USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), the US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship has successfully completed its three-month maintenance availability period.
During the three-month availability period, the ship’s two boilers have been disassembled, inspected and reassembled in 18 months.
Maintenance work has also been conducted on the ship’s diesel engines, aircraft and cargo elevators, as well as repairs to the fuel tanks and piping in the forward and aft main-machinery rooms.
Around $9.3m was spent on repair, maintenance and assessments over the three-month period.
Bonhomme Richard maintenance material officer, chief warrant officer Jason VanNoy said the ship’s sailors help with maintenance operations by performing operational tests and inspections.
"We completed 293 depot-level outside assistance jobs aboard the ship, in a little over two months," VanNoy said.
Bonhomme Richard commanding officer captain Joey Tynch said that the three-month maintenance period has helped the ship in improving combat capability and the vessel will undergo sea trials on time due to everyone’s effort.
"BHR sailors worked shoulder to shoulder with the outstanding Sasebo ship repair facility (SRF) and the local contracting teams to get these jobs done on schedule," Tynch said.
Contractors including Ship’s Repair Facility (SRF) Pro Shop, SRF Fleet Tech Assist, Yamaguchi Machinery, Sumitomo Heavy Machinery, Hosei, Motoyama, and Ship’s Engineering Maintenance Assistance Team (SEMAT) are involved in the Bonhomme Richard maintenance availability period.
Currently undergoing sea trials, USS Bonhomme Richard is the lead ship of the Bonhomme Richard amphibious ready group.
Recently, the US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, USS Makin Island (LHD 8), has successfully completed nine-day scheduled sea trials following completion of 13-month phased maintenance availability (PMA).
