Sailors battle blaze aboard USS New Orleans off Japan’s coast

The amphibious transport docking ship New Orleans was ablaze off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, as of Wednesday night Japan Standard Time.

U.S. Navy crews were responding to the fire, along with the Japan Coast Guard and military. The Japan Coast Guard said it received an emergency message about the fire at 5 p.m. local time.

“We will provide more details as they become available,” U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement Wednesday.

A U.S. Marine Corps official told Military Times no Marines were aboard the New Orleans when the fire broke out. No injuries or oil spills have been reported at this time.

The fire could further hinder the availability of amphibious warships at a time when the Navy is already struggling with readiness issues within the fleet.

The readiness rate of amphibious ships critical to Marine missions has dropped to 41% , a defense official told Military Times earlier this week.

The lack of available amphibious warfare ships, known as amphibs, resulted in a more than five-month gap in Marine Expeditionary Unit deployments this year. The 31st MEU completed its last patrol aboard the America Amphibious Ready Group in early March. The 22nd MEU deployed aboard the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group on Thursday.

A U.S. official told Military Times on Monday that the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group was sailing off the coast of the Carolinas to avoid Hurricane Erin. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the deployment, said the ships’ entrance into Caribbean waters had been delayed by the storm, which on Wednesday remained a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 miles per hour.

An investigation by the Government Accountability Office in 2024 found that half of the U.S. Navy’s 32 amphibious warfare ships were in poor material condition .

The Marine Corps has said it needs the amphib readiness rate at 80% or higher to complete its missions with the current number of ships in the fleet, and Marine Corps commandant Gen. Eric Smith has called the amphib readiness rate a “crisis.”

“I have the Marines, and I have the squadrons, and I have the battalions and the batteries … I just don’t have the amphibs,” Smith told Voice of America late last year.

截至日本标准时间周三晚间，两栖船坞运输舰“新奥尔良”号在日本冲绳海岸附近起火。

美国海军人员正与日本海上保安厅和军方人员一同赶赴现场灭火。日本海上保安厅表示，他们于当地时间下午5点收到有关火灾的紧急警报。

美国第七舰队周三在一份声明中表示：“我们将会在获得更多细节后提供更多信息。”

美国海军陆战队一名官员告诉《军事时报》，火灾发生时，“新奥尔良”号上没有海军陆战队员。目前尚未收到人员伤亡或漏油报告。

这场火灾可能会进一步阻碍两栖战舰的可用性，而此时海军已经面临着舰队战备问题。

本周早些时候，一位国防官员告诉《军事时报》，对海军陆战队任务至关重要的两栖舰艇的战备率已降至 41%。

由于两栖作战舰艇（也称两栖船）的短缺，导致今年海军陆战队远征部队的部署出现了超过五个月的空档期。第31远征部队于3月初完成了在“美利坚”号两栖戒备群上的最后一次巡逻。第22远征部队则于周四部署到“硫磺岛”号两栖戒备群上。

一位美国官员周一告诉《军事时报》，硫磺岛两栖戒备群正在卡罗来纳州沿海航行，以躲避飓风艾琳。这位官员因未获授权评论此次部署而要求匿名。他表示，由于飓风的影响，舰艇进入加勒比海的计划有所延误。截至周三，飓风艾琳仍为二级飓风，风速达每小时100英里。

美国政府问责局在 2024 年进行的一项调查发现，美国海军 32 艘两栖作战舰艇中有一半的物质状况不佳。

海军陆战队表示，要以目前舰队的舰艇数量完成任务，两栖作战准备率需要达到 80% 或更高。海军陆战队司令埃里克·史密斯将军称两栖作战准备率是“危机”。

“我有海军陆战队，我有中队，我有营和炮兵连……但我就是没有两栖部队，”史密斯去年底告诉美国之音。