For those whom want to know the actual story of the fire aboard CVA-59, please read "Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It".
It is much more interesting that what some people are saying here.
Yes...great book, probably the best on the subject. Gives a good understanding of what went on. For me, the most startling part that I didn’t know about was their conundrum of what to do with the huge storage tank of liquid oxygen right under the flight deck back near the port quarter (if I recall correctly)
If the fires had reached that, we might well have lost the ship. They were helpless, and that poor guy who stayed in there the entire time! Apparently, one of the lessons learned was that they changed the design of that and all future ships to be able to jettison the entire thing on rails though a hatch cut in the hull in case of an uncontrollable fire.
Thanks for your comment and I would like to say when I got home from all that on the Forrestal my father hugged me and I think it was the first time that I could remember. My father was a honest man and a good provider but never showed a lot hugs and stuff.
Thank you my friend for caring. :)