Tugs are pulling one of the Burke class DDG's away from the pier. It's DDG 62 USS Fitzgerald.
Only stream I can find for now...
Ground level from across the bay.
Close the chat window.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39sRT4_pvTs&feature=youtu.be
My assumption at the moment is that there is no ammunition* or AV fuel on board.
*The six SAM systems are almost certainly loaded.
Two 8-cell RIM-7 Sea Sparrow launchers.
Two 21-cell RIM-116 RAM launchers
Two 20mm Phalanx systems.
The missile launch containers can withstand a tremendous amount of heat. The Phalanx not so much.
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Fuel burns are coming from the ships own engine tanks and other sources.
Fires still burning. USN and Federal fire fighter teams on board.
Helicopters were used to drop water on the ship overnight.
Not seeing any of the fire fighting tug boats.
Almost all of the ships nearby have been moved - except for two of the LCS ships. One of the two DDG-1000's has been moved, the other is still pier side about 1000 meters away from the fire. All 3 other amphib ships are also still in place.
This, from CDR Salamandar speaks volumes.
https://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-burning-of-uss-bonhomme-richard-lhd.html
We got damn lucky.
My count of ships that, for various reasons, were not moved as of 11:30am Monday...
LCS class - 9.
Burke class DDG - 8
Tico class CG - 1
DDG-1000 - 1
Amphib - 3 (number 4 is burning)
Cargo (various classes) - 11
All but one of the Freedom class LCS were moved. None of the Independence class LCS were moved.
Fore and aft islands and masts both melted down.
Bridge completely burned out.
Ship is listing. Onboard pumps never turned on.
Still has around 1 million gallons of AV gas in the bottom hold/tanks.
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Fires were spread by burning vehicle fuel. Pouring water on them only helped them spread faster and further. Some auto foam/halon suppression systems worked, but ran dry quickly.
Harbor PD using all of their foam on the outer hull was useless wasteful.
@Render
That's good to hear.
I fear the Bonhomme Richard will be a near-total loss.
@voltronic Still another Burke in there. And a big Attack Cargo ship beyond them. Three LCS as well.
@Render
Yes, so I've heard. I don't know if it will be possible to move all of them out before they are damaged as well.
@Render thanks for the update. is there still a live feed?
@Render thanks again!
@Render
I saw a report earlier (can't find it now) that there were 500 and 1000 lb bombs in the magazines, but haven't seen that verified.
@voltronic Possible, but kind of unlikely.
Also...
All bombs after and including the Mk82/83/84 are designed to melt down rather than explode in a fire.
@Render
Yeah, I wonder how much they would get used on an amphibious assault craft. A carrier would be part of the battle group anyway, right?
Good to hear about the meltdown design.
@voltronic Direct close air support for USMC by the Harriers or Lightnings.
@Render Any idea what started it?
@ChippySuave Not yet. That may take a while to confirm.
Early reports were a welding accident.
@Render
So unfortunate.
I hope none of the injuries were serious or have long-term effects.
@voltronic @Render @ChippySuave
If there is one small bright spot, it's that President Trump doesn't seem to have noticed yet and has not taken to Twitter to make things worse.
@Render still burning, geez, what went off on that ship?
@elmaxx Looks like USMC vehicles in their parking hanger.
@Render 🤔
@Render I hope they have proper safety for their lungs. 😱
@Render 57! That's a lot considering!
@Render
Aren't there fire-suppression systems throughout the ship? Doesn't it have compartmentalization to enable containment.
Were the suppression systems disabled during repairs? Was the hangar fire just too big? How would this have played out during a battle (what would have been different - less fragile)?
Was there simply not enough crew on board to close hatches, etc to contain?
A fire during major repairs doesn't seem entirely surprising, but being able to get that out of control does.
@Render
Not expecting you have answers - but maybe some insights. This is tragic and shocking.
This isn't the first time (by a long shot).
And it certainly will not be the last time either.
@Render
Yeah, I saw the Russian carrier disaster - similar results. Given the recent, um, unfortunate accidents in Iran, I can't help but wonder if some of these "ooops, it caught fire/exploded while no one was looking" events might have had help (including Russian carrier). It's a hell of a lot less warlike to destroy something largely unmanned while under susceptible repairs than deliberately making it go boom at other times (like the Cole)
1: Yes, many.
2: Yes, normally.
3: Probably at least some were disabled.
4: Unknown, yet.
5: Depends, see 6 below.
6: Correct.
7: Perfect storms do exist.
Reportedly just 200 sailors and officers on board when the first explosion and fire began.