Image source: topwar.ru
The US Pacific Fleet has published the results of an investigation conducted last year against the command and crew members of the universal landing ship Bonhomme Richard.
Recall that on July 12, 2020, a strong fire broke out at the aforementioned UDC, which could not be extinguished for 5 days. During this time, the ship was completely destroyed.
At the disposal of USNI News got a fairly edited list compared to the version of December last year, which contains information about punishments for those responsible for the fire. The document was published on November 16 by the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Samuel Paparo.
According to the newspaper, six members of the UDC crew were found guilty of the incident. In addition to the ex-commander of the ship, Captain Gregory Toroman, the former senior assistant to the commander of Captain Michael Ray and the senior sailor of the ship Jose Hernandez, charges were brought against another officer, as well as the chief engineer and senior sailor for damage control, whose names are not called.
USNI News writes that the most severe punishment was inflicted by Commander Gregory Toroman and senior assistant Michael Ray. They were fined $5,000 each and received written reprimands for their role in the fire. However, $ 5,000 is less than the monthly allowance of each of them...
All other participants in the case were also given a written reprimand according to various specifications of article 92 (Failure to comply with an order or resolution).
The Bonhomme Richard fire is still considered one of the largest in the history of the US Navy. The UDC was under maintenance at the time of the emergency. Perhaps because of this, the main part of the automatic fire extinguishing system was disabled.
