CDR Salamander - We're Burning Another Amphib

Via Brian McElhiney and Keishi Koja at Stars and Stripes:

Japan’s coast guard and military are helping the Navy battle a blaze that broke out aboard an amphibious transport docking ship off Okinawa’s southeastern coast on Wednesday evening. “Crews are responding to a fire aboard USS New Orleans (LPD 18) this evening, Aug. 20, (Japan time) which is in the vicinity of Okinawa, Japan,” U.S. 7th Fleet wrote in an unsigned statement emailed to Stars and Stripes. “We will provide more details as they become available.”
…
The fire started in the front part of the 684-foot-long vessel, a coast guard spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “We do not know if it started on the outside or the inside of the ship; we are still investigating,” he said.

Two tugboats and an unspecified Self-Defense Force vessel were participating in firefighting efforts at 6 p.m., the spokesman said.

Camp Foster withdrew the firefighting request at 5:55 p.m. and asked all vessels to stay about a mile away, the coast guard said. The request was reinstated at 7:28 p.m.

The coast guard initially dispatched one vessel and was preparing to join firefighting efforts as of 8:30 p.m., the spokesman said

The video below is helpful to the timeline above.

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A post shared by @news.az_international

It looks like the fire is not contained. Doing a last-minute check of the news, as of 11:30 am Wednesday Eastern (12:30 am Thursday Okinawa time), it is still burning.

She has been on fire for almost seven hours so far. That is not good for any ship.

In time, we will know more about what is burning (though lack of significant dark smoke gives me some hints), but we do have possibilities.

As an amphibious ship, the layout is a bit different than a normal warship.

This fire appears to be forward and below the main deck. That is where “stores” are in the above diagram. It is also where the MK-41 VLS void is, but no ships in the class were ever fielded with this capability.

One saving grace is that we are being helped by the Japanese. When in trouble, you could not ask for better help.

Say a prayer for the Americans and Japanese fighting this fire…and be careful as news comes out. First reports are often wrong…but what is happening is clear as day.

I’ll update here for any significant updates.

UPDATE: As expected, Sal Mercogliano has a solid video review.

UPDATE II - Electric Boogaloo: She burned 12 hours.

As per C7F:

A fire aboard the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18), which is anchored near White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, was declared extinguished at 4 a.m., Aug. 21.

The fire began at approximately 4 p.m., Aug. 20. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

New Orleans Sailors’ firefighting efforts were supported by the crew of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD 22), which is moored at White Beach Naval Facility.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force; Japan Coast Guard; and U.S. Navy commands from across Commander, Fleet Activities Okinawa also provided critical support to the firefighting efforts.

Two Sailors were taken to New Orleans’ medical for minor injuries.

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