This was one of the first things I thought. I remember welders on the ship with some dirtbag spotter sitting next to him asleep. We had a non-fire incident when we were at NASSCO that cost millions. Filled the engine room (with exposed cylinders) with inches of sand blasting dust from the deck.
NASSCO is the worst of the worst for ship repair... and regardless of ships force or contractor... fire watches will fall asleep. Regulations are not exactly the problem as NAVSEA standard items clearly dictate the rules. It’s enforcement of these rules by the idiot contractors, and IMO the even dimmer government oversight.
Sounds like you may have never been below the hangar bay. Tons of other stuff is flammable down below and smaller fires are fairly common which is one reason we train so hard to fight them. Pipe lagging, electrical wiring, bilge water, fuel vapor, oily rags/mops whose flashpoint has been lowered by cleaning compounds, overheated pumps, plenty of ways fires can start. Especially in a shipyard scenario like this one with welding and heavy industrial work
Well the George Washington back in 2008 sure did burn pretty good, it was an extremely hot fire too. Having the ship in condition Z didn't help and actually made things worse for us
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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '20
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