Navy will scrap Bonhomme Richard

| December 1, 2020


USS Bonhomme Richard Ablaze

After thorough consideration, the Navy has decided to decommission USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, due to the extensive damage sustained during the July fire.

To rebuild and repair the 22-year-old Gator-Freighter would have cost between $2.5 and $3.2 billion, and would have taken up to seven years, he said.

Jeff LPH-3 sends.

Navy will scrap fire-ravaged Bonhomme Richard

Geoff Ziezulewicz

The U.S. Navy will not repair the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, which burned for more than four days this summer in San Diego.

In the end, resurrecting the devastated large-deck amphib would have been too costly, Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, told reporters Monday.

The extensive damage to the flattop’s flight deck, island, mast and lower levels from the July 12 inferno would have required about 60 percent of the ship to be replaced, Ver Hage said.

To rebuild and repair the 22-year-old amphib would have cost between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion, and would have taken five to seven years, he said.

To turn the stricken amphib into a hospital ship would have cost more than $1 billion and taken the same amount of time, he said.

By contrast, decommissioning the ship will cost roughly $30 million and will be implemented over the next nine to 12 months, Ver Hage said.

Ver Hage also declined to comment Monday on the status of other ongoing investigations.

The first BonHomme Richard was commanded by Capt. John Paul Jones. Both became known for their defeat of the English warship HMS Serapis at the Battle of Flamborough Head off the coast of England. The BonHomme Richard was gravely damaged and its flag knocked to the deck, when the English asked Jones whether he surrendered.

Jones responded by calling out, “I have not yet begun to fight!” He then sent 40 Marines and sailors to the Serapis with grenades and muskets. The BonHomme Richard then secured America’s first defeat of an English vessel in English waters before ultimately sinking in September 1779.

Read the entire article here: Navy Times
Thanks, Jeff.

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Guest Link, Navy

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Sapper3307

Just Like the USS Miami, arson and scraped.

FuzeVT

This is sad to see but not unexpected. Four days of uncontrolled fire in a ship will do that. I spent time on her with the 31st MEU and really loved it. (Also loved my time on the Georgetown and the Denver during the same time period.)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3RsqkX8AJPayzmZU9
https://goo.gl/photos/pULvovdvi54Qmiyx6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YSKQva6zQRHfY5v48
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mjvyzqBHNWgyoB53A
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4mKha8YETLfEVyzm6

Claw

Great pictures, Fuze. Really enjoyed them.

One request, though. Whatever it was that the Marines were feeding to “Pappy” Boyington to keep him on flight status and flying Harriers in 2013, I gotta have some of it./smile

CCO

That’s gotta be some Marine horsing around or a coincidence or a cool story like CAPT Kirk in the Navy.

FuzeVT

That might just be a VMA-214 thing since the lineage goes back to the WWII Black Sheep Squadron.

Thunderstixx

I tell people that the US Army or any of the military organizations that you join will bring you the adventure of a lifetime.
You never know where you will end up or what you will do.
I know it was for me !!!
And I would do it again in a second !!!

Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH B Woodman

Agree. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, that is, if I can meet minimum physical requirements.
The feeling is fading (after 20+ years retirement), but there are times when I still miss “the life”.

5th/77th FA

Thought for sure that the boys at Maaco B&F Shop coulda buffed that right on out. I do hope that they will replace this Warship and Her Proud Name with another one just like Her. Betcha if it was the USS Harvey Milk that it would be rebuilt no matter what the cost. Who thinks what will be next ship of the line to be named, for the kool black dude, Creepy Joe, or The Ho?

Ex-PH2

Hate to spoil your daydreams, Big Guy, but the Navy only names ships after dead people.

So this ship will now become a reef builder? Hope so. Should provide a lot of entertainment for fish like sharks, turtles, jelly fish, and occasionally, a Portguese Man-O-War.

Buckeye Jim

Not so fast there PH2. There are a few named for the living. USS Jimmy Carter comes to mind. USS Hudner was named before Tom Hudner passed. In general, you are correct, however.

Ex-PH2

Sometimes I purposely ignore such items as the USS JC, because it gives me the hiccups to think about it. 🙂

Buckeye Jim

Totally agree. By the way, in case you do not know the story, you should goggle Tom Hudner. Hell of a story and a hen of a man.

Hondo

Or you could follow this link from 2013 and read the article and those at the link(s) it contains:

https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=36747

FuzeVT

There’s also the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10). (It’s one of those dumb General Dynamics LCS ships, however, so it doesn’t really count anyway!)

The Other Whitey

Uh, Carl Levin? (spit)

SFC D

The little guy from Barney Miller?

USMC Steve

A ship was just named for Gunny Canley of Hue City fame, and he is still definitely kicking.

NHSparky

Another correction: USS Hyman G Rickover (SSN 709). Commissioned 1983, IIRC.

Also, USS Carl Vinson, although he died between launching and commissioning.

Ex-PH2

I did see that video of Rickover falling down the topside opening to a lower deck, while his wife stood there looking helpless.
I did not think it was funny, but did ask quietly why he was still showing up on AD at that age.

NHSparky

Almost forgot USS Ronald Reagan.

David

Didn’t they just do an USS Gabby Giffords?

Hack Stone

Hack believes that there was a ship named after Pappy Boyington during WWII, but at the time he was presumed KIA but being held as a POW by the Japanese.

CCO

Yeah, he was in a secret prison camp, along with Richard O’Kane.

Ex-PH2

Well, I do take the attitude that ‘this, too, shall pass’ and brains will be restored to “normal function”, but they have to go hungry and be dreadfully cold to make that work quickly.

The Other Whitey

Sad, but to be expected. She suffered a fire on par with that of USS Franklin, if not worse. Personally, I’d like to see her name go to a new aircraft carrier, as it should be, so they can stop naming them after politicians.

My Brother-In-Law is a former BHR Sailor, who speaks highly of his old ship. According to my Sis-In-Law, he was just about in tears to see her burning on the news.

USAF (Ret)

Hopefully they can retire the arsonist with Her.

Mike Gunns

Ashame about the loss of that ship.

In other news;

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-corps-lsd-problem/

Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH B Woodman

“Several” (hard number unknown) out of 4,000?
Not bad. To be expected out of any large organization. So pass the smelling salts and stop clutching the pearls.

Mike Gunns

Reading the article further would have told you that sailors working in the nuclear section of one of our aircraft carriers were also dropping LSD, as well as airmen at one of our missile silos in Wyoming.

Nice to know that you’re ok with it.

11B-Mailclerk

He did not say that and you know it.

We are not OK with drunk on duty either. Or any other malingering/shitbaggery. It happens. One finds them and flushes them.

Go review the military drug situation 68-76.

Poetrooper

Mike, you may not find too many enthusiasts for Task and Purpose around here as they tend to support a viewpoint more favored by such veterans as Commissar.

They were big LTC Vindman boosters, for instance…

Ret_25X

I wonder how much a replacement will cost…

7 years from now, $3.2B will likely seem like a steal…

NorthJTB

That’s best case scenario…It would never come in at that after all is said and done…Then what do you have when it’s done in 7 years if in fact it’s done….

Name edited to protect PII.
AW1

JTB

Thank You…Autofill Boned me…!!!