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USS Higgins fire: What caused blaze on Indo-Pacific Command's destroyer? What we know so far
Fire damages USS Higgins in Indo-Pacific; cause unclear. Incident fuels attack speculation amid Middle East tensions. But, so far, no details are official.
Amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, a fire on a US Navy destroyer in the Indo-Pacific region has sparked a lot of buzz. CBS News reports, citing US officials in Washington, that USS-Higgins, a guided missile destroyer, caught fire earlier this week, which resulted in significant damage to the ship.
The USS Higgins was part of the US Navy's Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and was stationed in the Asian waters. However, the exact location where the USS Higgins caught fire. An official cause of the fire was not disclosed by the anonymous US officials. The US Army has not officially released details regarding the incident.
However, amid the Iran war, the fire has sparked speculations about a possible attack on the USS Higgins. Some social media posts speculated about the potential involvement of China in the fire. The speculation was further fueled by the fact that earlier this month, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford also caught fire.
Amid that, we will look into what we know so far about the cause of the fire.
What Caused The USS Higgins Fire Incident?
According to the officials quoted in the CBS News report, the fire caused damage to the electricity system and propulsion on the USS Higgins. No other details around the specifics of the damages were revealed by the officials.
The USS Higgins was stationed in Singapore back in February 2026, CBS reported, citing AIS Marine vessel data. It has not been revealed which sections of the ship were damaged, and no other details have been revealed about how long it will take to repair the ship.
Notably, when asked about the incident, the Pentagon said that INDOPACOM would be able to clarify more on the incident. But, so far, INDOPACOM has not released a statement.
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More On USS Higgins
The USS Higgins is a US Navy guided-missile destroyer from the Arleigh Burke class. Commissioned in 1999, it was built by Bath Iron Works and is currently homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, operating with the US Seventh Fleet.
The ship is named after Colonel William R Higgins, a U.S. Marine who was killed during a UN mission in Lebanon. It’s a multi-mission warship designed for air defense, missile strikes, anti-submarine warfare, and escort duties.
