The third disaster occurred on Enterprise (CVA[N]-65) on 14 January 1969, while she was en route to Vietnam. 405, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Fred D. USN 1124786. On 29 July 1967, Forrestal (CVA-59) experienced a severe fire while operating on Yankee Station off Vietnam that killed 134 Sailors and aviators, injured 161, and destroyed 21 aircraft. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. At least one of the Skyhawks M-65 1,000-lb. Unlike the thick-cased Mark 83 bombs filled with Composition H6, the AN-M65A1 bombs were thin-skinned and filled with Composition B, an older explosive with greater shock and heat sensitivity. The opinions and conclusions expressed therein are those of the student author and do not necessarily represent the view of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. When the fire started and quickly spread, they immediately attempted to escape their aircraft. VF-11 Red Rippers Fighter Squadron US Navy F-14 Tomcat - Seaforces [19]:34[17] Fire quarters and then general quarters were sounded at 10:52 and 10:53. In 1969, a Freak Accident Nearly Destroyed a Navy Aircraft Carrier By 1967, the U.S. Navy had reverted to the Japanese model at Midway with specialized, highly trained damage-control and fire-fighting teams, but most of the crew was not trained. The load included sixteen 1,000-pound (450kg) AN-M65A1 "fat boy" bombs (so nicknamed because of their short, rotund shape), which Diamond Head had picked up from Subic Bay Naval Base and were intended for the next day's second bombing sortie. The investigation panel recommended several changes to safety procedures aboard carriers. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Herbert A. Click to View Online Archive On July 29, 1967, a fire broke out on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. Includes historic imagery and remarks from former Forrestal crew member. Regardless, shrapnel ripped into both aircraft, and both were immediately sprayed by fuel; a pool of fuel ignited between and under the two aircraft. In order to view the downloaded files you need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Nearly 200 U.S. troops were killed on that single day. Even today the Navy commonly refers to the fire aboard Forrestal, and the lessons learned, when teaching damage control and ammunition safety. [1] Several men jumped or were blown into the ocean. The fire spread with the first explosion to every aircraft across the entire after part of the flight deck. We hope this is helpful. Their age and chemical composition actually enhanced the power of the blast (the exact opposite of a Mark 83). NAVY RELEASES McCAIN's RECORDS - Easton Spectator This included development of a remote-control firefighting system for the flight deck, development of more stable ordnance, improvement in survival equipment, and increased training in fire survival. About 30 minutes later, they had put out the flight deck fires. Most dangerous of all, several bombs were seen to be leaking liquid paraffin phlegmatizing agent from their seams, an unmistakable sign that the bomb's explosive filler had degenerated with excessive age, and exposure to heat and moisture. But the memo and the decision were never communicated to Captain Beling, the ship's commanding officer, who was required to approve such decisions. TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. For more information about the non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov. A 1995 report, NASA Reference Publication 1374, incorrectly described the Forrestal fire as a result of electromagnetic interference. This. A motivational film for Navy personnel on the prevention of fire and for learning firefighting damage control measures. USS Forrestal Veterans Gather 35 Years Later to Honor Shipmates 405, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. (My thanks to Dr. Richard Hulver, NHHC historian, for sifting through mounds of official documentation, sometimes contradictory, so I didnt have to read it all myself. [2] It was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. Navy ship since World War II. In addition to the pin, a "pigtail" connected the electrical wiring of the missile to the rocket pod. They had been shown films during training of Navy ordnance tests demonstrating how a 1,000 lb bomb could be directly exposed to a jet fuel fire for a full ten minutes and still be extinguished and cooled without an explosive cook-off. [10], The damage control team specializing in on-deck firefighting for Forrestal was Damage Control Team No. A sailor standing about 100 feet (30m) forward was struck by a fragment of the Zuni or the exploding fuel tank. Sailors manually jettisoned numerous 250 and 500 lb bombs by rolling them along the deck and off the side. While text contains a superscript pointing to item 12 in the references section, item 12 in the reference section is to "Von Achen, W.: The Apache Helicopter: An EMI Case History. The Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet (to which Forrestal was assigned when not deployed), Admiral Ephraim P. Holmes, did not concur with some of the results of the final investigation report, specifically the part that cleared Captain Beling. On 29 July 1967, USS Forrestal (CVA/CV-59) suffered a catastrophic fire during flight operations while on Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam. The forward four guns had been removed prior to 1962. The training films Learn or Burn (which included film from the flight-deck PLATT camera that filmed the entire Forrestal event) and Trial by Fire: A Carrier Fights for Life have influenced countless firefighting, damage-control, and recruit-training classes. The carrier occupied drydock number 8 from 21 September 1967, until 10 February 1968, displacing USSJohn King, an oil tanker, and a minesweeper that were occupying the drydock. Later on, Cates had himself lowered into the compartment to attach a line to the bomb so it could be hauled up to the deck and jettisoned. It took more than 24 hours for . [10] Thirty-five personnel were in close proximity to the blast. 134 of them died at sea, in the Gulf of Tonkin, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal.The carrier had accidentally caught fire after a rocket misfired below the flight deck, igniting a fuel tank. The death and incapacitation of the entire specialized fire-fighting team in the initial explosion had critical impact. 8, led by Chief Gerald W. Farrier, were the first responders to any incident on the flight deck. Another was the installation of a flight-deck washdown system that could spread water or foam as needed, with the first being installed on Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) during her 196869 refit. [10] The ongoing detonations prevented fire suppression efforts during the first critical minutes of the disaster. They immediately took action. Best of luck with your research! HullNumber.com's mission is to provide a means for shipmates to keep in touch with one another. Active duty personnel presented American flags to represent each sailor who died. Please keep in mind that this list does only include records of people who submitted their information for publication on this website. 405, piloted by LCDR Fred White, rupturing its fuel tank, igniting the fuel, and initiating the fire. Did John McCain Cause a Fire Aboard the USS Forrestal that Killed 134 Lt. Cmdrs Gerry Stark and Dennis Barton were missing. The number of casualties quickly overwhelmed the ship's medical teams, and Forrestal was escorted by USSHenry W. Tucker to rendezvous with hospital ship USSRepose at 20:54, allowing the crew to begin transferring the dead and wounded at 22:53. A total of ten bombs exploded during the fire. Sec/Treasurer USS FORRESTAL CVA/CV/AVT-59 Association, The Nation's First Supercarrier "First In Def USS Forrestal Association At that time, a VF-11 F-4B (No. The aircraft carrier, the mightiest of the U.S. fleet, was preparing to launch attacks into North Vietnam when one of its jets accidentally fired a rocket across the flight . 1967. To his right . The impact of the Zuni rocket dislodged at least one, probably two, 1,000-pound AN-M65A1 bombs, which fell into the flames. Two days later, Forrestal returned to Norfolk to be welcomed home by over 3,000 family members and friends of the crew, gathered on Pier 12 and onboard Randolph, Forrestal's host ship. The Sextant blog post by Chief Damage Controlman (SW/AW) Teddy Yates discussing the tragedy and the impact of the fire. USS Forrestal (CV-59) Underway in 1987, with three F-14s and an A-6 on her catapults. The Navy in its definitive report on the eventManual of the Judge Advocate General Basic Final Investigative Report Concerning the Fire on Board the USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59)concluded that a stray electrical signal ignited the motor of a Zuni rocket carried by an F-4B Phantom II on the starboard quarter and shot across the deck, striking the external fuel tank of a fully armed A-4E Skyhawk on the port. Forrestal was an aircraft carrier stationed off the coast of Vietnam that experienced a catastrophic fire on July 29, 1967. A fragment also punctured the centerline external fuel tank of A-4 #310, positioned just aft of the jet blast deflector of catapult number 3. USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) Deployments & History - Hull Number The rocket itself actually impacted the ocean beyond both aircraft. Another on-board officer, Lieutenant Tom Treanore, later returned to the ship as its commander and retired an admiral.[4]. [10][16][17] In one concession to the demands of the ordnance handlers, Beling agreed to store all 16 bombs alone on deck in the "bomb farm" area between the starboard rail and the carrier's island until they were loaded for the next day's missions. NORFOLK, Va. - Wednesday marks 53 years since a deadly fire broke out on the former USS Forrestal aircraft carrier, killing more than . The fire started at 10:51 a.m. Saturday, July 29, 1967, as 30-year-old Lt. Cmdr. The brief combat period on Yankee Station was cut short when, on July 29, 1967, the Forrestal fire occurred. Footage revealed that damage-control teams sprayed firefighting foam on the deck to smother the burning fuel, which was the correct procedure, but their efforts were negated by crewmen on the other side of the deck who sprayed seawater, which washed the foam away. Enterprise put in for repairs at Pearl Harbor and continued en route to Vietnam in March 1969, although she was diverted to Korean waters due to the North Korean capture of Pueblo (AGER-2.). HullNumber.com does not share your information. At the bottom of every email sent by HullNumber is an UNSUBSCRIBE link. Forrestal's ordnance handlers had never even seen an AN-M65A1 before, and to their shock, the bombs delivered from Diamond Head were in terrible condition; coated with "decades of accumulated rust and grime" and still in their original packing crates (now moldy and rotten); some were stamped with production dates as early as 1953. Although the fire on the flight deck was controlled within an hour, fires below deck raged until 0400 the next morning. Forrestal departed its home port in Norfolk, Virginia in early June 1967. Ship History 1955-1993 How A US Navy Aircraft Carrier Was Nearly Destroyed (By Its Own Bomb) Download image. Printing is also easily possible because of the high resolution and the missing watermarks. The USS Forrestal was the United States' first supercarrier, and the largest ever built when it was commissioned in 1955. Many more were wounded but did not report their injuries because of the severity of those of their shipmates. Seven holes were ripped through the deck from explosions of 750 lb., 500 lb., and 1000 lb. Beling was assigned temporary duty on the staff of Admiral Ephraim P. Holmes, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. [9][pageneeded] It was common for aircraft to launch with six or more rocket packs, each containing four rockets. . Less than three months after the fire, on Oct. 26, 1967, he launched in his A-4E "Skyhawk", Bureau #149959, attack aircraft as the number three aircraft in the first division of a strike group against the Hanoi Thermal Power Plant. First loss: C-141A 65-9407 (62d Military Airlift Wing) destroyed in a night runway collision with a USMC A-6 at Danang, SVN on 23 March 1967 killing 5 of the 6 crewmen. Casualties: US Naval Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected - ibiblio [9]:105, When temporary repairs in the Philippines were completed, Forrestal departed on 11 August, arriving at Naval Station Mayport in Florida on 12 September to disembark the remaining aircraft and air group personnel stationed in Florida. In the case of Enterprise, lessons learned from Forrestal (and not having old and unstable ordnance on board) resulted in the fire being contained more rapidly with fewer casualties. Fifty-four seconds after the initiation of the fire, Chief Gerald W. Farrier, head of the firefighting team, attacked the cracked and furiously burning bomb with a hand-held extinguisher. They found that the pigtail was connected early, that the TER pin on the faulty Zuni missile was likely blown free, and that the missile fired when a power surge occurred as the pilot transferred his systems from external to internal power. Forrestal (CVA-59) crewmen are assisted by those fromRupertus (DD-851) in fighting the fires raging aboard Forrestal, while a helicopter ferries firefighting supplies to the burning ship. USS Forrestal (CV 59), 29 July 1967 Oriskany arrived back at Yankee Station in time to be witness to, and aid in, a shipboard disaster that far eclipsed her own. Capable of launching larger, more powerful F-4 Phantom fighters on its thousand-foot-long flight deck using steam catapults, the Forrestal was deployed to Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin in July 1967 to contribute its . Your ORIGINAL HOMETOWN and State are asked for because that confirms who you are in your shipmate's memories. The flammable jet fuel spilled across the flight deck, ignited, and triggered a chain reaction of explosions that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. U.S. Army Command and General Staff College masters thesis by Lieutenant Commander Henry P. Stewart. The flight-deck film of the flight operations, titled "Learn or Burn", became mandatory viewing for firefighting trainees. 1967 USS Forrestal fire 1967 1967 USS Rupertus (DD-851) 20 135 of them include images. Please check NARAs web page about. Despite Farrier's constant effort to cool the bomb that had fallen to the deck, the casing suddenly split open and the explosive began to burn brightly. Includes biographical information on the ships namesake, Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal, and a chronology of the ships service. The 1967 USS Forrestal fire was a devastating fire and series of chain-reaction explosions on 29 July 1967 that killed 134 sailors and injured 161 on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59), after an electrical anomaly discharged a Zuni rocket on the flight deck. [25][27] McCain saw another pilot on fire, and turned to help him, when the first bomb detonated. Another destroyer, USSRupertus, maneuvered as close as 20 feet (6m) to Forrestal for 90 minutes, directing her own on-board fire hoses at the burning flight and hangar deck on the starboard side, and at the port-side aft 5-inch gun mount. Disaster 1967: Remembering the USS Forrestal Fire