Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

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The man the United States Navy accused of having ignited the fire that caused the destruction of a billion-dollar warship has been found not guilty. 

A Navy judge on Friday cleared Seaman Recruit Ryan Sawyer Mays of charges that he’d committed arson and the crime of willfully hazarding the USS Bonhomme Richard by setting fire to cardboard boxes in a lower vehicle storage area.

“Seaman Recruit Mays was found not guilty on the charges of willful hazarding of a vessel and aggravated arson. The Navy is committed to upholding the principles of due process and a fair trial,” Lt. Samuel R. Boyle, a spokesman for U.S. 3rd Fleet, said in a statement.

CNN reports that, at the reading of the verdict, Mays collapsed and began sobbing in relief that what he called the “hardest two years of my entire life” were over. 

“I’ve lost time with friends. I’ve lost friends. I’ve lost time with family, and my entire Navy career was ruined,” CNN quoted Mays as having said. “I am looking forward to starting over.”

The issue for prosecutors seems to have been a lack of physical evidence tying Mays to the fire, which consumed the ship in 2020 while the Bonhomme Richard was docked for maintenance in San Diego. 

Mays’ defense attorney, Gary Barthel, maintained that his client was singled out because the Navy wanted to find a scapegoat. 

Seventeen sailors and federal firefighters were injured while combating the fire.

A subsequent report, released in July of this year, revealed that the Navy had reprimanded or otherwise disciplined some two dozen officers and sailors over failures in training, coordination, communication, maintenance, and overall command and control.

“This fire could have been prevented with adequate oversight into the ship’s material condition and the crew’s readiness to combat a fire,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in a statement at the time.

The most serious discipline handed down was the removal of the ship’s commanding officer, executive officer, and command master chief, all of whom received career-ending letters of reprimand and were forced to forfeit pay. 

A Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, the Bonhomme Richard was equipped to carry ground and support assets into battle. It had been deployed in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Bonhomme Richard, which was built in Pascagoula, Mississippi, had been commissioned in 1998 and was valued at $1.2 billion. It was decommissioned in April 2021.