U.S. nuclear submarine fire linked to vacuum cleaner

A fire that caused an estimated $400 million in damage to a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine may have been caused by a vacuum cleaner, authorities said on Wednesday.

The fire in the forward compartment - which includes crew living, command and control spaces and the torpedo room - of the USS Miami on May 23 took about 12 hours to extinguish and injured seven firefighters.

"Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean work sites at end of shift, and stored in an unoccupied space," the shipyard's public affairs office said in a release. Specific details are still being evaluated.

Initial conclusions reached through a formal Naval safety investigation could be released in the next two weeks.

The Miami's nuclear propulsion plant was not operating at the time and had been shut for over two months. The nuclear areas were isolated from the fire early.

No torpedoes or other weapons were on board the submarine, which was at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, three months into a planned 20 months of maintenance.

The Miami is worth an estimated $900 million. The Navy estimates the repair cost at $400 million, plus another 10 percent for secondary effects such as disruption to other planned work at naval shipyards and the potential need to contract work to the private sector.

Workers at the Portsmouth shipyard returned to work in the forward compartment last week to start cleaning up and helping with damage assessment. The Navy is seeking bids on other cleaning contracts.

Decision to repair submarine weeks away

A union leader said Tuesday he’s confident the fire-damaged USS Miami can be repaired, but it’ll be several weeks before the Navy reaches conclusions on the extent of damage.

The Navy will provide an update on the nuclear-powered submarine after three separate investigations are completed in two to three weeks, Patricia Dolan, spokeswoman for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday.

Based in Connecticut, the $900 million Los Angeles-class submarine was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for an overhaul when a fire broke out last week, damaging forward compartments including the torpedo room, command and control, and crew quarters, officials said.

An investigation by the military’s legal arm, the Judge Advocate General Corps, will get to the bottom of what caused the fire, while a separate investigative team is looking at safety procedures and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is looking into whether a crime was committed.

Paul O’Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council, said that based on what he knows, he’s hopeful the Miami will be repaired at Portsmouth and returned to the fleet.

“Our plan is get that boat back to the Navy, and back on deployment,” Connor said Tuesday.

Insulation and wiring fueled the stubborn fire and the metal hull trapped heat, turning the forward part of the sub into a superheated oven. More than a hundred firefighters worked in shifts to douse the blaze.

Much of the USS Miami’s sensitive equipment had been removed and the fire didn’t damage any nuclear components, both factors that work in favor of repairing the vessel, officials say.