The US Navy sailor charged with setting the fire that destroyed the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard last year was “disgruntled” after dropping out of SEAL training, prosecutors said Monday.
Seaman Ryan Mays was angry about his reassignment to the Bonhomme Richard and lied to his family about his SEAL training, Navy prosecutor Cmdr. Rich Federico said at a preliminary hearing.
Mays was charged by the military with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel over the July 2020 blaze, which burned for nearly five days and injured more than 60 sailors and civilians.
The Bonhomme Richard had been undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade while docked at Naval Base San Diego at the time of the blaze.
But the ship was decommissioned and scrapped due to extensive damage caused by the fire.
At Monday’s hearing, which will determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a military trial, Mays’ lawyers argued the Navy kept the defense in the dark about information it had gathered against the accused sailor.
The defense attorneys said the Navy only recently had handed over 28,000 pages of material and hours of videos that were impossible to review before Monday’s hearing.
With Post wires