An explosion has occurred onboard the Bonhomme Richard while in her home port at Naval Base San Diego undergoing maintenance, resulting in a significant fire.

Seventeen sailors and four civilians were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The USS Bonhomme Richard is a Wasp class amphibious assault ship and the primary mission of Bonhomme Richard is to embark, deploy and land elements of a Marine landing force in amphibious assault operations by helicopter, landing craft and amphibious vehicle, and if needed, to act as a light aircraft carrier.

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
Bonhomme Richard under way in January 2003.

According to NBC News, a three-alarm fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard was reported at 8:51 a.m. San Diego is the ship’s homeport.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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38 COMMENTS

  1. She’s a complete loss , fire started below sea level and none of her own gear operational to fight them , cannot believe it in this day and age .to lose a complete Hull .

    • Not sure it’s a complete loss? According to USA today the fire broke out on the vehicle deck.

      Whilst the Military Network have a statement from Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, who stated to reporters, the fire started in the Deep V lower cargo area. This is a long storage area that holds Marine Corps trucks, tanks, humvees and other vehicles during deployments. There is a ramp down to the well deck from the cargo area where vehicles can be loaded onto LCUs and LCACs, and also a ramp up to the flight deck where lighter vehicles can be loaded onto or underneath helicopters. Above the cargo area is the ship’s mess hall and berthing areas. If indeed the fire did start in the cargo area, and flames were seen behind the hangar deck on the level above, the ship likely sustained very significant damage and will likely be out of commission for several years while repairs are made (if the ship is not a total loss).

      The Chinese have also suffered a serious fire on one of their brand new Type 075 LHD back in April. Haven’t seen or read anything about how the fire started or the damage done to the ship.

    • Half the ship is gone now after two days ablaze, how deep were her moorings? would it not have been more efficient to flood her to extinguish the fire as the wiring was a total writeoff quite quickly.

  2. Smoke from fires always make them look far worse than they are. Key thing is to put it out, then assess the damage. In this day and age this should not be happening!

  3. There seems to have been a spate of these in the last year or so, and they always happen alongside during maintainence or build. There was the Russian carrier, a Chinese LPH, the French submarine,and now this.

    Wonder if the simple absence of large numbers of personnel on board simply allows fires to catch and spread more freely before anyone reacts.

    Also can’t help wondering, just wondering, if there might be a little more to this. I guess it’s much easier to sabotage a ship alongside in port than at sea. Seems to be happening rather alot recently.

    • I think it’s more that people at sea are more aware of the fact that a ship is both a home & a workplace. If you risk either while at sea, you may not survive. The matelot ashore will dive in with an angle grinder without thought.

      • As stated in the article all of the ships systems were down – so there probably was no fire main and the fire alarm/warning system was probably also down.

        Also it is likely that all of the compartment doors were wide open and you don’t necessarily have a crew, or means to communicate with a crew drilled to dog down the ship.

        Add to that cables/gas lines/flammable stuff brought on board by the shore teams etc going through the compartment doors and you have a very different place of work to a stripped down naval ship ready for combat/damage control.

        Whilst it is not very convenient for works progress the ship should be kept in a state where it can be compartmented – but this depends on the, as built, access design working for this approach.

        I agree that this should not happen and it is very, very sloppy. Even in construction there is a thing called the Joint Fire Code that sets fire watch levels and extinguisher requirements. For instance if someone does hot works cutting/welding/grinding then there has to be a physical fire watch in that area for 2 hours after the works are signed off as finished. There is a similar scheme for works in shipyards – it is mandated by the liability insurers.

    • Could be sabotage as you suggest, or simply when at dock for refit, it is not uncommon to have fires with welding etc… i think it’s just an unfortunate accident. – – – – happens ?
      Anyway the navy will know more since they will investigate the cause of the fire and will be able to determine if it was arson or not 😉

    • I agree, it sounds a bit like sabotage!! Were there any marine vehicles on board during a ships maintenance? Chinese consulate in Houston closed, why? A ship should not be lost alongside, even if the response was a bit chaotic. It seems that fire marshalls were in place but there was an explosion and several were injured.

  4. The fire has now intensified and engulfed the island superstructure causing fittings to melt with a main mast now actually leaning forward at an angle. Seahawk helicopters are now being used to drop water via bambi buckets. This vessel could now be a right off with intense fires burning in key mission spaces.

  6. One thing is for sure, someone is in a lot of trouble. Imagine being responsible for the loss of a $1.5 billion aircraft carrier.

    Ooops.

  7. When a USN vessel undergoes a maintenance period with a contractor the work is covered by NAVSEA STANDARD ITEMS https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/SSRAC/NSI/FY21/FY%2021%20CH%203/FY21%20CH-3%20NAVSEA%20Standard%20Items%2011JUL2020%20pkg.pdf?ver=2020-07-11-150146-417

    009-08 and 009-07 cover housekeeping and fire prevention. It details all the good things you must do to ensure that you have adequate fire cover. It looks as if in this case there was a monumental failure of Safety Inspections and Fire Safety Inspections and precautions all of which are mandated.

    Things like having cables and pipework through doors…they must have dis connectors withing 6 feet so you can break the cable and close the door.
    Extinguishers onboard at various locations.
    Fire hoses at a set pressure from 2 x independent sources.
    No HAZMAT COSHH items onboard when the item is finished with.
    No cables etc passing through doors that separate fire zones…
    The lists go on and on….

    When I have commented on fires on vessels before I have said there is a lot more damage than just smoke and flame.
    Burnt through electrical Cables. Melted Aluminium, Buckled Steel that may have been weakened. Reports of explosions seem to indicate HP Air Reservoir Bottles bursting. If bottles burst the air feeds the fire and can cause flash overs and backdrafts ( They are V Scary if you have ever experienced them!) Flexible pipes burnt through so flamable hydraulic oil adding to your issues. Wrecked electrical fittings.
    With the amount of water going into that thing most electrical boxes will be a write off.
    They need to watch out for Loll. If the water they have put inside , especially if its above the waterline,starts to move then the vessel can easily capsize.

    Looking at the pictures the USN will have a new SINKEX target on its hands . It is not coming back from this .

  8. Latest reports state the forward part of the island and mast have collapsed and the ship is listing to starboard (possibly because of the huge amounts of water being pumped into the her. San Diego Fire Department have said they expect the fire will burn for days.

    • Really, really sad to see the loss of a US/NATO asset.

      Makes getting the QECs online even more essential.

      And makes QEC + Albions + Bays look very needed as a grouping.

  15. A very clear reason for why you need a little bit of depth in your fleet. Even something routine as refit can cause a loss, and as seen with endurance you never know when an incident will render a ship scrap. That’s even before they go into harms way.

    As an aside maintenance is known to increase risk of fire and you are sort of meant to have a risk management plan in place. I suspect when the smoke settles a few careers will come to grinding halts.

  16. You couldnt make it up. The yard which started the fire has been posthumously awarded a $10m contract to put out the fire and cleaning up the debris.

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