{"id":31873,"date":"2021-01-04T02:15:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T02:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/01\/04\/new-in-2021-bonhomme-richard-will-be-turned-into-scrap\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:45:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:45:33","slug":"new-in-2021-bonhomme-richard-will-be-turned-into-scrap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2021\/01\/04\/new-in-2021-bonhomme-richard-will-be-turned-into-scrap\/","title":{"rendered":"New in 2021: Bonhomme Richard will be turned into scrap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The once-mighty amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard<\/a> will retire from service in 2021, becoming little more than scrap following a devastating fire this summer. Big Navy was forced to conclude that getting the big-deck amphib back into the fight would just cost too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonhomme Richard will be decommissioned and scrapped sometime in 2021, Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, commander of the Navy Regional Maintenance Center, said in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will likely make the long trip from its San Diego homeport to the Gulf Coast as a final voyage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the brass expressed hope that they could get the ship back into fighting form following the five-day inferno at a San Diego pier in July, it would cost between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion to resurrect the 22-year-old ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To perhaps turn it into a hospital ship or some other vessel would cost more than $1 billion and take between five and seven years, Ver Hage said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t