Seven Injured in Nuclear Submarine Fire

From Portsmouth Patch:

Seven people were injured in a fire on a nuclear submarine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Wednesday night.

The fire occurred in a forward compartment of the USS Miami SSN 755 that is primarily used for living areas and command and control spaces. The ship's reactor was not operating at the time and was reportedly not affected. Navy officials say it's too soon to tell if the $900 million submarine will be salvageable.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. An investigation into the cause has been launched, but is expected to take a long time to complete. Officials aren't saying if human error has been ruled out or if the focus is on mechanical issues.

The fire was reported at 5:41 p.m. Wednesday, and was extinguished about 10 hours later at 3:48 a.m. on Thursday, according to the shipyard. The nuclear propulsion spaces were physically isolated early in the event from the forward compartment fire and remained safe and stable throughout the event.

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