The USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo, shown in March 31, 2014, in Australia, had to return to Florida following an engine room fire last Thursday. The Navy transport ship was carrying equipment for building a temporary humanitarian aid corridor in Gaza. (Scott Reel/U.S. Marine Corps)
A Navy ship carrying supplies and equipment for construction of a humanitarian corridor off the coast of Gaza has returned to the U.S. after an engine room fire, leaving behind questions over whether the project will be completed on schedule.
USNS 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo, a Military Sealift Command roll-on/roll-off ship, arrived in Jacksonville, Fla., under its own power on one engine Tuesday, the Navy said in a statement Thursday.
The service did not say what equipment or supplies the ship was carrying when the fire broke out in the engine room April 11 while it was traveling to the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
There were no injuries and crew members put out the fire using portable extinguishers, according to the statement.
The Navy didn’t say how, or if, return of the ship to the U.S. would impact the scheduled operational date of a floating dock and 1,800-foot-long causeway needed to deliver 2 million meals daily into Gaza.
The Defense Department and U.S. Central Command referred Stars and Stripes’ questions about the status of the Joint Over-the-Shore project to the Navy.
The Pentagon has stated repeatedly that the project will be operational by the end of this month or early May.
Cargo offloaded from the Navy-built dock would be ferried to the causeway, which would extend to the Gaza shore. No U.S. service members would be on the ground in Gaza, and security would be provided by Israel, according to the DOD.
The department is working with the U.S. Agency for International Development and other groups to finalize the details on how the food would be received and distributed, a job complicated by the killing of seven humanitarian workers in an Israeli airstrike in April.
Earlier this month, just two of the eight ships carrying supplies and equipment to build the dock and causeway had entered the Mediterranean.
But on Monday, USAV General Frank Besson, which entered the sea April 3, was in port in Crete along with two other Army ships, USNI News reported the same day. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay is located on the island.
A fourth Army ship was transiting west of the island, while a fifth, USAV Wilson Wharf, was in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of north Africa, according to the USNI report.
MV Roy P. Benavidez, assigned to the Military Sealift Command, also was near Crete on Monday. USNS 1st Lt. Baldomero Lopez was transiting the Mediterranean off the coast of north Africa, USNI said.
An investigation into the cause of the fire aboard 2nd Lt. John P. Bobo, along with an assessment of the ship, was ongoing, the Navy said.
