USS Bonnehomme Richard decomissioned
The US Navy has decided to decommission and scrap the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), which was severely damaged by a shipboard fire in San Diego in July 2020.
On 30 November 2020, Rear Admiral Eric H. Ver Hage, commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Centers and director of Surface Ship Maintenance and Modernization at Naval Sea Systems Command, said that Navy Secretary Kenneth J. Braithwaite and Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday made the decision after the US Navy completed a “comprehensive material assessment” and considered three possible outcomes.
Rebuilding and repairing the Bonhomme Richard would have taken five to seven years and cost an estimated USD 2,5 billion to USD 3,2 billion. Alternatively, rebuilding the ship as another type of ship, such as a hospital ship, a tender, or a command-and-control ship, would have taken five to seven years and cost more than USD 1 billion, more than a new alternative ship would be estimated to cost. Decommissioning and scrapping the ship would take nine to twelve months and cost an estimated USD 30 million. Replacing the Bonhomme Richard, with a 22-year history within the US Navy and Marine Corps, with a new America-class (LHA-6) amphibious assault ship would take five to six years and cost an estimated USD 4,1 billion, as Seapower reports.
The Bonhomme Richard was once built for USD 750 million in 1998 dollars, equivalent to USD 1,2 billion today. During the modernization programme, in which the ship caught fire, the US Navy had already invested USD 250 million. The ship will be towed to a scrap yard, possibly to Brownsville (TX) where some of the US Navy’s retired aircraft carriers have been scrapped, as Seapower reports too.
The BHR was commisioned on 15 August 1998 at Pensacola's ship pier facility, Allegheney Pier (FL). The ship was then home ported in NB San Diego (CA). Its first deployment started on 24 January 2000 and brought the amphib to the Western Pacific and the Persian Gulf with the 15th Marine Expeditionay Unit (Special Operations Capable) with Aviation Combat Element (ACE) HMM-166(reinforced) ('YX-xx'). The unit was then equipped with CH-46E, CH-53E, UH-1N/AH-1Ws, AV-8Bs and a detachment of HH-46Ds. In total, the ship concluded 25 regular and non-regular cruises, with the final one from 3 July to 14 August 2018 when supporting the exercise Rim of the Pacific in the Hawaii Operating Area. The BHR was long time the only forward deployed amphib when homeported from July 2012 to April 2018 at Fleet Activities Sasebo (Japan). During its career the LHD-6 supported many war time operations and humanitarian missions, like Operation Stabilise in East Timor, Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Anacoda (Iraq, Afghanistan), Operation Unified Assistance in the Indonesia Island of Sumatra and sailed most of the worlds oceans.
It is sad to see that such a relative young ship must leave the operational strength of the US Navy this soon. All investigations associated with the fire onboard LHD-6 remain ongoing.
Photo: NB San Diego