Sailor, 21, is accused of destroying USS Bonhomme Richard on June 12 2020,

The $1.2bn warship went down in flames in June 2020 while docked in the San Diego for repairs

Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, is accused of starting the blaze on the navy warship on July 12, 2020

The alleged arsonist blaze was angry about getting deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL, prosecutors said

He lied about girlfriend becoming pregnant by another man, a story debunked by ex herself

*The blaze sent acrid smoke over San Diego and badly damaged the ship 

Of the 115 soldiers on board, nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion

Ship which was docked for $250M two-year repairs was so damaged by the fire sent an acrid smoke over San Diego

Blaze damaged the ship so badly it had to be scuttle by the Navy.

Mays is on trial at Naval Base San Diego and faces charges of aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel

The sailor accused of setting fire to the $1.2bn US Bonhomme Richard that burned for almost five days was angry about being assigned to deck duty when he failed to become a Navy Seal, prosecutors say.
Ryan Sawyer Mays, 21, started the blaze on July 12, 2020, when the ship was docked in San Diego, California.
The fire sent an acrid smoke over San Diego and damaged the ship so badly it had to be scuttled.
Of the 115 sailors on board, nearly 60 were treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. 
Failure to extinguish or contain the fire meant that temperatures climbed to 1,200 F in some areas, which melted sections of the ship into molten metal that flowed into other parts of the ship.
Prosecutors described Mays as an arrogant sailor, angry about being assigned to deck duty after failing to become a Navy SEAL. He made the Navy pay in a big way.
During the opening statements for the prosecution at Naval Base San Diego, Cmdr. Leah O’Brien told the judge:  ‘Your honor, it was a mischievous act of defiance gone wrong.’
More than half a dozen former crewmembers of the USS Bonhomme Richard yesterday gave testimony on the first day of the trial. 
They described a harrowing and chaotic scene as they confronted an inferno on the Navy warship with shoddy equipment and due to the smoke, many did not know what the situation was. 
Yesterday, Petty Officer Jeffrey Garvin, former fire marshal on the ship, was asked by the prosecution to recall what he did that day. 
Becoming emotional, he took a moment to respond and said: ‘I’m still trying to work through this in therapy myself. I apologize.’
He later said that he could not remember a lot from the day, a sentiment echoed by the other crew mates, posing a challenge to the prosecution. 

More than half a dozen former crewmembers of the USS Bonhomme Richard yesterday gave testimony on the first day of the trial.
Ex-crew members described a harrowing and chaotic scene as they confronted an inferno on the Navy warship, with shoddy equipment and due to the smoke, many did not know what the situation was.
Several former crewmembers testified that the lower vehicle storage area was filled with bottles, tools, generators, tractors and other equipment while the ship was undergoing a two-year, $250 million upgrade pier-side in San Diego.
The blaze was snuffed out by about 400 sailors from 16 vessels, a number of helicopters dumping water from above, the Naval Base San Diego Fire Department and multiple volunteer fire departments from surrounding cities. 

At least 63 people were injured, including 18 firefighters who filed workers’ compensation for suffering concussions, orthopedic issues, dehydration and smoke inhalation.
More than 20 senior officers and sailors were disciplined by navy leaders in connection with what it described as ‘widespread leadership failures’ that contributed to the disaster.
Blame was spread across ranks and responsibilities by the Navy, who faulted the ship’s three top officers directly.   
No physical evidence proving that Mays set the USS Bonhomme Richard on fire has been presented by the prosecution.
This is something that the defense have highlighted. Meanwhile, key witnesses have changed their stories or testimonies have contradicted each other, including yesterday. 

Military defense counsel Lt. Tayler Haggerty said in her opening remarks that its the Navy who is wrong and conclusions that the Mays started the fire were made before the probe was complete.
Lt. Haggerty added that they then ignored evidence and witness accounts that did not fit into that narrative so that they could find a scapegoat for the loss of a billion-dollar ship that was mismanaged by senior officers. 
She added: ‘Once investigators pinned the blame on Mays, who was known for being sarcastic and flippant, ‘nothing else mattered.’
‘Just because the government eliminates, ignores pieces of evidence, it doesn’t mean the court should.’
And she said that by the end of the trial the judge will exonerate the sailor and find him not guilty of both charges. 

The alleged arsonist has been charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel but has denied any wrongdoing.
Mays waived his right to a jury and put his faith in the hands of the Navy judge, Capt. Derek Butler. 
Defense lawyers argue that investigators played down the fact that lithium batteries were stored next to materials that were highly combustible such as cardboard boxes, a violation of ship protocol. 
Before the fire broke out, one sailor told investigators that he saw Mays going down to the ship’s lower vehicle storage area, according to the prosecution.
Another sailor who escorted Mays to the brig said she overheard him say that he did it.
But the defense say that he was being sarcastic after he denied wrongdoing during more than 10 hours of questioning by investigators. 

The defense team yesterday, accused investigators of playing down the fact that lithium batteries were stored next to materials that were highly combustible such as cardboard boxes, a violation of ship protocol.
On June 14, 2020, two days after the fire, Mays posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the caption, ‘I love the smell of napalm in the morning.’
Pressed by investigators about it, Mays said it was a reference to Apocalypse Now, the Francis Ford Coppola film about the Vietnam War.
Mays also was asked about the alleged self-incriminating comments the sailors said they heard him make, but he denied ever making them and agreed to take a polygraph.
According to the affidavit, ‘deception was indicated’ during the test in response to a number of relevant questions pertaining to the events of the fire.

When he was told about the polygraph results, Mays ‘became extremely upset and denied any involvement in starting the fire,’ the affidavit says.
Investigators also noted a number of red flags raised from Mays’ personal life, including a lie that he broke up with a female sailor after learning she was pregnant with another man. Investigators ‘later learned this was mostly contradicted by the female sailor’ in question, the warrant said.
That sailor, U.S. Sailor Petty Officer Third Class Armelle Ane, said that Mays told everyone that she was pregnant and he was the father, but she said she never was pregnant and even got a test to prove it to people. She also told investigators that Mays is ‘volatile and bipolar,’ according to the search warrant.
The affidavit states, however, that Mays gave authorities contradicting statements about where he kept his computer, ‘possibly for the purpose of frustrating the investigation,’ before investigators found it.

Elsewhere, the defense dismissed details that pointed to another sailor later fired from the navy. 
Investigators said that Mays set the fire but a Navy report last year concluded that the fire was preventable and unacceptable.
It also concluded that there were lapses in training, communications, coordination, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control.  damaged, if not destroyed, the crime scene and crucial evidence.’