by Wyatt Olson at Stars and Stripes
The sailor charged with setting the fire and destroying the USS Bonhomme Richard last summer had previously dropped out of training to become a Navy SEAL after only five days and held a grudge against the service, according to an affidavit filed by an investigator seeking a search warrant in the case.
Seaman Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays, 20, became an arson suspect soon after the blaze was extinguished four days after it began on July 12, 2020, while the amphibious assault ship was docked in San Diego, according to the 33-page affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California on Sept. 3, 2020.
In the affidavit, which had remained sealed until Tuesday, investigators asked the court for access to Mays’ social media accounts.
The Navy announced last week that a sailor had been charged with setting the fire but did not identify him.
The contents of the affidavit were first reported by the Daily Beast and San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Bonhomme Richard was undergoing maintenance at Naval Base San Diego when the blaze seared through 11 of the ship’s 14 decks, destroyed its forward mast and damaged the superstructure before being put out. The Navy said in December the ship would be scrapped.
Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives determined soon after the blaze was extinguished that it had originated below deck in a section called Lower V, where they found a container that had held a petroleum distillate believed to have been used to start the fire.
Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began questioning sailors associated with Lower V, and those interviews led quickly to suspicion of Mays…
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