Jerseyan recalls living hell on ship, USS Forrestal

star ledger ^ | July 29, 2007 | GABRIEL H. GLUCK

[Coleus]

It was 40 years ago today, in the waters off Vietnam, that the crew of the USS Forrestal saw the gates of hell. A missile accidentally fired from a plane on the flight deck triggered a blazing inferno that would claim the lives of 134 men, two from New Jersey -- Francis Campeau of Bergenfield and Richard Vallone of Bridgewater. Not since World War II had a ship's crew sustained so many casualties.

The Forrestal, the first of the Navy's newest class of super carriers left Norfolk, Va., in June 1967 for what was to be her first combat deployment. Arriving off the coast of Vietnam on July 25, combat operations went into full swing, with the Forrestal's aircraft flying 150 sorties over the next four days.

The Tonkin Gulf was exceptionally hot and the morning of July 29 was no different. Walter Stinner woke at 4:30 a.m., along with the rest of his crew, to prepare the planes for the day's missions, Stinner grew up in Elizabeth's port section. Five days after he graduated high school in June, 1967, he enlisted in the Navy. With the war in Vietnam escalating, he figured he'd rather choose the branch of service he would serve in, than have it chosen for him.

Crews were prepping planes for the second launch of the morning, when shortly before 11 a.m., a Zuni rocket accidentally fired from an F-4 Phantom. It flew across the deck, striking a 400-gallon fuel tank on a parked A-4D Skyhawk -- a plane that was to be flown by Sen. John McCain, then a young pilot.

[rabidralph]

Yeah, I saw it in bootcamp in ‘88. Scary footage and injuries.

[B-Chan]

We were required to watch the film at Machinist Mate A School as well.

B-chan
Former MM3
USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)

[neodad]

Were you in during the late 80s, early 90s? I also remember a big JP-5 fire on one of the San Diego carriers (maybe Connie?). One of my SWOS instructors was telling us about it, but it never really made big news.

[SC Swamp Fox]

Two Forrestal flight deck crewmen, reports said, were knocked overboard by one of the explosions, fell 70 feet into the water, were picked up by a rescue helicopter and deposited back on the flight deck — and resumed fire fighting at once.

Hey, they were cooled off, wet and rested after a brief swim and a helo ride, why not?

[SC Swamp Fox]

Yup, we all saw "Trial by Fire", and it never failed to get my attention. We saw it in boot-camp and at every Shipboard and Aircraft fire-fighting school I attended. They used to show it periodically on the ship's Training Channel.

Every see the "The man from LOX"? Mandatory viewing for those of us that worked around liquid oxygen.

[aomagrat]

Every see the "The man from LOX"? Mandatory viewing for those of us that worked around liquid oxygen.

I saw it once and I'll never forget it. Especially the Safety Officer. I doubt if it is still shown. Too Un-PC.

[Peelod]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9sIT6P_05I

[Bean Counter]

The US Navy Firefughting Schools have been using film of the Forrestal fire for decades, to show how not to fight a major conflagration like that.

[P3_Acoustic]

I had the misfortune of serving under the RIO that launched the missile. Why the Navy kept that loser until he had his 20 years and given the rank of CDR, I’ll never know.

[aomagrat]

Thanks for the re-memories.

[tgslTakoma]

ping to an interesting read.

[Bigg Red]

Believe it or not, my older sister thought, until it came up in a conversation a few years back, the the expression was “keyhole” rather than “keel-haul”. I guess she did not pay as much attention as I did at the movies when we were kids. I love giving her a hard time about this, but I have to admit that being key-holed sounds rather painful as well.

[Bigg Red]

Wow! God bless our brave fighting men — past and present.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Yet another reason I’m glad I went Army and not Navy. My Dad is a Navy Man and an avid sailor (still into his 70’s) but I’m terrified of being stuck in the middle of an ocean with my “home” sinking beneath me.

I’m a ‘Land Lubber.’ I must get that from Dear Old Mom. ;)

[VR-21]

The Saftey Officers going to have your ass.

[jettester]

Could it have been the Ranger around ‘83/’84 when she had a major engine room fire killing five guys?

[Our man in washington]

After I came back from boot camp, I gave a presentation on boot camp to the recruits who hadn’t gone yet. I told them about all the rules. I told them there were rules about how the boots had to be laced and how you hung your towel and how you had to put the pillowcase on the pillow and a hundred other things.

“Why so many rules?” asked one angry young recruit. “None of them make any sense!”

I then said “it all seemed silly to me too, until about the fourth day when they showed us the film on the Forrestal. It was the most depressing film I had ever seen. Those weren’t actors getting killed. The sailors on the Forrestal were brave and honorable, but a few sailors made some key errors that got people killed. At that moment, I suddenly realized why they were spending so much time teaching us to pay attention to detail.”

The recruit had no more questions.

[rlmorel]

Yeah. I saw “The Man From LOX”...great training video...did you ever hear the story of how it happened? (this is the story I heard)

It was hot, and the guy wanted to cool off by putting the vent fumes from the LOX into his coveralls...so he unbuttoned it, stuck the end of the hose in and let it vent. Then he went off to have a cigarette...when he lit the match...boom.

That is what I heard, don’t know if it is true or not, but sounds plausible.

[rlmorel]

LOL...my ex-skipper in my training squadron was McCain...and guess what squadron I went to...yep...VA-46 Clansmen, the same squadron McCain was in when that happened.

Funny Coincidence...

[rlmorel]

Thank you. I have been looking for this for years...I have explained to people that it was the weirdest yet most entertaining safety film I had ever seen.

Brings back memories...