Navy Warship Is Still Ablaze, and Now Tilting to One Side – The New York Times

Hundreds of Navy sailors were continuing on Monday to battle a raging fire on the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard at a San Diego naval base, one of the worst blazes to ever engulf an American warship outside of combat.

The fire, which began Sunday morning, has destroyed the ship s forward mast and created what Navy officials described as an inferno beneath its superstructure, reaching temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees.

via www.nytimes.com

I remember some naval novel I read suggested these newer ships burn much more readily than older ships because they have so much aluminum in them, which has a lower ignition point than steel.