A major fire aboard the USS Higgins, a Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer knocked out her power and propulsion
Posted by Own-Swan2646@reddit | PrepperIntel | View on Reddit | 42 comments
Miserable_Ask3975@reddit
As a USN veteran I’d like to chime in on the onboard fires we’ve seen lately.
In my 4 years onboard a single ship I saw 2.5 fires onboard.
One was deployed, in port. Host nation’s shore power cables exploded and caused an electrical fire amidships. A coffee maker in the wardroom caught fire. Someone flicked a cigarette over the side and caught a pier pump on fire (wood treated with kerosene to prevent rotting) not technically onboard so that’s why I said 2.5.
The seriousness of the fires onboard ships is extremely unlikely.
It’s a sign of either a severe drop in overall competency or sailors sabotaging their own ships to get out of a war they disagree with.
Either way very bad sign
pile_of_fish@reddit
I mean, ships are under pressure, deployment is long. Maintenance cant be deferred forever.
petsruletheworld2021@reddit
Not just ships. There will be a hell of a lot of airframes that are being pushed beyond major maintenance intervals.
Shortage of interceptors
Ships pushed beyond normal maintenance and crew endurance
Aircraft pushed beyond normal maintenance and those nice spongy coatings on the F35’s etc getting worn by the use in a rough environment
If they are confident right now it’s a gift to China if they want to actually take the military option in Taiwan. You can bet they have been doing the math.
Unusual_Specialist@reddit
A ton of fires happening on ships. Seems kinda sus.
Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit
Sailors and soldiers know how goddamn moronic this war is. They don't have the same rights to complain as the rest of us. These fires might be an expression of their exercise of the 1st Amendment that they're rising their lives to defend.
Excellent_Set_232@reddit
Didn’t the US once knock out part of Iran’s electrical infrastructure by using malware to raise pressure slightly on cooling pumps that caused a cascading premature failure?
Mountain_carrier530@reddit
Our systems are too dated for that kind of technology.
Shipboard fires are surprisingly common, but major fires are almost a sign of neglect or physical sabotage.
SacredUndeadMonkey@reddit
Many of these groups keep getting their end of deployment date knocked back over and over again. Many are in serious need of overhauls and Maitenance.
dittybopper_05H@reddit
Or a sign of poor training on damage control, which I guess could count as a kind of neglect.
Although things can happen gradually, then suddenly. A friend of mine used to be a crewmember on a 688 boat. One time in port he was assigned to the watch and he ended up doing his regular rounds and discovered that there was water up to his ankles in the after compartment. His predecessor hadn't been doing his rounds properly and someone had left a valve in the wrong position allowing for very slow flooding of the boat.
It was so gradual that no one had noticed the boat was down by the stern, and it was night and the vast majority of the crew were in shore quarters.
Mountain_carrier530@reddit
Yeah, the carrier I was on had multiple near misses of shaft alley watches blazing logs and suddenly having 3ft of water in the shaft alleys. That same ship was also one of the only carriers where the DC repair lockers were the only ones unable to qualify for an unhealthy period of time while the Reactor department lockers were the most successful, no thanks to the DCC who had a personal vendetta against Reactor.
A couple of meme pages on Instagram have some videos from my ship of the DC sailors recording the flooding they were supposed to be combating.
Black_Iron_Tarkus_@reddit
Stuxnet
fragrant-final-973@reddit
We did that to their uranium enrichment centrifuges.
Alecto7374@reddit
Someone really should clean the lint traps in those dryers.
Monarc73@reddit
Mice with matches seems to be endemic to the fleet these days...
TheSleepingNinja@reddit
It's from the crew making, uh, s'mores on the flight deck. Yeah, s'mores on the flight deck nothing to see here
Federal_Face_1991@reddit
unscheduled laundry day
GrumpySquirrel2016@reddit
Gotta clean out those dryer vents boys!!!
Effective-Ebb-2805@reddit
Stop sending servicemen and women into stupid goddamn wars. That, I'm sure, will cut down on the dryer-vent cleaning negligence events... not to mention the amount of wasted resources and the disruption of the economy.
ARazorbacks@reddit
Gotta be honest, it became a meme during the Russia-Ukraine war that Russians kept smoking near ammo dumps and stuff. We’ve got Iran saying they’ve hit some ships and two large ship fires now.
Are American sailors taking lots of smoke breaks?
Only_Agency3747@reddit
If Iran was able to hit a destroyer in the Indo Pacific (where this occurred) I would be really impressed, it's likely the result of poor maintenance and an outdated class of ship that was meant to be replaced a while a go before Trump scrapped it in favour of his ridiculous battleship concept.
dittybopper_05H@reddit
Iran has managed to get in a (very) few decent punches, while getting the living snot beat out of them, but nothing that really will effect the outcome. And I think most of those punches that landed were early in the war.
I very much doubt they were able to hit the USS Higgins, but if they did, why not go after the aircraft carrier it's escorting?
Electrical fires are common enough on ships, even ones with rested crews and recent maintenance, but they don't generally make the news.
This getting the attention that it has is probably a combination of political bias combined with frequency illusion/selective attention.
claimstoknowpeople@reddit
Not the Higgins! This is gonna tank the stats of my fantasy navy fleet :/
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
That should be a thing, why is it not a thing "fantasy militaries".
dittybopper_05H@reddit
There is. Just play any table top, computer, or online military simulation.
Hell, I regularly play a 20 year old military game (Silent Hunter III with the Grey Wolves expansion pack). I've only done it once or twice, but I have managed to sink 100,000 GRT in a single mission. That's at least double what any real submarine has ever managed to do.
Amazing what 20 years of experience and being able to exploit weaknesses you've noticed in the game without suffering the ultimate consequence of making a mistake (death, or less likely capture) can do.
Honest_Persimmon_859@reddit
This is why you never spend an early-round draft pick on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Sure, the upside potential is great, but their laundry rooms are just so prone to fires that you almost never see one of them make it through a full season.
Dull-Contact120@reddit
How bad are the meals getting, that they burn down the ship over some instant noodles
Wonderful-View-6366@reddit
They are barely feeding them from a lot of recent posts with pictures. So yeah, time for some maintenance
weJtiddeR@reddit
That's weird, Trump, Vance, Pelosi, congress, none of them seem to be missing any meals...weird. Meanwhile our soldiers and citizens can't afford food or being given meals. Burn this whole thing to the ground
meleebestgame66@reddit
This happens a lot when troops get deployed to unpopular wars. Sabotaging ships to increase your survival odds. Not saying that’s what it is, but since there’s a chance, I think it belongs here
degoba@reddit
Hypersonic fire?
ReasonablePossum_@reddit
Damn those persian birds lighting up shit on my boys >:v. Someone should make a study to see what they be eating to be so flammable!
HabaneroShits@reddit
The original article had a sensationalist headline and a bunch of incorrect or simply made up information. It's since been updated:
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
Far, given the amount of fires as of late one has to ask if we are being told all of the facts.
InsaneDOM@reddit
You can't hide that sort of thing. Sailors will talk.
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
If they want they can drop it in r/stripperintel
One-Employment3759@reddit
The military will absolutely be avoiding the facts. The only reason to share it is to counter the reality before it leaks and gains a narrative foothold.
JimmytheFab@reddit
I was stationed on this ship. Wild
OdinHammerhand@reddit
Uh oh, who forgot to get that lint trap
pakZ@reddit
Thanks for the heads-up! That is some truly valuable information. Now I can prep my Arleigh Burke-class destroyer accordingly.
Own-Swan2646@reddit (OP)
Or you know, see that the largers navy is down one more ship and has like 60% parked in the middle east. So if an Asian theater decides to act up. This is one less ship to support the cause.
Significant_Donut967@reddit
More sailors feeling the righteousness of integrity and honor.
AntiSonOfBitchamajig@reddit
Well that got caught up in the spam filters.