 |
On July 29, 1967, the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin, conducting air operations against North Vietnam. Having just arrived at “Yankee Station” four days prior, Forrestal’s air crews had conducted more than 150 missions against Vietnamese targets. The morning of the 29th had been no different, as strike packages had already departed and returned from the first missions of the day. Now the second set of missions was being prepared.
Jet aircraft are started not with a “key in the ignition”, but with an external power source. Much like an oversized generator, it provides initial power to the engines and starts them going, at which point internal starters take over and finish the startup. These systems prevent super-heavy starting gear from being mounted on a plane, which add weight and affect performance.
An F-4 Phantom was being started and, as the switch to internal power was being made, the plane suffered an electrical surge, causing a Zuni rocket (an unguided 5-inch rocket in a rocket pod) to fire. The rocket’s safety switch was on, so it didn’t explode, but what it hit did…an A-4 Skyhawk’s external fuel tank. The subsequent heat caused other fuel tanks to explode as well (numerous aircraft were being prepared and would have been clustered at the rear of the carrier).
The danger was now extreme. Several of the strike aircraft were carrying 500- and 1,000- bombs, and the intense heat threatened to cook them off. Crews already in their aircraft had to jump out of their proverbial frying pans, and run through the fire to safety. A handful, like Lt. Cmdr. John McCain, were able to leap to safety. Others were not. Crews fought desperately to cool the decks, but the bombs couldn’t take the heat and began exploding, killing the fire crews, opening gaping holes to the lower decks, and causing more aircraft to be immolated.
At least nine bombs exploded, more than enough to put an aircraft carrier on the ocean’s floor. The Forrestal survived, due to the concentration of the explosions in one area and the tenacity of the crew fighting the fires. Within three hours, the fires were under control, and all were extinguished the next day.
The cost of the short circuit had been high. Dozens of Phantoms, Skyhawks, and A-5 Vigilantes were destroyed or simply pushed overboard to prevent them from exploding. Damage to the Forrestal was extensive, requiring more than eight months of repairs. But more costly were the 300 casualties, including 134 dead, in the worst carrier fire since World War II.
