The Navy declared a hearth aboard the amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans extinguished following a 12-hour battle Wednesday evening off the coast of Okinawa, Japan.
U.S. seventh Fleet officers mentioned the fireplace started at 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon whereas the ship was anchored off the White Seaside Naval Facility.
The crew shortly responded, assisted by sailors from one other San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, the usSan Diego, which was moored on the naval facility. Service officers mentioned an investigation is underway as to the reason for the fireplace.
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The crew was in a position to stay on the ship following the fireplace, though Navy officers mentioned companies and berthing have been accessible on the San Diego, in addition to Fleet Actions Okinawa.
Two sailors have been taken to the vessel’s medical clinic for remedy of minor accidents, in accordance with the Navy.
The New Orleans was commissioned in 2007 in its namesake metropolis and initially was homeported in San Diego, deploying extensively across the globe. In 2009, the ship suffered minor injury when it was struck by the assault submarine USS Hartford within the Strait of Hormuz.
In 2015, its crew performed a pivotal function in safely evacuating the aircrew and Marine passengers of an MV-22 Osprey that crashed on its deck throughout pre-deployment coaching workouts.
The final main hearth aboard a U.S. Navy vessel occurred in 2020 on the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard whereas it was in upkeep in San Diego. That fireplace burned for 4 days and destroyed the ship.
The reason for that fireside was regarded as arson, though the sailor who was charged was acquitted at trial. An investigation additionally decided that the Navy’s hearth protocols weren’t adopted and that the vessel had lacking hearth hoses and a damaged sprinkler system.
In that fireside, 63 folks, together with 40 sailors and 23 civilians, have been handled for minor accidents similar to warmth exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
In the meantime, the Protection Division and army companies have began changing the fireplace retardant used on army installations with foam that’s much less hazardous to the atmosphere. Aqueous movie forming foam, or AFFF, is very efficient however accommodates per- and polyfluorinated chemical substances, or PFAS, that don’t break down naturally and have been linked to a number of varieties of most cancers and developmental delays in youngsters.
The U.S. Navy continues to make use of AFFF on ships, the place fires could be notably harmful or deadly. In a 2023 report back to Congress, the Protection Division mentioned new Navy ships are being designed with various hearth suppression programs, however “restricted use of [PFAS-containing systems] stays for these areas the place the alternate options should not acceptable,” similar to present ships.
In response to the report, “the protection and survivability of naval ships and crew from fires on ships depends upon present PFAS-based firefighting foams and their use will proceed till a succesful various is discovered,” officers wrote.
In response to seventh Fleet officers, the Japan Maritime Self-Protection Drive and Japan Coast Guard assisted within the response to the usNew Orleans hearth. Native media stories confirmed a Japanese firefighting vessel dowsing the New Orleans’ deck with water.
As of Thursday, the New Orleans remained at anchor with the Japanese tug Reiwa standing by, in accordance with the app Marine Site visitors.
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