Aircraft Carriers II

Originally Posted by navyreco

MiG 29K Jets Make First Landing on Indian Carrier

MiG 29K Jets Make First Landing on Indian Carrier

How dose China eye on India’s Vikramaditya aircraft carrier

The INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier (former Admiral Gorshkov), which Russia refurbished for India, left its berth at the Sevmash shipyard in Russia’s northern city of Severodvinsk and sailed into the White Sea to undergo trials on June 8.

Russian and Indian crews will board the carrier for the sea trials, however Indian sailors will only act as observers.

The Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier which was formally called the “Admiral Gorshkov”. The Admiral Gorshkov entered service in 1987 and was sent for repairs in February 1992. However, due mainly to a funding crisis, the Russian navy decided to withdraw it from service.

At the same time, the Indian navy was considering buying a large out-of-service carrier.

Subsequently, in 2004, Russia and India signed a deal for the refurbishment of the Admiral Gorshkov. The carrier itself was free, however India had to get it refitted at the Sevmash shipyard at a cost of US$750 million and buy Russian-made MiG-29K fighters as its carrier drones. The delivery time was originally set for 2008, but due principally to underestimated workload and the shipyard’s lack of experience in building and refurbishing aircraft carrier, the delivery time was continually postponed, with costs jumping to more than US$2.3 billion.

According to the requirements of the Indian navy, Russia completely refitted the Admiral Gorshkov. The improvement involved stripping all of the armaments and radar from the foredeck and greatly enlarging the surface of the flight deck. The foredeck was also turned into a ski-jump.

The refitted Vikramaditya will be better equipped than India’s current serving carrier. MiG-29K fighters are superior to the old British Sea Harrier fighters, and the carrier’s comprehensive fighting force can compare with that of the nuclear-powered French aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.

India is currently engaging in building up its naval force. It is now in the process of constructing an Air Defense Ship, which is actually an aircraft carrier, as well as three missile-guided destroyers, and three invisible missile frigates. In addition, it has ordered a number of missile frigates from Russia. If all these plans are carried out successfully, India will not only consolidate its dominant position in the Indian Ocean, it will also have one of the world’s top five most powerful navies.

The former Soviet Union had the world’s second largest navy during the Cold War. However, since the crumbling of the USSR, the Russian navy has been forced to decommission many of its ships due to a lack of funds and broken industrial chain. Russia’s naval power cannot really compare with that of the former USSR during the Cold War. Economic woes have prevented Russia from undertaking large-scale shipbuilding to replace those decommissioned ships.

Not far from the North Shipyard where the carrier Vikramaditya is being refitted, Russia is building a new generation of naval vessel called the Admiral Gorshkov, which is the former name of Vikramaditya.

Ironically, the “Admiral Gorshkov”, once used as the name of a 40,000 ton carrier, is now a large frigate with a displacement of only 5,000 tons. The new “Admiral Gorshkov” is a symbol of the state of the Russian navy: It has ambitions to restore its former glory, but lacks the ability to put such ambitions into practice.

Russia discarded its plan to repair the large Kirov-class battle cruiser, and instead built a batch of 2,000-ton light frigates and 5,000-ton medium-sized surface ships in order to strengthen its coastal defenses.

But it could not even implement this downscaled plan. The Russian navy has to use 600-ton large missile boats and tiny frigates in order to keep up appearances during its annual large-scale military drill.

We can predict that Russia will be unable to strengthen its naval force in the short term. Most of its ships will go out of service in 10 years, and without new ships to take their place, the Russian navy will inevitably become a near-sea fleet.

While the Russian navy is in decline, both China and India have built up their navies after learning from Russia’s heritage and buying large surface ships from Russia and building their naval fleets around those carriers.

However, India and China’s paths have been different. After purchasing the Gorshkov from Russia, India chose to get it repaired in Russia because it lacked the capacity and technology to undertake such a difficult project.

India has spent billions of US dollars upgrading the carrier Vikramaditya without improving its own shipbuilding abilities. Instead the upgrade improved the shipbuilding capabilities of the Russian shipyard. No wonder Russia plans to send its own carrier to the shipyard for upgrading after the upgrade of the Vikramaditya is completed.

China purchased the unfinished aircraft carrier Varyag from Ukraine at a price of US$20 million. Depending solely on its own industry and advanced ship building craft, China repaired and made improvements to the carrier. By doing so, China spent less money, accumulated experience in aircraft carrier remodeling and learned valuable lessons which will help it to construct its own carrier.

More importantly, China and India are not at the same industrial level. Over the past ten years, the Chinese navy has built 16 large missile frigates and at least 10 guided-missile destroyers, as well as advanced submarines. Most of the weapons have been designed and made by China. India has started to build 6 destroyers and 6 frigates over the past 10 years, but currently only one frigate has been put into service. And it seems that the Indian navy will rely on overseas purchases in order to maintain its fleet in the future.

How dose China eye on India’s Vikramaditya aircraft carrier | China Defense Mashup

navyreco,
Nice one.
But that has to be the touch and go performed earlier. The tail hook is still not down.

Originally Posted by delft

Of course you mean welding slag.

I absolutely do mean WELDING Slag, and if you read the rest of the sentence, that is quite clear when I talk about each of the welds being tested and tried. bd or Jeff could likely elaborate on the welding process and the exhaustive testing procedure for each weld. In fact the submarine is taken to "test depth" to see if she will deform or leak, while you can't do that with the carrier, rest assured the welds will be tested in the yard and continueing in the "shake-down" cruises. Actually the carrier is a vast jig saw puzzle, and the fitting/alignment/welding of the pieces together is a monumental undertaking, likely among the most difficult engineering feats on the planet. Guys?

Originally Posted by Kurt

That's something I wondered about, are there any serious attempts to cast such large ships other than some concrete floating barges and Project Habakkuk?

In a propaganda booklet by Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd called "De oolog in beeld Augustus 1918", with additional information - "The War Pictorial ( Hollandsche Uitgave )", you'll find on pp 30 and 31 eight photographs of sea going cargo vessels built from reinforced concrete. I'm just looking at them. I remember reading a book about ships built from concrete and ferro-cement, some forty years ago, that said such vessels were also built during WWII.
Btw the "Hollandsche Uitgave" had the texts in Dutch and French.

Originally Posted by delft

In a propaganda booklet by Illustrated London News & Sketch Ltd called "De oolog in beeld Augustus 1918", with additional information - "The War Pictorial ( Hollandsche Uitgave )", you'll find on pp 30 and 31 eight photographs of sea going cargo vessels built from reinforced concrete. I'm just looking at them. I remember reading a book about ships built from concrete and ferro-cement, some forty years ago, that said such vessels were also built during WWII.
Btw the "Hollandsche Uitgave" had the texts in Dutch and French.

I believe my father in law, LD, I don't think he's related to BD, but who knows? had talked about fuel barges cast from concrete?

Originally Posted by Air Force Brat

I believe my father in law, LD, I don't think he's related to BD, but who knows? had talked about fuel barges cast from concrete?

It is easy enough to build concrete vessels for different purposes. The trouble with these ships was that they were very heavy so needed more fuel to transport a certain load than a wooden or steel vessel.
I just googled for"concrete ships" and got 67 million hits, among them:
Concrete Ships
Information, history and photos of the concrete ships built by the United States during WWI and WWII

It might be that I read this book I see mentioned on that web site. It is at least of a possible date:
Concrete Boatbuilding:
Its Technique and Its Future

Authors: Gainor W. Jackson & W. Morley Sutherland
Published: 1969

Originally Posted by Bose

navyreco,
Nice one.
But that has to be the touch and go performed earlier. The tail hook is still not down.

Good eye there Bose, but closely again you can see the arresting cables is off the ground of the flight deck by looking at the parallel shadows, therefore the tail hook must've been retracted after it catches the cable. Again I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by Equation

Good eye there Bose, but closely again you can see the arresting cables is off the ground of the flight deck by looking at the parallel shadows, therefore the tail hook must've been retracted after it catches the cable. Again I could be wrong.

Thnks.
But I'm not able to distinguish the shadow you mentioned. I cant see any. The shot shows only one instant of the whole process and it was likely taken seconds before the rubber came in contact with the deck. We can't eve see the smoke or the tire marks.

btw, the first landing on the deck of the carrier was carried out today by a MiG-29KUB.

Originally Posted by delft

Originally Posted by Franklin

Some pictures of the Vikramaditya on sea trial including helicopters and a MiG-29K Fulcrum-D mock up on her deck. Air ops said to commence with in days. Including a unique and perhabs a one off event, the landing on her deck of a MiG-35 Fulcrum-F that is specially adapted with a tail hook for this occasion.

Fitting a tail hook is not enough to adapt an aircraft for landing on a flattop. What else needs to be done? New undercarriage, strengthened wing, equipment, &c.

Lets ask it in a different way and try to get an answer for what is the most important (priority wise) thing for a conventional aircraft to be deck based.

Can any aircraft with 'New undercarriage, strengthened wing, equipment' etc land on a flattop? Why?
I hope we all know the answer.

The point to be noted in the case of MiG-35 is the maximum commonality the aircraft have with its naval variant. I can't think of any other land based operational aircraft which can be converted to be operated on flattops with a tail-hook.

Originally Posted by Franklin

I got here two pics of the INS Vikramaditya's 20 ton elevator in the back both from the inside as from the outside. Notice the position of the arrestor wires, when a plane lands the arrestor wire will stretch over the elevator meaning that the back elevator cannot be used when there are planes about to land. And i doubt that the position of the arrestor wires leave enough space to park MiG-29K's, atleast not when there are still aircraft that needs to land and the arrestor wires needs to be used.

Attachment 6623

Attachment 6624

If I'm not mistaken, you are also pointing out the concern of the arrestor wires going to stretch through the parking area? But from the drawings that is online, its much clearer about another point/roller (?), away from the parking lot and nearer to the outboard white landing strip. The wires are going to stretch from these points.

But as you mentioned, the 3rd wire does look like it might go over the elevator. But its going to cross the edge of the aft elevator, if at all its going over, and not too much inside the area. It will have to be seen how it works out. But I don't see that to likely hamper the elevator operations as the wires don't interfere with its direct operation. Though I could be wrong also.

Thanks for your input Bose! well done.

29 July 2012 is the 45th anniversary of the fire aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59)

This was posted by me last year and I'll post it again. Lest myself as a retired US Navy sailor never ever forget the conflagration aboard the Mighty Forrestal on 29 July 1967. 134 sailors were lost and 161 were injured.

U.S. Navy - A Brief History of Aircraft Carriers - USS Forrestal (CVA 59)

The day was a typical one for the 5,000 officers and enlisted men of the attack aircraft carrier USS Forrestal as the huge, 80,000-ton ship cut a wake through the calm waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. It was as typical as it could be, that is, for men at war. And the men of Forrestal were definitely in combat. For the first time since their ship was commissioned in October 1955, they had been launching aircraft from her flight deck on strikes against an enemy whose coastline was only a few miles over the horizon.

The ship in which these men served was the first U.S. carrier built from the keel up with the angled deck that enables aircraft to be launched and recovered simultaneously. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 had been launched on, and recovered from, about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam. On the ship's four-acre flight deck, her crewmen went about the business at hand, the business of accomplishing the second launch of the fifth day in combat.

Overhead, the hot, tropical sun beat down from a clear sky.

It was just about 10:50 a.m. (local time), July 29, 1967.

The launch that was scheduled for a short time later was never made.

This is the story of the brave men of USS Forrestal

It is not a story about just a few individuals. Or ten. Or twenty. Or fifty. It is the story of hundreds of officers and enlisted men who were molded by disaster into a single cohesive force determined to accomplish one mission: Save their ship and their shipmates.

It is the story of the acts of heroism they performed-acts so commonplace, accomplished with such startling regularity, that it will be impossible to chronicle all of them. It will be impossible for a very simple reason:All of them will never be known.

Lt. Cmdr. Robert "Bo" Browning one of the pilots due for launch with many others, he was seated in the cockpit of his fueled and armed Skyhawk; the plane was spotted way aft, to port. Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain III said later he heard a "whooshy" sound then a "low-order explosion" in front of him. Suddenly, two A-4s ahead of his plane were engulfed in flaming jet fuel — JP-5 — spewed from them. A bomb dropped to the deck and rolled about six feet and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel.

The awful conflagration, which was to leave 132 Forrestal crewmen dead, 62 more injured and two missing and presumed dead, had begun.

As the searing flames, fed by the spreading JP-5, spread aft and began to eat at the aircraft spotted around the deck, Lt. Cmdr. Browning escaped from his plane. He ducked under the tails of two Skyhawks spotted alongside his and ran up the flight deck toward the island area. Twice, explosions knocked him off balance. But he made it.

The fire soon enveloped all the aircraft in its wake. It spread to the fantail, to decks below. Bombs and ammunition were touched off in the midst of early fire-fighting efforts. Black, acrid smoke boiled into the sky. Other ships on Yankee Station sped to the aid of the stricken carrier.

As the fuel-fed fire licked at planes, ammunition and bombs, the heroes of Forrestal rushed to avert a total disaster; some died in the process. A chief petty officer, armed only with a small fire extinguisher, ran toward the bomb that had dropped to the flight deck. He was killed when it exploded as were members of fire-fighting teams trying to wrestle fire hoses into position. Shrapnel from the explosion was thrown a reported 400 feet.

"I saw a dozen people running . . into the fire, just before the bomb cooked off," Lt. Cmdr. Browning was quoted as saying later. He called very one of them "a hero of the first magnitude."

That was only the beginning.

"There was a horrendous explosion that shook 'Angel Two Zero.' It seemed as if the whole stern of the Forrestal had erupted. Suddenly there were rafts, fuel tanks, oxygen tanks, trop tanks and debris of every description floating in the water below."

The description is from Lt. David Clement, pilot of a rescue helicopter from the carrier USS Oriskany (CV 34), who had been asked to fly plane guard for Forrestal after completing a flight to that carrier. Soon, he and his crew — Ens. Leonard M. Eiland, Jr., Aviation Machinist's Mate (Jets) 3rd Class James D. James, Jr., and Airman Albert E. Barrows — would be on a far different mission. They would be rescuing Forrestal crewmen who jumped, fell or were knocked from the carrier — no less than five times within an hour. Later, they would be shuttling medical supplies to the stricken ship. The continuing explosions on Forrestal's flight deck would rock their helo, leaving the ship's aft end, in Lt. Clement's words, "a mass of twisted steel, with holes in the flight deck, a vacant space where there had been many aircraft and a towering column of black and gray smoke and flames."

At 11:47 A.M., Forrestal reported the flight deck fire was under control.

At 12:15, the ship sent word that the flight deck fire was out.

At 12:45, stubborn fires remained on the 01 and 02 levels and in hangar bay three. All available COD (Carrier Onboard Delivery) aircraft were being sent to the carriers Oriskany and USS Bon Homme Richard (CV 31) to be swiftly rigged with litters medical evacuation.

There will be stories told of the brave men of Forrestal for years to come. These are only a few examples:
• Ltjg. Robert Cates, the carrier's explosive ordnance demolition officer, calmly recounted later how he had "noticed that there was a 500-pound bomb and a 750-pound bomb in the middle of the flight deck . . . that were still smoking. They hadn't detonated or anything; they were just setting there smoking. So I went up and defused them and had them jettisoned."

• Ltjg. Cates also told how one of his men, whom he named only as Black, volunteered to be lowered by line through a hole in the flight deck to defuse a live bomb that had dropped to the 03 level — even though the compartment was still on fire and full of smoke. Black did the job; later, Ltjg. Cates had himself lowered into the compartment to attach a line to the bomb so it could be jettisoned.

• This too from Cates: "We [Black and himself] started picking up everything we could find that had explosives in it and started throwing them over the side. Some squadron pilots came up to me as we went aft — I don't know who they were — [and] helped me take a Sidewinder missile off a burning F-4. We just continued working our way aft and taking what ordnance we found off aircraft and throwing it over the side."

• Two Forrestal flight deck crewmen, reports said, were knocked overboard by one of the explosions, fell 70 feet into the water, were picked up by a rescue helicopter and deposited back on the flight deck — and resumed fire fighting at once.

• One man in a crash crew forklift vehicle, with only one hose playing water on him, tried to get rid of a burning plane by ramming it repeatedly. The plane was jettisoned.

• Lt. Cmdr. Larry Forderhase, ship's catapult officer, was preparing to launch aircraft when the fire broke out. He immediately started clearing the deck of bombs and rockets before helping to move planes forward.

• Aviation Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Bruce Mulligan, a 22-year-old VA-106 crewman, was all the way aft on the flight deck when he heard explosions. He turned, saw a "fireball" coming at him and hit the deck. Somehow, he managed to get forward and was headed for a fire hose when he was hit by shrapnel. He helped a friend with a broken leg get to sick bay, then returned to the flight deck.

"Back aft of the island, we started throwing missiles and rockets over the side," he recounted later. "After that was done, I looked around for some of my buddies on the line crew and I could find only one. So we decided to help them fight the fire and got the fire hoses back aft and went to fight the plane fires. My buddy and I stayed back aft for I don't know how long. We got separated and some officer said later to leave.

"I went back to the island and got my hands taken care of and stayed back there [to rest for a while]. I was kind of groggy. I found another of my buddies and we went back aft again to help with the fire. By this time, they were working on the holes in the flight deck.

"Once again, one of our officers in the squadron found me and took me down to the forecastle to rest. I stayed down there for about ten minutes, then went back aft again. ... I stayed back there until I just about passed out and my buddy dragged me out of there. . ."

• Seaman Milton Parker was just watching flight operations from the 09 level when the fire struck. Unable to get to his General Quarters station because it was cut off, he manned a hose on the flight deck for almost nine hours. He told how the heat of the deck burned both soles off his shoes, but "my feet are okay because I put on some flight deck shoes and went back in" to continue fire fighting.

• The CVW-17 operations officer, Lt. Cmdr. Herb Hope, was to fly a VA-46 A-4 with a launch time of 11a.m. 'When the flight deck erupted in flames, he managed to escape from his plane and, between explosions, literally rolled off the flight deck into a safety net. He made his way down to the hangar deck to coordinate the actions of a damage control party in one of the hangar bays. "The port quarter of the flight deck, where I was," he said, "is no longer there."

Fed by clothing, bedding and other flammables, the fires in the levels between the flight and hangar decks burned with an awesome fury. Men trying to locate shipmates trapped in compartments were driven out by flames and smoke. The after section of the hangar deck was so thick with smoke that it was impossible to see.

These are excerpts from an account given by Ens. Robert R. Schmidt, a 24-year-old engineering officer:

"... My work really wasn't the exciting kind of thing; just keeping the fire from spreading into any other areas. My people were doing all kinds of dirty work, moving into areas where the water was so hot it was almost boiling. OBA (Oxygen Breathing Apparatus) windows started fogging up and the people could hardly see anything. Yet, these kids went into the deeper areas of the ship, endangering their own lives. . . ."

At 1:48 p.m., Forrestal reported that the fires in the 01, 02 and 03 levels still burned, but that all the ship's machinery and steering equipment were operational.

At 2:12 p.m., the after radio compartment was evacuated because of dense smoke and water. "All fires out on 01 level, port side," the ship reported.

At 2:47 p.m. the compartment fires continued but progress was being made. Forrestal was steaming toward a rendezvous with the hospital ship USS Repose (AH 16).

At 3 p.m., the commander of Task Force 77 announced he was sending Forrestal to Subic Bay, Philippines, after the carrier rendezvoused with Repose.

At 5:05, a muster of Forrestal crewmen — both in the carrier and aboard other ships — was begun. Fires were still burning in the ship's carpenter shop and on the main deck.

At 6:44 p.m., the fires were still burning.

At 8:30 p.m., the fires in the 02 and 03 levels were contained, but the area was still too hot to enter. Holes were cut in the flight deck to provide access to compartments below.

Ens. Schmidt and his damage control team continued to fight their way into burning compartments; his work later that afternoon was as an investigator for the damage control assistant. There were times he had to enter spaces that were virtually inaccessible. "I asked for volunteers," he recalled, "and I immediately had two or three who followed me back into the guts of the fire. Several times, people would come up to me and say, 'What can I do? How can I help?' ... At first, I couldn't find work for all the people who wanted to help. I can't give enough praise to the sailors I supervised. They fought the fire and did all the dirty jobs ... These kids worked all night, 24-28 hours, containing the fire. . . . I've nothing but praise for the American sailor."

• On the hangar deck, a chief petty officer — his soaked clothing plastered to his body — ran from burning hangar bay three and called for five volunteers. He got 30.

• At the height of the fire, Capt. John K. Beling, Forrestal's commanding officer, went to hangar bay two. He watched quietly for a while, told his men they were doing well. He returned to the bridge; there was nothing more he could do.

• Filipino stewards, some who appeared to weigh no more than 100 pounds, rolled 250-pound bombs to the edges and pushed them overboard.

• With strength born of adversity, 130-pound Lt. Otis Kight single-handedly carried a 250-pound bomb to the edge of the hangar deck and threw it over the side. His shipmates are certain he will never be able to repeat that feat.

• Chief Aviation Ornanceman Thomas Lawler escaped from his shop on the 03 level when the first explosion occurred and the overhead "began to glow like it was on fire." For hours afterwards, he disarmed aircraft in the after hangar bays, groping his way through smoke so thick that he could see no more than a foot ahead. "I don't believe we were in very great danger in hangar bay three," he said later. "All the fires were contained in the very aft end of the hangar bay. The only thing that worried me slightly at all was on the first trip in the hangar bay when you could see practically nothing at all [but] we kept hearing a gushing, a loud, gurgling sound and we couldn't quite determine what that was and the unknown always worries you a little bit. . ."

At 8:33 p.m., Forrestal reported that fires on the 02 level were under control but that fire fighting was greatly hampered because of smoke and heat.

At 8: 54, only the 02 level on the port side was still burning. Medical evacuation to Repose was in progress.

At 12:20 a.m., July 30, all the fires were out. Forrestal crewmembers continued to clear smoke and cool hot steel on the 02 and 03 levels.

The tragedy of the hours that had passed since the fire started began to penetrate into the minds and bodies of the men aboard the carrier. The adrenalin that had pumped through them began to seep away. They were tired but they could not sleep; they walked restlessly about the ship, lending a hand wherever they could.

As time passed, volunteers were still requested and swarms of men — men who had fought the fire since 11 a.m. and who were dead tired and sick from smoke and the sights they'd seen — forgot their fatigue and their sickness and raced through passageways to man the hoses again.

Lt. j.g. Frank Guinan sat on the deck next to his room, too tired to get up and go inside. "It seems so unreal," he said, and he added: "Nobody had better say to me that American youth [is] lazy. I saw men working today who were not only injured but thoroughly exhausted and they had to be carried away. They were trying so hard to help but they were actually becoming a burden."

It was time, now, to begin to assess the damage. There were four gaping holes in the flight deck where bombs exploded, pushing armored steel down and under — much like an old-fashioned hole in a beer can.

Stock was taken of the aircraft. It leveled off to a report of 26 either destroyed or jettisoned and 31 more damaged to some extent.

And it was time to arrive at a final toll of dead and injured. For hours, the muster of Forrestal men continued; it was made terrifically difficult because so many of the crew were scattered in other ships.

And it was time to recall how those ships had come to the aid of the stricken Forrestal. From Oriskany and Bon Homme Richard had come medical teams and fire-fighting equipment. The skippers of the destroyers USS Rupertus (DD 851) and USS George K. MacKenzie (DD 836) , in what Rear Adm. Harvey P. Lanham, ComCarDiv Two, called an act of "magnificent seamanship," had maneuvered their ships to within 20 feet of the carrier so fire hoses could be effectively used.

But mostly it was a time to think of shipmates, those who had fought the flames and died because of their heroism. They were men like Data Systems Technician 2nd Class Stephen L. Hock, who was one of the first to reach the 03 level and who fought the fire and aided survivors until he was driven back by fire and smoke, then donned an OBA and returned again to the blazing area to fight the flames and help the injured. He kept up the pace for hours, then was overcome in a flooded and gas-filled compartment. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

They were men like Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Joseph C. Shartzer who returned to the inferno on the 03 level from which he had narrowly escaped and sacrificed his life as he aided in rescuing trapped men and fighting the fire.

They were men like Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Hydaulics) 3rd Class Robert A. Rhuda, who could have escaped from the smoke-filled compartments where he was on duty as a police petty officer, but who remained behind to awaken and direct or physically assist shipmates out of the area — returning time and time again until the explosion of a bomb destroyed the compartment in which he was last seen.

They were men like that.

As Forrestal steamed for Subic Bay, a memorial service was held in Hangar Bay One for the crewmen who had given their lives for their ship and their country. More than 2,000 Forrestal men listened to and prayed with Chaplains Geoffrey Gaughan and David Cooper as they paid tribute to their lost shipmates. The three volleys fired by 13 U.S. Marines were followed by the benediction, which closed the service after 15 minutes of prayer and hymns.

The heroes and the brave men aboard Forrestal were uniformly praised by those under whom they served. Vice Adm. C. T. Booth, ComNavAirLant, paid tribute to their courage, as did Adm. Roy L. Johnson, CinCPacFlt, Adm. E. P. Holmes, CinCLantFlt, and Paul Nitze, Deputy Secretary of Defense, who also spoke for Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara.

And there was this personal message to Capt. Beling: "I want you and the men of your command to know that the thoughts of the American people are with you at this tragic time. We all feel a great sense of personal loss. The devotion to duty and courage of your men have not gone unnoticed. The sacrifices they have made shall not be in vain." It was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson.

Capt. Beling also commented on his crew: "I am most proud of the way the crew reacted. The thing that is foremost in my mind is the concrete demonstration that I have seen of the worth of American youth. I saw many examples of heroism. I saw, and subsequently heard of, not one single example of cowardice."

Forrestal men were men like that.

On the FID that day, 29 July 1967, 134 US Navy sailors had lost their lives, while an additional 161 were injured.

What's the FID? The Forrestal's nickname..

First
In
Defense



The FID had other unflattering nicknames such as Firestal and Forrest Fire. But to me she's the FID. I also call her the "Cold War Warrior".. made that up myself..

Some photos of the Forrestal flight deck being turned into a living perdition.

Originally Posted by bd popeye

On the FID that day, 29 July 1967, 134 US Navy sailors had lost their lives, while an additional 161 were injured.

What's the FID? The Forrestal's nickname..

First
In
Defense



The FID had other unflattering nicknames such as Firestal and Forrest Fire. But to me she's the FID. I also call her the "Cold War Warrior".. made that up myself..

Some photos of the Forrestal flight deck being turned into a living perdition.

Thanks for posting bd, it reminds us all of the heroism of the American servicemen, who love life, their country, their ship, and most importantly their shipmates. God bless those who paid the ultimate price, God bless those who saved others lives at great risk to themselves, and God bless those, who remind us of those who love liberty more than life, and are willing to fight for peace and freedom for all men!