In June 1967, Forrestal departed Norfolk for duty in waters off Vietnam. In the Gulf of Tonkin on 29 July, Forrestal had been launching aircraft from her flight deck. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 flew about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam from the ship.
    Rupertus (DD-851) maneuvers to within 20 feet of Forrestal so fire hoses could be effectively used on the worst fire aboard a U.S. carrier.
    Due to a shortage of thousand-pound bombs, old Composition B bombs had been loaded from the ammunition ship USS Diamond Head, instead of safer H6, capable of withstanding high heat or exploding with low order. About 10:50 (local time), a Zuni rocket fired from an F-4 Phantom II by an electrical power surge hit an A-4 Skyhawk getting ready to launch, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. John McCain. The missile struck and knocked off the aircraft's fuel tank and started a fire. With his aircraft surrounded by flames, John McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down the nose, and jumping off the refueling probe. Video tape shot aboard the Forrestal shows McCain narrowly escaping the explosion[1].
    One minute and thirty-four seconds after the impact, the "Comp. B" bomb exploded underneath McCain's plane, starting a major fire which threatened to destroy the ship. The two A-4s ahead of McCain's plane were engulfed in the flaming JP-5 jet fuel spewing from them. A bomb dropped to the deck, rolled about 6 feet (2 m) and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel. Nine major explosions on the flight deck occurred; eight of those were caused by the "Comp. B" bombs and the other occurred between an old and a new bomb. The explosions left large holes in the flight deck, causing the jet fuel to drain into the interior of the ship, causing massive fires in the stern (rear) section. The fire left 132 Forrestal crewmen dead, 62 more injured, and two missing and presumed dead. The ship returned to Norfolk for extensive repairs. During the post-fire refit, the ship's 5" guns were removed.




More on John McCain-The USS Forrestall Fire
Submitted by blaze2453 on Thu, 2008-07-03 19:32.
One day in the Gulf of Tonkin, about 10:50 (local time) on the 29th of July 1967, an F-4 Phantom located on the starboard side of the stern of the USS Forrestal, was being loaded with two Zuni rocket pods each with 4x4 inch diameter rockets designed for air to ground ops. On the left side of the ship on the angle deck was an A-4 Skyhawk, manned by John McCain. Static electricity in the pod loaded aboard the F-4 caused one rocket to go off and strike both McCain's A-4 and Lt White's aircraft next to McCain's. This scene has been shown to millions of sailors since 1967. It is a training film of an actual accident that took the lives of over a hundred men. On the plat recorder, a film recorder that records everything on the flight deck 24 hours a day, it showed the rocket hitting McCain's A-4, dropping his 1000 pound bomb on the flight deck below his aircraft, and catching his two 2000 pound drop tanks on fire. McCain is seen climbing over the nose of the A-4 some 12 feet off the deck and crawling over the nose to the fuel probe and jumping amidst the fire to the deck below to escape. He was assisted away from the fire by flight deck personnel. The ensuing fire and other spilled fuel fed the flames. Some pilots ran through the flames to escape. Others ejected and were picked up by escorting ships. Lt White escaped his aircraft, but the 1000 pound bomb heated over and exploded killing many flight deck personnel, pilots and crewmembers. The USS Forrestall was in trouble. It took the efforts of thousands to overcome this disaster.
McCain was injured badly and returned to duty 6 weeks later with another A-4 Squadron. In his first week, he was shot down over North Vietnam.
For those of you who think Obama is more qualified than McCain, think again. McCain is the gutsiest man I have ever seen.
John MCcain's political opponents are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chuiyXQKw3I
YouTube - USS Forrestal Mishap July 29, 1967


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6l1rwQJjYg
YouTube - Forrestal Disaster (Aircraft Carrier Explosion) - 1/5