SAN DIEGO — The USS Bonhomme Richard has extensive structural, electrical and mechanical damage, a top naval chief said Friday after walking into the bowels of the charred warship that burned for more than four days off San Diego.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday pledged a thorough investigation into the Navy's worst U.S. warship fire outside of combat in recent memory. He said the probe will look at what caused the fire as well as whether there were enough sailors on duty when it happened and the circumstances around why a fire suppression system was deactivated when the blaze broke out early Sunday while the ship was docked undergoing maintenance.
The uniformed head of the U.S. Navy said he intends to make the results public.
“We need to go through this, catalog it all and get an understanding of whether or not we had it right,” he said. “And if not, how do we quickly adjust across the fleet to make sure it doesn’t happen again?”
Gilday on Friday went four decks below the flight deck, and then went up above the flight deck and examined the superstructure of the ship.
“I was able to get a good sense of the damage and the damage is extensive,” he said.
The future of the ship remains uncertain.
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