Last voyage of the USS Forrestal.

robsouth wrote:
My brother-in-law was a Chief Petty Officer onboard the Forrestal in 1967 when the fire broke out in the Gulf of Tonkin. He suddenly became a "fireman" as did nearly everyone aboard. He related some terrible stories about that tour, both before,during and after the fire. Seems an electrical anomaly caused a missile to discharge on board, then all He** broke loose. He had some pictures taken by other crewmen at the time. He finally retired Navy after 30 years at Mayport in Jacksonville, FL.

That missile shot across the deck and hit the jet parked next to that of John McCain - he was able to get out to fight another day. A few months later he was downed over North Viet Nam. The History Channel did an excellent story on the Forrestal incident - lots of heroes on board that day. It's very worthwhile to find a repeat of that story. Since all fight operations are filmed, there is much documentation.

A college friend was an Ensign aboard a destroyer escorting the Forrestal and saw it all. Planes burning on deck, bombs exploding, flight deck ruptured, fire in the hanger deck, etc. No way would they save her.............. but they did. One tough ship, one tough crew.