In the hangar deck a VF[fighter] airplane had broken loose free its securing lines, and crashed into a plane on the port side, puncturing the gasoline tanks in both planes. The explosion and fire followed almost immediately. The planes had been degassed, but considerable residual gasoline remained in the after ends of all belly tanks, which cannot be evacuated by degassing suction. The fire spread rapidly throughout the hangar deck, but particularly through the central section, as loose planes crashed back end forth. The fire enveloped the conflagration station immediately, and an explosion blew open the trap door which permits, access to this station from the hangar, and the sprinkling system could not be immediately energized. Loose wreckage ruptured supply ventilation ducts on the port side of the hangar, and permitted smoke to fill all engineering spaces except the after engine room within a period of two minutes, and forced the temporary abandonment of these spaces until rescue breathing apparatus could be donned. From then on, during the period of the fire, skeleton engineering crew manned the forward engine room and both firerooms, using rescue breathing apparatus. The entire hangar deck sprinkling system was operated from controls in the machinery spaces, and operated most efficiently, but water free this source added further to difficulties, due to flooding of machinery spaces through the ruptured supply ventilation ducts. Sufficient steam pressure was at all times maintained to operate auxiliary machinery, but since power was being lost due to smoke and flooding, the commanding officer, at 0924, put the ship dead in the water in order to conserve steam and ensure ability to continue fighting the fire. At 0918, an explosion occurred on the port side of the ship in the vicinity of frame 75 on the second and third deck, and a fire resulted from this explosion in the laundry space on the third deck. This was caused by the fire being transmitted to spaces below through ruptured supply ventilation ducts. The heat in the hangar was intense, endangering ready-service magazines around both sides of the flight deck amidships. These had been manned, and sprinklers operated, except on the 40mm and 20mm sectors 1 and 2, where there was no water pressure. In these sectors, ready ammunition and ammunition in the ready service magazines was jettisoned by gun crews and air group pilots. At 0916, it us reported that the ship's gasoline system was secure, and that the gasoline pump rooms had been flooded properly with carbon dioxide. ...