Washington — A major fire broke out earlier this week on the USS Higgins, a guided-missile destroyer and a mainstay of the Navy’s forward presence in Asia, according to U.S. officials.
The fire knocked out electricity and propulsion on the destroyer, one of the officials told CBS News, speaking under condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
No injuries to U.S. service members had been reported as of Wednesday.
Details of how the fire started and the exact location of the Higgins in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) were not readily available.
Details regarding what sections of the ship were damaged and how long it will take to repair were also not available.
The Higgins was ported in Singapore as of February, according to AIS Marine vessel data.
A defense department official said in a statement: “An electrical fire occurred aboard the USS Higgins while at sea in the Indo-Pacific. The fire was immediately extinguished by the crew, and there are no reported injuries. The situation is under control, and the ship is currently underway. The cause is under investigation.”
The U.S. Navy classified it as an “electrical casualty,” which means it wasn’t a large fire but a short circuit in one the ship’s generators.
Earlier this month, a small fire broke out on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, injuring eight U.S. Navy sailors, the U.S. Naval Institute reported. Separately, a fire broke out in the laundry spaces aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, injuring two sailors.
The Ford and its accompanying strike group are expected to leave the Middle East in the coming days, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday. The Ford was one of three carriers operating in the region.
The Higgins, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, is part of the Navy’s forward deployed forces assigned to the 7th Fleet — a key component of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees American military operations across more than half the globe.
The ship is named after Marine Col. William Higgins, a veteran of the Vietnam war, who was part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon when he was kidnapped in Feb. 1988 by Hezbollah-linked militants. Higgins was tortured, interrogated and then was murdered. He was promoted to his current rank while in captivity. Higgins’ remains were found on a Beirut street in Dec. 1991.
