By John Wilkens
For as long (click here) as the Navy has had ships, there have been fires, and some have been deadly. That the Bonhomme Richard appears to have escaped without fatalities also explains why the fire has been so hard to put out.
Hardly anyone was on board when it started.
“As counter-intuitive as this sounds, I would much rather fight a fire at sea with a whole crew than fight it dockside,” said Bryan McGrath, a retired Navy commander. “The ability to act quickly with a massive response and inhibit the spread is aided when you have all your people.”
Some military experts believe the Bonhomme Richard can’t be saved, and if that’s the case, the mini-aircraft carrier — it was being retrofitted to deploy the latest-generation fighter jets — would be among the largest Navy ships ever lost....
What is burning? Oil fires burn black smoke. I think this fire is strange. The fire onboard a ship being fitted with USA's latest aircraft is burning while two US nuclear powered aircraft carriers - Nimitz and Ronald Reagan - with 120 fighters are exercising in South China Sea. This fire is very curious to me.
I also question the wisdom of having two nuclear powered aircraft carriers in the same place at the same time. This isn't a war, it is practice. I just don't see the prudent use of the ships in that dynamic.
