Mon Nov 30, 2020, 09:18 PM

Navy decides to scrap USS Bonhomme Richard after major fire

The U.S. Navy has announced that it plans to scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard and not repair the amphibious assault ship ravaged by a major fire in San Diego in July.

The damage to the ship from the days-long fire, that at times reached 1,000 degrees, was too much to repair for a ship that had already been in service for almost a quarter of a century, according to the Navy.

"After thorough consideration, the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations have decided to decommission the Bonhomme Richard due to the extensive damage sustained during that July fire," Rear Adm. Eric H. Ver Hage, commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, told reporters on an audio-only news conference Monday.

Ver Hage said the Navy had explored three possibilities that included scrapping the ship, repairing it or re-configuring it into a hospital ship or tender.

In the end, those costs appeared to be just as expensive -- and would take as long -- as a future purchase of a new modern amphibious assault ship.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/navy-decides-scrap-uss-bonhomme-200000780.html

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8 replies	Author	Time	Post
Navy decides to scrap USS Bonhomme Richard after major fire (Original post)	Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin	Nov 30	OP
Good idea. That was a really big fire. High temperature fires will compromise even	Blue_true	Nov 30	#1
Yep, the Navy Times had some pictures of the damage	DetroitLegalBeagle	Nov 30	#5
Fun fact: Jim Morrison's dad, who eventually became a Rear Admiral,	Tanuki	Nov 30	#2
Different ship. That was Bon Homme (two words) Richard and was an aircraft carrier	RockRaven	Nov 30	#3
Didn't know there were 2 different vessels with such similar names!	Tanuki	Nov 30	#4
It is a historic Navy ship name	hack89	Nov 30	#6
Thanks for that! I always wondered how an aircraft carrier came to have such a	Tanuki	Dec 1	#7
"a quarter of a century" - practically new!1	UTUSN	Dec 1	#8

Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 09:21 PM

Blue_true (29,020 posts)

1. Good idea. That was a really big fire. High temperature fires will compromise even

the most sophisticated metals.

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Response to Blue_true (Reply #1)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 10:29 PM

DetroitLegalBeagle (666 posts)

5. Yep, the Navy Times had some pictures of the damage

It looked bad.

[link:https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/07/17/heres-what-the-damage-inside-the-bonhomme-richard-looks-like/|]

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Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 09:26 PM

Tanuki (12,210 posts)

2. Fun fact: Jim Morrison's dad, who eventually became a Rear Admiral,

was at one time Commander of the Bonhomme Richard.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephen_Morrison

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Response to Tanuki (Reply #2)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 10:06 PM

RockRaven (7,779 posts)

3. Different ship. That was Bon Homme (two words) Richard and was an aircraft carrier

But it's crazy that Jim Morrison's dad was the commander of US naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. I did not know that before today...

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Response to RockRaven (Reply #3)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 10:15 PM

Tanuki (12,210 posts)

4. Didn't know there were 2 different vessels with such similar names!

That seems like it could be confusing (even to other people besides me!)

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Response to Tanuki (Reply #4)

Mon Nov 30, 2020, 11:00 PM

hack89 (38,576 posts)

6. It is a historic Navy ship name

It was the name of John Paul Jones’ ship from the Revolutionary war.

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Response to hack89 (Reply #6)

Tue Dec 1, 2020, 12:40 AM

Tanuki (12,210 posts)

7. Thanks for that! I always wondered how an aircraft carrier came to have such a

jaunty name. Your reference to John Paul Jones sent me scurrying to Wikipedia, where I learned that the original "Bonhomme Richard" was none other than John Paul Jones" friend....Benjamin Franklin! Because the French translation of Poor Richard's Almanac was called "Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard". I love knowing this!
😺
🌊🐳⚓🌊🦈🛳🌊🦭🚢🌊🐟🇺🇲🌊🐋🌊🗽🐡🌊

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Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)

Tue Dec 1, 2020, 01:45 AM

UTUSN (57,716 posts)

8. "a quarter of a century" - practically new!1

My first ship (of two) was an LST (Landing Ship Tank) built in 1945, of a type used at D-Day (built too late for D-Day), and we were using it, all rusty and leaky in Vietnam 22+ years later. It had been decommissioned and recommissioned a couple of times and had been used in Korea and Vietnam before. It got its final end in 1971 and was ignominiously unloaded on some civilian enterprise before being scrapped.

My second ship was brand new when we commissioning crew (“plank owners”) reported, and when my year was done I expected it to be running around for 30 years. But surprise, about 15 years later I received an invitation to its decommissioning ceremony, and I didn’t go. According to Navy tradition, the original commissioning crew are plank owners from when ships were made of wooden planks and were entitled to a piece of plank when it was done. It went to a junkyard for ships and I thought that was that. Well, imagine my surprise when a year or whatever later it arrived at a scrapping port NEAR ME to be scrapped! I went to see it, but the area was closed off and the scrapper business had no interest in plankowner traditions.

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