Fire on Bonhomme Richard 2

[JayMaechtlen]

The Bonhomme Richard was docked in San Diego when something went badly wrong.
Still on fire for second day.
From the Los Angeles Times:
SAN DIEGO —

U.S. Navy officials said Monday that the fire ravaging the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard for a second day has reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees and is still burning in various portions of the ship.

Smoke and fumes continue to affect the skyline and air throughout San Diego.

Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said Monday morning that the fire is in the superstructure of the ship and its upper decks and that the forward mast has collapsed.

“There’s obviously burn damage all the way through the skin of the ship, and we are assessing that as we kind of go through each compartment,” he said. “Right now the priority is to get the fire out so that we can take a complete assessment.”



Jay Maechtlen

http://www.laserpubs.com/techcomm

 

[EdStainless]

Sometimes I wonder if more ships have burned when being worked on than in wars. This is regrettably common. Rather poor fire watch being kept for it to get away from them like this.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

I was wondering when this would come up.

Didn't want to start due to having no clue.

A mate was on the Sheffield on the Falklands. He saw the metal start to burn. Once a class D fire starts your screwed.

 

[3DDave]

If it was under OSHA control it would likely not have happened. They loaded the ship with flammables and then shut off the fire suppression systems. No doubt someone extolled the advantage of a centralized fire control system. On a warship. The mind boggles.

 

[Compositepro]

A 1000 degree fire. This is a phrase that burns me up. It is very common see this in news reports, but it is totally meaningless and adds nothing to the message.

 

[thebard3]

Many years ago I was in the navy and one of my collateral duties was a member of a flight deck repair party on an aircraft carrier. If there was a crash on the flight deck I had to go up there and put it out. I worked on radar so that was the last thing I wanted any part of. Ship fires are particularly dangerous. As the fire burns, there is nowhere for the heat to go so things just get hotter and hotter. Almost nothing is fireproof if it gets hot enough. Floor tile, paint, insulation and lots of other things you wouldn't normally consider a fire hazard will burn like gasoline. There is lots of other stuff packed into the ship during repair periods. Ventilation hoses, welding and cutting equipment, and all kinds of other stuff you wouldn't normally see are scattered everywhere and lots of this stuff burns too. Also, apparently the fire suppression system was out of service for work.
In this case, there was only a small contingent of personnel on board when the fire broke out. Had the entire crew been aboard it's likely they would have spotted the fire and extinguished it before it became much of a problem. I'll be surprised if the navy doesn't end up striking the ship from inventory.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[moon161]

OOF. Those titanium fire pumps that aren't in use will eventually catch fire, I reckon.

 

[FacEngrPE]

Day 3, still burning. Firefighting shipboard is extremely difficult.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your...ogress-fighting-fire-aboard-bonhomme-richard/

https://richmond.com/opinion/column...cle_cf030676-81d8-574a-87ed-e7858415049d.html

On top of the risks of firefighting, when using as much water as they obviously have there is a risk of upsetting the ships stability, evidenced by the reported listing.

 

[thebard3]

Here's a fully uninformed article -

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...have-saved-the-bonhomme-richard/#f2bfb3e6f195

Assuming the fire parties can move these to an area close to the fire, there's no way they could maneuver themselves through hatch openings and areas packed with equipment and other stuff that's all over the place. Passageways are jammed with ventilation duct, welding leads, hoses and all kinds of other stuff when yard work is taking place. A major contributor to the spread of the fire is that hatchways are obstructed and can't be closed. This thing would probably work for a flight deck or hangar bay, but not through confined areas.
The latter of the article that refers to the SAFFiR robot is just science fiction.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[phamENG]

Brad - to be fair, it sounds like the article is talking about using those in open spaces, not moving them around the ship. Flight decks, hangar bays, supply spaces, magazines, etc. could certainly benefit from something like that. From the admittedly little I've read, it sounds like the fire did start in a supply space - so maybe something like this could have at least contained it or slowed it enough for fire parties to respond.

The SAFFiR is a neat concept, but I agree. It'll be a long time before something like that could be anywhere near fast and stable enough to do the job.

Fires on ships are terrifying. One of the scariest moments I've experienced was being awoken in the middle of the night by the General Quarters alarm, underway, with smoke flowing into my berthing.

 

[thebard3]

- to be fair, it sounds like the article is talking about using those in open spaces, not moving them around the ship.

I agree that's part of the substance of the article, but the title "Could These Firefighting Robots Have Saved The Bonhomme Richard?", well I'd have to answer NO.
Most ship fires, unless extinguished very quickly, are able to migrate out of open areas. This fire was a little bit of a perfect storm, with the suppression system being out of service, and only the weekend duty section aboard. I don't know if there was any fire or smoke detection system but if there were, it sure didn't help much.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[BUGGAR]

An interesting sidenote, a couple of neighbors got caught downtown in the smoke and their "Check Engine" lights came on. On their next startup in clean air, they were off.

 

[FacEngrPE]

Navy videos
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 12th, 2020, U.S. Navy;

https://youtu.be/aiJZQcmNl_E

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 13th, 2020, U.S. Navy; Part One

https://youtu.be/GVi3jGUd-4w

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 13th, 2020, U.S. Navy; Part Two

https://youtu.be/Q4YvnYXLIlI

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 13th, 2020, U.S. Navy; Part Three

https://youtu.be/BdsxELNRg8U

USS BonHomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 14th, 2020, U.S. Navy;

https://youtu.be/J3Zed74_oms

USS BonHomme Richard (LHD 6) Firefighting Efforts, July 15th, 2020, U.S. Navy;

https://youtu.be/tQYg-VUFap8

The USNI Times has published the most informative articles I have seen so far.
breaking-sailors-injured-explosions-reported-in-uss-bonhomme-richard-fire

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/12/br...losions-reported-in-uss-bonhomme-richard-fire

fire-fight-intensifies-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-5-sailors-still-hospitalized

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/13/fi...bonhomme-richard-5-sailors-still-hospitalized

navy-fighting-2-major-fires-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-as-battle-enters-third-day

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/14/na...s-bonhomme-richard-as-battle-enters-third-day

day-4-fire-crews-on-uss-bonhomme-richard-battle-hot-spots-and-flare-ups

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/15/on...nhomme-richard-battle-hot-spots-and-flare-ups

uss-bonhomme-richard-listing-as-fire-fight-enters-5th-day-co-thanks-crew-for-strength-and-resilience (first posted by
JohnRBaker, link copied here for completeness, thanks.)

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/16/us...ay-co-thanks-crew-for-strength-and-resilience

This article addresses the shipyard specific situations that increase fire risk.

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

Here is some information on Shipboard fire fighting (not related to the current event, other than to point out that shipboard firefighting is significantly different and much more arduous than firefighting on shore).
Shipboard Firefighting/Damage Control Emergency Team Trainer Tests Damage Control Teams

https://youtu.be/bo7UX8qVkH4

BASIC FIRE FIGHTING ABOARD SHIP 1960 U.S. NAVY TRAINING FILM 46844

https://youtu.be/QhVC-xvr2Vg

Marine Firefighting School in Norfolk, Va

https://www.stripes.com/norfolk-training-no-ship-is-worth-the-life-of-a-firefighter-1.527881

 

[CWB1]

As an Army guy that spent a short time shipboard with the swabbies, I cant fault the crew when these happen in port under minimal manning. It always amazed me how many small nooks/crannies are on boats, many of the compartments are simply cleaning nightmares due to white paint and infrastructure/ft2.

 

[thebard3]

I cant fault the crew when these happen in port under minimal manning.

Right on. Because they were under repair, probably just about every door and hatch would be hanging open with hoses and cables and everything else run through. That stuff makes it hard for the folks just to get around by themselves, let alone dragging a fire hose while wearing fire-fighting garb. I'm sure everyone did their absolute best to save the ship.

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[JohnRBaker]

It appears that the ship is starting to list. Not sure what that might lead to:

USS Bonhomme Richard’s tilting overnight forces firefighters off ship

https://www.stripes.com/news/navy/u...ernight-forces-firefighters-off-ship-1.637743

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[3DDave]

Not much effect - the article says they were back after an hour. I thing the water is too shallow to go over on its side, but changing unexpectedly when working in wet conditions on a fire that is not endangering lives, it is worth pulling back and waiting for it to stop.

From gCaptain forum on the fire:

A member of a website I am a member of used a drone to get overhead pictures. There are HUGE melted holes all up and down the flight deck and she is listing.

The USN is now unsure whether or not the BHR can be salvaged. Call the LANEY…

 

[thebard3]

The fire is reported to be out.

https://news.usni.org/2020/07/16/us...ay-co-thanks-crew-for-strength-and-resilience

Brad Waybright

It's all okay as long as it's okay.

 

[miningman]

Not sure where I saw it, but there was a suggestion recently that this fire initiated in a pile of greasy / oily rags /waste.
This is an example of spontaneous combustion which occurs a lot more frequently than many people recognise.

 

[EdStainless]

I have never been part of a crew during a major re-fit, but I have been during some minor port work.
We maintained Sounding and Security watches and we required that only every other hatch could be obstructed by temporary equipment. The Yard guys hatted this as it meant pulling hoses, lines, ventilation and other stuff every night. We also made them carry all of their trash off each night. Sealing compartments is the first line of defense in preventing the spread of flood or fire.
I am surprised it took this long to put out, must have really gotten into some fuel.
I wonder if they will save the ship?

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed