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USS Bonhomme Richard on fire


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1 hour ago, Bounce said:

The Soviets have some fifty-eight nuclear submarines headed at high speed into the Atlantic. This afternoon's satellite pass over Poliyarny found heat blooms in the engineering plants of the Kirov, the Minsk and more than twenty cruisers and destroyers indicating that the bulk of their surface fleet is also preparing to sail.

 

 

Remember, something in here don't react to well to bullets.

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https://news.usni.org/2020/07/14/navy-fighting-2-major-fires-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-as-battle-enters-third-day

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Sailors and firefighting crews are still battling two “major” fires aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), three days after a fire sparked and quickly spread throughout the amphibious assault ship, Navy officials said on Tuesday.

One of the fires is in the forward part of the ship, while the other is burning in the rear or aft portion, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of the San Diego-based Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said during a morning press briefing at the naval base.
“We’ve got it now isolated to two main areas,” he said.

Firefighting crews just recently got access to the forward section, however, where that fire is burning from a new heat source. Fireboats have been pouring water into those spaces because fire crews had not been able to reach them.

“The one aft, we’re still investigating, but we’re just finding out its initial heat source and we want to investigate … is it an actual fire or was it a residual and still sort of smoking,” he said.

 

 

And

 

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/13/warships-in-maintenance-always-face-increased-risk-for-fire-damage

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The maintenance activities helped the fire spread faster than it would if the ship were operating at sea, for example, but it’s still unclear what role, if any, maintenance activities played in actually igniting the fire.

“I can’t speak to the origination of the fire other than we first got the report in the lower v of the ship, and that’s where basically we store all the tanks and all the other things, the Marine Corps equipment. If you open the stern gate in the back of the ship, in there, that’s kind of where we believe, just above that is where we believe things started,” Sobeck said.
“Because of the amount of shipyard work that’s been done … that was used as a large storage area … supplies and that kind of stuff were all there, and that’s what I think ignited and started the fire.”

Asked if maintenance work was happening in the lower v, he said no.

He made clear that the priority for now was putting out the fire, and that investigating its causes and learning lessons for safer operations in the future would come later.

 

 

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Maritime Executive, and, G Captain, are other sources for maritime news,

 

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/major-fire-still-burning-towards-bow-aboard-uss-bonhomme-richard

 

https://gcaptain.com/fire-continues-to-burn-on-uss-bonhomme-richard/

Lots of photos on this one.

 

 

Edited by southwestforests
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6 hours ago, GW8345 said:

Remember, something in here don't react to well to bullets.

 

Slight correction, "Ryan, shum things in here don't react well to bullisch." :whistle:

 

Seriously though, I'm truly saddened and dismayed to see the amount of damage the ship has suffered and this is just what we can see on the outside. I can't imagine the devastation inside the ship. I wonder if she will be salvageable after this.

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I don't know if it will be economically feasible to repair the ship. The entire superstructure will have to be dismantled and replaced. Then again, I have seen miracles happen. 

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21 hours ago, Michael A. said:

If you want to get the gist of what fighting a fire on a ship at sea is like, read Danger's Hour; The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her, by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy.

 

Spoiler Alert: Not For The Faint of Heart!

"Lucky Lady" USS Franklin

"Sailors to the End" USS Forrestal

Are also fascinating reads.

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1 hour ago, GW8345 said:

That's the Marines, which is a department in the Navy.............................The Ladies Department:monkeydance:

 

understood.  I was more responding to 11bee.  hehehhehehe.

 

Internationally speaking.... every derogatory comment was uttered by some clown that knows deep down inside that the USN would clean their collective clocks, no matter the collisions, nav errors, groundings, fires, and scandals.  🙂

Edited by Bounce
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Fellows, may I ask that we cool it with the derogatory comments please? I understand free speech and all, but there are other forums out there for that kind of talk. That being said, does it look like the ship might be salvageable or a total write off? It looks like the flight deck was burned through in a couple of the pictures that I saw. The superstructure will of course have to be replaced. In a couple of places on the hull, it looks like the paint has bubbled and burned off. Could it be that the fire got hot enough in places to compromise the hull integrity? 

Edited by caudleryan
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My guess is;

 

It's not cost effective to repair the ship and she will be scrapped.

 

The ship is 23 years old and only has about another 10-15 years of service life left so is probably won't be worth repairing (if the damage is as extensive as everyone is saying) and the Navy will just strip her and scrap the hulk.

 

Just my guess.

 

Also, I find it hard to believe that the fire has burned through the flight deck, the BHR has an armored flight deck, it would take a heck of a lot for a fire to burn through it.

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5 hours ago, GW8345 said:

I am not concerned or think the accidents that have happened are "unacceptable". The Navy is not some cruise liner company, they sail into harms way every day on warships, not the Pearl of the Sea.

 

The US Navy is the largest Navy in the world and has more ships afloat than any other. Considering that, they actually have a very good record. Considering how dangerous naval activities are, it is amazing that the US Navy does so well. It is a credit to their dedication and high standards.

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3 hours ago, GW8345 said:

Also, I find it hard to believe that the fire has burned through the flight deck, the BHR has an armored flight deck, it would take a heck of a lot for a fire to burn through it.

 

The pics I've seen show holes burned through the island's deck not the flight deck, but there are areas where the paint has bubbled or burned off the flight deck. Looks like some areas got very hot. Can't imagine what kind of hell it was like inside the hanger deck. I'm just glad that there has been no loss of life and limited injuries.

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Some more pics of the interior of the ship showing the extent of the damage. The ship has now listed to port towards the pier. All personnel have evacuated the ship.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/34862/firefighters-evacuated-from-still-burning-uss-bonhomme-richard-after-it-lists-towards-pier

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Aw man, that's sad.

☹️

Found something worth noting:

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"“All shipboard fires are difficult to fight," said maritime lawyer Rod Sullivan, who served in the Navy. “It’s very difficult to choke off oxygen in open deck spaces," and then to follow the flames into all the nooks on a boat.

It's not uncommon for ship fires to take days to extinguish, he added, pointing to a fire last month on a car-carrying cargo ship that burned in Jacksonville, Florida, for eight days."

 

 

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/politics/explosion-threat-eases-at-burning-navy-warship-in-san-diego/2365645/

 

A story about that, https://www.firehouse.com/operations-training/news/21142086/fl-cargo-ship-fire-that-injured-nine-firefighters-extinguished

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The more I see the more I'm thinking that she will be scrapped, it doesn't look cost effective to repair her.

 

Looks like all of the hatches were open for ventilation so that allowed the fire to spread quickly.

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16 hours ago, Mstor said:

 

The pics I've seen show holes burned through the island's deck not the flight deck, but there are areas where the paint has bubbled or burned off the flight deck. Looks like some areas got very hot. Can't imagine what kind of hell it was like inside the hanger deck. I'm just glad that there has been no loss of life and limited injuries.

once again, it will take 3000+ degrees of heat to get to the position to burn thru the flight deck, and that's only with high pressure air pushing it. You have none of these elements! When steel gets into the 4000+ range it will actually burn like paper, and once on fire it's gonna burn forever or till the temp is reduced. 

gary

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Just because there isn't a hole burned through metal doesn't mean it's isn't damaged.  Extreme heat changes the physical properties of metals, and those different properties may make it unsuitable for the task it had before the heat.

 

Damaged metal in bulkheads and/or the hull is only one of the problems that may scrap this ship.  I suspect the electrical systems (cabling etc) has also been destroyed in many parts of the ship.  That kind of damage will be Very Expensive to repair.

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4 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

once again, it will take 3000+ degrees of heat to get to the position to burn thru the flight deck, and that's only with high pressure air pushing it. You have none of these elements! When steel gets into the 4000+ range it will actually burn like paper, and once on fire it's gonna burn forever or till the temp is reduced. 

gary

 

Gary, I was agreeing with GW8345, not disagreeing. I wanted to point out that the holes aren't in the flight deck and the pics show that. Good info though, about the temps required. Thanks. :thumbsup:

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41 minutes ago, Mstor said:

 

Gary, I was agreeing with GW8345, not disagreeing. I wanted to point out that the holes aren't in the flight deck and the pics show that. Good info though, about the temps required. Thanks. :thumbsup:

I didn't realize it was you! Doesn't matter much anyway, as we all are arm chair engineers (I am a mechanical engineer with a low grade minor in metallurgical engineering [ think I need about twelve or thirteen credit hours to have a double major). What will happen with the intense heated areas is that if left to cool down at the surrounding temps, the metal will become "normalized", and should be relatively stress free. Remember all that welding when building a ship imparts huge amounts of stress. The real issue is warpage of water tight areas and shock from pouring tons of cool water on the super heated surfaces. Even spraying boiling water will shock the metal surfaces. Another interesting thing coming about from the fire is that the welds will be annealed. This can also be a good thing, or can also be a bad thing if the are annealed to the point they loose strength (probably somewhere in the 1460 degree range), But are quite fixable if you know what your doing. 

       I'm guessing all is doable, but the hull may never see another day as a combat ship. This is not a submarine with tens of thousands pounds of external pressures against the hull. Someone posted that the hull maybe scrapped due to age alone. Possible for sure, but also extremely expensive in the end. I see it as a training ship they got for below minimum costs. 

gary

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7 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

I see it as a training ship they got for below minimum costs. 

 

 
A ship is a ship and needs to be structurally sound regardless of whether it’s a training ship or a deployable asset. Looking at various photographs coming out of the ship, I cannot see the BR setting sail again.  The damage to the ships systems alone will outweigh any economical repair, and it would probably be cheaper to build a straight replacement. 

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Found this 30 minute news conference on CBS 8's YouTube,

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The fire is out after 5 days of burning on USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego

9,341 views

•Streamed live 13 hours ago

CBS 8 San Diego

FIRE IS OUT: Navy officials hold briefing announcing that after 5 days of firefighting, all known fires have been extinguished aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6).

 

 

 

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