page_title: 1967 USS Forrestal fire
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: 1967 USS Forrestal fire / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) underway off the Philippines on 12 August 1967. This photo was taken approximately three weeks after fires and explosions damaged the ship off Vietnam on 29 July 1967, leaving 134 crewmen dead, 161 injured, and two missing and presumed. On 31 July, Forrestal arrived at Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Philippines, to undertake repairs sufficient to allow the ship to return to the United States. With repairs completed, she departed on 11 August, arriving at Naval Station Mayport, Florida (USA), on 12 September 1967. From 19 September 1967 to 8 April 1968, Forrestal was then repaired at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia (USA).
context_page_description: On 29 July 1967, a fire broke out on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal after an electrical anomaly caused a Zuni rocket on a F-4B Phantom to fire, striking an external fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk. The flammable jet fuel spilled across the flight deck, ignited, and triggered a chain-reaction of explosions that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. At the time, Forrestal was engaged in combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, during the Vietnam War. The ship survived, but with damage exceeding US$72 million, not including the damage to aircraft. Future United States Senator John McCain and future four-star admiral and U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Ronald J. Zlatoper were among the survivors. Another on-board officer, Lieutenant Tom Treanore, later returned to the ship as its commander and retired an admiral.
  The disaster prompted the Navy to revise its fire fighting practices. It also modified its weapon handling procedures and installed a deck wash down system on all carriers. The newly established Farrier Fire Fighting School Learning Site in Norfolk, Virginia was named after Chief Gerald W.
context_section_description: The fire left 134 men dead and 161 more injured. It was the worst loss of life on a U.S. Navy ship since World War II. Of the 73 aircraft aboard the carrier, 21 were destroyed and 40 were damaged.
  Twenty-one aircraft were stricken from naval inventory: seven F-4B Phantom IIs, eleven A-4E Skyhawks, and three RA-5C Vigilantes.
  The ship's chaplains held a memorial service in Hangar Bay One for the crewmen which was attended by more than 2,000 of Forrestal's crew.
caption: Forrestal put into Cubi Point in the Philippines to be patched before returning to the United States, where she was drydocked for eight months of repairs.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "An aerial port bow view of the Forrestal Class Aircraft Carrier, USS FORRESTAL (CVA 59) underway approximately one month after fires and explosions damaged the ship leaving 132 crewmen dead, 62 injured, and two missing and presumed dead while on duty in waters off Vietnam.  The FORRESTAL is homeport at Norfolk, Virginia.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2004:05:27 09:22:22", "Image Artist": "PHC H.L. WISE, USN", "Image ExifOffset": "520", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "658", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3362", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2288"}