Pentagon will scrap $750million USS Bonhomme Richard after learning it would cost $3 BILLION and seven years to restore after July arson attack
The Navy said Monday that it will decommission a warship docked off San Diego after suspected arson this summer caused extensive damage, making it too expensive to restore.
Fully repairing the USS Bonhomme Richard to warfighting capabilities would cost $2.5 billion to $3 billion and take five to seven years, said Rear Adm. Eric H. Ver Hage of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center.
The amphibious assault ship burned for more than four days in July and was the Navy's worst U.S. warship fire outside of combat in recent memory. The ship was left with extensive structural, electrical and mechanical damage.
Restoring the 22-year-old ship for another use, perhaps as a hospital, would take almost as long as full restoration and cost $1 billion. Decommissioning the ship will take nine months to a year and cost $30 million, Ver Hage said.
Pictured, smoke rises from the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego in San Diego, after an explosion and fire onboard the ship at Naval Base San Diego
On Monday, the Navy said that it will decommission the warship docked off San Diego after suspected arson caused extensive damage, making it too expensive to restore
Helicopters approach the USS Bonhomme Richard as crews fight the fire in San Diego last summer
Pictures taken by @Osinttechnical show the 'extensive damage' caused by the blaze which burned for more than four days off San Diego harbor
More than 160 people had been aboard when the blaze erupted. It had been undergoing maintenance when the fire was first reported in a lower cargo area where seafaring tanks are parked
'We did not come to this decision lightly,' Navy Secretary Kenneth J. Braithwaite said. 'Following an extensive material assessment in which various courses of action were considered and evaluated, we came to the conclusion that it is not fiscally responsible to restore her.'
Navy officials and industry experts studied the cost and schedule with an eye toward 'the art of the possible,' Ver Hage told reporters. They considered the impact that restoration would have on other spending priorities.
'The dollars definitely would disrupt our strategy for investment,' Ver Hage said.
Arson is suspected in the July 12 fire, and a U.S. Navy sailor was questioned as a potential suspect, a senior defense official said in late August.
The blaze first broke out aboard the ship on July 12 at 8:30am. The conflagration erupted on USS Bonhomme Richard's lower decks, sending temperatures as high as 1,200 degrees and triggering several explosions as it tore through the ship
The fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard burned for four days. Firefighters then walked through the ship to find every smoldering hot spot
In August, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service suspected arson could be to blame
The USS Bonhomme Richard burst in to flames on July 12 in San Diego harbor
Firefighters spent four days attacking the blaze before it was finally extinguished
Firefighting boats sprayed water onto the amphibious assault ship to try and quell the flames
The sailor was questioned as part of the investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an official with knowledge of the investigation said in August. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. The sailor was not detained.
Ver Hage declined to comment Monday on the status of several investigations and he didn't give a timeline for their completion, saying they 'will conclude when the time is right.'
Ver Hage said about 60% of the ship would likely need to be replaced to have it fully restored, including the flight deck, mast and many levels directly below the flight deck.
The ship will likely be decommissioned in San Diego. Crew members will be notified of reassignment.
Helicopters also dumped water onto the $761 million ship as part of the rescue effort
At least 68 firefighters suffered injuries during the four-day fight against the blaze last July
Day and night the rescuers doused the ship with water to try and extinguish the fire
USS Bonhomme Richard seen ablaze last July with a thick plume of smoke billowing in the sky
Firefighting efforts involved personnel from Naval Base San Diego (right) and the City of San Diego Fire Department (left), along with Harbor Police fire boats and fire teams from other ships, according to the Navy
The Bonhomme Richard was nearing the end of a two-year upgrade estimated to cost $250 million when the fire started.
About 160 sailors and officers were on board when the flames sent up a huge plume of dark smoke from the 840-foot amphibious assault vessel, which had been docked at Naval Base San Diego while undergoing the upgrade.
Firefighters attacked the flames inside the ship while firefighting vessels with water cannons directed streams of seawater into the ship and helicopters made water drops.
More than 60 sailors and civilians were treated for minor injuries, heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
Lawrence B. Brennan, a retired Navy captain and adjunct professor of law at Fordham Law School, said the decision to decommission was 'inevitable and correct.'
Aside from the ship's extensive damage and advanced age, evidence would have to be preserved for any prosecution, delaying repair work, he said. Defense attorneys would be entitled to examine the wreck for expert witnesses to testify at trial.
Naval Sailors were seen putting on their protective gear as they responded to the fire
Firefighters are pictured looking on, amid thick smoke, as the ship burned
Teams of sailors rotated on 15-minute firefighting shift patterns to tackle the blaze last summer
The Bonhomme Richard was undergoing maintenance when the fire erupted on July 12, 2020
