The USS Mount Whitney is tugged into the staging area to begin the dry dock process in the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia, on Jan. 19, 2015. The flagship of U.S. 6th Fleet, the Mount Whitney was in the final stages of a scheduled overhaul on July 31, 2015, when a fire broke out on board. No one was injured in the blaze, which is under investigation. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The crew of 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney has been surveying the damage from a Friday fire aboard the ship, which was in port in Croatia, according to the Navy.
There were no injuries in the blaze, which began in the evening and was extinguished after 45 minutes by crewmembers and shipyard personnel, according to a news release. Fleet officials have not said where or how the fire began but that an investigation is underway.
The ship remains in the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia, where it was in the final stages of a scheduled overhaul that began in January. It had recently come out of dry-dock and was in a "beautification" phase that included modifications to the exterior, passageways and flight deck, according to the fleet.
Based out of Gaeta, Italy, the Mount Whitney is an amphibious command ship operated by civilian mariners and designed to embark the fleet commander and staff for operations in the theater. It served as the command node for U.S. airstrikes against Libya in 2011.
