Washington ¨C The that tore through U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard for more than four days starting July 12 devastated a $4 billion ship and injured more than 70 sailors and civilian firefighters. The resultant smoke that covered San Diego¡¯s harbor and downtown for days afterward seemed a visible symbol of the condition the U.S. Navy finds itself in around the globe.
It also brings to mind a history lesson. In many of the offices I occupied during my Navy career, I kept a painting of the USS Maine on the wall. It shows the battleship in early 1898, in Havana harbor ¡ª just before it blew up at anchor and sank, killing hundreds of sailors. The event was a cause celebre that put into motion the Spanish-American War.
Navy people who knew the story of the Maine well would come into my office and ask me why I kept a painting of a doomed ship on the wall. Why not the carrier Enterprise, my flagship in strike group command? Or the destroyer Barry, my first command at sea? The reason was twofold.
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