Announcement by the U.S. Government on the USS George Washington Fire

July 31, 2008

1. In the afternoon of July 31, Mr. James P. Zumwalt, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America, and Rear Admiral James Kelly of the U.S. Navy in Japan, called on Mr. Shinichi Nishimiya, Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and based on a press release, gave an outline of the announcement by the U.S. Navy on the cause of the fire on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington and the removal of the officers concerned, which had taken place in the morning of the same day Japan time. The points of the explanation given by the U.S. side are as follows. (In the evening of July 30, prior notification similar to the gist was conveyed to Mr. Nishimiya by Mr. Zumwalt.)

(1) The likely cause of the fire was unauthorized smoking that ignited flammable liquids and other combustible materials improperly stored in an adjacent space.

(2) The fire, which occurred in an unmanned Auxiliary Boiler Exhaust and Supply space, took approximately 12 hours to extinguish due to the location and geometry of adjacent spaces and ventilation systems that created a chimney effect.

(3) Captain David C. Dykhoff, the Commanding Officer of USS George Washington (U.S. Navy), was relieved of his duties for “a loss of confidence in his ability to command and his failure to meet mission requirements and readiness standards.” The Executive Officer, Captain David M. Dober, was also relieved of his duties.

(4) Immediately after the fire broke out, instructions were sent to all navy vessels to ensure appropriate storage of materials on vessels.

(5) Fires of this kind have no effect on the safety of nuclear propulsion systems.

2. In response, Mr. Nishimiya said as follows:

(1) The Government of Japan understands that the investigation by the U.S. Navy was conducted thoroughly and objectively from a technical standpoint and regards that a satisfactory explanation on the fire was given.

(2) The Government of Japan believes that stringent measures including the removal of the captains shows the seriousness of the U.S. side regarding this incident and its intention of further strengthening discipline.

(3) The Government of Japan understands that the U.S. Navy has been taking measures to prevent such fires from recurring. It requests the Navy to continue with these preventive measures.

3. The U.S. side reiterated that fires of this kind do not affect the safety of nuclear propulsion systems. In any case, the U.S. side has repeatedly guaranteed the safety of its nuclear aircraft carriers and other nuclear-powered vessels. The Government of Japan has been reassured of the safety of U.S. nuclear-powered vessels stationed in Japanese ports, based on the Fact Sheet on U.S. Nuclear-Powered Warship (NPW) Safety published in April 2006.

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