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Navy to de-commission and scrap warship USS Bonhomme Richard after major fire
The US Navy has decided to de-commission and scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard after a damage assessment found that restoring the ship would cost billions of dollars.
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The US Navy has decided to de-commission and scrap the USS Bonhomme Richard after a damage assessment found that restoring the ship would cost billions of dollars.
The amphibious assault ship was in port in San Diego in July so that it could be upgraded to accommodate the new Marine Corps F-35B jets when a massive fire broke out aboard the vessel in one of the costliest conflagrations in modern Navy history.
Navy officials said that restoring the ship would cost $2.5 billion to $3.2 billion and take five to seven years, saying that some 60% of the vessel would need to be replaced.
"Following an extensive material assessment in which various courses of action were considered and evaluated, we came to the conclusion that it is not fiscally responsible to restore her," Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite said in a statement.
The Navy also looked at how much it would cost to convert what remains of the Bonhomme Richard into another type of vessel, such as a hospital ship, but such a conversion could cost over $1 billion -- more than building a brand-new similar ship.
De-commissioning and scrapping the vessel is estimated to cost only $30 million and take nine to 12 months to complete.