A massive fire, likely caused by lax fire safety practices during pier-side maintenance, ravaged the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) on Sunday, one of America’s 10 big-deck amphibious assault ships. These vessels are intended to be an integral part in holding the line against a resurgent China, and the loss of this multibillion-dollar ship—which appears likely—will be felt throughout the fleet.
The fire, reported at approximately 8:30 AM on Sunday, was, seven hours later, still burning, and could yet burn for some time. The ship, undergoing maintenance in San Diego, had about 160 sailors aboard at the time of the incident. Eighteen have reportedly been sent to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
While the extent of the damage is unknown, the fire has been intense enough to buckle structural steel and melt the tires on vehicles parked on the flight deck. Given the extent of the damage, the ship will, at a minimum, be out of service for years, and may well be written off as a total loss.
Shipyard Fires Are Entirely Preventable
While the cause of the fire is under investigation, we already know that shipyard fires are a serious problem for the U.S. Navy right now. Multiple fires have broken out in U.S. Navy ships undergoing maintenance over the past several months, and, rather than make changes, the U.S. Navy seems to have chosen to ignore the problem, happier to gloat and point fingers as shipyard fires nearly sank Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov in 2019 and one of China’s new Type 075 big-deck amphibious assault ships earlier this year. The U.S. Navy’s failure to act—even after several warnings and close calls—is inexplicable and inexcusable.
Barring very unusual circumstances, the shipyard fire that is currently consuming the USS Bonhomme Richard is likely to have been completely and entirely avoidable.
Pier-side fires are rare when maintainers follow basic fire prevention practices.
But, despite multiple warnings over the past several years, the U.S. Navy evidently still has a serious problem with shipyard maintenance safety. As I wrote in late 2019, “While the U.S. Navy has worked to reset training for ship handling after two fatal accidents in 2017, the Navy has taken an arguably greater materiel loss in avoidable shipyard accidents since 2012 and has exhibited little energy in remedying it.”
As this prized front-line asset is, as of this writing, settling by the bow, weighed down by water pumped aboard by firefighters, the Navy is discovering a hard reality about fire safety. Fires and accidents will keep happening until either ships sink, sailors die, or somebody, somewhere in the leadership chain, gets deadly serious about prevention.
If this incident is identified as being caused by a departure from basic, simple—albeit time-consuming fire safety rules, everyone from admirals on down need to be immediately shown the door.
It is not like the Navy hasn’t been warned. The fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard broke out—in an ironic note—just across the pier from the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), freshly back from a multi-year refit after a fatal 2017 collision at sea. During that ship’s multi-year refit, the USS Fitzgerald’s captain grew so concerned about fire safety practices that he wrote a promptly leaked memo for the record noting more than 15 separate fire safety incidents in the yard, including “poorly staffed fire watches, a smoldering deck, combustible material catching on fire, the discovery of previously unreported burnt-cable spot fires and fires that melted equipment.”
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While much of the Navy focuses on lethality and in surviving the battlefield, it will be interesting to see if the skipper of the USS Bonhomme Richard—itself fresh from a $250 million refit to operate next-generation F-35B fighter jets—took a similar interest in securing his ship while under maintenance.
Pier-side Fires Have Sunk A U.S. Fleet
The only thing mariners fear more than a fire at sea is a fire in a refitting vessel. A shipyard refit is one of the most perilous times for a vessel. In a refit, safety-oriented ship systems are often shut down, critical passageways are blocked by cables, pallets and other flammable materiel as workers—who are often stressed and pressed for time—carry out a variety of maintenance tasks with an eye for cutting corners. In such an environment, poor safety practices can lead to a catastrophe.
America’s Navy has seen these scenarios play out far too many times. In 2012, America lost the multibillion-dollar attack submarine USS Miami (SSN 755) because a shipyard worker, eager to leave work early, set the sub on fire. Last year, 11 U.S. sailors were injured in a fire aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), a critical Marine-toting mini-carrier. USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) also suffered a fire in November 2018, and subsequent damage will keep the ship out of the fleet for almost two years longer than planned. According to USNI News, the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) suffered a shipyard fire as well. In 2011, a fire torched the stacks of the USS Spruance (DDG 111). Other recent shipyard mishaps have included over $30 million worth of damage to the future destroyer Delbert D. Black (DDG 119) after a collision in April 2019. These, along with other avoidable incidents—fires at sea, groundings, collisions and other accidents—have essentially sunk or sidelined an entire U.S. battle fleet.
The Navy needs to wake up.
If this latest fire is found to be an avoidable incident, consequences need to be meted out swiftly at every level of the command chain. The Navy has lost too many ships and swept too many egregious and recent instances of shipyard/pier-side disregard for fire safety under the rung. Accidents do happen, but if willful disregard for basic fire safety practice is the cause of this current debacle, then it is time to make an example of the leaders that allowed this incident to happen on their watch. It is the only way to get about focusing the service’s attention on the elimination of avoidable shipyard accidents.
Only steady leadership will stop this waterfront carnage. Without leadership, these days, far too many waterfront personnel are far too ready to pass over authoritative, informed safety guidance and do things that they shouldn’t do. And if Navy leadership is content to look the other way, then Congress must act to focus the Navy’s attention on avoiding avoidable incidents.
Put bluntly, America has far too many challenges at sea to worry about maintenance workers at home sinking America’s precious fleet.
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