My dad served on the Forrestal as a radioman and was on board when it almost sank. He is very proud to have served aboard her. When I was 10 or so he found a model of the ship and we spent two weeks putting it together. I remember him explaining to me about how the catapults worked and the different types of jets that were on board. He mentioned in passing about the accident as he called it, but never went into much detail. It was probably around the time of when the country finally honored the Vietnam Vets with a parade in Manhattan and a dedication of a monument downtown that he finally opened up about what had happened and what he had witnessed.
He said that it was a Zumi rocket that somehow fired off of one of the jets that started everything. At the time the planes were stacked on the flight deck fully loaded and fueled getting ready for a mission. The ship was turned into the wind so when the fires started everything was being fanned in the direction of the planes. He said that at first everyone thought "ok fire on flight deck, has happened before no biggie". Just as the first fire crew started putting water on the fire the first 500 lb bomb went off. Now from what I remember dad said his bunks were in the foward section of the ship a few decks down form the flight deck. When the first bomb went off he was thrown across quarters about 8 feet. Needless to say the first fire crews were killed instantley. I think he said there were 2-4 more large explosions that blew 3-4 levels down into the rear of the ship killing everyone in that area.
At this point everyone knew it was all hands on deck and they were either going to get the fires out or they were going to lose the ship when the fires got to where all the rest of the munnitions were stored. Most of the trained fire crews died when the first two bombs cooked off. After that it was all the rest could do to get water on the fire. He said that adrenaline can make a man do things that were unbelievable. He saw on two occasions two different sailors pick up and throw a 500lb bomb over the side to avoid further explosions. Eventually the fires were put out and the ship saved. Unfortunatley now they had to recover the dead. He said that the devastation below decks was horrific. I will not go into what he told me but going through 9/11 and seeing what I saw, I know why he never spoke of what he experienced.
Out of a tragedy though came something good. The Navy has used the flight deck footage as a training tool on how to combat fires at sea. I know it was used up until recentley and maybe some of our Navy vets might have remembered seeing that film.
Sorry for the long story but seeing that article touched a nerve. I wish the Navy would have turned the ship into a reef somewhere like they do with other ships, scrapping her just doesn't seem right after all those that sacrificed themselves to save their shipmates.
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