UPDATED: 18 Sailors Injured, Explosion Reported in USS Bonhomme Richard Fire
This post has been updated with additional information from the Navy.
Sailors have been hurt in a fire aboard amphibious warship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) that’s docked the pier at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., local officials said on Sunday.
“The fire was called away at approx. 8:30 AM, July 12,” read a statement on Twitter from Naval Surface Forces. “160 Sailors were aboard at the time. Bonhomme Richard is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of approx. 1000. 18 Sailors have been transferred to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.”
According to the San Diego Fire Department, several sailors are being treated for injuries and local news has reported explosions from the fire.
Navy and local officials are battling the fire on the big deck amphib, service officials confirmed to USNI News on Sunday.
The amphib is at Pier 2 on the naval base, sharing it with two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51) and is adjacent to a crew berthing barge, according to a video feed from local news station CBS 8.
Images from webcams show dark clouds of smoke billowing from the big deck amphid while local officials have shown the pier shrouded in haze as ladder trucks and firefighters attack the blaze.
Prior to arriving in San Diego in 2018, Bonhomme Richard spent six years in Japan as part of the U.S. Forward Deployed Naval Force.
