nobody to scuttle it.
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Rapier108
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 2:31p, 7/12/20
CanyonAg77 said:
I'm going to show my complete ignorance here.

Are there valves where they can scuttle the ship? Sink it to put the fire out? Would it be salvageable after? Would that be more or less damaging than fire?

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?
I would assume they could scuttle the ship, but the harbor isn't that deep. It might not sink far enough to snuff the fire. Also, getting enough people to the valves would be difficult if not impossible.

Remember the ships sunk at Peal Harbor? USS West Virginia settled upright and its main deck was pretty much at the waterline.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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Law Hall 69-72
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2:31p, 7/12/20
AG
Since Ben Franklin didn't take a stand against slavery in his early years, the latest ship to have the name of Bonhomme Richard, is obviously cursed in today's woke world.
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Rapier108
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2:32p, 7/12/20
It seems the fire may be coming under control. The level of smoke has dropped off a lot, especially from the side where the fire boats have been working.
"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Sir Winston Churchill
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Sailor
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 2:34p, 7/12/20
CanyonAg77 said:
I'm going to show my complete ignorance here.

Are there valves where they can scuttle the ship? Sink it to put the fire out? Would it be salvageable after? Would that be more or less damaging than fire?

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?
Yes, they can flood the tanks and voids to put the ship on the bottom but I promise you there is not enough depth there to sink that ship. Heck, when hard storms would come in they would bottom out carriers to keep them from moving.

Also, you have to get to those controls to flood the voids, not sure they can get to them right now.
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ABATTBQ11
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 2:34p, 7/12/20
AG
CanyonAg77 said:
I'm going to show my complete ignorance here.

Are there valves where they can scuttle the ship? Sink it to put the fire out? Would it be salvageable after? Would that be more or less damaging than fire?

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?


Probably not worth it. Salvageable? Sure. Repairable? Probably not. Basically everything electronic would be gone. You'd have to gut the entire thing, and that's private not worth it.
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lunchbox
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2:34p, 7/12/20
Fireboats leaving the area
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lunchbox
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2:35p, 7/12/20
Fire apparently getting close to fuel tanks
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lunchbox
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2:37p, 7/12/20
Ship next to it might also be on fire per scanner.
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CanyonAg77
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2:37p, 7/12/20
AG
I'm going to assume the smaller ship on the opposite side is not capable of being moved? Looks like they would have towed it away ASAP.
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Sailor
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2:37p, 7/12/20
they need to get that Burke class destroyer off the other side of the pier. They can tow it out. This is crazy serious if the fuel catches fire, especially if it is aviation fuel, JP5.
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Goose83
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In reply to CanyonAg77 • 2:37p, 7/12/20
AG
CanyonAg77 said:

Heck, is there even enough water under it to sink into?
Probably not (then again, I don't know the depth at San Diego). It would probably just settle halfway to the bottom like the battleships at Pearl did.

My concern, as it is a Sunday (and it appears that she is undergoing maintenance), is that the regular damage control crews are not on board, which will further exacerbate the situation.
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NavyAg95
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2:38p, 7/12/20
AG
First rule in shipboard firefighting is containment. Got to box the fire in on all sides including below and over. Takes a hell of a lot of people especially if they have to go on air.
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wbt5845
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2:39p, 7/12/20
AG
There should be no aircraft on board while in port. Not sure if F-35B had deployed to this ship yet anyway. If they had, they're in Yuma.
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GAC06
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2:39p, 7/12/20
AG
Need to move that destroyer
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NavyAg95
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2:41p, 7/12/20
AG
Fires like this spread through ventilation ducks and cable ways. Will take a lot of effort to fully extinguish.
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