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.
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 
