October 26, 1966 off Vietnam USS ORISKANY suffers a major fire while operating off Vietnam. The fire starts when a crewman panics and throws a flare, which had accidently ignited while being moved, into a storage locker located at the forward starboard corner of hangar bay 1. The locker contains some 650 other flares which ignite in turn. The resulting fire takes three hours to control, kills 44, destroys or damages six aircraft, and puts the ORISKANY out of action for several months.
The sad part is the flare could have been picked up and carried a few yards and thrown overboard.
7 Comments
manu2014
This is the carrier they sank in the gulf isn't it?
lcatesr
Didy the Kitty Relieve U then? I was on ststion in 66 also.
daisycutter
~
daisycutter
boat. U.S.S. Handjob
Liberty ships, they were some of Henry Kaiser's best work. Too bad the hull on some of the broke in arctic weather :<(
lcatesr
Yep that is right as taking a crap in the Clondike U dont use any paper U just break it off like an icicle.
daisycutter
!
daisycutter
and at VF126 as the one and only AO in the shop. We had TA4 Skyhawks. I got to go on some very exciting rides in those!