[Music] at C in action the modern aircraft carrier is certainly one of the most awesome weapon systems ever devised by man in the past 30 years her performance her presence on the oceans of the world has undoubtedly altered the course of history as seen from the air even when she's not launching aircraft her clean flat deck rimmed with waiting planes is a picture of power yet for all this vast strength as real as it is apparent a carrier at Sea is extremely vulnerable since her striking arm requires the use of exotic fuels and powerful weapons she's forced to carry with her the potential for her own destruction it's all around her on and Below decks waiting waiting waiting for a miscue a careless error or a tragic [Music] accident on Saturday July 29th 1967 the USS Forest doll was at Yankee station off the coast of Vietnam she was safely out of range of any hostile fire for the men working topside the break-in period passed quickly beginning with her initial combat strikes on July 24th the forest all completed 700 sorties in 4 days now on the 29th the fifth day she was getting ready again in light of what eventually happened on deck that afternoon it's only natural that some have looked back and questioned wondered specifically about the lack of safety procedures the fueling that went on while some of the ordinance was still being armed or undergoing last minute inspection Kwan strong backing bombs into position instead of using the available hoist to do the job the seemingly casual or relaxed attitude with many of the men out of place or in areas where they didn't belong more than a handful of them out of uniform or without protective gear of any kind how important were these factors were they part of an overall pattern that could end only in tragedy or weren't they important at [Music] all the chances are no one will ever know the full story even with written testimony the passage of time has a way of veiling or obscuring important facts in the forest doll's case however there is another record a visual one recorded by Navy film cameraman and byy a television or plat camera mounted on the bridge during launch and Recovery operations it's not unusual for a carrier to use several plat cameras to record takeoffs and Landing their electronic readout which is fed to various parts of the ship including the command plot the bridge and the Communication Center is also recorded on magnetic tape for delayed playback at debriefings and critiques using that visual record let's go back now to July 29th 1967 the time is 1351 and Counting there on Deck somehow a zi rocket has been triggered roaring across the flight deck and hitting an A4 [Music] [Music] Skyhawk a sheet of flame from the a4s ruptured fuel tank has enveloped the Skyhawk and her immediate neighbors behind that curtain of smoke two 1,000lb bombs have already dropped from her wings onto the burning deck here almost at midscreen we see a Crash Crew Chief moving toward the Flames with a purple cave fire extinguisher his only thought that trapped pilots in those planes fire fire fire fire on a flight deck fire on a flight de All Hands your battle All Hands B your battle in order to control the fire the captain orders the forest all to slow speed back on the flight deck with precious seconds ticking away things have started to go wrong fire has completely blanketed the stern fire main Loop making its plugs inaccessible and the next to the last Loop app has developed pump trouble the only alternative is to haul hoses AP from the forward stations and this takes time precious time 1352 and 43 seconds the two main fire parties are now on Deck working close to the Flames but so far only only one hose is actually [Music] operating the first explosion carries a message The Forest all is in deep trouble it won't end here the chain has started yet those who have survived it turn around and head back there are buddies back there and the chief with the purple K is dead [Music] [Music] a fire at se is the Ultimate Nightmare for any s you can't run away from it there's nowhere to go it's a fight for survival your instincts have to be right your courage pined on like a badge following the third explosion the first two fire parties had been virtually wiped out the fire was not completely out of control the great ship was on the verge of dying to save her other men were going to have to go back on Deck most of them without sufficient training and firefighting techniques down below fuel was pouring through holes in the flight deck caused by The Continuous 1,000lb bomb explosions the fire had chased after the fuel spread quickly to the 03 02 and 01 Gallery decks and into the after end of Hangar Bay 3 top side The Only Hope was that the explosions would somehow subside until we did no firefighting team could possibly survive on De in all during the fire's first 5 minutes nine major explosions would take place on the flank as the first of the injured were brought to safety in a sponson area another relief party was already forming up and they knew what they needed most on Deck the foam hoses for some unknown reason one or more of the fog foam stations hadn't been initially charged some of the firefighters either didn't know that it was necessary to perform certain manual functions on the flight deck and hanger decks to get the foam systems operating or they were injured or killed before they got to On Deck the relief party's first move was to lay down a curtain of foam between the flames and the forestalls island once this buffer zone was established some of the damaged planes could be moved to safety along the port side where most of the Armed aircraft were parked things were still out of [Applause] control trapped in close quarters between a constantly exploding Inferno and the edge of the deck several men had no choice they went overboard some were actually blown over the side luckily for the ones to survive the experience Rescue helicopters from the carrier ariskin and two destroyers had arrived on the scene as quickly as they could they swept into the forest all's wake to make pickups here on the lower left hand corner of the plat camera picture is further evidence of a successful team effort notice that a fog nozzle has been correctly brought into Play Over the heads of the firefighters to protect them as they work leadership and on Deck Communications were early casualties of the forest Hall fire damage control and repair party Personnel were often unidentified for long periods of time as a result when some of the more inexperienced people did lend a hand they made several well-intentioned but nearly disastrous mistakes at one point close to the island two water hose teams were working in tandem with a foam hose team the end result the water washed away the foam and the fire continued blazing [Music] away but whatever their faults whatever mistakes they made it's impossible to fault their courage before this day was over 134 of them would pay with their lives or be listed as missing due to the fire's suddenness and intensity the sick Fai filled up quickly with the injury so quickly in fact that an emergency battle dressing station had to be set up on the folk less than an hour after the fire broke out word came from dine that the hospital ship Repose was on its way and would be there the following morning meanwhile the two destroyers in the immediate vicinity took turns moving in to supply what they could and continued picking up firefighters who had gone [Music] overboard 4 minutes after the fire started the divisional doors between Hangar Bays 1 and two and 2 and three had been closed effectively isolating each of the bays and preventing the spread of the fire in Hangar Bay 3 the sprinkl system and some effective work with the foam hose kept the fire confined to the engine shop and the after end of the bay itself here as everywhere on board Air Group personnel and air Department Personnel all men not assigned to any specific firefighting duties pitched in to help in those hanger areas still Untouched by the fire regular crew teams and all available Personnel worked feverishly to bring aircraft topside and all the way forward on the flight deck in one of the sponson areas the firefighters had decided to stay with it there were only two ways out through the fire or over the side they took the fire they had no way of knowing that the fire boundaries had already been firmly established if everyone played his cards right it wouldn't spread any further the Flames could now be fought at progressively compartment by compartment textbook fashion until the fire was [Music] out on Deck the first sign that the battle was being won was the presence of white smoke obviously the foam and fog nozzle teams were doing an effective job but here and there several glaring errors were still being committed several hose teams had men who were without shirts or protective gear of any kind a fuel tank explosion close up no matter how small would have burned most of them to a crisp [Music] and almost unbelievably some of the water hose teams were still hard at work washing away the protective blanket the foam teams had laid down here and there black smoke had actually started Rising again in the words of one Observer a veteran firefighter there were times on the forest Hall when the men seemed to be using water for water sake if they found an open hole caused by one of the bomb explosions they just kept pouring water in it as a result the forest do suffered thousands of dollars worth of damage to its onboard computers and several other pieces of intricate gear which hadn't been directly threatened by the [Music] fire by midafternoon helicopter from the carriers arisky and bonam Rishad were arriving on Deck with fresh foam and Oba canisters and then taking the Overflow of the forest alls wounded back with them to their Sick Bay [Music] areas [Music] [Applause] [Music] the fire on Deck would end on the afternoon it began the fires below would rage on through the night and into the evening of the following day the obvious lessons to be learned from The Forest all tragedy are these original in-depth training in firefighting is vastly important but so is constant retraining every man on board should have been familiar with the ship's firefighting gear and its use some men never reached their General quarter stations others unsure of all alternate exits or ways out were trapped below and died many of the firefighters lacked leadership the chain of command had to be rebuilt on the spot after the first two firefighting teams were [Music] decimated too much time was spent struggling with items like the Oba some of the men actually had to stop and read the instructions before they could use them only untrained men would spray water across a foam blanket that was doing its job only untrained men would hot handle unexploded ordinance or kick it across the deck with their feet these are things that can't be learned on the spot or after a fire starts the the fact that the men of the forest all pulled it off is a tribute to their coolness and courage but we'll never know how many men were lost because some things were done the wrong [Music] way in all 134 men were listed as killed or missing damage to the ship exclusive of aircraft and other air equipment was estimated in excess of 72 m million dollar The Forest all fire is a story of extraordinary heroism trial and error under unbelievable pressures and tragic death it's a story that the Navy clearly would rather not live over again so learn your firefighting techniques then relearn them but learn them learn or burn baby learn or [Music] burn [Music] [Music] I