A sailor is being investigated for arson in a fire that engulfed the warship USS Bonhomme Richard in July, according to a senior Navy official who declined to speak publicly during the investigation.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have focused their investigation on one sailor of that ship, the official said. No motive has been identified and no one has been charged, the official said.
The arson investigation was confirmed separately by a defense official who was not authorized to speak to journalists.
There were no deaths due to the fire, but 68 military and civilian firefighters were treated for injuries including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation.
The fire that started the ship started on July 12 while it was on the sidelines at a naval base in San Diego. More than 400 sailors from 16 nearby neighborhoods fought the fire, which reached temperatures of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and took four days to extinguish.
The Pentagon declined to answer questions about the investigation, which was first reported by ABC 10 News in San Diego.
“The Navy will not comment on an ongoing investigation to protect the integrity of the investigation process and all those involved,” said lt. Tim Pietrack, a spokesman for the Navy. “We have nothing to announce at this time.”
A spokeswoman for Naval Surface Force Pacific, which is leading the investigation into the cause of the fire, declined to comment.
The fire that the ship consumed broke out on a Sunday morning, when less than 200 sailors were on board, and spread rapidly. Initial firefighting efforts were halted after an explosion occurred in the ship, causing the sailors to temporarily withdraw for safety reasons.
The Bonhomme Richard then underwent a long maintenance period, after years of commitment in Japan. Navy officials have said the fire started in an area where Marines typically parked trucks like Humvees while at sea, but that it may have been temporarily filled with combustible materials when shipyard workers ran into items.
In addition to the criminal investigation, the Navy is examining whether proper precautions were taken before the fire started.
An amphibious assault ship, the Bonhomme Richard is designed to carry thousands of marines and deploy landing craft and helicopters. With a flight deck of 800 meters, it can also launch and retrieve attack aircraft such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Although the engines of the ships and the propulsion systems were unaffected by the fire, the rest of the ship was largely discharged and the chief officer of the navy, adm. Michael M. Gilday, said that the future as a commissioned war is uncertain.
