USS Inchon (LPH-12) - Redesignation

Redesignation

Inchon was redesignated a Mine Countermeasures Command and Support Ship, MCS-12, 6 March 1995, and converted at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS. between March 1995 and 28 May 1996. She was assigned to the Active Naval Reserve Force, 30 September 1996. On October 19, 2001 the USS Inchon suffered a Class Bravo (fuel oil) fire in the main boiler room while conducting inport steaming for engineering trials and assessments. A fuel oil leak had sprung from a faulty gasket on one of the main fuel pumps. This resulted in fuel oil leaking into the bilge. At some unknown point the bilge caught fire most likely a result from filling up underneath the boiler which provided ample heat to ignite. The actual cause of the ignition to the fuel oil remains unknown. The entire bilge caught fire, and the space immediately filled with smoke. There were nine enlisted sailors operating the space, only eight made it out. Petty Officer Third Class Ronnie Joe Palm Jr., age 21, of Houston, succumbed to smoke inhalation just after helping one of his fellow sailors out of the space. PO3 Palm had been in the Navy for two years, and was cited for his bravery in the face of the blaze. He was posthumously awarded for his heroism with the highest peacetime honor the Navy could bestow, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

Since severe damage occurred to her boiler plant the Navy made the decision at that time to decommission rather than repair her. Inchon was decommissioned, 20 June 2002, at NS Ingleside, Texas.

She was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, at Philadelphia, PA. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 24 May 2004 and sunk on 5 December 2004 at 36°42′30″N 71°40′0″W / 36.70833°N 71.666667°W / 36.70833; -71.666667, in 2,150 fathoms (3.9 km) of water, 207 nautical miles (383 km) east of Virginia Beach, VA.