Worker charged in U.S. Navy sub fires

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PORTLAND, Maine, July 23 (UPI) -- A worker at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard was charged Monday with setting two fires, including one that caused $400 million in damage to a submarine.

Corey James Fury, 24, a civilian hired to strip paint on the USS Miami, was charged with two counts of arson in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, for the May 23 and June 16 fires aboard the nuclear submarine being reconditioned in the Kittery, Maine, shipyard, the Portland Press Herald reported.

Fury allegedly admitted setting a small fire on June 16, saying he was anxious over a text message from his girlfriend and eager to leave work. A polygraph exam indicated he also set the previous fire, which he allegedly started by igniting rags, court documents said.

The May 23 fire burned for 12 hours before shipyard firefighters and fire companies from three states brought it under control. The Navy is determining whether to complete repairs to the submarine, which was commissioned in 1990, or scrap it, the newspaper said.