42 years ago today, a massive fire onboard the USS Forrestal erupted during strike operations on Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam. The fire nearly claimed the ship, but due to the bravery and heroism of her crew, the ship was spared and lived to fight for many more years.

134 brave American men lost their lives that day. They laid their lives on the alter of freedom and saved the lives of their fellow shipmates. Here's to remembering them and their selfless sacrifice.




DeltaGuy

Thanks for posting, not aware of this; before my time.

Forrestal seems to be currently at Newport, RI awaiting disposal at sea.

That's still a standard firefighting lesson today. The courage of the men was without equal, but the techniques that were used are held up as examples of everything not to do when fighting a shipboard fire.

Truly a role model crew for seamen everywhere. If the carrier had been destroyed it would have caused all kinds of knock on effects in the Vietnam war, with the carrier force ending up being even more overstretched.

Have to do some checking to see if this incident was before or after the Enterprise fire, I'm certain the lessons learned in fire fighting on carriers will ensure their sacrifice was not in vain.

Cudos to all involved, the Wings / Discovery channel had some documentaries on both incidents, the destroyer crews who pulled alongside to use their hoses while ordinance was still exploding also deserves mentions, the battle group did itself proud on that fateful day.

Quoting Par13del (Reply 4): Have to do some checking to see if this incident was before or after the Enterprise fire,

Yes, the USS Forrestal fire was before the fires on USS Enterprise, USS Nimitz, and USS George Washington.

The Forrestal fire is taught even today as a great example of damage control while at sea.

RIP, my brothers and friends.

When I went through boot camp it was one of the films shown for damage control training. Quite an eye opener for an eighteen year old kid to say the least. On aircraft carriers today you can see the lessons incorporated into the design of the ship. For example bomb chutes on the flight deck to make jettisoning ordnance easier.

Yes, it is really unfortunate that many of today's designs for warplanes and warships were written and drawn in the blood of our own.

Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 7): Yes, it is really unfortunate that many of today's designs for warplanes and warships were written and drawn in the blood of our own.

RIP to those who fought the good fight with everything. As for lessons in blood, we learn far more from our failures than we do from our successes. Sometimes the hard way is the only way we can learn the lesson, but to forget the lessons learned is where the true tragedy lays.

Quoting LMP737 (Reply 6): When I went through boot camp it was one of the films shown for damage control training.

They still show that video too. Even when I was in boot camp 7 years ago, I still remembered it. Always a lessons learned video, and can happen anytime again.

RIP sailors.