USS Bonhomme Richard Fire

It wouldn't surprise me at all if it is a H&S shortcoming. From all the stories I hear from people I know who have worked in the US oil industry, it can be a very macho world. H&S can often tend to come second to just using a bit of American muscle to sort things out. Even after events such as Deepwater Horizon, changing the safety "culture" is proving particularly hard.
 
This is what happens when you have no leadership, why should anyone else bother with excesses like responsibility and duty.

With how bloated the US military is, I wouldn't be surprised if this was an attempt to steal more money from the taxpayer and give it to the contractors, corruption doesn't care about patriotism.
 
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ryhoper1 said:
:eek: just think if it had been one of the nuclear ones
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One did. USS Miami, a nuclear powered Los Angeles class attack sub was written off a few years ago in dry dock after a disgruntled ship yard worker deliberately started a fire so he could knock off early.

Again, this ship was undergoing ship yard work, so firefighting systems would Like halon or CO2 would have been isolated, hatches would have been kept open for welding cables and the like, while fire detectors would be isolated for hot work, like welding, grinding etc.
 
Lax means salmon in Swedish so when I read that I laughed.

My brain is sadly becoming more anpassade to Swedish everyday.
 
physichull said:
It wouldn't surprise me at all if it is a H&S shortcoming. From all the stories I hear from people I know who have worked in the US oil industry, it can be a very macho world. H&S can often tend to come second to just using a bit of American muscle to sort things out. Even after events such as Deepwater Horizon, changing the safety "culture" is proving particularly hard.
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Just need to watch any of the US Chemical Safety Board accident review videos on youtube to get an idea of how that entire sector seems to operate. https://www.youtube.com/user/USCSB

Some incredible videos on there (not the good type of incredible), and sadly seemingly most come with a death count.
 
The Funktopus said:
One did. USS Miami, a nuclear powered Los Angeles class attack sub was written off a few years ago in dry dock after a disgruntled ship yard worker deliberately started a fire so he could knock off early.

Again, this ship was undergoing ship yard work, so firefighting systems would Like halon or CO2 would have been isolated, hatches would have been kept open for welding cables and the like, while fire detectors would be isolated for hot work, like welding, grinding etc.
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A large fire on something that size, must a daunting prospect for anyone, including the ship’s company. If it’s anything like the Royal Navy when I was in, you’d have a duty watch of sailors who would be the firefighting & damage control party for that given day, then I bet it’d take time for them to muster, and carry out any form of attack on the fire. Then like you say damage control measures would be lax, like doors and hatches left open to facilitate maintenance going on in multiple different compartments, so the fire will spread quickly so will be out of control before the dockside firefighters can assist.

The USN does seem to be going through the same sort of dangerous attitude that the RN did during the Pax Brittanica days. No one in their right mind is going to challenge the USN so arrogance And boredom increases and standards drop.

it’s a far cry from the WWII USN who were excellent when it came to damage control.
 
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I'm by no means an expert on fire safety or fighting fires, but I'd imagine trying to extinguish a fire in the rabbit warren that exists below the main flight deck and hanger would be incredibly difficult. First you have to get your water supply onto the ship, drag a heavy hose around behind you, which won't bend well round corners and tight spaces, then you will be wearing respirators, as well as the low visibility due to the smoke, then risk of flooding due to fire water sloshing around. But then maybe below decks there would be less oxygen to burn? Who knows!!

I don't think I'd know where to begin other than trying to get the main aircraft hanger under control first.
 
PlacidCasual said:
@physichull I'm actually surprised they don't have dry pipe water sprinkler that can be connected to fire pumps for just this kind of event. But having never having been on a warship maybe there is a good reason not to.
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They do, they’ll have Sprinklers and points to connect hoses to throughout the ship. Depending on where the initial explosion was though multiple compartments could’ve been set on fire at the same time and spread rapidly before the firefighting parties got there, especially given the size of the thing.
 
The Funktopus said:
One did. USS Miami, a nuclear powered Los Angeles class attack sub was written off a few years ago in dry dock after a disgruntled ship yard worker deliberately started a fire so he could knock off early.

Again, this ship was undergoing ship yard work, so firefighting systems would Like halon or CO2 would have been isolated, hatches would have been kept open for welding cables and the like, while fire detectors would be isolated for hot work, like welding, grinding etc.
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Correct. Also, a French nuclear submarine was gutted last month due to a fire in refit. Fortunately there was no nuclear fuel loaded.
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2...rns-in-unbelievably-fierce-fire-for-14-hours/
 
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