The USS New Orleans anchors near White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Aug. 21, 2025, hours after a fire was extinguished aboard the ship. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
WHITE BEACH NAVAL FACILITY, Okinawa — U.S. sailors extinguished a blaze aboard the USS New Orleans, an amphibious transport dock ship anchored off Okinawa’s southeastern coast, early Thursday after a 12-hour battle alongside Japanese sailors and the country’s coast guard.
Sailors aboard the New Orleans finally put out the fire at 4 a.m. with assistance from the crew of its sister dock ship USS San Diego moored at White Beach.
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan coast guard and Navy commands across Okinawa also helped fight the fire, U.S. 7th Fleet said in an unsigned statement issued around 6 a.m.
Two sailors were treated for minor injuries aboard the ship, the fleet said.
The fire started in the forward area of the 684-foot-long vessel, a coast guard spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. The cause is under investigation, the fleet said.
Seventh Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Tommy Groves declined in an email Thursday to answer further questions from Stars and Stripes, saying he had no additional information.
The ship may be carrying munitions, and the fire “has caused great anxiety” to Okinawa, Gov. Denny Tamaki said Thursday during his regular morning news conference, a prefecture spokesman said by phone.
“One wrong move could have led to a major disaster involving the local residents, which is extremely regrettable,” the governor said, according to the spokesman.
Two tugboats with the Maritime Self-Defense Force and two commercial tugboats did most of the firefighting on the Japanese side, a coast guard spokeswoman said by phone Thursday.
The Navy on Okinawa provided logistics and communications through its emergency operations center. The Harbor Boat Unit at White Beach helped take personnel to the tugboats and the New Orleans, spokeswoman Candice Barber wrote in an email Thursday.
The coast guard vessel Ishigaki briefly stepped in after one of the tugboats experienced mechanical issues at 10:40 p.m., but stood down after another tugboat arrived about an hour later, according to coast guard news releases Wednesday and Thursday.
Another undisclosed Japanese navy vessel responded to the fire after Camp Foster called for assistance at 5 p.m. Wednesday, but it left the scene sometime after 5:55 p.m. when the request was withdrawn, the coast guard spokeswoman said. The call was reinstated at 7:28 p.m.
Three coast guard vessels — the Ishigaki, the Shimagumo and the Awagumo — were surveilling the area as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday. No oil spills from the New Orleans have been reported, the spokeswoman said.
The New Orleans’ crew will remain aboard the vessel, with additional services and berthing available aboard the San Diego or at White Beach, the fleet said.
The Navy on Okinawa has established a command post at White Beach to provide lodging, meals, transportation, medical and religious services to sailors on board, Barber said. The American Red Cross handed out comfort kits to sailors. No medical support had been requested as of 1 p.m., she added.
Amphibious transport dock ships take Marines and their equipment, including air-cushioned landing craft, amphibious assault vehicles, helicopters or MV-22B Ospreys, to support expeditionary warfare missions.
Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
AloJapan.com