22 Years Ago Today: USS BONEFISH (SS-582) Fire at Sea
April 24th, 2010 by xformed
Table of contents for A Date with Destiny
- A Date with Destiny – Part I
- A Date with Destiny – Part II
- A Date with Destiny – Part III
- A Date with Destiny – Part IV
- A Date with Destiny – Part V
- A Date with Destiny – Part VI
- A Date with Destiny – Part VII
- A Date with Destiny – Part VIII
- 22 Years Ago Today: USS BONEFISH (SS-582) Fire at Sea
- A Date with Destiny – Part IX
I pecked the first part of my collected recollection of this story, provided by my shipmates of the USS CARR (FFG-52) 3 years ago. I felt it was a story worth telling. So have others, who have, across the least three years, provided insights, personal accounts and supporting documentation of the events leading up to and including this horrible day at sea for the crew of the submarine, three of which did not survive.
Not all of the reconstructed story even resides here. comments and posts at several of the submariner’s blogs also, have clues and comments.
I had hoped this year I would have reports gathered from those who were left, at sea, to salvage and recover the BONEFISH, adrift and holding firefighting water and the three crewmen who did not escape. Those people who were there have eluded me to date, but I will keep looking for men who have first hand knowledge of the last part of the rescue of the hull.
Since the post last year, a BM from CARR left a question as to who he may have pulled into the whaleboat that day. A few days later, a BONEFISH survivor commented it may well have been him and his two shipmates. I provided email to those men to get in contact, 21+ years after the day.
As much as this has been a story of heroism (LT Ray Everts) and professionalism (far too many to name), it has been a tale of the power of the internet and blogging on getting multiple inputs, some directed, others because they searched for the term “USS BONEFISH FIRE” and arrived on one of the posts to date.
I use this report often to encourage others to make their history part of the collected knowledge on the net.
To those who have contributed, thank you for getting the story on track and made to cover more details. To those who come and have not yet left their portion, please do, or contact me, so we can make sure the information continues to be gathered for the record of the history of the Navy and life at sea.
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 12:44 am and is filed under Blogging, History, Maritime Matters, Military, Military History, Navy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
April 28th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
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May 31st, 2010 at 12:47 am
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April 24th, 2013 at 10:50 am
22 years ago I was there , weapons officer on the Bonefish , An excellent CO and EXEC Mike Wilson and Pete leStrange , The efforts by them minimized the loss of life and ultimately saved the ship , Only those that have been through a casualty of that proportion would know. God Bless them and the crew where ever they may be
May 4th, 2013 at 1:03 am
ABOARD USS.JFK DUSTY DAWG ”STILL IN MY THOUGHTS” LOVED THE NAVY.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:15 pm
I was on board the USS Carr that terrible day helping the crew members of USS Bonefish finish the long climb up the cargo nets on the bow
February 27th, 2015 at 5:27 pm
I was operating the stern plans at the time the fire started. I still remember many details of that event. The smoke and heat hit us right away and the conditions were not survivable with out an EAB. To Pete who quoted last, I was one of the guys that you probable pulled off the cargo net hanging off the side of the Carr and it was a very long climb.