on July 29 1967 on the flight deck of the supercarrier USS forrestal a rocket
from an F4 Phantom misfired smashing into a Skyhawk opposite and starting
a fire that led to huge explosions threatening all 5000 crew on board
this is the story of the fire on the USS forestall and of the crew that fought it
the forest who arrived off the coast of Vietnam on July 25th 1967. the 60 000 ton carrier under
the command of Captain John Belling was usually assigned to a U.S Navy's Atlantic Fleet but had
been dispatched to indo-china to support Pacific Fleet carriers in meeting demands for increased
bombing over Vietnam as U.S troops poured in and the fighting intensified there more than 122 000
attack sorties will be flown over Indochina that year and the pace of operations was relentless
over the first four days of forrestal's deployment dozens of combat sorties were carried out
Flight Deck Crews worked long shifts in high temperatures with intense operational pressure to
get aircraft turned around as quickly as possible the fifth day of far off those operations was
scheduled to be no different with a massive strike against a key Railway Line North of Hanoi planned
for the late morning before that could happen though Forrestal needed to take on more Munitions
as its stocks were rapidly depleted by the intense pace of operations on July 28th the ammunition
ship Diamond had came alongside and transferred stocks of large 1 000 pound bombs to the carrier
but no sooner had these bombs come on board forrestal's Ordnance Personnel were concerned
these were not like other bombs of similar size they had been using they were much older of second
world war vintage and appear to be significantly degraded from years spent exposed to the elements
in a Depot somewhere whereas still they contained composition B explosive which became more unstable
and more potent as it aged Captain Belling was not happy and complained to the Diamond Head but
was told that was all they had the truth was by mid-1967 the U.S military was running very low on
bombs its stockpiles drained by Vietnam operations and Depots everywhere were down to the very bottom
of the barrel so there was no choice but to press on the first wave of strikes on July 29th were
successfully launched at 7am these aircraft all returned successfully by 9 14 and preparations
then began for the second strike of the day this operation was the big one with a strike element
of A4 Skyhawks and A6 Intruders equipped with sixteen one thousand pound bombs and a variety
of smaller Ordnance these would be supported by F4 Phantoms equipped with air-to-air missiles and
ground attack rockets for suppressing anti-air positions every aircraft on the carrier had a
unique three-digit identifier which is what we'll be using to refer to them from here on with the
aircraft lined up on the flight deck the pilots were summoned at 10 25 and the deck crew began
the process of starting the aircraft up strapping their pilots in and carrying out pre-flight checks
a key concern for the crew at this stage was making sure the launches happened as quickly
and as seamlessly as possible getting all of the strike aircraft over a Target at the same time
meant minimizing the amount of time with the first aircraft to launch spent burning fuel waiting for
the others to join it to help speed things up officers on Forest stored earlier approved the
change to procedure on board to allow ground crew to connect the firing systems for the Zuni rocket
pods on the Phantoms whilst they were still parked up and not immediately prior to launching as had
previously been done this sped up takeoffs while still having the Safeguard of the weapons safety
pins which prevented the rocket pods from firing even with their connectors plugged in and would
still only just be removed before takeoff but unknown to these ships senior officers over the
four days of intense operations the safety pins had also not been making it to the Catapult intact
due sometimes to higher winds ripping them out or sometimes to crewmen taking them out to save time
these factors meant that when at 10 50 Lieutenant Commander James Banger climbed up into Phantom 110
he was getting into an aircraft that had its Zuni rocket system fully armed having strapped in and
with the engine started by an external generator Banger then flicked a switch to shift his aircraft
from relying on the external power to its own internal power as he did so for a split second
there was a power surge sending Rogue currents throughout the Phantom one of which ran down
the wiring connected to the Zuni rocket pod past where the safety pin should have been and into the
firing system there was a Flash and a rocket ignited the time was 10 51 am and 21 seconds
in a split second before anyone could react the rocket accelerated to hundreds of miles
an hour and shot across the deck it plowed into at least one and possibly two of the
Skyhawks on the opposite side the impact ruptured a 400 gallon fuel tank attached
to Lieutenant Commander John McCain's aircraft spilling aviation fuel all over the deck as the
rocket then shot off the edge of the flight deck mercifully without exploding but two seconds later
a rogue bit of hot missile debris landed in the fuel and ignited it starting a flash fire
the flight deck's flat camera used for monitoring takeoffs and landings caught the immediate
aftermath swinging around to see McCain Skyhawk and those of sternovitz engulfed in Fire and smoke
the flight deck now became a scene of furious urgency some Pilots scrambled to get out of
their aircraft While others stayed put waiting for the crew to come and put the fire out it was
a long way down to the deck from the cockpit of a Skyhawk without the steps and One Pilot David
Dollarhide broke his hip in a fall as he clambered out of his cockpit meanwhile damage control Team
8 The Specialist firefighters on duty arrived in seconds led by Chief Gerald farrier farrier can be
seen in the flat footage here charging towards the fire clutching a fire extinguisher closely
followed by the rest of his team as he approached McCain's aircraft he could see that the rocket had
knocked two one thousand pound bombs onto the deck below both of which were now engulfed in flame
farrier set about aiming the extinguisher at the closeness of the bombs knowing that he should have
with modern Ordnance about 10 minutes for his crew to get the fire under control before the
bomb cooked off or detonated by the fire on the bridge Captain Belling could see how serious these
situation was becoming and ordered full reverse on the engines to slow the ship's speed from
27 knots to nine to stop the wind Fanning the Flames higher before sounding General quarters
and sending the crew running to their Battle Stations aircraft that had been preparing to
take off further forwards were directed towards the bow as far away from the blaze as possible
at the fire chief farrier continued pointing his extinguisher at the bomb near McCain's aircraft
but it was having no effect farrier had no idea that he was not dealing with the usual ordinance
but ancient degraded composition be explosive that was rapidly approaching its cook-off Point as the
bomb began to glow red hot Faria scent something was wrong and began to wave off the dozens of
other crew nearby urging them to get back away from the fire but in the noise and Chaos it was a
futile effort a 10 52 and 55 seconds 1 minute and 34 seconds after the fire began the bomb exploded
the moment of the explosion was caught by both the Platt camera and a camera positioned on the bow
a huge amount of shrapnel was thrown up in the air as Flight Deck Crews scattered
farrier and 26 other crewmen were killed instantly and the Damage Control team with
their specialist firefighting experience virtually wiped out the fire grew larger
encompassing more aircraft and then just as crew were beginning to rush back to help wounded and
to resume firefighting a second one thousand pound bomb detonated in an even more violent explosion
shrapnel was thrown the entire length of the ship and the fire intensified
the flight deck crew now ran for cover realizing the first explosion had not
been a fluke and knowing that there were dozens more bombs now consumed by The Blaze over the
next five minutes there were seven more massive explosions as one thousand pound bombs cooked off
each one intensifying the fire and punching holes through the armored Flight Deck into Hangar and
crew accommodation areas below spreading the fire and causing horrific casualties a plume of black
smoke now Rose from The Forest all visible miles away in this photo taken from the carrier Oriskany
as the large explosions ended after what seemed like an eternity A desperate battle against the
fire began on the flight deck as dozens of sailors many without any firefighting experience at all
grabbed whatever hoses hadn't been shredded and set about tackling The Blaze which by this stage
encompassed the whole of the rear of the deck and was creeping its way up the starboard side towards
Sky Warrior tanker 614 which had 28 000 pounds of fuel on board if the fire reached this aircraft
the resultant Blaze could be catastrophic for the ship it was vital to move the Sky Warrior out of
the way before this happened but to do so meant moving several aircraft parked in front of it
as some tried to establish a line of foam to act as a fire break dozens of sailors rushed into
action to push Skyhawks and a helicopter out of the way so that the tanker could be towed forwards
while firefighting went all around them and there were numerous considerable secondary explosions
such was the rush to get the Sky Warrior clear of the fire that it actually collides with one
of the helicopters as it was moved dragging it along the flight deck as it was towed forwards
the three vigilante aircraft immediately a stern here were not so easily retrieved with 602 and
603 both damaged by fire before they could be towed out and 605 stuck in place after a botched
attempt to push it over the side with the crew desperately fighting to stop the fire reaching it
in their inexperience though some crewmen use both foam and seawater hoses on the
same blazes with the only effect being that water washed away the foam allowing the fire
to breathe and worse carried more burning fuel down into the interior of the carrier
on the other side of the deck Skyhawk 310 was engulfed by fire but 360 next to it had
managed to escape up the deck but was probably damaged in the blast Maybe leaking Fuel and so
was probably the one being shoved over the side in this footage all three Vigilantes also ended up in
the sea with 602 and 603 pushed over the bow and 605 eventually cajoled over the side by a crane
it then took more than an hour for the Blazers on the flight deck to slowly be brought under control
helped by the assistance of the Destroyer USS rupertus which came alongside and was
directing houses onto areas of the flight deck the throttle's crew could not reach helicopters 2 had
begun to arrive from the carriers Bonhomme Richard and Oriskany picking up dozens of Foresters
sellers that have been blown overboard by the explosions and evacuating wounded from forrestal's
overflowing Sick Bay it took until 2 45 PM about three hours after the blaze began for the fires
on the flight deck and in the hangar Bay to be mostly extinguished this was far from the end of
the story though as below decks fires still raged the flight deck now became a base for firefighting
with new holes cut in it to allow for hoses to be pointed down into compartments that were Ablaze
as fires spread underneath the deck it became incredibly hot in places with Crews having to
Hoist the hoses up onto their shoulders to prevent them melting the firefighting
was painstaking work but slowly successful throughout the afternoon and evening of July 29th
as it continued the captain was now bringing the carrier South heading for a rendezvous with the
hospital shoot USS Repose the following morning the repose's extensive Hospital capacity was badly
needed whereas the casualties from forestwood quickly filled up its own Sick Bay and that of
the two carriers accompanying it it took until 4 AM the following morning for the last fires
to be extinguished after an 18-hour fight for the carrier's Survival waged by hundreds of sailors
when the final accounting was taken the damage to Forrestal from the disaster was extensive
more than 72 million dollars worth equivalent to 650 million in today's money 21 aircraft have been
lost with 40 more damaged the human cost too was steep the disaster had killed 134 sailors
at least 161 others were seriously injured many with life-changing
wounds and on top of this but without a quantifiable number was the toll of PTSD
and other mental scars and sailors who had lived through a hellish experience
an investigation into the farital disaster was headed up by rear Admiral Forsyth Massey and
after months of work it came to the conclusion that it had been a tragic accident with no single
person accountable for it procedural breaches by debt crew in the handling of Munitions to
combine with an electrical fault to produce the initial fire which had then been turbocharged by
the presence of dangerously unstable Ordnance and exacerbated by inexperienced firefighting
the investigation's conclusion did not stop some in the Navy from believing Captain Belling should
ultimately be held accountable and he ended up being marginalized for the rest of his career
sent to finish it by commanding U.S forces in Iceland the farital disaster had a huge impact
on the U.S Navy's approach to firefighting new procedures and Technology were developed and
deployed like deck Edge Spray Systems that could start suppressing fires almost instantaneously
on top of this a new firefighting school was set up named for Gerald farrier
in time every sailor on board every ship would receive at least some firefighting training
Forrest will return to service after repairs in 1968 and returned to her traditional deployment
in the U.S Atlantic Fleet she would never again Deploy on combat operations [Music]