McCain had zero, zilch, nada, nothing to do with the fire on the USS Forrestal, and we should just stop letting people get away with saying he did here on Free Republic. We should put a stop to it once and for all, it makes us look ignorant when we even imply it, because it it so far removed from the truth.
I marked up this diagram to show the factual path of the Zuni rocket that fired, and it was accidentally set off by stray voltage because the deck crews were engaging in an officially sanctioned shortcut to try to save some time. Those kinds of things happen in wartime. 
As you can see McCain drew the lucky straw of having his plane hit, and was simply a participant in the issue trying to survive the fire, which he was fortunate to do, given what happened.
Let me reiterate as I have said in many threads before this one: I knew of McCain as a kid when I lived overseas as a dependent, and when I joined the Navy, I served under him as an airman apprentice in a training squadron (VA-172) for a short period of time. I even served my tour of duty in VA-46, which was the squadron McCain was flying in when the incident on the USS Forrestal occurred.
I dislike him as a candidate, I intensely despise his policies and the way he conducts himself as a politician, I only voted for him back in 2008 because of the abysmal quality of the candidates available to vote for. I would far rather have had someone else to vote for, but Palin was enough for me to swallow it.
But saying that, we should less disparage McCain for his military service than we should attack him for his politics.
As a naval aviator, he wasn't at the top of his class. He wasn't a great pilot, a good one, or perhaps even a well qualified one. There is evidence he may have been a negligent or openly bad one. But that can be said of a great many men, not just him. Everyone who puts on a g-suit, helmet and parachute isn't a God. I speak from experience, there are good ones and bad ones. And after watching them, everyone gets to know what bucket each pilot falls into.
But he WAS serving his country. He DID take off from a carrier with ordinance to fight the enemy in a time of war. He WAS shot down. He WAS grievously wounded, and DID spend years of his life (some of them in terrible physical shape) being maltreated by an enemy who DID try to exploit his unique status as the son of well known and high ranking Naval Veterans. And he didn't disgrace himself by letting himself get sent home.
We can ALL decry him for things like McCain-Feingold, Immigration, and a host of other issues. And there is a special degree of vilification that he deserves for his shameful actions regarding POW/MIA issues.
I was not in the Hanoi Hilton, so I am not going to pass judgement on what went on with him there. I understand there are POWs who served with him who feel strongly (in a negative way) about his conduct and behavior there, so I will let them carry the ball. That IS their prerogative, and we should all let them press the issue as they see fit.
Just my opinion.