On March 6, 1953, with the Korean War in full swing,
the Essex-class USS Oriskany carrier's worst enemy was one of her own aircraft.
As a Vought F4U Corsair landed on the mighty vessel,
a cameraman caught a loaded bomb dropping from the aircraft, then bouncing off the deck twice
and finally exploding, documenting the tragic incident on film forever.
Although derived from a common occurrence in military aircraft,
the occurrence had more than lethal consequences, and the crew had to
react quickly to prevent as much damage to their fellow colleagues and the ship herself…
O-Boat
Named after the Battle of Oriskany in the Revolutionary war, the USS Oriskany Essex-class
aircraft carrier's story differs considerably from that of her sister ships.
Designed initially as a long-hulled ship, she had a bumpy start.
With aircraft technology significantly improving in the years after World War 2, top Navy officials
decided that the Oriskany carrier should be updated to handle newer aircraft models.
Then, when the ship was 85 percent complete by August of 1946, her construction was suspended.
To handle the newest generation of aircraft, the vessel was torn back
down to only 60 percent completion and underwent several changes and overhauls,
including an altered reinforced flight deck structure and state-of-the-art arresting gear.
Finally, on September 25, 1950, after years of construction and deconstruction,
and under the command of Captain Percy H, Lyon, the USS Oriskany carrier was
commissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard. That same year, the Korean War broke out.
The United States, spearheading the efforts of the United Nations,
joined the conflict to support South Korea.
However, when the Soviet Union and China threw their weight behind North Korea,
the stage was set for a bloody and perilous three-year war,
defined by continuous reversals of fortune and wins on both sides.
One of the vessel's first operations, carried out outside of the Korean War,
included a joint exercise with NATO French and British forces.
Afterward, the Mighty O, as it was often nicknamed, joined the Pacific Fleet,
arriving via Guantanamo Bay and performing operations in and near Cuba,
Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Valparaiso in Chile, and Lima in Peru.
Following operational briefings and other preparations in October of 1952,
the carrier joined the United States Navy's Task Force 77 off Korea's east coast,
commencing operations a few days later.
Combat sorties that departed off the carrier split between two general target areas.
On the one hand, the piston-engine Vought F4U Corsairs and Douglas A-1 Skyraiders
attacked supply areas near the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang.
Then, on the other side of the country, the Grumman F9F Panther jet fighters conducted
bombing and strafing reconnaissance runs along the southeast coast.
During the first period of the Korean War, her main attack operations were close air support
to front-line combat forces, interdiction of enemy supply lines, and air support for
naval gunfire strikes along the coast. Bouncing A Bomb On An Aircraft Carrier
Disaster struck during the Mighty O's first Korean mission when an unlikely accident
came close to doing significant damage to the ship, and it was all caught on film.
Following a short upkeep period in Japan, USS Oriskany was put to sea on March 1,
1953, under the command of Rear Admiral Robert F. Hickey, Carrier Division Five,
beginning operations four days later with a small strike on a supply depot south of Wonsan.
The aircraft carriers sent aircraft for small strikes
against North Korean supply depots from the port city.
Then, on March 6, 1953, the aircraft focused their attention to the south,
bombing trenches, depots, and bunkers near Hamsong.
Making its way back from a strike mission, a Vought F4U Corsair, piloted by Lieutenant
Edwin L. Kummer, began to experience engine trouble shortly after taking off.
Turning back to the aircraft carrier, Kummer tried to abort the mission and jettison all
the ordinance. However, a 250-pound bomb was stuck deep inside its rack and not budging.
Although dangerous, the issue was an infrequent but not unusual occurrence,
and the pilot was given permission to land with the hung-up bomb still on its rack.
However, as Kummer's Corsair landed, the bomb broke out of the rack,
hit and bounced twice on the wooden deck, and exploded over one of the ship's elevators.
Down in the hangar deck, the shrapnel hit several parked aircraft and pierced many of them.
In addition, the hangar bay was flooded with gasoline, resulting in a large and dangerous fire.
Firefighters quickly arrived in the area to isolate the hangar deck and immediately
began extinguishing the fire to prevent it from spreading any further into the ship.
Amid all the chaos, an airman observing the disaster, Richard D
Donovan, braved the flames surrounding the Corsair, cut Kummer out of his harness,
and took him out of the plane, saving his life.
The unfortunate incident caught on film
claimed the lives of two men, and fourteen more were injured.
After the fire was put out, repair crews fixed the damage, and the aircraft began
launching airstrikes once again in March. The airmen assigned to the USS Oriskany aircraft
carrier were back at targeting railroad tracks, bridges, and facilities in aid of South Korea.
A Fire In The Gulf Of Tonkin
The 1953 incident was not the only ordinance accident aboard the USS Oriskany.
Almost 15 years later, in October of 1966,
combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin came to a sudden halt when a magnesium parachute
flare that was mishandled by two crewmembers ignited in the forward-ready service locker.
Burning at 5,400 degrees, the three-foot-long flare
set off close to 1,000 more inside the locker.
The result was an immense explosion that blew out the steel bulkheads of the flare locker,
setting many aircraft on fire and spreading debris all over the forward areas.
As smoke and flames spread quickly into passageways and ventilation systems,
dozens of officers became trapped in their staterooms, creating overall haywire in the ship.
Although the automatic sprinkler system opened up immediately,
dumping water into the hangar, the magnesium continued to burn,
sending a dense smoke of cloud deep into the forward section of Oriskany.
After more than seven hours, firefighters and rescue parties
managed to push back the flames and rescue several trapped survivors.
The disastrous fire took the lives of 44 sailors, pilots,
officials, and enlisted men, and over 100 were injured.
Meanwhile, the air wing lost two Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopters and a Douglas A-1 Skyraider,
with another three A-4s damaged, while the ship itself also suffered significant fire damage.
After a thorough Navy investigation,
officials determined that magnesium flares like those involved in the fire
often kindled when jarred, stating this as the reason behind the flare that ignited.
The aircraft carrier did not return to service until the following year,
after a lengthy period of repairs.
Oriskany then continued to serve with the Pacific Fleet well into the 1970s, earning
a total of 12 battle stars, two for service in the Korean War and ten in the Vietnam War.
She was then officially decommissioned in September of 1976.
A ship that was out of the ordinary since its construction,
Mighty O's post-service life also differs considerably from her sister ships.
Although she was initially sold for scrap in the mid-1990s, the Navy decided to sink her in 2004
and turn her into an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida.
Then, in May of 2006, after a thorough environmental protocol that stripped
her of any toxic substances, Orinasky was deliberately sunk in an upright
position to reach a depth that was accessible to recreational divers.
For years, the once-mighty aircraft carrier that performed incredible missions across the world
held the record as the largest vessel ever sunk to make an artificial reef.
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