KITTERY, Maine — Preliminary findings from Navy investigators suggest a fire aboard a dry-docked submarine started in a vacuum cleaner used by shipyard workers, officials said Wednesday. The Navy also confirmed a preliminary estimate of $400 million for repairs.
A statement from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard said the vacuum was used by workers to clean up after each shift and was stored in an unoccupied space when the fire started.
The repair cost estimate allows the Navy to begin lining up funding.
The Navy estimated that an additional 10 percent cost — or $40 million more — would be needed to account for disruption to other planned work across all naval shipyards and for potential assistance from private sector contractors, the shipyard said.
Further details on the fire and the cost of repairs will come in two weeks after the Navy issues initial findings from its investigations.
The nuclear-powered submarine was severely damaged by the fire that broke out May 23 when the submarine was three months into a 20-month overhaul.
The fire burned for 10 hours, creating intense heat in forward compartments including the torpedo room, crew quarters, and the command and control centers. The rear part of the submarine including its nuclear propulsion escaped damage.
The Navy is seeking to determine whether the hull is still sound.
“Navy engineers are conducting a full technical assessment including internal and external hull surveys and damage assessments to develop a detailed cost estimate,” the shipyard said.
The detailed cost estimate will factor into whether it makes financial sense to repair the 22-year-old Los Angeles-class submarine.
The Los Angeles-class attack submarine cost $900 million when it was built. New Virginia-class subs cost more than $2 billion apiece.
Probably a Chinese made vacuum cleaner. Wonder if it was still under warranty.
It was, and can we declare war on China yet?
But don’t worry, they tell us, we can safely handle nuclear power and the dangerous waste that it produces. I suppose they also believed that they could handle a vacuum cleaner.
What were they vacuuming? Hot embers?
Well that sucks!
A $900 million sub and no fire suppression? I realize it was in drydock but fires happen in drydock, too. The procedures used during overhaul needs to be looked at very carefully.
During an overhaul, fire extinguishers (size about 30 lb, I’m pretty sure) are stationed all over the boat. There isn’t a lot of work taking place on the backshifts, but the sailors are performing watches. Obviously, in this case, none of that helped, but it has always worked in the past. This is the first major fire on a nuclear sub while in drydock. Small fires aren’t uncommon during an overhaul, and the precautions that are taken have always been enough. No doubt though that, as you say, procedures will be looked at.
Most fire suppression systems are dangerous in confined spaces. CO2 and Halon are suffocation hazards, and water is likely to damage vital electronics in a submerged submarine, causing a disaster by a different route. As noted below, the Navy has settled on hand-operated fire extinguishers and sailor training for those reasons. Which don’t work so well in unattended areas . . .
Salt water getting into the batteries causes Hydrogen to be released which would be real nasty.
yup submerge and open the hatches.
Boat…definition: a hole in the water in which you throw money.
Sub….definition: A boat built by the lowest bidder and designed to sink.
Vacuum cleaner def: A device that just ….. you get the picture.
I hope that this $900,000,000 sub can be saved.
What would have had to happen here that would have required the complete evacuation of Portsmouth, NH and all of southern Maine? Maybe permanently?
we’ll survive with one less sub. Save the $400,000,000.
How do you know? What is your job title at the Pentagon?
Common sense. We spend about as much on defense as all other countries in earth combined
Pretty easy to be an arm chair quarterback! We spend more than twice the defense budget on entitlements.
My home has smoke detectors which would have sounded an alarm in the case of a smoldering fire. I can understand how the fire might have started but there is no logical reason why the smoke was not detected within the first few minutes. Portsmouth is a secure facility with national defense significance and has 24-hour police / fire protection along with the best in technological devices. The Navy needs to explain why the fire / smoke was not detected at an early phase at a facility which requires this kind of oversight and accountability.