The fire at the UDC "Bon Omm Richard." US Navy Welders
In the US on the Pacific Navy fleet For more than a day, San Diego has been burning (rather dying) the Bonhomme Richard LHD-6 universal landing ship (Wasp) with a displacement of more than 40 thousand tons.
"Simpleton Richard" and the future admiral of the Russian fleet
The name of the ship translates as "Simpleton Richard," or rather, "Simpleton Richard." This name was borne by the 42-gun flagship of the squadron of American warships during the US War of Independence. True, the purchase of most of the ships themselves was paid by the Ambassador of the USA in Paris, Benjamin Franklin (the one who invented the lightning rod), for the money of French private individuals (or it was arranged in this way). But the crews there were largely recruited from the French, most of the ships were also commanded by the French, and two ships were completely private privateers from France. However, there were residents of the North American colonies, and even captured British, who were not averse to piracy against their own: the squadron was engaged in hunting for British merchant shipping, that is, the business was profitable.
The squadron was led by a Scottish sailor and privateer, Commodore John Paul Jones, later nicknamed the "father of the American Navy." This ship itself was not its flagship for long and sank during the battle at Cape Flamborough Head with the British in 1779, which both sides considered their victory, and the Americans later declared the symbol of the "birth" of the US Navy, although it was the Americans in that battle few. The simpleton sank, but John Paul Jones managed to capture his adversary, the Serapis frigate, but the truth was that the convoy that the British were guarding nevertheless left, and there were about 40 ships and they belonged to the so-called Moscow Company of the British, known since the time of Ivan the Terrible.
But Commodore Jones himself, after the War of Independence, got bored, entered the Russian service, receiving the rear admiral rank from the hands of Catherine the Great, and distinguished himself in the battles at Ochakov in 1788, where the Turkish squadron was defeated and the fortress was taken. But, for a number of reasons, he did not take root in Russia, made many enemies, including His Excellency Prince Grigory Potemkin, and left for France, where he died a few years later, while retaining American citizenship, title and monetary allowance of Rear Admiral of the Russian Imperial Fleet (mother Catherine was not a petty woman).
This name, in addition to the current UDC and a 42-gun sailing vessel, was used to name three ships, but the construction of one was canceled during the Civil War, once the CV-10 aircraft carrier of the Essex type was called so. but then it was renamed Yorktown, and once again this name was again given to one of the 24 Essexes, CV / CVA-31, decommissioned only in 1971, and disposed of in 1989. Although UDC is often called light aircraft carriers. In particular, Bonhomme Richard underwent re-equipment including the use of F-35B fighters.
Welder - the main enemy of the ship in repair
The ship caught fire during repairs carried out afloat at the pier, the cause of the fire is still unknown. They report both the fault of the welders and the explosion. But the ship was burning with might and main. The fire started in the area of the lower cargo deck, above the engine room and fuel tanks with 3700 tons of fuel, but under the hangar deck. True, it was possible to defend the fuel, but the ship seems to burn out all above the landing deck and hangar, although the flame is already localized only in the bow and stern; in the central part, apparently, everything has already burned down. From the very beginning, the ship had too few crews (160 out of 1100 people, and there should have been about 300 on board even in the base), and even the fire alarm and fire extinguishing systems were turned off, because the ship was under repair.
Fire control is carried out both by fire brigade forces on vehicles and by crew teams from this and other ships, fire boats and helicopters are watered. But the fire at the time of writing was still ongoing. More than 60 people have already been injured (23 of them are civilian firefighters), and there are no dead. Steel structures bent, the aluminum superstructure "island" partially collapsed and melted, a roll appeared on the starboard side from the received water, although it was possible to reduce it. But then, after three days of the fire, when the central part and the superstructure mostly burned out, and the fire was localized in the bow and stern, but continued to burn, the bank already appeared on the port side, and much more significant. Firefighters and sailors, in view of fears that the ship would fall on the pier, had to be removed from the ship and pier. Then, however, there were reports that they were returned back, but the roll, judging by the photo, has not gone away. Moreover, by the evening of July 16, they also reported that the ship seemed to be burned out and put out.
UDC "Bon Om Richard" July 16, 2020. The roll is very noticeable and is about 10 degrees, and, given the large open spaces of the landing decks, the dock chamber and the hangar deck, where the flow of water can not be stopped, the situation is very difficult
Even when the ship becomes completely safe in terms of fire and does not turn upside down, it will almost certainly be written off: the fire burned for more than 3 days, and in most of the ship the properties of the steel changed irreversibly from contact with a high-temperature flame.
And the repair will require huge sums and time. Theses about the “age ship” are already being thrown into the press, although 22 years are not age for UDC, they serve for 40-50 years. In addition, they want to write off a number of large amphibious ships - now less to think about the choice. Losing tanks, parts of other equipment and the reduced and reformed American Marines need fewer ships, and large "paratroopers" are now considered dangerous by the current commandant of the ILC - they will be primarily drowned by the latest Russian hypersonic anti-ship missiles, after aircraft carriers, of course.
Welders, if it is them again, destroyed and crippled dozens, if not hundreds of ships in all fleets, not excluding ours, of course. So, a month ago in France during the welding work, the Perle nuclear submarine, which they will probably write off, was completely burned out. We remember the fires in our fleet, and in Chinese, and many others. As for the US Navy, as the American media write, "the USA lost the fleet from the fires, which many countries never had, but almost no one answered." Questions are already being heard in the USA: will one of the admirals and officers answer for the mess in the Navy or not again?
Sad incomplete list
May 20, 2011 - USS Spruance.
The destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) was damaged during post-delivery tests at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine when routine tests of gas turbine engines resulted in a fire in the ship's propulsion system. Spryuens, who inherited this name from a large series of destroyers built in the 70-80s, had already passed sea trials and was handed over to the Navy, and the shipyard was working on a new destroyer, apparently eliminating the imperfections when the fire happened. Fortunately for them, there was no fatal nature of the damage.
May 23, 2012 - USS Miami.
The USS Miami (SSN-755) multi-purpose submarine caught fire during repairs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, which later revealed that it was arson. Casey's welder James Fury pleaded guilty to setting up a fire that caused $ 700 million in damage, because he was tired of going to work and generally wanted to "dump" the shipyard early and drink some beer. Result of this anecdotal stories: The nuclear submarines were written off.
March 3, 2015 - USS Gunston Hall.
The USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) Widby Island Landing Transport Dock (DTD) had a three-hour fire on board when the ship was being maintained at NASSCO's Portsmouth, Virginia shipyard.
Initial reports indicated that a fire had started in a storeroom below the main deck, and the ship's emergency fire brigade responded immediately, with the Portsmouth Fire Department quickly joining them. One sailor was slightly injured. The ship went to repair.
July 31, 2015 - USS Mount Whitney.
USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) suffered a 45-minute fire that started in the diesel generator bay while the command ship was dry docked at the Viktor Lenac shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia. No casualties were reported. But the damage from the fire extended the repair time by at least 2 months.
November 10, 2018 - USS Oscar Austin.
The USS Oscar Austin destroyer (DDG-79) was undergoing a one-year modernization at the BAE Systems Norfolk shipyard in Virginia when a fire broke out in the wiring of the ship.
"They reported that they had an electric fire in one of the bow compartments, and the survivability division was busy fighting fire. They also had a survivability group on board with the destroyer USS Cole (the same one the terrorists in Aden almost destroyed) on board, helping in their efforts, a total of about 30 people, "the Norfolk fire department’s incident report said. Local firefighters were at the scene for only about two hours, after which the anti-terrorist brigades Damage, the Navy took control of the situation and the firefighters left the pier.
Although the fire did not rage for long, it cost him dearly. Instead of a year, Oscar Austin will be under repair until at least 1 quarter of 2022. According to the published unclassified documents on the repair and modernization of the ship, repairmen at the shipyard need to be given more time to repair damage caused by both fire and fire fighting. “Extinguishing the fire caused significant damage to fire, smoke and water. Thirty-two rooms received considerable damage, including several components of the Aegis air defense system, NAVSEA spokeswoman Colin O'Rourke said in an interview at the time. “As soon as the initial preparedness work is completed, the ship will leave for the Norfolk Naval Station to complete the remaining restoration of damaged equipment and facilities. Due to the complexity, availability and fabrication or refurbishment of waveguides and cabinets, the refurbishment and test schedule remains revised. ”
The work of BAE welders was blamed for the fire.
“After the incident, the navy worked with BAE to establish additional preventative and safety measures. Enhanced training was provided for all BAE employees related to welding and other hot work and fire watch. Individual training permission was also increased as and the number of checks for permits for hot work, "O'Rourke said." In the administrative plan, BAE has implemented measures to ensure staff rotation at the facility between shifts, the boundaries of work are clearly outlined, and the scope of work was duly reported to BAE managers. ”
But, as we can see, the measures taken are not very helpful.
May 2019 - USS Fitzgerald.
Destroyer commander USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) Garrett Miller wrote a memo outlining unsafe maintenance conditions and practices that have led to several fire-related incidents over the past year. Fitzgerald was at the Ingalls Mississippi Shipyard for repairs and upgrades after a fatal collision with a merchant ship in 2017.
"The lack of fire safety is a serious problem in this project, and I am extremely concerned that we are on the way to a catastrophic fire on board. The NSA (Naval Supervisory Authority) and contractor have taken measures to reduce, but they were ineffective. I saw improvements in government oversight over the past few months, but little has changed in the long run. The most recent incident is unpleasantly similar to the recent USS Oscar Austin fire, "Miller wrote in a May state report.
In February 2018, he wrote, there was a fire on the deck "due to the amount of work transferred outside the area of responsibility of the fire watch without communication with the fire watch." “In December 2018, there was a“ burning ”from welding the transverse bulkhead without the presence of a fire watch. The workers changed the order of work without coordination with the fire supervision and the supervising work, violating the rules for the work. The fire inspector discovered burnout, stopped work and informed the fireman shipyard inspector. "
After several workplace closures or even ship stops to review safety measures, Miller reported regular fires - and, alarmingly, fires occurring when no one was on duty nearby. As a result, a fire occurred on the destroyer, which solidly delayed the completion date of work on it.
Although that mess at the shipyard against the background of the mess on the destroyer itself, which led to the collision and the death of 7 people, in general, is nonsense. The investigation of the clash, which lasted almost a month and a half, revealed the “atmosphere of general negligence, connivance and sloppiness” that reigned aboard the destroyer (as indicated in the report). So, the electronic navigation system of the ship did not work, and it was not only not going to be repaired, but quite the opposite - it was dismantled for parts to repair more important equipment. On the ship 2 years before the accident there was no navigator. He was replaced by other officers. The command knew about the situation on the ship at least in general terms, but did nothing. God knows what was going on in the destroyer's CIC. Rear Admiral Brian Ford, the investigator, describes how the BIC looked more like a student dormitory rather than a warship compartment. Scraps, dirty clothes and household items (including hygiene items for the ladies' part of the crew) were scattered everywhere. There was a smell of urine in the BIC because the center’s operators were too lazy to go to latrine, and they poured it into bottles, which they often simply forgot (and they apparently didn’t or did the cleaning in the same way as they did). The bulletin board was covered with extraneous inscriptions and obscene drawings. Half of the CIC equipment was not working or was working incorrectly. The operator’s workplace of one of the ship’s radar systems was sealed with tape because it did not work. So that no one poked buttons in vain - it was written in the report. The command did not even report a faulty radar station, and from there they were not even interested. Moreover, officers and other operators of the BIC and other ship’s officers could not even remember when the radar "covered itself with a copper basin." But even those malfunctions that were reported to the bridge and beyond, to the squadron and to the base, were not even eliminated, and spare parts for repairs sometimes didn’t come for half a year or a year, and repair crews too. They just "hung" unclosed for a long time. For example, the ship's automated motion control system ("autopilot") was malfunctioning for more than a year, and its problems were "cured" by its complete reboot, which took several minutes, which would have been impossible in a difficult situation. The backup control system through the BIC also did not work - it was faulty and even disassembled, and the computer hardware was allowed to fix some other malfunctions from it.
The signalmen on the bridge of the destroyer immediately before the collision experienced difficulties in keeping track of the situation - there is always a lot of traffic off the coast of Japan near a major port. Despite this, they did not ask the CIC for help in tracking the surrounding ships. In view of the fact that the officer of the watch, which was Lt. Sarah Koppok, had bad personal relations with the operators of the center and she did not communicate with them even for official reasons. Another “officer”, l. Natalie Combs, head of the BIC, was busy chatting with friends on duty. In a busy and difficult navigation area! .. Another confirmation that women have no place on a warship, it is strange that the Americans do not understand this together with other NATO members, the recently successful ditched Norwegian frigate also led to the complete success of the ladies who were on guard duty. Our MO is also having fun - either a female crew of a tank, or a small boat, which is also pointless, and is nothing but PR. And there is in the army and without crews of military equipment full of activities where girls will be really welcome.
So what happened to the destroyer was not just natural, they were also lucky that they got off so cheaply. As was natural and what happened to the ship at the shipyard.
November 14, 2019 - USS Iwo Jima.
The UDC USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) caught fire while undergoing maintenance at the Mayport, Florida naval base. “The sailors on board reported smoke in the cargo hold, and subsequent investigation and damage control revealed a fire and confirmed that the fire did not spread to the surrounding compartments,” the command of the 2nd Expeditionary Strike Group said at the time.
However, in reality, the fight against the “small” fire took more than 5 hours, and firefighters from the base and sailors with the USS Sullivans (DDG-68) destroyer standing nearby were also involved. Also, 11 sailors were injured during the extinguishing of the fire. As a result, the repair of this ship was delayed. But the episode with Iwo Jima was not the only one with repaired ships in the U.S. Navy in 2019 - it was the third.
All of the above does not prevent the Western media and our bloggers from laughing out loud at the fires on the aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" and our other ships over the past years, or, say, on the Chinese UDC "Type-075" under construction, which did without such catastrophic consequences as took place at Bon Hmm Richard or Miami. But, obviously, the fires in the US Navy and NATO are "completely different", as people of non-traditional liberal orientation like to write. Although, of course, gagging and negligence are international diseases, and in the “blessed” West the mess is no less, if not more, than, for example, in our country.
- Ya. Vyatkin, especially for "Military Review"
- www.thedrive.com
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