The USS Forrestal (CV-59) was an important asset to the US Navy for nearly four decades, playing a key role in numerous combat operations. However, her most notorious chapter occurred in 1967, when a catastrophic accident on the flight deck caused severe damage to the ship and resulted in a tragic loss of life.
In the aftermath of this disaster, the Navy quickly implemented training reforms aimed at preventing such an incident from occurring again.
The USS Forrestal‘s early service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean
The USS Forrestal was the lead ship in her class of aircraft carriers. She was commissioned on October 1, 1955, becoming the first carrier specifically designed to operate jet aircraft, earning her the title of the Navy’s first “supercarrier.”
Forrestal began her service in the Atlantic during the Suez Crisis and was subsequently deployed to the Mediterranean with the US Sixth Fleet. Before providing air support during the Vietnam War, she was stationed just off the coast of Beirut for three days during the 1958 Lebanon crisis.
In November 1963, Forrestal made history when a Lockheed C-130 Hercules performed 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs on her flight deck, setting a record for the largest and heaviest aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier. The next year, US President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the ship to Brazil to support the successful military coup against President João Goulart.
The explosion on that fateful day
In June 1967, the USS Forrestal was positioned in the Gulf of Tonkin, near Vietnam’s northern coast in the South China Sea. During this time, aircraft from Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) carried out numerous successful missions from the carrier, marking it as the Navy’s most intense air raid operation up to that point.
On July 29, 1967, an electrical malfunction aboard a McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom IIs on the Forrestal caused an Mk 32 “Zuni” Five-Inch Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket (FFAR) to accidentally fire. It streaked across the deck and struck a parked, combat-ready Douglas A-4E Skyhawk, dislodging its 400-gallon external fuel tank. Senator John McCain was in the Skyhawk but managed to escape from the cockpit.
The collision ignited fuel from the A-4E, starting a fire that quickly spread. The initial explosion killed the first two firefighting teams trying to contain the blaze. Over the next five minutes, nine more explosions occurred following the rocket launch. The growing inferno eventually detonated a 1,000-pound AN-M65 bomb.
The losses onboard the USS Forrestal were devastating
The fire blazed out of control, trapping pilots in their cockpits. It took authorities an entire day to contain the inferno, a task complicated by an initial bomb explosion that wrecked the flight deck and caused fuel to spill into the lower levels of the USS Forrestal. Additional explosions worsened the catastrophe, resulting in the tragic death of 50 crew members when one blast erupted directly above their sleeping quarters.
The steadfast efforts of the destroyers USS Rupertus (DD-851) and George K. MacKenzie (DD-836) were instrumental in finally quelling the flames, revealing the full extent of the destruction. Many of the injured were taken to the hospital ship USS Repose (AH-16).
The disaster claimed the lives of 134 sailors and left hundreds more injured. Additionally, over 20 aircraft, including F-4Bs, A-4Es, and North American RA-5C Vigilantes, were destroyed, with damages to the carrier exceeding $70 million.
Fires at sea force sailors to make a grim choice: battle the flames, be overtaken by them, or jump into perilous waters. Safety is hard to come by. While some aboard the Forrestal survived, others faced a far more tragic end. The explosions marked the deadliest incident on a US Navy vessel since the Second World War.
The US Navy changed its training
Following the incident, the Navy conducted a comprehensive review of its firefighting training procedures, revealing a lax culture, insufficient firefighting skills among sailors, and delayed reactions to unexpected accidents.
The Aircraft Carrier Safety Review Panel, led by Rear Adm. Forsyth Massey, examined the tragedy and concluded 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.”
In response to the USS Forrestal disaster, the Navy initiated a full overhaul of its training programs, introducing new protocols and improvements. While the incident was tragic, it provided the Navy with valuable lessons, leading to the establishment of essential firefighting training for sailors, which remains in place to this day. The objective was to prevent such incidents from happening again.
The USS Forrestal remained in service for several years after
Surprisingly, the explosions on July 29, 1967, didn’t inflict enough damage to prevent the USS Forrestal from being repaired. Once cleared to return to duty, the aircraft carrier was deployed to the Mediterranean multiple times, participated in the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident, took part in Operation Earnest Will in the Middle East and was placed on standby during the Gulf War.
After providing air support during Operation Provide Comfort in 1991, Forrestal transitioned into a training carrier and was re-designated AVT-59. In 1993, she was decommissioned. Twenty-three years later, in 2015, she was ultimately scrapped following unsuccessful efforts to convert her into a museum.
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Currently, a model of the vessel is exhibited in the “America’s War in Vietnam” section at the National Museum of the US Navy.
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