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Bonhomme Richard’s dismantling to begin in April
Geoff Ziezulewicz

The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard burned for more than four days last summer at Naval Base San Diego. (Navy)
The fire-ravaged amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, which burned for more than four days while pier side in San Diego last summer, will begin to be dismantled on April 15, according to a fleetwide Navy message released Friday.

While the cause of the July 12 inferno remains the focus of several investigations, Navy officials said late last year that the extensive damage to the flattop’s flight deck, island, mast and lower levels would have required about 60 percent of the ship to be replaced.

Rebuilding and repairing the 22-year-old ship would have cost up to $3.2 billion and taken five to seven years, Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, told reporters in November.

Even turning the stricken amphib into another asset, like a hospital ship, would’ve taken years and cost more than $1 billion, he said.

While the Navy’s message last week did not include a price tag fort the dismantling work, Ver Hage said last year that such an effort would cost about $30 million.

Retiring Bonhomme Richard would involve stripping it of usable parts in San Diego before it is towed to the Gulf Coast for decommissioning, he said.

My family is blessed that my Navy helicopter pilot niece had recently completed her deployment on the BR before that incident. She is sad to see the ship go, but she won’t lose any sleep over it. Whatever costs less to taxpayers is best, and I wouldn’t doubt that name will carry on to future ships.

It's a long-standing tradition in most 'real' navies - the Royal Navy's 'Ark Royal' began life in 1587 - there have been five since then.

Likely there will be another one.

They also have a ship named ‘Battle Axe’ in honor of mother’s in law.

^^^^

Tom Clancy: Red Storm Rising.

The link has stills and a video.

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/...to-texas-shipbreaker

Bonhomme Richard Hull Completes Final Voyage to Texas Shipbreaker

By: Sam LaGrone
June 2, 2021 11:48 AM

The hull of the former amphibious warship Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) has arrived at the yard of a Texas shipbreaker for dismantling, the shipyard confirmed to USNI News.

On Monday, tug Nicole Foss pulled the wreck into the Port of Brownsville, Texas, to the International Shipbreaking LTD., shipyard. International Shipbreaking won a $3.66 million contract to recycle the remains of the warship after a four-day long fire gutted the hull last year. The Navy elected to scrap the ship rather than repair it.

As part of the contract, the Texas yard will harvest government-owned equipment that survived the July 12 fire, which started while the 22-year-old Bonhomme Richard was in the last stages of a $250 million refit. For example, USNI News understands that the propulsion system for the ship was largely undamaged.

The Brownsville yard has had experience decommissioning larger Navy ships – including the former carriers USS Constellation (CV-64) and USS Ranger (CV-61) and former big deck amphibious warship USS Tripoli (LPH-10).

The arrival at the International Shipbreaking yard follows the hull’s departure from Naval Station San Diego, Calif., on April 15, 2021 – a day after Bonhomme Richard’s ceremonial decommissioning.

The hull was towed across the Pacific, arrived off the Western Coast of Panama on May 5 and completed the Panama Canal transit on May 12. The hull’s island and aircraft elevators were removed to allow easier passage through the canal’s locks.

Several investigations into the origins of the fire and the Navy’s response are still ongoing.

Sad end for a good ship.

I went to Brownsville once to see the ships being scrapped there. I figured out there were 3 carriers there; can't remember which (no nuclear vessels). I managed to see a couple of them, but I couldn't get anywhere close to them. There is no 'scenic viewing area' that I could find, and of course, driving through security checkpoints was not an option (not that I didn't want to, of course).

It's an amazing operation, and one can find some cool stuff on Google Earth of the place.

At one point, my GPS said I was 1-5 feet below sea level.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:
and I wouldn’t doubt that name will carry on to future ships.

BHR will most certainly be a name carried on to another ship, after all, it's the name of John Paul Jones ship.
There's a handful of names that will always live-on with the USN: Enterprise, Essex, Wasp, Hornet, Washington, along with BHR will always have a ship to carry on the name.

quote:

Originally posted by sjp:
How is this the same Navy that lost so many ships at Pearl Harbor and within a few months had most of them back in the fight?

The ships back then weren't nearly as complicated as they are today.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by sjp:
How is this the same Navy that lost so many ships at Pearl Harbor and within a few months had most of them back in the fight?

The ships back then weren't nearly as complicated as they are today.

Plus, there was a world war going on …

We also had far more shipbuilding capacity then than we do today. Our ship yards today are struggling to keep up with new ship building and minimal routine maintenance. Lots of required maintenance simply doesn't get done today. There isn't much room for repairing battle damage.

And the sailor who started the fire was cleared of all charges.
https://www.navytimes.com/news...that-destroyed-ship/

Why the angry face IrishWind?

Maybe he didn’t start the fire and was being scapegoated for the Navy.

I’ve been railroaded before. When I decided to push back all kinds of feathers got ruffled. But I won, no Courts Martial, just a Captains Mast-which I won. No restrictions, no loss of pay, no loss of stripe, got a letter put in my jacket..but that was gonna happen anyway.

Sometimes the system tries to protect itself and cares not about who gets hammered down.