I'm glad you said that. I was on the Boxer while in the Marine infantry 97-2006.I'm literally shedding tears now. Thank you for your understanding and empathy truly. More crying then violence these days lol...Semper Fi and thank you for making me feel a lot less weird
@@invadegreece9281 actually I was on the Cleveland and the big ship was the Boxer. I'm unsure whos who these days. The Cleveland was a LPD. I was in a boat company
@@michaelsullivan2554 While on the Cleveland with the 11th MEU I gained a tremendous amount of respect for sailor's. They know their ship are hard workers and prideful. Good people...and I wouldn't fuck with Navy. Semper Fi shipmate. Stay safe
This was my first ship after boot camp, October 2006 to October 2011, never thought I'd see her go down like this. I had many great and bad experiences here.
Was stationed there from 07 to 12....best ship in the fleet and my favorite command. I see it every day at work and still feels like a punch to the gut. :(
I herd that it was likely arson. I worked, as a contractor, with the AF. We all had either a "Secret or TS-SCI" clearance. I would assume that the Navy also requires Secret or above clearances. When something of this magnitude happens, the AF quickly search for someone to crucify. As a former Marine, this breaks my heart. Regardless, I hope the truth comes out.
Oh they'll hang some poor sailor for tossing a cigarette, but even if that were true there are so many contributing factors that the brass failed to deal with: someone up top should hang as well “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@vigilantobserver8389, I think the truth is, if a cigarette could do this then a missile could have done it too. There is a giant fire problem with this vessel, perhaps design or perhaps improper handling. So no one sailor is responsible for this. It is the upper ranks that have failed.
It's official, it's a goner, but if the US Navy were to get another America class light carrier/amphibious assault ship it would be for the better, those new America class ships are highly capable platforms.
Old Carrier Vet here... Agreed, I had a VIP Tour of LHA-6 USS America and what a BEAST inside and out !!! They can really turn these light Carriers out and I'm all for it !!!
Well the Wasp Class vessels Are slated for decommissioning on a roughly 1:1 basis as new America Class vessels (or its theoretical successor class) come online. It’s just the The BR wasn’t scheduled to be the first Wasp Class to be decommissioned. On that not part of what’s missing from the financial discussion is the extension of life servicing that the older Wasp Class vessels will have to go through to make up the gap with having the BH cut in line to the breakers.
The uss America is actually more light carrier than the rest of her class will be. She has a higher speed and no well deck. The rest of the class is much slower and reverts back to a well deck
@@mikee9756 I wonder if that was a decision to go back to the well deck for the remainder of the class, or to mix it up to that half have the well deck, half are mini carriers,
@@joeyboedeker7205 Good Good men. Honorable and take pride in their ships. Hard workers. Transportation of MOE gas I think jp5..for are zodiac? I worked with Chief. Ropa. Smart guy and it was a privilege to have him lead me among my new home. He loved his job and it effects this Marine 17 years later. Semper Fi Gator Navy professional sharp capable willing.
@@tyleralexander6368 unless they don’t have time to do a voice over/speak broken English and have a bad accent, or any number of tbings that dwindle down to simply not wanting to for personal privacy reasons. Thing is- no matter the voice, your still here, still watched the video
I was there an saw the ship burning in San Diego visiting my brother who just returned to port on cvn-71 Theodore Roosevelt. I am no expert on ships but I knew the ship was lost. Even still burning five days later. It’s a miracle in itself it didn’t sink at doc
I left the Navy thirty years ago after 10 yrs., all of it "haze grey and underway". This news hits me in the gut! Damn! For now I'm too sad to be angry at the shipmate that caused it. (12/5/20)
The cause has not been determined...they do not know if was an accident or arson. Sadly the Navy has a history of assigning blame where there is none. The USS Iowa was such an incident. A overram incident blamed on an innocent sailor. The USS Indianapolis sinking by a Japanese submarine blamed on the Captain when it made no difference whether he was zigzaging or not. Usually these actions are taken to cover the Navy Brass or contractor mistakes. So we will see.
@@johnpitchlynn9341 well, there was that time a worker started a fire on USS Miami which eventually led to her being decommissioned. He wanted to get off work early that day. SSN-755, 2012 fire, Casey J. Fury.
Motoroid ..that's true and he only got 17 years when he should have gotten life. But it took awhile for NCIS to figure the cause and nail him for crime. Miami was totaled as well. But still going to take awhile to determine if this incident was arson or accident.
@@johnpitchlynn9341 I just look at what was going on at that time. Even having her unavailable for months would benefit the PRC. Will the Navy transfer one of the East coast LHDs over to fill in her place until a new ship is built?
@@MotoroidARFC Don't know if they would. They need one both places. We should build more but we'll see what happens. I know the next class of LHDs is being built and they will have to add one to make up the short fall or take one old original LHAs are refurbish it there are 3 in mothballs. Tarawa, Nassau and Peleliu that could be used as well. They have let a contract for LHA-9 (as yet unnamed) so they may add an LHA-10. So no decision yet.
The only positive thing to come out of this was that every sailor on the waterfront had a chance to dress out and fight an actual casualty, some multiple times. Something you can't get from the one-day fire school everyone goes to.
True but if they had been to fire school in the first place the response probably would have gone better! “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@WALTERBROADDUS Experience is always a positive. Yes it came at far to high a price, and it shouldn't have happened, but like he said, it's the ONLY positive.
Prime contractors need to be insured and held liable for the cost of vessels in their care. This ship better not end up in a Chinese scrap yard! What an outrage!
They never said anything like this at pearl harbour,they rebuilt whatever they could.we don't have the ship yards,to handle problems like this anymore.
His statement is still true... a lot of the shipyards capable of repairing her were privatized so the navy has to pay out to use those facilities, skyrocketing her cost.
Privatization had nothing to do with it: the same yard that would be tasked with rebuilding her is going to be the yard tasked with replacing her. With island destroyed, even if the hull were not damaged by the fire, repair vs new would be borderline. But with all the electronics in the island destroyed and the hull likely damaged, I would have been seriously surprised if they came to any other conclusion.
The reason is that during World War II the majority of navy ships had very simple equipment the most complicated equipment will be the radar system it was very basic modern ships are filled with high end state of the art technology with loads of electronics.
Here's a hint, genius Brass Hats. If you don't want the superstructure of a ship to melt in a fire, building it out of old aluminum beer cans might not be your best plan.
True, but steel is literally three times as heavy per given volume. So by utilizing aluminum they were able to free up weight which could be used for cargo/ammunition/fuel etc...
@@jim2lane Stainless Steel has the same strength to weight ratio as aluminium. It just costs more. People have built both aircraft and rockets out of stainless steel for this very reason (look up the history of what WD40 was originally invented for). The HMS Sheffield was destroyed after being hit by an Exocet missile that failed to explode - the missiles fuel set the ship on fire.
@@allangibson2408 - stainless steel has a tensile strength of 505 MPa and a density of 8 gcm-3, while aluminum has a tensile strength of 276 MPa and a density of 2.81gcm-3. So to achieve the same strength with a volume of stainless as you have with same volume of aluminum you would still be twice as heavy
Woke up in the Barracks on NBSD that morning because my nose was picking up a horrible smell. Asked my roommate wtf was on fire and he said “the BHR”. Thought it was a joke, only to walk outside and see her completely ablaze. Stood there all day and watched her burn, couldn’t believe my eyes. Then she burnt for the next 72 hours, witnessed the end of a ship’s life. No lie all of south San Diego smelled like burning non-skid for about a week.
She used to come into White Beach..I used to help them restock their store from my ships store on White beach Naval Station..glad you guys are okay..this hurts me to my heart
Could care less about taxpayers. I just hope that down the road they would name it after this ships namesake and learn from it to prevent fire from spreading the way it did. I feel sad for the crew and those that had served on her. This ship served her crew well, Rest In Peace.
I was an HT on the USS WASP LHD-1. I always thought the WASP would go before any other LHD. When I first heard about the fire. My first thought was improperly stored hazmat or a shipyard worker made a mistake. It starting on a Sunday. Holiday routine, no body was doing anything but standing watch, sleeping, and playing video games in their shops.
My Dad was an old Petty Officer First Class there. Lead Petty Officer in the Engineering Department there. That was the second ship he went to. Farewell, USS Bonhomme Richard.✋🏼
@@sumerbc7409 That's not a good death. But that's besides the point. The point is that it doesn't make sense to avenge it by attacking our enemies since it was an accident caused by ourselves.
@@Hosey1984 so you are saying there are no enemies America is confronting anywhere on Earth.. ok. This WARRIOR ship will be avenged upon our enemies because it's spirit overshadows the other ships in the same class...
@@sumerbc7409 No that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that its death was self-inflicted so it doesn't make sense to seek revenge for it by attacking our enemies since it was us that caused it. It's like attacking someone because of a mistake you made that was entirely your own fault.
As the ship was built using sections like lego blocks, could the salvageable blocks be removed, such as the fore, aft sections and the intact engine room and incorporated into a new vessel saving thousands of man hours?
All this was AFTER the George Washington fire! “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@theccpisaparasite8813 i think his point is the US was getting into a major war, and needed every piece of equipment it could get, and they had a blank check in which to do it.
There’s not one word of what we are being told here that I believe. I served at the end of Nam and a few years after. We fought our own fires. I have never heard of having civilians come in to fight a fire on a Navy ship. And too damaged to rebuild?!!! Bullshit!! Look at what happened to Forrestal off Nam and what happened to Enterprise off Hawaii. Both ships were damaged significantly worse and yet both were put in the yards and served for several more years. There s something going on here, exactly what I obviously don’t know. But what we are being told is complete and utter bullshit and there’s things not right here. I did too much firefighting in the Navy to buy one small bit of this. It’s all a lie.
I think the reason they are decommissioning is that they planned to decommission it eventually anyway with the America class, which is the replacement. By the time this ship was rebuilt it would be decommissioned
When the Bonhomme Richard was still a CV I got to do the vip/dependent cruise from Bremerton to the Bangor weapons point. Would have been about 62 63 64. My dad was a state senator.
I think this was the right decision, using the money and shipyard capacity to fix her wasn't worth it - unfortunately it will leave the navy short for a long time. I'm sure there will be a suitable enquiry but it does look like there are lessons and a review of damage control and firefighting equipment and training needs to take place.
Difference is ship undergoing refitting works. Fire proof doors not closed, fire alarm and equipments switch off, Flammable construction materials everywhere. Most of ship fire crews were off.
This happened because of a class A fire: what if there had been fuel on board! Or weapons! “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@airbornedaddy1919 No in combat there would be fuel oil, jet fuel, and weapons. Yes there were different challenges, but certainly not insurmountable! If you don't have people working, then doors should have been closed: this isn't a housing complex construction site, this is a multi-billion dollar piece of defense equipment, and it wasn't “under repair”, it was in for upgrade. I'm sick of the excuses by brass: ships equipped with the best radar in the world running into bulk carriers in the night, fires started in piles of discarded rags/clothing... there's just no excuse for this level of incompetence!
Shortly after the fire the Navy quietly stated they were looking into a particular individual. However, no further information has come out. That is prudent for several reasons: 1. After blaming the _Iowa_ turret explosion on a bomb planted by a gay sailor, Sandia National Labs came out with a report that showed the physical evidence the Navy claimed proved there was a bomb was inconsistent with a bomb and more consistent with an accident. Since then, the Navy has had a poor reputation when it comes to such investigations, so if this individual did set the fire the Navy must cross every T before making the findings public. It must be ironclad. 2. Arson forensic science that for decades was thought valid is now known to be incorrect, such as burn mark analysis. Many convictions are being thrown out, and proper investigations using currently accepted standards takes longer than it used to (which, given the destruction caused by the fire, could already be lengthy). 3. Even assuming someone is eventually charged for the fire, they are innocent until proven guilty. However, in many cases once someone is charged, many simply assume they’re guilty and media coverage often is less neutral than it should be, even if they actually are innocent. It is not prudent to drag a potentially innocent individual through the mud (see Richard Jewell after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing). Personally, I have not seen enough evidence to conclude this was arson or an accident, though I’d lean towards the latter with people not following proper safety procedures. We will see what the multiple investigations uncover.
Doesn't matter who started it: it was fed by paper and cloth (class A fire), it should have been a non-event, but no one was trained, and that's a failing of the brass. But yes they're trying to hang out on a sailor who may have tossed a cigarette. “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@wilfdarr You quoted part of a Forbes article discussing INSURV report on the 2008 George Washington fire. The article uses that as a comparison for Bonhomme Richard, and we should not assume Richard had untrained crew, especially given the rotation of firefighters we saw on many news reports. The general consensus given what we know now is that the refit had gutted internal fire suppression systems for certain spaces (like the well deck, but the halon system in machinery spaces was operational), cables and hoses running through hatches kept them from being closed to establish boundaries and slow the spread, and there were few crewmen aboard to fight the fire in the critical early stages. This almost certainly will change as we learn more, adding additional failures (which may include crew training) and adjusting the importance of all factors based on a deeper study of the evidence.
@@Imbeachedwhale Good catch. You are correct, at the beginning of that paragraph I missed that they switched the carrier they were discussing. Still, cut the power and use the ax to cut the cables and get hatches closed: even one hatch will stifle the chimney effect and 2 will cut off all air: if people weren't working their cables should have been unplugged and hatches closed. It was just lazy: the most powerful navy should not be able to be destroyed one cigarette at a time!
True but what goes unsaid in that price tag is the extension of life overhauls that Five Wasp Class Carriers will have to go through now as the BH essentially just ahead of all of them in the decommissioning schedule , USS Wasp was supposed to bow out when Bougainville comes online and HER keel was laid just last year. And until Bougainville comes online you’re still a baby carrier short (maybe 2). Wonder what the cost will be to spin up one or both of the Tarawa Class to take up the slack.
Shame :( I was hoping she was salvageable. USS Iowa had similar issues after her Number 2 turret fire/explosion in 1989 in terms of options for repair...Its fortunate that this fire didnt turn out like USS Forrestal in 69...many sailors died in that accident
I'm guessing they had too many stars prosecute. “50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
The word is Sabotage. Before you complain, I'm a retired Marine. Ooh Rah! This was not sabotage. Ships are most in danger of fires during refit, which Bonnie Dick was.
@@danh1077 Why do so many get hung up on spelling ?? I know what goes on in a ship overhaul, and it is NOT out of the question at all Marine !! If you check the Chinese had a large fire earlier this year new LHD and they think it could have been an issue ! There are Chinese agents/spies all over our nation working in every industry we have !! And are very involved in destroying America from within and of course with the DNC !!! If you don't think this could happen then open you mind to this !! good reads ... "Deceiving the Shy" by Bill Gertz who has been and expert on China's goals for a decade and "Stealth War" by Robert Spalding
The lack of backup fire extinguishers and shutting off automatic sprinklers on every deck during rehab put the Bonhomme Richard at unnecessary risk. It was a huge leap of faith that there would be no accident from a blowtorch, cigarette or sparking wire. How does it feel to lose a multi-million Navy ship in this manner? It takes years to design and build a ship to replace the one we lost.
Decommissioning is the right call and the Navy and Marine Corps will get a new ship for less dollars and hopefully it can bear the same name...........
It's an older ship, that was only a few years away from leaving service and has the older powerplant, so it's not much of a loss. Plus china gets all the scrap metal to build their aircraft carriers with.
Agreed the Navy had just mothball reserved the last two Tarawa classes, as more America Class vessel come online the Wasps were scheduled for decommissioning
Funny, when i was on this ship it was a CV 41 if i remember correctly. But diffenetly a attack aircraft carrier. I think 1967/68. Could have been cv 43or42. But I'm surprised to see it.
I was on this ship in 1999, brand spank'n new then. Definitely had that new car smell at the time. 1 Batt 5th Mar was on it for the Operation Urban Warrior, a ch-46 filled with news crews took off and caught fire. Made an emergency landing back on the BonnHomme Richard and caught the flight deck on fire. A huge fire btw, and foam was sprayed and got the fire out. The clean up was immense lol. As an aside, it is a damn shame for this warship to go like this. Damn shame!
I did work ups and SOC qual in 99 on the Bonnie Dick and deployed for WestPac 2000. I don't remember this helo fire, just the Marines and Sailor that went down in the helo that wrecked boarding the resupply ship.
Except in the end you'd still have an old hull with heat stress damage that would not have near the service life to make it cost effective. Better to build a new state of the art ship.
I was in the Navy a long time ago.... we had to fight by hand. Seems that this was a $6 billion dollar act of vandalism. Some how we need to insure fires are not a threat to our ships even when attacked. I build commercial buildings now..... almost impossible to start and keep a fire going even when there isn’t a sprinkler system.
I really wonder what exactly caused a fire of this magnitude onboard one of our most powerful weapons platforms... something like this hasn't happened since the forrestal fire of '67, or the Enterprise fire of '69.
Better wake up, Uncle Sam. Your Aegis destroyers can be taken out by one hit from a container ship, and you can't even quickly repair or replace one boat. You have infiltrators in the ranks, and your enemies are watching.
If this turns out to be arson, the criminal would have cost the American taxpayers far over 2 billion dollars considering the cost of the ship build, the equipment on board, the cost to extinguish the fire, and the eventual price to tow and scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard. If the criminal is caught, it will merely get three meals a day, housing, free health care, free education, a membership to a gym, and shower time fun. This does not sound like justice to me.
The Navy is just heart broken but the vessel should be compartmentally re-conditooned in a secondary shipwright as in Louisiana. Metalworking can be done robotically to save people from the hardships.
I've noticed something that I've noticed before. It's dictated by an AI but I didn't start hearing any of that stuff till about 2 years ago. I hate it when these things read video clips to begin with but it didn't even start until around 2 years ago. So how's this thing dictated by an AI when it's 3 years old?
Wow, I am really un-impressed with the response here. If we had a multiple ship attack, and then a heated and active conflict, we have no clue. Just one ship burns, and there are no contingency plans...
Sad news to hear, decommissioned before her time, I'm sure heavy hearts go out to her crew. she'll be missed.
yes every sailor gets attached
@@petepeterson4540 when it's your home for so long you get attached....
I'm glad you said that. I was on the Boxer while in the Marine infantry 97-2006.I'm literally shedding tears now. Thank you for your understanding and empathy truly. More crying then violence these days lol...Semper Fi and thank you for making me feel a lot less weird
@@joshuaforbus5853 Boxer... ain’t that an Essex
@@invadegreece9281 actually I was on the Cleveland and the big ship was the Boxer. I'm unsure whos who these days. The Cleveland was a LPD. I was in a boat company
Rode that bad boy to Iraq twice..R.I.P. Anchors away and Semper Fi!
You're the bad boy, as in badass. Thanks for doing that for US. God bless the Corps. And I was a sailor.
Semper Fi brotha....13 11th MEU..b safe
@@michaelsullivan2554 While on the Cleveland with the 11th MEU I gained a tremendous amount of respect for sailor's. They know their ship are hard workers and prideful. Good people...and I wouldn't fuck with Navy. Semper Fi shipmate. Stay safe
@@joshuaforbus5853 Thank you brother. Merry Christmas to you and yours. GOD BLESS AMERICA.
wow you was on the bon, there going to sink it omg
The computer voice is intolerable.
idk i dont mind it
AI
This was my first ship after boot camp, October 2006 to October 2011, never thought I'd see her go down like this. I had many great and bad experiences here.
I was on that ship from 2007-2010
Was stationed there from 07 to 12....best ship in the fleet and my favorite command. I see it every day at work and still feels like a punch to the gut. :(
Thank you for your service. A-TTEN-SHUN !!!! HAND SALUTE !!! READY TWO !!!!
Brun
Arson is suspected. Almost completed 250 million in upgrades. Damn. Fire reignited after it was thought to be out. Burned for 4 days!
I herd that it was likely arson. I worked, as a contractor, with the AF. We all had either a "Secret or TS-SCI" clearance. I would assume that the Navy also requires Secret or above clearances. When something of this magnitude happens, the AF quickly search for someone to crucify. As a former Marine, this breaks my heart. Regardless, I hope the truth comes out.
@@vigilantobserver8389 I’m sure they will. Seems like just yesterday that sub was on fire in Connecticut I believe.
Oh they'll hang some poor sailor for tossing a cigarette, but even if that were true there are so many contributing factors that the brass failed to deal with: someone up top should hang as well
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
Shoulda set a proper fire watch.
@@vigilantobserver8389, I think the truth is, if a cigarette could do this then a missile could have done it too. There is a giant fire problem with this vessel, perhaps design or perhaps improper handling. So no one sailor is responsible for this. It is the upper ranks that have failed.
It's official, it's a goner, but if the US Navy were to get another America class light carrier/amphibious assault ship it would be for the better, those new America class ships are highly capable platforms.
Old Carrier Vet here... Agreed, I had a VIP Tour of LHA-6 USS America and what a BEAST inside and out !!! They can really turn these light Carriers out and I'm all for it !!!
Well the Wasp Class vessels Are slated for decommissioning on a roughly 1:1 basis as new America Class vessels (or its theoretical successor class) come online. It’s just the The BR wasn’t scheduled to be the first Wasp Class to be decommissioned.
On that not part of what’s missing from the financial discussion is the extension of life servicing that the older Wasp Class vessels will have to go through to make up the gap with having the BH cut in line to the breakers.
The uss America is actually more light carrier than the rest of her class will be. She has a higher speed and no well deck. The rest of the class is much slower and reverts back to a well deck
@@mikee9756 I wonder if that was a decision to go back to the well deck for the remainder of the class, or to mix it up to that half have the well deck, half are mini carriers,
Bidet will soon announce that he will make our Navy stronger by getting rid of more sjo[s/
As an " Old Salt" it was tough to watch her burn. I've been out since 1980 but it still hurt.
I've been out since 1968 and it hurts to see her die this way.
Dammit simple enough made me cry. It is sad. I get it completely. Semper Fi
Especially if you were in the Gator fleet
@@joeyboedeker7205 Good Good men. Honorable and take pride in their ships. Hard workers. Transportation of MOE gas I think jp5..for are zodiac? I worked with Chief. Ropa. Smart guy and it was a privilege to have him lead me among my new home. He loved his job and it effects this Marine 17 years later. Semper Fi Gator Navy professional sharp capable willing.
Me too, Sept 1980.
Can't you get a human to do the narration?
You don’t have to pay a robot, you have to pay people
@@overlordgaming752 the person thats makes this could use their own voice bam its free!
@@tyleralexander6368 unless they don’t have time to do a voice over/speak broken English and have a bad accent, or any number of tbings that dwindle down to simply not wanting to for personal privacy reasons. Thing is- no matter the voice, your still here, still watched the video
@@overlordgaming752 i watched about 2 minutes of it😂
@@tyleralexander6368 they still got a view and view time from you
RIP pretty lady and crew. This story was hard to see/read and I hope the personnel found responsible is prosecuted. ITC (ret)
It's especially hard for the people that Built it especially if it was truly arson.
I was there an saw the ship burning in San Diego visiting my brother who just returned to port on cvn-71 Theodore Roosevelt. I am no expert on ships but I knew the ship was lost. Even still burning five days later. It’s a miracle in itself it didn’t sink at doc
I left the Navy thirty years ago after 10 yrs., all of it "haze grey and underway". This news hits me in the gut! Damn! For now I'm too sad to be angry at the shipmate that caused it. (12/5/20)
The cause has not been determined...they do not know if was an accident or arson. Sadly the Navy has a history of assigning blame where there is none. The USS Iowa was such an incident. A overram incident blamed on an innocent sailor. The USS Indianapolis sinking by a Japanese submarine blamed on the Captain when it made no difference whether he was zigzaging or not. Usually these actions are taken to cover the Navy Brass or contractor mistakes. So we will see.
@@johnpitchlynn9341 well, there was that time a worker started a fire on USS Miami which eventually led to her being decommissioned. He wanted to get off work early that day. SSN-755, 2012 fire, Casey J. Fury.
Motoroid ..that's true and he only got 17 years when he should have gotten life. But it took awhile for NCIS to figure the cause and nail him for crime. Miami was totaled as well. But still going to take awhile to determine if this incident was arson or accident.
@@johnpitchlynn9341 I just look at what was going on at that time. Even having her unavailable for months would benefit the PRC.
Will the Navy transfer one of the East coast LHDs over to fill in her place until a new ship is built?
@@MotoroidARFC Don't know if they would. They need one both places. We should build more but we'll see what happens. I know the next class of LHDs is being built and they will have to add one to make up the short fall or take one old original LHAs are refurbish it there are 3 in mothballs. Tarawa, Nassau and Peleliu that could be used as well. They have let a contract for LHA-9 (as yet unnamed) so they may add an LHA-10. So no decision yet.
This is why more ship yards are needed.
Yards have nothing to do with anything.
There is not enough Business to keep the yards going as it is!
@@donraptor6156 Because the labor cost is high. There are few non government contracts for US yards.
Sad to see my first ship die that way. I was stationed there from 2003-2009.
I was there then too BM3 Poole
The only positive thing to come out of this was that every sailor on the waterfront had a chance to dress out and fight an actual casualty, some multiple times. Something you can't get from the one-day fire school everyone goes to.
True but if they had been to fire school in the first place the response probably would have gone better!
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@Alexi Malenkov Right!?
That is not a positive.
@@WALTERBROADDUS Experience is always a positive. Yes it came at far to high a price, and it shouldn't have happened, but like he said, it's the ONLY positive.
@@wilfdarr Most of fire fight was by fire Department.
Prime contractors need to be insured and held liable for the cost of vessels in their care. This ship better not end up in a Chinese scrap yard! What an outrage!
No, most likely Galveston, Texas.
No Brownsville TX
They never said anything like this at pearl harbour,they rebuilt whatever they could.we don't have the ship yards,to handle problems like this anymore.
Well also don’t have the emergency need to refloat and patch any vessel that can be done so.
His statement is still true... a lot of the shipyards capable of repairing her were privatized so the navy has to pay out to use those facilities, skyrocketing her cost.
Privatization had nothing to do with it: the same yard that would be tasked with rebuilding her is going to be the yard tasked with replacing her. With island destroyed, even if the hull were not damaged by the fire, repair vs new would be borderline. But with all the electronics in the island destroyed and the hull likely damaged, I would have been seriously surprised if they came to any other conclusion.
The reason is that during World War II the majority of navy ships had very simple equipment the most complicated equipment will be the radar system it was very basic modern ships are filled with high end state of the art technology with loads of electronics.
Was just thinking 💭 that
My dad was on the WWII Bonnie Dick (CV/CVA-31). When he was on it Captain Morrison was captain father of Jim Morrison the rock and roll singer.
Curious what the investigation gives as probable cause for the fire.
Damn, these people in the comments should have been hired to save the ship since they all are professional navy ship builders.
Here's a hint, genius Brass Hats. If you don't want the superstructure of a ship to melt in a fire, building it out of old aluminum beer cans might not be your best plan.
Hey just like my F150!
The British have known that since the Falklands campaign.
True, but steel is literally three times as heavy per given volume. So by utilizing aluminum they were able to free up weight which could be used for cargo/ammunition/fuel etc...
@@jim2lane Stainless Steel has the same strength to weight ratio as aluminium. It just costs more.
People have built both aircraft and rockets out of stainless steel for this very reason (look up the history of what WD40 was originally invented for).
The HMS Sheffield was destroyed after being hit by an Exocet missile that failed to explode - the missiles fuel set the ship on fire.
@@allangibson2408 - stainless steel has a tensile strength of 505 MPa and a density of 8 gcm-3, while aluminum has a tensile strength of 276 MPa and a density of 2.81gcm-3. So to achieve the same strength with a volume of stainless as you have with same volume of aluminum you would still be twice as heavy
Woke up in the Barracks on NBSD that morning because my nose was picking up a horrible smell. Asked my roommate wtf was on fire and he said “the BHR”. Thought it was a joke, only to walk outside and see her completely ablaze. Stood there all day and watched her burn, couldn’t believe my eyes. Then she burnt for the next 72 hours, witnessed the end of a ship’s life. No lie all of south San Diego smelled like burning non-skid for about a week.
These time lines they give are insane, I guarantee if we were at war it would be done in a few months
Sorry, but no.
She used to come into White Beach..I used to help them restock their store from my ships store on White beach Naval Station..glad you guys are okay..this hurts me to my heart
One helluva hit to the American Tax payer and Navy budget. . Sad to say. Scrapping and start from scratch is the way to go
Could care less about taxpayers. I just hope that down the road they would name it after this ships namesake and learn from it to prevent fire from spreading the way it did. I feel sad for the crew and those that had served on her. This ship served her crew well, Rest In Peace.
I was an HT on the USS WASP LHD-1. I always thought the WASP would go before any other LHD. When I first heard about the fire. My first thought was improperly stored hazmat or a shipyard worker made a mistake. It starting on a Sunday. Holiday routine, no body was doing anything but standing watch, sleeping, and playing video games in their shops.
Yes Way to far gone !!!
Better to build a New Tech LHA/LHD
Sgt, Semper Fi
Thumbs down on the narrator
My Dad was an old Petty Officer First Class there. Lead Petty Officer in the Engineering Department there. That was the second ship he went to. Farewell, USS Bonhomme Richard.✋🏼
Thank you for your service to the Republic.. we will avenge you upon our enemies
But the damage was self-inflicted
@@Hosey1984 doesn't matter, it was a good death in service on active duty. Shat happens..
@@sumerbc7409 That's not a good death. But that's besides the point. The point is that it doesn't make sense to avenge it by attacking our enemies since it was an accident caused by ourselves.
@@Hosey1984 so you are saying there are no enemies America is confronting anywhere on Earth.. ok. This WARRIOR ship will be avenged upon our enemies because it's spirit overshadows the other ships in the same class...
@@sumerbc7409 No that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that its death was self-inflicted so it doesn't make sense to seek revenge for it by attacking our enemies since it was us that caused it. It's like attacking someone because of a mistake you made that was entirely your own fault.
As the ship was built using sections like lego blocks, could the salvageable blocks be removed, such as the fore, aft sections and the intact engine room and incorporated into a new vessel saving thousands of man hours?
What a waste of a ship. You know the Navy is proud of its fire fight capable. And they still lost the ship. This happens when PMS is Gunn deck.
Veteran of Iraq that spent the entire war sharing flight ops with this wonderful ship 12 on/12 off. So sad to hear.
It should make the navy study an prepare better for fire suppression internal fire's
Should make the navy consider battle damage repair,, things seem to be going that way in the far east
All this was AFTER the George Washington fire!
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
I'm glad to hear they are just going to decommission this ship. With that amount of fire going on for 5 days that's steel would never hold up.
I served on this ship from 04 to 08. I was DC and this shocked me. she will be missed
I was there from 04 to 07 BM
Ships were raised from the bottom of Pearl Harbor and appeared in Japan for their unconditional surrender. Sabotage.
And they mostly just had large holes. Not melted decks.
@@terrydouglas5008 they were battleships and cruisers which were heavily armored. The only serious 'fire' was the USS Shaw which was scrapped.
Comsider to that was war and the Navy had a blank to work with.
@@jerrymccrae7202 I don't follow?
@@theccpisaparasite8813 i think his point is the US was getting into a major war, and needed every piece of equipment it could get, and they had a blank check in which to do it.
There’s not one word of what we are being told here that I believe. I served at the end of Nam and a few years after. We fought our own fires. I have never heard of having civilians come in to fight a fire on a Navy ship. And too damaged to rebuild?!!! Bullshit!! Look at what happened to Forrestal off Nam and what happened to Enterprise off Hawaii. Both ships were damaged significantly worse and yet both were put in the yards and served for several more years. There s something going on here, exactly what I obviously don’t know. But what we are being told is complete and utter bullshit and there’s things not right here. I did too much firefighting in the Navy to buy one small bit of this. It’s all a lie.
I think the reason they are decommissioning is that they planned to decommission it eventually anyway with the America class, which is the replacement. By the time this ship was rebuilt it would be decommissioned
They were in the yard. Probably max liberty. What is a bunch of girls in a fire party gonna do?
BHR was damaged far more than either Forestal or Enterprise. From the vehicle deck up, bow to stern, she is gutted.
When the Bonhomme Richard was still a CV I got to do the vip/dependent cruise from Bremerton to the Bangor weapons point. Would have been about 62 63 64. My dad was a state senator.
Different ship, the Bonhomme Richard you're referring to has been an artificial reef off Florida for years.
@@roguelead72 You’re thinking of the Oriskany, CVA-34. Bonnie Dick CVA-31 was scrapped in the 90’s.
I think this was the right decision, using the money and shipyard capacity to fix her wasn't worth it - unfortunately it will leave the navy short for a long time. I'm sure there will be a suitable enquiry but it does look like there are lessons and a review of damage control and firefighting equipment and training needs to take place.
If this happened because of a fire, what would battle damage have done? Something to think on.
Difference is ship undergoing refitting works. Fire proof doors not closed, fire alarm and equipments switch off,
Flammable construction materials everywhere.
Most of ship fire crews were off.
This happened because of a class A fire: what if there had been fuel on board! Or weapons!
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
Considering the ship had no crew and the ships fire suppresion system was down because they were repairing it...in combat, those wouldnt be the cases.
@@airbornedaddy1919 No in combat there would be fuel oil, jet fuel, and weapons. Yes there were different challenges, but certainly not insurmountable! If you don't have people working, then doors should have been closed: this isn't a housing complex construction site, this is a multi-billion dollar piece of defense equipment, and it wasn't “under repair”, it was in for upgrade. I'm sick of the excuses by brass: ships equipped with the best radar in the world running into bulk carriers in the night, fires started in piles of discarded rags/clothing... there's just no excuse for this level of incompetence!
Who set the fire ?And how could it get out of control ?I hope the investigation finds out what really happened.
Shame to see an honorable ship 's service cut short. Fair winds LHD 6.
Had a family member serve abourd this ship , had a chance to tour it. Hate to see it go.
Good content. You know about the narration. No thumbs up or down.
When they commission another LHD, they need to rename it after this ships namesake or name it after the islands that we fought in during WW II.
This makes China happy. 1 less ship they have to contend with.
That was my first thought too. Who started such a bad fire?
I still have so many questions. 🤔
Does the navy know how, or who, started this fire and if so are they suppressing the information?
Shortly after the fire the Navy quietly stated they were looking into a particular individual. However, no further information has come out.
That is prudent for several reasons:
1. After blaming the _Iowa_ turret explosion on a bomb planted by a gay sailor, Sandia National Labs came out with a report that showed the physical evidence the Navy claimed proved there was a bomb was inconsistent with a bomb and more consistent with an accident. Since then, the Navy has had a poor reputation when it comes to such investigations, so if this individual did set the fire the Navy must cross every T before making the findings public. It must be ironclad.
2. Arson forensic science that for decades was thought valid is now known to be incorrect, such as burn mark analysis. Many convictions are being thrown out, and proper investigations using currently accepted standards takes longer than it used to (which, given the destruction caused by the fire, could already be lengthy).
3. Even assuming someone is eventually charged for the fire, they are innocent until proven guilty. However, in many cases once someone is charged, many simply assume they’re guilty and media coverage often is less neutral than it should be, even if they actually are innocent. It is not prudent to drag a potentially innocent individual through the mud (see Richard Jewell after the Centennial Olympic Park bombing).
Personally, I have not seen enough evidence to conclude this was arson or an accident, though I’d lean towards the latter with people not following proper safety procedures. We will see what the multiple investigations uncover.
@@Imbeachedwhale Thank you. Good analysis. Will wait to see how things turn out.
Doesn't matter who started it: it was fed by paper and cloth (class A fire), it should have been a non-event, but no one was trained, and that's a failing of the brass. But yes they're trying to hang out on a sailor who may have tossed a cigarette.
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@wilfdarr You quoted part of a Forbes article discussing INSURV report on the 2008 George Washington fire. The article uses that as a comparison for Bonhomme Richard, and we should not assume Richard had untrained crew, especially given the rotation of firefighters we saw on many news reports.
The general consensus given what we know now is that the refit had gutted internal fire suppression systems for certain spaces (like the well deck, but the halon system in machinery spaces was operational), cables and hoses running through hatches kept them from being closed to establish boundaries and slow the spread, and there were few crewmen aboard to fight the fire in the critical early stages. This almost certainly will change as we learn more, adding additional failures (which may include crew training) and adjusting the importance of all factors based on a deeper study of the evidence.
@@Imbeachedwhale Good catch. You are correct, at the beginning of that paragraph I missed that they switched the carrier they were discussing. Still, cut the power and use the ax to cut the cables and get hatches closed: even one hatch will stifle the chimney effect and 2 will cut off all air: if people weren't working their cables should have been unplugged and hatches closed. It was just lazy: the most powerful navy should not be able to be destroyed one cigarette at a time!
That is the best consideration. Too much money to fix it.
True but what goes unsaid in that price tag is the extension of life overhauls that Five Wasp Class Carriers will have to go through now as the BH essentially just ahead of all of them in the decommissioning schedule , USS Wasp was supposed to bow out when Bougainville comes online and HER keel was laid just last year. And until Bougainville comes online you’re still a baby carrier short (maybe 2). Wonder what the cost will be to spin up one or both of the Tarawa Class to take up the slack.
The most stupid decision in my opinion.
Shame :( I was hoping she was salvageable. USS Iowa had similar issues after her Number 2 turret fire/explosion in 1989 in terms of options for repair...Its fortunate that this fire didnt turn out like USS Forrestal in 69...many sailors died in that accident
Poor girl😢😢😭😭 So sad seeing her go so soon😭😭😭😭
Did they find the perpetrators that did this???
I'm guessing they had too many stars prosecute.
“50 percent of the required personnel were qualified for their assigned positions within repair lockers.” Only “84 percent of required personnel had attended General Shipboard Fire Fighting”, and “35 percent of required personnel had attended Advanced Shipboard Fire Fighting”. Almost half of the line items in the ship’s repair lockers were below their required inventoried allowance level, and basic gear was either missing or not functional in the subsequent fire.
@@wilfdarr some things never change.
Insider...good job man
Good move. Far too expensive to be rebuilt.
Looking forward to the real whole story on this fire !! ??
Savatage ?? Lol Sabotage Dan H, sorry.
Sgt, 24th MEU, Semper Fi
The word is Sabotage. Before you complain, I'm a retired Marine. Ooh Rah! This was not sabotage. Ships are most in danger of fires during refit, which Bonnie Dick was.
@@danh1077 Why do so many get hung up on spelling ??
I know what goes on in a ship overhaul, and it is NOT out of the question at all Marine !!
If you check the Chinese had a large fire earlier this year new LHD and they think it could have been an issue ! There are Chinese agents/spies all over our nation working in every industry we have !! And are very involved in destroying America from within and of course with the DNC !!! If you don't think this could happen then open you mind to this !!
good reads ... "Deceiving the Shy" by Bill Gertz who has been and expert on China's goals for a decade and "Stealth War" by Robert Spalding
@@ronniefarnsworth6465 govt. skrools.
@@danh1077 I get re-tired every day.
The lack of backup fire extinguishers and shutting off automatic sprinklers on every deck during rehab put the Bonhomme Richard at
unnecessary risk. It was a huge leap of faith that there would be no accident from a blowtorch, cigarette or sparking wire. How does it feel to lose a multi-million Navy ship in this manner? It takes years to design and build a ship to replace the one we lost.
Decommissioning is the right call and the Navy and Marine Corps will get a new ship for less dollars and hopefully it can bear the same name...........
Doesn't a ship name have to be inactive for so man6 years before the name is used again?
How much to strip it and sink it for a coral reef!
It's an older ship, that was only a few years away from leaving service and has the older powerplant, so it's not much of a loss. Plus china gets all the scrap metal to build their aircraft carriers with.
Agreed the Navy had just mothball reserved the last two Tarawa classes, as more America Class vessel come online the Wasps were scheduled for decommissioning
The Navy needs to build another America class LHA and name her Bonhomme Richard.
Funny, when i was on this ship it was a CV 41 if i remember correctly. But diffenetly a attack aircraft carrier. I think 1967/68. Could have been cv 43or42. But I'm surprised to see it.
I was on this ship in 1999, brand spank'n new then. Definitely had that new car smell at the time. 1 Batt 5th Mar was on it for the Operation Urban Warrior, a ch-46 filled with news crews took off and caught fire. Made an emergency landing back on the BonnHomme Richard and caught the flight deck on fire. A huge fire btw, and foam was sprayed and got the fire out. The clean up was immense lol.
As an aside, it is a damn shame for this warship to go like this. Damn shame!
I did work ups and SOC qual in 99 on the Bonnie Dick and deployed for WestPac 2000. I don't remember this helo fire, just the Marines and Sailor that went down in the helo that wrecked boarding the resupply ship.
How much would a new replacement cost? Confirmed, it would be a lot more than rebuilding the Bonnie Dick.
Except in the end you'd still have an old hull with heat stress damage that would not have near the service life to make it cost effective. Better to build a new state of the art ship.
Its cheaper to build a new one than repair her
In the past few years, the navy has sunk four of its own ships. Strange.
it’s time for new Lhd’s they need wider flight decks for the newest aircraft of today.
So sad I was hoping that it could be restored I was following it just hoping that it would be fixed and back in the fleet
I remember this incident I had visited her Fleet Week San Francisco 2009
Like my uncle always said about the original Bonhomme Richard: Its razor blades.
You can't harden steel to military grade built in a hull.
If 60% of the hull is weakened it has to be dismantled
I don't get it. Isn't it cheaper to rebuild 60% of the ship than 100% of the ship?
I had a friend who said he flew A-1 Skyraiders off the Bonhomme Richard during Vietnam. Was this the same ship or a renamed one?
Probably 2. This one (LHD-6) was the 3rd Bonhomme Richard in history.
How to make such a stupid mistake and miss an excellent ship and it's a Second time.
Why don’t these ships have automatic firefighting system.?
They do, they were offline cause of the overhaul it was receiving I believe.
I was in the Navy a long time ago.... we had to fight by hand.
Seems that this was a $6 billion dollar act of vandalism. Some how we need to insure fires are not a threat to our ships even when attacked.
I build commercial buildings now..... almost impossible to start and keep a fire going even when there isn’t a sprinkler system.
I really wonder what exactly caused a fire of this magnitude onboard one of our most powerful weapons platforms... something like this hasn't happened since the forrestal fire of '67, or the Enterprise fire of '69.
I would really love to see them build another very similar Wasp class ship to replace her, giving it the same name.
Damn damn damn. Build two more!
Good story, but not a fan of the robot news anchor
Better wake up, Uncle Sam. Your Aegis destroyers can be taken out by one hit from a container ship, and you can't even quickly repair or replace one boat. You have infiltrators in the ranks, and your enemies are watching.
Maybe its going dark GOD BLESS ALL U.S. MILITARY
If this turns out to be arson, the criminal would have cost the American taxpayers far over 2 billion dollars considering the cost of the ship build, the equipment on board, the cost to extinguish the fire, and the eventual price to tow and scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard. If the criminal is caught, it will merely get three meals a day, housing, free health care, free education, a membership to a gym, and shower time fun. This does not sound like justice to me.
So, the “industrial Base” is why the decision was made? The military “industrial” complex “base”?
The ship repair capability is awful in this county. We need more ship yards!
It is a loss for us all!
Whada waste of a good ship.
Damn it! What the hell happened to training our sailors?!
Not Sailors... yard workers !!!
The navy pays contractors for everything now. Almost sailors are just warm bodies at this point.
Almost no Sailors aboard.
What a shame and waste. RIP lady.
The Navy is just heart broken but the vessel should be compartmentally re-conditooned in a secondary shipwright as in Louisiana. Metalworking can be done robotically to save people from the hardships.
Bon Hom Ritchard 3 seconds and I'm done!
Always sad to see the end of a proud ship.
I've noticed something that I've noticed before. It's dictated by an AI but I didn't start hearing any of that stuff till about 2 years ago. I hate it when these things read video clips to begin with but it didn't even start until around 2 years ago. So how's this thing dictated by an AI when it's 3 years old?
What a waste. Such a disgrace that this fire did so much damage in the first place due to poor procedure. Hopefully lessons will be learned.
Dang that thing is older than me!
Sad....Semper Fi and rest well.
Must have steel to just throw away, wow!
I have not yet begun to fight-John Paul Jones
The Billion dollars question- was she insured???
Yup insured b the taxpayers
Self insured. Same as my house. Cheaper than paying the leaches. And then the leaches don't pay out anyways (there's always an excuse!)
Wow, I am really un-impressed with the response here. If we had a multiple ship attack, and then a heated and active conflict, we have no clue. Just one ship burns, and there are no contingency plans...
the "Boney Dick" sails into the sunset...