VIDEO: Navy Decommissions USS Bonhomme Richard In San Diego Waterfront Ceremony - USNI News

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) was decommissioned today, 22 years into a 40-year expected service life, following a fire last summer on the amphibious assault ship that damaged the island and flight deck beyond affordable repair.

The fire broke out during a pier-side maintenance availability, on a Sunday morning when few personnel were around to put out the fire in its earliest moments. The five-day firefighting effort ultimately involved personnel from nearly every single ship at Naval Base San Diego and from all nearby local and federal firefighting units. The great heat – as high as 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit – and the duration of the fire damaged the island, mast and flight deck, as well as most of the computer systems and sensors housed in those spaces.