Navy disciplines officers in massive ship fire
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press - Yesterday 1:57 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — Navy leaders have disciplined more than 20 senior officers and sailors in connection with widespread leadership and other failures that contributed to the July 2020 arson fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard.
The most significant actions were taken against members of the ship's leadership team, including letters of reprimand and pay cuts for the former commander and executive officer. And Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro issued a letter of censure to retired Vice Adm. Richard Brown, who was the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time of the fire.
The ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pierside in San Diego when the fire broke out. About 115 sailors were on board, and nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. The failure to extinguish or contain the fire led to temperatures exceeding 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, melting sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship.
A Navy report last year concluded that the massive five-day blaze was preventable and unacceptable, and that there were lapses in training, coordination, communications, fire preparedness, equipmentment maintenance and overall command and control. And, while one sailor — Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays — has been charged with setting the fire, the report found that failings by about three dozen officers and sailors either directly led to the ship’s loss or contributed to it.
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