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According to prosecutors, Ryan Sawyer Mays was a young, arrogant sailor angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL — and he made the Navy pay in a big way. But the prosecution has presented no physical evidence proving that Mays, 21, set the USS Bonhomme Richard on fire, a fact defense lawyers plan to highlight at the sailor’s court martial that is scheduled to start Monday at Naval Base San Diego. The July 2020 blaze burned for nearly five days and sent an acrid smoke over San Diego, damaging the amphibious assault ship...

Seaman Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays is charged with setting the July 2020, fire, which burned for several days while the ship was docked at Naval Base San Diego.

The U.S. Navy charged a sailor Thursday with starting a fire last year that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard docked off San Diego, marking the maritime branch’s worst warship blaze outside of combat in recent memory. The amphibious assault ship burned for more than four days. Left with extensive structural, electrical and mechanical damage, the ship was later scrapped. Estimates to replace it ran up to $4 billion. The sailor was a member of the crew at the time, Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesperson, said in a statement. The sailor was charged with aggravated arson and the...

The Navy has charged a sailor in connection with the massive fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard warship over four days in 2020 while docked off San Diego, a naval spokesman said Thursday.The unidentified sailor was a member of the ship's crew and is accused of starting the July 12, 2020 blaze, the Navy said. The charges are based on evidence collected during an investigation, Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Sean Robertson, said in a statement."Evidence collected during the investigation is sufficient to direct a preliminary hearing in accordance with due process under the military justice system," Robertson said.Vice Adm. Steve...

The days-long fire in July 2020 that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard was preventable, according to a recent report from the Navy. A 400-page report, seen by The Associated Press, listed 17 officers and sailors whose actions directly caused the ship's destruction and another 17 who contributed to its loss. “Although the fire was started by an act of arson, the ship was lost due to an inability to extinguish the fire,” the Navy's report said. ... ...Specifically, the report said the crew did not know how to use the ship's main fire fighting foam system, which was also poorly...

The devastating fire burned for four days before being extinguished. A fire that ravaged the USS Bonhomme Richard last month in San Diego may have been the work of an arsonist, a Navy official told Just the News. A sailor is under investigation for the fire that broke out July 12 aboard the amphibious assault ship, ABC 10News first reported on Wednesday. Investigators obtained multiple search warrants for the unidentified sailor's home and property, the TV news outlet reported. The ship caught fire on a Sunday morning while in port for repairs at Naval Base San Diego. While the fire...

After over four days of frantic firefighting aboard the stricken amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard berthed in San Diego Bay, the U.S. Navy says all the fires aboard have been put out. This great news comes after the ship listed in the opposite direction overnight, forcing the evacuation of the vessel and the pier it is tied up to for a period of time while the situation was assessed. Below is a statement from Rear Admiral Philip E. Sobeck Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group THREE - ESG-3: After four days of firefighting, all known fires have been extinguished aboard USS...

A fire that erupted over the weekend on a military ship that was officially extinguished on Thursday, with the cause of the days-long blaze still unknown, according to the Navy. All known fires on the USS Bonhomme Richard have been put out, four days after the flames first erupted on Sunday, Rear Admiral Philip Sobeck, Commander, Expeditionary Strike Group Three said in a statement. The extent of the damage, as well as what started the fire, is still unknown. “This was a Navy team effort. We had support from the air and sea,” Sobeck’s statement said. “Three helicopter squadrons conducted...

uly 15th came and went with little new official information regarding the ongoing fire fighting operations aboard USS Bonhomme Richard. Then, it was announced at around 11 pm local time this evening, that the Navy cleared the ship and the pier of all personnel due to a rapid shift in the vessel's stability. The tweet from Naval Surface Warfare stated the following: Out of an abundance of caution the pier and ship were cleared of personnel due to an initial shift in the ship’s list. Personnel are now pier side. We will continue to monitor as the ship settles. Bonhomme...

The fire suppression system aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard was inoperable Sunday when flames engulfed the ship in San Diego, according to a top Navy official on Monday. The Halon gas system “was not in operation just because it was being worked on” while the amphibious assault ship was undergoing maintenance at the shipyard, said Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3. [snip]

At least 21 people including 17 sailors and four civilians were hospitalized with minor injuries on Sunday following a massive fire and explosion on board a Navy ship at Naval Base San Diego that sent billowing plumes of smoke and ash into the sky. 'Seventeen Sailors and four civilians are being treated for non-life threatening injuries at a local hospital,' the US Navy told CNN in a statement. Fire and rescue crews are on the scene responding to the three-alarm fire on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) (snip). About 200 sailors and officers were on board...

More than 400 sailors are working to put out the massive fire that continues to rage aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego and Navy officials are unclear how long the blaze might continue to burn. The fire has brought down the amphibious assault ship's forward mast and caused other damage to the ship's superstructure that rises above its flight deck. "There is a tremendous amount of heat underneath and that's where it's -- it's flashing up -- also forward, closer to the bow again there's a heat source and we're trying to get to that as well," Rear...

An explosion erupted as a roaring blaze was reported on a military assault ship at Naval Base San Diego Sunday morning, according to authorities. Plumes of smoke arose from USS Bonhomme Richard as firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze on the 3400 block on Senn St. The vessel is an amphibious assault ship homeported in San Diego, according to Krishna Jackson of Naval Base San Diego. The ship had undergone a regular maintenance cycle before the fire was reported, Jackson said. Crew members typically are aboard the ship on weekends, but there are fewer than on weekdays. Several sailors are being...

British satellite historians claim to have discovered the true location of an iconic American revolutionary ship which defeated the Royal Navy off the Yorkshire coast. The famous vessel, the USS Bonhomme Richard, was the first US ship to beat the Royal Navy in British waters before she sank on September 24, 1779. The location of the wreck has long been a mystery, but now a British satellite historian from Harrogate claims to have found it. Tim Akers, 60, used pioneering satellite radar techniques alongside British satellite firm Merlin Burrows to track down the buried vessel.

TWO US Marine Corps jets have been forced to drop four unarmed bombs on the Great Barrier Reef. The two AV-8B Harrier jets each dropped two 226kg bombs on the world heritage-listed reef in an emergency jettison during a training mission on Tuesday. The incident came ahead of Exercise Talisman Saber, a biennial training operation between Australian and US forces based at Shoalwater Bay on the central Queensland coast. The dropped bombs had not detonated and a US official has reportedly said the chance of any of them exploding is "extremely remote". A Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority spokeswoman...

An American amphibious ship, the USS Bonhomme Richard, has left California carrying two 1960s Czech jet trainers on its flight deck. These L-29s are 3.2 ton aircraft, rebuilt with American engines. The two L-29s will be used to simulate air-launched cruise missiles attacking American ships. While the original L-29s had a top speed of 655 kilometers an hour, the rebuilt ones with more powerful. J-60 engines, can moves as fast as 800 kilometers an hour. While the L-29s, which are supplied by a civilian contractor, are adequate for simulating the more numerous subsonic Chinese anti-ship missiles, they are obviously not...

July 25, 2008 - At Sea, USS Bonhomme Richard The "Red Devils" of A Company, 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry gather in front of a CH-53 Delta helicopter for a group photo on the deck of USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercise in the Hawaiian operating areas. The Red Devils were training alongside the U.S. Marines and are very proud to be referred to as Canadian Marines by the U.S. Marines. The Canadian Army sent a company of soldiers from Edmonton to RIMPAC to further their training for non-combatant evacuation...

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), USS Denver (LPD 9), and USS Rushmore (LSD 47) returned home Nov. 19, after completing a seven and one-half month deployment in support of the global war on terrorism. While deployed, ships from the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHRESG) conducted Maritime Security Operations alongside coalition partners to promote stability in the Persian Gulf. "The primary mission of BHRESG was to complete maritime operations with partner nations such as Australia, Singapore, Kuwait, and others," said Capt. Rod Clark, commander Amphibious Squadron 7. "The deployment overall was a complete success." The BHRESG...

<p>SAN DIEGO -- A search is under way about 60 miles south of San Diego out in the sea for what is believed to be a Navy jet that went down.</p> <p>Coast Guard officials told NBC 7/39 that they have sent a helicopter to the area. They also said that three Navy helicopters are also searching that area.</p>

President Bush met and held a press conference (text) with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the White House. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet with the president on Thursday; one topic they will discuss is Blair's recent trip to Iraq. PM Blair will depart on Friday. Welcome to Sanity Island!