The USS Forrestal (CV-59) dutifully served the US Navy for nearly four decades, participating in a number of combat situations. However, none proved as devastating as the tragic accident that occurred on her flight deck in 1967. This catastrophic event led to a substantial loss of life and inflicted extensive and costly damage upon the aircraft carrier.
Despite the tragedy, a positive outcome emerged from the incident: the Navy promptly implemented training reforms.
The USS Forrestal‘s early service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
The lead ship of her class, the USS Forrestal was commissioned on October 1, 1955, marking a significant milestone as the first carrier designed to operate jet aircraft, earning her the distinction of being the Navy’s inaugural “supercarrier.”
During the Suez Crisis, Forrestal was deployed in the Atlantic Ocean and subsequently served in the Mediterranean with the US Sixth Fleet. In a precursor to her role in the Vietnam War, she was dispatched to Beirut during the 1958 Lebanon crisis, spending three days patrolling the coast.
In a historic feat in November 1963, Forrestal set a record when a Lockheed C-130 Hercules made 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs from her deck, establishing the largest and heaviest aircraft to land on a carrier. The following year, at the behest of US President Lyndon B. Johnson, the vessel was sent to Brazil to support the successful military coup d’état against President João Goulart.
The explosion on that fateful day
In June 1967, the USS Forrestal was deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea, just off the coast of north Vietnam. While there, aircraft from Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) flew a number of successful missions from the vessel, in what was then the most intense air raid operation in the Navy’s history.
On July 29, 1967, an electrical surge in one of the McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom IIs onboard Forrestal caused an Mk 32 “Zuni” Five-Inch Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket (FFAR) to accidentally launch. It blasted across the deck and slammed into a parked, combat-loaded Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, dislodging its 400-gallon external fuel tank. Inside the aircraft was late Sen. John McCain, who was able to escape from the cockpit.
The impact of the rocket caused fuel from the A-4E to leak and catch fire. As the blaze spread, the first two firefighting teams were killed trying to contain the first explosion. Nine more blasts followed within the first five minutes of the initial rocket launch. Eventually, the fire spread enough to detonate a 1,000-pound AN-M65 bomb.
The losses onboard the USS Forrestal were devastating
The fire continued to spread and pilots found themselves trapped in their aircraft. It took a full day for the blaze to be contained, as the detonation of the first bomb had blown a hole in the flight deck, allowing fuel to seep to the lower levels of the USS Forrestal. The later explosions put more holes in the deck, with 50 crewmen being killed when one went off in the section over their sleeping quarters.
When the fire was finally extinguished, thanks to the help of the destroyers USS Rupertus (DD-851) and George K. MacKenzie (DD-836), it became evident just how many casualties there were. Many were transported to the hospital ship USS Repose (AH-16).
The disaster caused the deaths of 134 sailors, while hundreds more were injured. As well, over 20 aircraft were destroyed, including F-4Bs, A-4Es and North American RA-5C Vigilantes. The aircraft carrier herself suffered more than $70 million in damages.
Fires at sea cause a great dilemma for sailors; you either fight the fire, burn or jump. There’s nowhere to escape. Though many survived the disaster onboard Forrestal, others suffered a worst fate. The explosions caused the greatest loss of life on a US Navy ship since the Second World War.
The US Navy changed its training
In the aftermath of the incident, the Navy initiated a comprehensive evaluation of its firefighting training procedures, revealing a previously relaxed culture, inadequate firefighting skills among sailors and delayed responses to unforeseen accidents.
Rear Adm. Forsyth Massey, leading the Aircraft Carrier Safety Review Panel tasked with investigating the disaster, determined that, “Poor and outdated doctrinal and technical documentation of ordnance and aircraft equipment and procedures, evident at all levels of command, was a contributing cause of the accidental rocket firing.”
The events that transpired onboard the USS Forrestal that day prompted a substantial overhaul of the Navy’s training program. New regulations and enhancements were introduced with the primary goal of preventing any recurrence of such a tragic incident. Despite the catastrophe, the service took valuable lessons to heart and established a robust firefighting training program that continues to be practiced to this day, aimed at safeguarding against similar occurrences in the future.
The USS Forrestal remained in service for several years after
Surprisingly, the explosions that occurred on July 29, 1967 didn’t cause enough damage that the USS Forrestal couldn’t be repaired. Once given the OK to return to duty, the aircraft carrier was deployed to the Mediterranean a number of times, before serving in the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident, participating in Operation Earnest Will in the Middle East, and being placed on standby during the Gulf War.
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After providing air support during Operation Provide Comfort in 1991, Forrestal became a training carrier and was re-designated AVT-59. In 1993, she was decommissioned. Some 23 years later, in 2015, she was finally scrapped after failed attempts to turn her into a museum. Presently, a model of the vessel is on display in the “America’s War in Vietnam” section at the National Museum of the US Navy.