 Footage of damage-control and fire-fighting efforts during the USS Forrestal incident. An aircraft bomb, possibly AN-M65 model that was damaged by the fire, reaches its cook-off threshold and explodes aboard the deck. | |
USS Forrestal (South China Sea) | |
| Date | 29 July 1967 |
|---|---|
| Time | 02:52 UTC (10:52 a.m. Hotel time) |
| Location | Gulf of Tonkin, 19°9′5″N 107°23′5″E / 19.15139°N 107.38472°E[1] |
| Outcome | Capt. John K. Beling absolved of responsibility; no crew members charged. Ship in dry dock for five months. |
| Casualties | |
| Repair costs: US$72 million[2] | |
| Aircraft lost: seven F-4B Phantom II; eleven A-4E Skyhawks; and three RA-5C Vigilantes; 40 others damaged | |
| Deaths | 134 dead[2] |
| Non-fatal injuries | 161 injured[2] |
On 29 July 1967, a fire broke out on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal after an electrical anomaly caused a Zuni rocket on an F-4B Phantom to fire, striking an external fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk. The flammable jet fuel spilled across the flight deck, ignited, and triggered a chain reaction of explosions that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. At the time, Forrestal was engaged in combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, during the Vietnam War. The ship survived, but with damage exceeding US$72 million, not including the damage to aircraft.[2][3] Future United States Senator John McCain and future four-star admiral and U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Ronald J. Zlatoper were among the survivors. Another on-board officer, Lieutenant Tom Treanore, later returned to the ship as her commander and retired an admiral.[4]
The incident was the second of three serious fires to strike American carriers in the 1960s. A 1966 fire aboard USS Oriskany killed 44 and injured 138 and a 1969 fire aboard USS Enterprise killed 28 and injured 314.
The disaster prompted the Navy to revise its firefighting practices. It also modified its weapon handling procedures and installed a deck wash down system on all carriers. The newly established Farrier Firefighting School in Norfolk, Virginia was named after Chief Gerald W. Farrier, the commander of Damage Control Team 8, who was among the first to die in the fire and explosions.
- ^ Evans, Mark L. (2 August 2007). "USS Forrestal (CV-59)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. Archived from the original on 20 March 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d Stewart, Henry P. (2004). The Impact of the USS Forrestal's 1967 Fire on United States Navy Shipboard Damage Control (Master's thesis). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: United States Army Command and General Staff College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
- ^ "USS Forrestal (CVA 59)". Damage Control Museum. Naval Sea Systems Command. Archived from the original on 7 February 2008.
- ^ Tom Wimberly, Captain, U. S. Navy (Retired). "Remarks at USS Forrestal Forty Year Memorial Tribute". Farrier Firefighting School, Norfolk, Virginia. 27 July 2007