The Navy said Monday that it will decommission a warship docked off San Diego after suspected arson this summer caused extensive damage, making it too expensive to restore.
Fully repairing the USS Bonhomme Richard to warfighting capabilities would cost $2.5 billion to $3 billion and take five to seven years, said Rear Adm. Eric H. Ver Hage of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center.
The amphibious assault ship burned for more than four days in July and was the Navy’s worst U.S. warship fire outside of combat in recent memory. The ship was left with extensive structural, electrical and mechanical damage.
Restoring it for another use, perhaps as a hospital, would take almost as long as full restoration and cost $1 billion.
Decommissioning the ship will take nine months to a year and cost $30 million, Ver Hage said.
Navy officials and industry experts studied the cost and schedule with an eye toward “the art of the possible,” Ver Hage told reporters.