Bad news for the U.S. Navy

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux) 07/14/2020 at 01:39 • Filed to: None

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At least there’s been no loss of life, but this ship will be out of commission for a while. Or permanently.

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jminer > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 01:57

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A carrier burning while docked for upgrades , that’s an unusual way to go.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > jminer 07/14/2020 at 02:12

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Not really, during refits, retrofits and other upgrades is usually the time where you encounter the most amount of shipboard modifications like welding, cutting and grinding . It can introduce heat and sparks to spaces that don’t see it often .

As noted in the article vessels also don’t typically have on the full complement of crew and though you should actually have a complement of a fire teams ready, it’s rarely the case, I’ve seen at least on the merchant side where we have max 1/2 the deck crew for refit when I worked ferries .

Typically you require dedicated hot work permits and this requires a list to go through to make the area safe from flammables . H owever, screw ups DO happen, especially with regards to contractor and crew liaisons for work.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 02:14

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I’ve been on that ship!

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 02:20

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You know, it seriously sucks to be down an asset, but not loo sing lives is a plus in this shitty year.

It’s hard to say which way this will go without actually taking a good gander at the damage and having knowledge of the vessel.

Gerry197 > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 02:36

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I was just cruising down silver strand in San Diego, Coronado, which is highway right by the beach, seeing if I could get a glimpse of Navy Seals training, then I noticed cars stopping on the right side of the road watching the bay.

Finally noticed the amphibious ship on fire deep inside the bay. Pulled over and pulled out my phone to see the news, luckily no one was seriously hurt but it’s still smoking a day later.

To think the ship was near the end of it’s 250 million refit, and the possibility it will all need to be scrapped.  

facw > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 03:09

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It will be interesting to see what happens. It might be that they give up on it and it becomes the first Wasp-class ship replaced by an America-class ship, but the next America-class isn’t due until 2024, so that would be a gap. We do have three Tarawa-class ships that haven’t gone to the scrapper, but the most recently retired one, Peleliu , was decommissioned in 2015, so I’d imagine it would be a task to bring one of those back as well (though probably a lot less than repairing a ship that was on fire for as long as Bonhomme Richard was). Flight deck isn’t completely rusted (as of a year ago) , which is a good sign:

Cé hé sin > jminer 07/14/2020 at 04:45

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Fires in yards are by no means unusual. Lots of welding going on for a start.

facw > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) 07/14/2020 at 07:05

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Arsonist!

facw > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 07:18

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Yeah, she feels pretty done:

I’m sure they could repair it with enough time and money, but is it really worth it vs. saying that Bougainville will replace this when it is completed instead of whichever ship they were planning originally? Especially since I’m sure they could get a Tarawa back in service waster than dealing with this to fill the gap in the interim.

hillrat > Just Jeepin' 07/14/2020 at 07:53

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I work for the Army and there will be MANY jokes about this for a very long time.

ranwhenparked > facw 07/14/2020 at 08:52

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Particularly since, at 22 years old, it’s already more than halfway through its useful service life. That looks like almost 2 year s’ worth of work in a competitive commercial shipyard, so probably 5+ years' work in an American defense focused shipyard, aside from cost, it would be pushing 30 years old by the time it got back to the fleet. 

ranwhenparked > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com 07/14/2020 at 09:07

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Also, when you're doing a comprehensive overhaul on all of a ship's systems, that means that some of those systems are going to be offline for at least part of the process. 

user314 > facw 07/14/2020 at 09:07

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Yeah, I’ve a feeling LHA-9 or -10 is going to be named Bonhomme Richard .

user314 > jminer 07/14/2020 at 09:20

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You’d be surprised .

Fires in shipyards happen more often than you think.

And that’s not the only hazard .