Sailor Acquitted of Setting Fire That Destroyed $1.2 Billion Navy Ship
NAVAL BASE SAN DIEGO — A sailor charged with intentionally setting one of the worst noncombat fires in U.S. Navy history, which destroyed the $1.2 billion U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard in San Diego Bay, was found not guilty on all counts Friday by a Navy judge.
Seaman Recruit Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, who had been facing life in prison if convicted on charges of aggravated arson and willful hazarding of a vessel, wept with his head on the defense team’s table after hearing the verdict. Then, dressed in a crisp white uniform, he pushed through the crowded courtroom to embrace his wife and his parents.
The nine-day trial took place just a short walk from the pier where the immense amphibious assault ship burned for more than four days in 2020. Navy prosecutors portrayed Seaman Mays as a disgruntled young failure who had hoped to become a Navy SEAL, but dropped out of the notoriously punishing selection course and was reassigned to mop floors and scrape paint below decks on the Bonhomme Richard. He was so embittered, they argued, that he set his ship on fire.
Navy defense lawyers countered that the fire was a result of carelessness and complacency on the part of Navy commanders, and that there was no evidence that the fire was arson or that Seaman Mays had lit it.
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