Other Post Fires aboard aircraft carriers

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I was not serving with the USN when these event occurred I was still in High School. However we were trained very well on how to avoid these sort of fires from happening. And advanced fire fighting techniques.

The last major fire aboard a USN carrier occurred aboard USS George Washington ten years ago...The fire was not on the flight deck. the ship had to stand down in San Diego for about three+ months for repairs.

Published May 23, 2008
Associated Press

HONOLULU – A fire aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier left one sailor with minor burns and 23 others with heat stress.

Sailors extinguished the fire several hours after flames were spotted Thursday near the auxiliary boiler room and air conditioning and refrigeration space in the rear of the nuclear powered ship. The Navy said the fire spread through a passageway for cables.

It also said the carrier's propulsion plant was not damaged and the fire did not threaten the safety of the ship's nuclear reactor. The Navy said it was investigating the cause of the fire and assessing damage to the ship.

Injured sailors were treated and have returned to duty, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces in San Diego.

The carrier was resupplying the USS Crommelin or being resupplied by the guided missile frigate when sailors noticed smoke.

The Norfolk, Va.-based ship was in the Pacific headed to San Diego when the fire broke out.


Story Link >>>> http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/0...carrier-uss-george-washington-injures-24.html
 
More on the GW fire of May 2008...

Navy Blames Crew Member's Smoking for Costly Aircraft Carrier Fire

Published July 31, 2008
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO – Smoking appears to have sparked a fire that caused $70 million in damage to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, Navy officials said Wednesday.

The announcement by the Navy came as Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, relieved the carrier's commanding officer, Capt. David C. Dykhoff, and the executive officer of duty, Capt. David M. Dober.

Willard cited lost confidence in the commanding officer and his failure to meet mission standards after the investigation found unauthorized smoking by a crew member appeared to have ignited flammable liquids and other combustible material that were improperly stored. The other officer was relieved of duty for substandard performance.

"The fire and the subsequent magnitude of the fire were the result of a series of human acts that could have been prevented," according to a statement released by the Naval Air Forces in San Diego.

The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier was en route from Chile to San Diego when the fire began on May 22.

"The smoking was happening in an unauthorized space and the evidence points to it probably was a lit cigarette that ignited the oil," said Capt. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He said the investigation did not reveal who was smoking.

Flames were initially spotted near the auxiliary boiler room and air conditioning and refrigeration space in the rear of the ship. The safety of the ship's nuclear reactor was not threatened.

Navy officials now say it took about 12 hours to put out the fire because of the location and size. Fire and heat damaged electrical cabling and components running through 80 of the 3,800 compartments across several decks of the carrier.

The crew of the carrier has been temporarily assigned to shore duty in San Diego since shortly after the fire.

Capt. J.R. Haley, who previously commanded the nuclear-powered carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, has taken command of the carrier, replacing Dykhoff. Capt. Karl O. Thomas has replaced Dober. Dykhoff and Dober have been temporarily assigned to shore duty with the Pacific Fleet, Walker said.

The Navy also revised the number of sailors injured during the fire from 23 to 37, saying 36 sailors were treated for minor injuries suffered while fighting the fire and one sailor suffered minor burns. All were returned to duty shortly afterward.

Gureck would not comment on whether the Navy was considering further disciplinary action against the two officers or possibly other people.

He said Rear Adm. Richard B. Wren, currently the USS Kitty Hawk carrier strike group commander, will decide what additional administrative and disciplinary measures, if any, will be taken when he becomes the USS George Washington strike group commander.

The carrier was initially expected to arrive in Japan in early August to replace the USS Kitty Hawk, which is being decommissioned. The George Washington, which is now scheduled to depart San Diego in late August, is due to be stationed at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka.

The USS George Washington, the fourth Navy ship to bear the name, was commissioned July 4, 1992. It is a Nimitz class nuclear-powered supercarrier with a crew of 3,000 but can carry up to 5,000.
 
Oriskany. 26 October 1966 ..44 killed and 156 injured

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I saw these training film so many times or my USN service. they explain how these fires started..

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I saw these training film so many times or my USN service. they explain how these fires started..

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Excellent stuff @bdpopeye , watching these 2 USN training films was an integral and mandatory part of my firefighting training in R.A.N. Recruit School in 1974. Firefighting was a "whole of ship" exercise every day on board R.A.N. ships and still is today. A sailors worst fear is a fire at sea
 
Thanks for that @bdpopeye. Interesting what you say.
the article also states

' Since the Enterprise, the number of fires hasn’t diminished, but the severity of their effects has. Within recent years, more than 700 have been reported, and no one knows how many more have gone unreported.'

Does anyone know much about this? as in the number of fires not diminishing? seems very odd that on the more modern aircraft carries they seem to still suffer from frequent fires?
 
450px-USS_Repertus_assists_USS_Forrestal.webp
800px-USS_Forrestal_A-4_Skyhawk_burning.webp
USS_Forrestal_(CV-59)_cost_of_the_fire.webp
USS_Forrestal_fire_1_1967 (1).webp
USS_Forrestal_fire_RA-5Cs_burning_1967 (1).webp
some photos of the disaster.
 
Since the Enterprise, the number of fires hasn’t diminished, but the severity of their effects has. Within recent years, more than 700 have been reported, and no one knows how many more have gone unreported.'

Does anyone know much about this? as in the number of fires not diminishing? seems very odd that on the more modern aircraft carries they seem to still suffer from frequent fires?

As I stated the last major fire aboard and US Navy Carrier was aboard George Washington over ten years ago.

633 squadron, there are minor fires aboard ships frequently . None of them go unreported as far as I know. The minor fires are usually trash, venting, galley, machinery or most frequently electrical. Seldom anything major major.

Enterprise was retired from service in 2012. and was finally decommissioned on 3 February 2017. She is in storage at Huntington-Ingalls shipbuilding in Newport News VA.

Read her history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65)
 
I ain't done..26 May 1954... USS Bennington (CV 20) suffered a catastrophic Hydraulic catapult explosion. In the video it states 90 or so were killed the final death toll was 102 dead. 201 shipmates were injured.

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From wiki;
At 06:11 on 26 May 1954, while cruising off Narragansett Bay, the fluid in one of her catapults leaked out and was detonated by the flames of a jet, causing the forward part of the flight deck to explode. A series of secondary explosions occurred, killing 103 crewmen (predominantly senior NCO's) and injuring 201 others. Bennington proceeded under her own power to Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to land her injured. This tragedy caused the Navy to switch from hydraulic catapults to steam catapults for launching aircraft. A monument to the sailors who died in this tragic event was erected near the southwest corner of Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.
 
December 22 1960....future USS Constellation suffered a major fire while under construction in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ship was repaired and commissioned on 27 October 1961. 50 shipyard workers lost their lives and injured 160.

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from wiki;

Constellation was heavily damaged by fire while under construction on 19 December 1960. The carrier was in the final stages of construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York when the fire began.

The fire broke out when a forklift operating on the hangar deck accidentally pushed its cargo into a steel plate knocking it over. The plate then broke off the plug of a 500 US gallons (1,900 l; 420 imp gal) tank of diesel fuel which spilled from the container reaching the lower levels of the ship. The fuel was ignited perhaps by a cutting torch of a fitter, and then moved to a wooden scaffolding. The flames spread quickly filling the passageways of the ship with smoke. A Navy commander commented on the nature of the ships design at an inquiry, "Ships of this class are the most complex structures ever designed by man."

It took 17 hours for firefighters to extinguish the fire, some of whom had been "driven to the raw edge of exhaustion" after being called into service in the Park Slope air accident. The firefighters saved hundreds of lives without losing any of their own, however fifty shipyard workers perished. The extensive damage cost 75 million dollars to repair, and delayed the commissioning date to 1 October 1961.

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A crash on the flight deck of USS Nimitz on May 25 1981 caused the death of 14 sailors an Marines and injured 45.

USS Nimitz crash kills 14 sailors and Marines

On May 25, 1981, during work ups off the eastern Florida coast an EA-6B Prowler crashed on the flight deck, starboard side. A moderate breeze touched the night, and the ship steered 160º at five knots, reaching 30º29’3”N, 080º22’0”W, during the second dog watch on Tuesday the 26th. A particularly dark night with thin clouds above, no visible horizon, heavy haze at lower altitude and thunderstorms moving toward Nimitz produced problems for aircrew in the landing cycle.

Suddenly, the landing signal officer shouted, “Power! Power!” as the aircraft dropped too low while landing at 2351. The Prowler hit the ship and its impact sheared off the top of the aircraft; it then slammed into three Corsair IIs spotted forward and then hurtled into a nearby Tomcat, pushing it into two adjacent F-14As. The EA-6B exploded near aircraft loaded with live ordnance, killing the crew and sending a “fireball” rolling across the flight deck and cooking off 20 mm ammunition, which spewed fragments into the men on deck. Sailors bravely plied hoses onto the inferno as CAPT Batzler ordered left 30º rudder and brought the ship about 90º to come out of the wind, forcing smoke away from the hose teams. A secondary explosion erupted at 0021 near catapult No. 2, probably caused by an AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. The fire blazed into the mid watch and at one point caused the ship to lose steerageway, though her crew regained control of Nimitz, battling the flames until 0219. The fire fouled the flight deck and forced about a dozen aircraft aloft to emergency divert ashore to Charleston, S.C., before they ran out of fuel. Destroyer USS Moosbrugger (DD-980) manned her pilot rescue detail, and her helo joined two from Nimitz to search throughout the night for survivors, although they only recovered some aircraft wreckage. Moosbrugger also refueled one of the carrier’s helos during the ordeal, and all three helo aircrew “performed superbly,” including at least one that landed on Nimitz’s fantail at the edge of the wind envelope during the height of the fire, a dangerous maneuver which observers said could not be done under the circumstances–until sailors persevered to aid their shipmates. Nimitz passed through several rainstorms through the nightmare, however, the merits of avoiding increased wind over the deck offset difficulties imposed by the rain and the captain chose to keep way to reduce wind interference. Initial reports, which proved to be erroneous, indicated that some men were blown over the side.

In addition to the three marines on board the Prowler, 11 sailors had died and 48 were injured; 21 of the most critical were evacuated to Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Four of the most severely burned men went on to the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center at San Antonio, Texas. The fire destroyed three Tomcats as well as the Prowler, and damaged two Tomcats, nine Corsair IIs, one Intruder, three Vikings and one Sea King.

The Navy determined that a combination of “environmental, mechanical and human factors” caused the crash of the Prowler, and recommended a zealous anti drug program that became known as “zero tolerance.” Nimitz returned to Pier 12 at Norfolk during the afternoon watch on the 28th to repair damaged catapults, getting underway for additional training two days later.

so, so video..best I could find.

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The last major fire aboard a USN carrier occurred aboard USS George Washington ten years ago...The fire was not on the flight deck. the ship had to stand down in San Diego for about three+ months for repairs

Photos of the firefighting efforts aboard George Washington on May 22 2008;



PACIFIC (May 22, 2008) Fire Team Leader, Machinery Repairman 2nd Class William Neault, guides his team into Hangar Bay 3 aboard USS George Washington (CVN 73). The comprehensive firefighting effort extinguished all fires while limiting shipboard damage and preventing any serious injuries for the crew. The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are currently under investigation as the ship continues on course for San Diego. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Christopher Delano (Released)















PACIFIC (May 22, 2008) Crew members aboard USS George Washington (CVN 73) conduct comprehensive firefighting efforts to extinguish a fire that spread to several spaces via cableways, creating extreme heat and smoke. The crew was able to contain the fire while limiting shipboard damage and preventing any serious injuries to the crew. The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage are currently under investigation as the ship continues on course for San Diego. U.S. Navy photos (Released)





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This is my favorite US Navy picture of all time....period.

PACIFIC (May 22, 2008) Crew members aboard USS George Washington (CVN 73) take a well deserved break during firefighting efforts aboard George Washington. US Navy photos (released)
 
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Photos of some of the damage aboard George Washington that occurred 22 May 2008. There was no loss of life...



SAN DIEGO (May 31, 2008) A fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) caused damage to the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration shop. George Washington is in San Diego for damage assessment and repairs following an at sea fire on May 22. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Phillip Pavlovich (Released)



SAN DIEGO (May 25, 2008) A fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington damaged electrical equipment in a space near the ventilation trunk for the auxiliary boiler. George Washington is in San Diego for damage assessment and repairs following the at sea fire on May 22, 2008. U.S. Navy photo (Released)



SAN DIEGO (May 25, 2008) A fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) caused cable damage in a shipboard training classroom. George Washington is in San Diego for damage assessment and repairs following an at sea fire on May 22. U.S. Navy photo (Released)



SAN DIEGO (May 29, 2008) A fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) damaged cables near the exhaust and supply ventilation trunk for the auxiliary boiler. George Washington is in San Diego for damage assessment and repairs following an at sea fire on May 22. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ted Green (Released)



SAN DIEGO (May 29, 2008) Mr. Bret Haskins assess fire damage aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). George Washington is currently in San Diego for damage assessment and repairs following an at sea fire May 22, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Phillip Pavlovich (Released)
 
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@633 squadron , the number of fires not reducing can be explained by the circumstances whereupon fires onboard have not diminished in warships but especially not in carriers. All warships are basically floating bombs waiting to go off, packed from stem to stern with explosives, steam plants, fuels and electrical equipment (which just love burning).

Carriers are gaining in size and complexity over the years and are physically huge open spaces packed with aviation fuel and are a perfect storm of flammable liquids, explosives etc just waiting for the chance to erupt.

What HAS changed over the years is how fire is handled, the training and equipment has improved even since I left the service in the late 80's. The science of how fire starts and evolves has enabled firefighting to also react faster to any given scenario. On warships firefighting is not just about fighting a fire in front of you, although that is scary enough. It is also about ensuring you can stop a fire spreading through compartments hundreds of feet apart (via heat transmission through fan forced ventilation), cooling of bulkheads and a myriad of other factors.

Shipboard firefighting is a science all on its own and is more complex than any other form of firefighting (other than possibly fuel storage fires).

I hope this helps mate, it is a testament to the equipment available but most of all to the continuing improvement in training and response by the ships companies that have kept the severity of the damage down. The fact still remains though that major fires WILL continue to occur and it's only a matter of time before a major loss of life and ship happens again, it's simply the nature of the beast.
 
Excellent post BravoZulu..excellent....Well Done mate!

Speaking for the US Navy every sailor from seaman recruit to Admiral is trained in firefighting and damage control. This is a lesson learned from the major fires aboard carriers in the late 60s. many of those shipmates had only minimal shipboard firefighting training.

Every USN ship holds at least one fire drill everyday.

It starts in boot camp...hundreds of photos from DVIDS;

Recruit Training..firefighting

..on to the "Fleet"...

US Navy General Quarters!!
 
^^ Thanks for the thumbs up @bdpopeye notworthy; I've fought several fires at sea, by the grace of God most were relatively minor that impacted on our operational capability but was of no risk to life or limb but 1 was the stuff of nightmares :eek:
 

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