The USS Miami submarine docked in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on March 15, 2012.
Most people would simply feign a tummy ache if they wanted to leave work early. Not Casey James Fury, who in a misguided attempt to cut out of work mid-shift, set a nuclear-powered submarine on fire.
The USS Miami was dry-docked in Portsmouth, N.H. for an overhaul when Fury, a civilian painter and sandblaster who was working on the vessel, decided to set fire to it — not once, but two times this summer. He recently confessed to the crime, telling authorities that he set the fires as a way to cope with his anxiety and to get out of work, reports the Associated Press.
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On May 24, he set fire to some rags on a bunk bed in an effort to alleviate his stress. The resulting conflagration took 12 hours to extinguish and caused $400 million in damages. Navy officials initially thought it had been sparked by a vacuum cleaner.
Fury (a rather apt name, we think, given his hot-headed emotions) set the second fire on June 16, after a heated text message exchange with his ex-girlfriend piqued his anxiety. He later told authorities that he wanted to leave work early, presumably to deal with his fragile psychological state, so he lit some alcohol wipes on fire outside the submarine. No one was injured in the second fire.
He could face life in prison if convicted for the two counts of arson.