Bonhomme Richard update

[panzergator]

It appears she will be cannibalized and scrapped. 60% damage too expebsive and too long to repair.

[MechCommander]

Not surprised considering the extent of the damage, but this will hurt the US Navy alot.

[PolishGI]

Bummer.... I was wondering what the status was on this ship.

Thanks.

[Hoth_902]

Mech,

I would say the loss of the ship is more of an incovience than something that will hurt them. That class alone has seven other ships. In addition to the america class ships coming off the assembly line and two in service.
Then there are the 11 fleet carriers. In research, we have 3 tripoli class class assault ships.

Just my two cents

[panzergator]

I'm on record as being stridently against wheeled combat vehicles in general, cama, vut I'm interested in hearing what makes TAPV so unpopular.

[MechCommander]

Well Cama at one point The Royal Canadian navy was "strongly interested" in acquiring 2-3 French built Mistral class LHAs back in 2012, but it looks like they did nothing to move forward with it.

[BCR 570]

The loss of this ship is far more than an inconvenience. It was one of four of her class refitted to operate the USMC’s F-35B jets. In fact it was just completing an extensive refit to do so which makes the financial loss even greater. Her loss affects the rotation of F-35B capable ships until the next one (USS BOXER) is so refitted.

The decision to scrap was inevitable given the extensive damage to the ship; it would have cost billions to repair which cannot be justified for a 20-something year old vessel. Even the decision to scrap is expensive at $30 million. She will be towed to the Gulf Coast for dismantling.

If lost due to arson it will be the second such casualty in recent years which raises the question of ship security in port. Ironic given that is where they should be safest . . .

Tim

[Hoth_902]

Tim,

I do not claim to be an expert on US military by any means. The more time I spend on this site, the more obvious that becomes to me. I guess, my reason for saying its an inconvenience, is from the operational perspective. So maybe I would ask this. Does the scraping of this F-35 capable ship, with few others to replace it, constitute a drop in the combat effectiveness of the US military/Marines at this moment or in the near term? Again, I am no expert and have not done any research into the needs of the Navy and marines today or over the next couple of years. My bet, is that the US military would not be so thin that this one loss would dramatically effect its ability to fight if needed. Now the words "Inconvenience" and "Dramatically" are all terms that have no firm measurable quantity and I would argue that its highly contextual in nature. Does it put a burden on the budget, will one ship have to stay out in the fleet longer than another and/or will they have to add another ship to the America Class? Sure, they are all headaches for the military.

Anyway, that is my thought and context on my use of the word Inconvenience.

[BurtWolf]

Sister ship Iwo Jima had fires almost a year ago while in port... not nearly as devastating of course but significant. BHR was so heavily damaged, I’m not surprised it’s being scrapped. It’s a real shame.