Fire breaks out aboard USS Indianapolis, leaving 7 with minor injuries

Seven people were taken to local hospitals after a fire broke out aboard the Littoral Combat Ship USS Indianapolis on Wednesday morning while the ship was moored at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, a Navy spokesperson said.

The shipboard personnel were evaluated for minor injuries and were later released and cleared to return to the ship on Wednesday afternoon, the spokesperson told Task & Purpose.

The news about the blaze was first reported by WJXT, a news television station in Jacksonville, Florida.

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The fire was reported at about 11:30 am on Wednesday, the Navy spokesperson said, adding that “fire and Emergency Services and the ship’s crew responded immediately and quickly extinguished the localized fire.”

No information was immediately available about the extent of the damage to the ship.

There have been multiple fires aboard Navy ships this year, including a March 12 blaze aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, requiring the ship to dock for repairs at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete. One sailor was medically evacuated from the aircraft carrier due to injuries sustained during damage control efforts, and many more were treated for smoke inhalation.

Other fires have taken place this year aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Higgins, the DDG-100 destroyer USS Zumwalt, and the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Commissioned in October 2019, the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship USS Indianapolis is the latest Navy vessel to bear the name of Indiana’s state capital. Most famously, the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine on July 30, 1945, after delivering components for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” from San Francisco to the Pacific island of Tinian.

The ordeal of the ship’s crew has been immortalized by a nearly four-minute speech in the movie “Jaws,” which got many historical facts wrong.

The Indianapolis sank in just 12 minutes, and about 900 of the cruiser’s crew of 1,196 sailors and Marines aboard were able to abandon ship in time. The crew members spent nearly five days in the water, during which they endured severe dehydration and shark attacks. Only 317 survived.

Naval Station Mayport is the homeport of the USS Indianapolis. The ship completed an 18-month deployment in November 2024, and it recently took part in a two-day force protection exercise while pier-side at Mayport.