The Navy has charged an unnamed sailor with starting a fire that ultimately destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault ship that was engulfed by an inferno last year that burned for four days as the ship was docked in San Diego, California.
On Thursday, the service announced it was charging the sailor “in response to evidence found during the criminal investigation” into the fire, which caused so much damage to the ship that the Navy decided to scrap it altogether. The service concluded in November 2020 that it would take at least five years and more than $3 billion to get the ship back up and running. It would have cost more than $1 billion to modify the ship to a different type of vessel, such as a hospital ship.
“Evidence collected during the investigation is sufficient to direct a preliminary hearing in accordance with due process under the military justice system,” said Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Navy spokesman. “The sailor was a member of Bonhomme Richard’s crew at the time and is accused of starting the fire.”
The sailor has been charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice with violating Article 110, willful hazarding of a vessel; and Article 126, aggravated arson.
Robertson declined to give the name of the sailor or provide a copy of the charge sheet before the sailor went to a preliminary hearing, called an Article 32, that will determine if there is enough evidence to take the sailor to court-martial. Officials could not say when that hearing would take place.
Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, the commander of the Navy’s 3rd Fleet, is overseeing the case and “has directed a preliminary hearing at which an impartial hearing officer will make determinations and recommendations required by the UCMJ prior to any further trial proceedings – including whether or not there is probable cause to believe an offense has been committed and to offer a recommendation as to the disposition of the case,” Robertson said.
At around 8:30 a.m. on July 12, 2020, a fire began in the ship’s lower vehicle storage area as it was docked at Naval Base San Diego. Navy firefighting teams worked inside the vessel as helicopters flew through Sunday evening and into Monday morning to dump buckets of water on the ship. The fire on the 844-foot vessel was finally extinguished only after a grueling four-day battle to contain the fire ended on July 16. Dozens of sailors and civilians were injured while fighting the blaze.
The flight deck of the Bonhomme Richard was receiving upgrades so it can handle F-35B aircraft at the time. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday later said 11 of the ship’s 14 decks had been damaged, according to then-Defense News reporter David Larter.
As Jeff Schogol reported, the last time the Navy determined a vessel was too costly to repair was in 2012, after a fire on the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Miami caused up to $700 million worth of damage and injured seven people. A 25-year-old shipyard worker was later sentenced to 17 years in prison after starting the fire so he could leave work early.
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