Thread: Russian aircraft buzz USS Kitty Hawk

Originally Posted by gunnut

I don't see a single Tomcat on deck.

And only 1 Prowler.

Lol, I guess that was the lucky one...

A single zuni would do a lot of localized damage on the deck yeah, but a cluster bomb would set the whole thing on fire from stem to stern, pretty much all at once.

It would be a total disaster.

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

A single zuni would do a lot of localized damage on the deck yeah, but a cluster bomb would set the whole thing on fire from stem to stern, pretty much all at once.

It would be a total disaster.

An exploding Zuni was what caused the Enterprise fire.

Oriskany got lit up by a Zuni too didn't it?(Wasnt that when McCains A-4 was actually the plane that got hit and started the whole mess?)

Anyway, imagine a hundred zunis going off at once all over the flight deck, and you have a cluster bomb.

Nasty critters man.

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

Oriskany got lit up by a Zuni too didn't it?(Wasnt that when McCains A-4 was actually the plane that got hit and started the whole mess?)

Anyway, imagine a hundred zunis going off at once all over the flight deck, and you have a cluster bomb.

Nasty critters man.

I think that was the USS Forest Fire, sorry I mean the Forrestlal.

Forrestal arrived on Yankee Station on July 25 and immediately began combat operations, her aircraft flying 150 sorties during the next 4 days, without the loss of a single aircraft. At 10:52 A.M. on July 29, the second launch was being readied when a Zuni rocket accidentally fired from an F-4 Phantom parked on the starboard side of the flight deck aft of the island. The missile streaked across the deck into a 400 gallon belly fuel tank on a parked A-4D Skyhawk. The ruptured tank spew highly flammable JP-5 fuel onto the deck which ignited spreading flames over the flight deck under other fully loaded aircraft ready for launch. The ensuing fire caused ordinance to explode and other rockets to ignite. Spread by the wind, the flames engulfed the aft end of the stricken ship turning the flight deck into a blazing inferno.. Berthing spaces immediately below the flight deck became death traps for fifty men, while other crewmen were blown overboard by the explosion.

Nearby ships hastened to the Forrestal's aid. The Oriskany, herself a victim of a tragic fire in October 1966, stood by to offer fire-fighting and medical aid to the larger carrier. Nearby escort vessels sprayed water on the burning Forrestal and within an hour the fire on the flight deck was under control. But secondary fires below deck took another 12 hours to contain. The damage and loss of life was catastrophic.

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

Oriskany got lit up by a Zuni too didn't it?(Wasnt that when McCains A-4 was actually the plane that got hit and started the whole mess?)

Anyway, imagine a hundred zunis going off at once all over the flight deck, and you have a cluster bomb.

Nasty critters man.

Here's the "Big 4" breakdown:

December 19, 1960 - (Technically not an operational accident on an active carrier)
The construction of the USS CONSTELLATION was nearly 90% completed and in the hangar bay there was a tank with 502 gallons of fuel inside. A forklift collided with that tank and the fuel ran out and flew into a lower deck where some workers were welding. A fire started and the flames quickly grew up because of all the wooden materials stored in the hangar bay and on the flight deck. Moments later a huge flame and a dark cloud of smoke could be seen above the carrier.
At the time of the accident, a total of 4200 people worked aboard the carrier and so the fire deptartment had not only to extinguish the fire but also to rescue the people.
All in all it took twelve hours to extinguish the fire. 50 people were killed and hundreds were injured and the ship was heavily damaged.

October 26, 1966 - 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.

July 29, 1967 - USS FORRESTAL was operating on Yankee Station off the coast of North Vietnam conducting combat operations. This was the fifth such day of operations and at 10:52am the crew was starting the second launch cycle of the day, when suddenly a Zuni rocket accidentally fired from an F-4 Phantom into a parked and armed A-4 Skyhawk. The accidental launch and subsequent impact caused the belly fuel tank and a 1,000 pound bomb on the Skyhawk to fall off, the tank broke open spilling JP5 (jet fuel) onto the flight deck and ignited a fire. Within a minute and a half the bomb was the first to cook-off and explode, this caused a massive chain reaction of explosions that engulfed half the airwings aircraft, and blew huge holes in the steel flight deck. Fed by fuel and bombs from other aircraft that were armed and ready for the coming strike, the fire spread quickly, many pilots and support personnel were trapped and burned alive.

January 14, 1969 USS ENTERPRISE On its way to the coast of Vietnam the carrier conducted flight operations. At approximately 8:19 am, a MK-32 Zuni rocket warhead attached to an F-4 Phantom was overheated by exhaust from an aircraft starting unit and detonated, setting off fires and additional explosions across the carrier.The fire was spreading to other armed planes and some of their bombs and missiles detonated, too.
ENTERPRISE turned into the wind to keep the flames away from the isle.
One hour later the fire on the flight deck was under control but there were still fires inside the ship which were finally extinguished some hours later.
During the eight explosions and the following fires aboard USS ENTERPRISE, 27 crewmen were killed and approx. 120 others were injured (other sources: 24 dead men and 85 injured people).
The carrier was heavily damaged and in the flight deck there were three holes (one of them through two decks). 15 aircraft were destroyed or damaged.

http://navysite.de

Originally Posted by highsea

And only 1 Prowler.

Lol, I guess that was the lucky one...

If the story is correct, then they had to move that 18 away from the Cat so they could launch that Prowler.

Originally Posted by M21Sniper

Oriskany got lit up by a Zuni too didn't it?(Wasnt that when McCains A-4 was actually the plane that got hit and started the whole mess?)

Anyway, imagine a hundred zunis going off at once all over the flight deck, and you have a cluster bomb.

Nasty critters man.

McCains plane is the one that got hit on the Forrestal. He then transfered to Oriskany where he got shot down.

He was not a lucky aviator at all...

Originally Posted by gunnut

I don't see a single Tomcat on deck.

They try to park the cats aft if at all possible. They take up quite a bit more deck space than a hornet.

Every warship requires down time. Usually you try to coordinate it with other's up-time, or other measures to counteract the required vulnerability. The Cold War is over, a lower level of alert, and a window opens up over the kitty. I don't blame the Russians for doing it, and it should be a wakeup call to those who were responsible for letting it happen, but it really was a cheap/easy shot. It couldn't happen if the setting weren't so docile.
Proceedings did a lot of articles in the 1980s when I was getting that publication, about how to deal with russian "trawlers", and warships of all types when things start to heat up internationally. There were many techniques of agressive seamanship with the escorts, to shepherd the Russians to a safer distance, but ultimately it would come down to taking them out at a point to defend the battle group. An expanding bubble, if you will, around the battle group to control anything that could be a threat, as the threat level increased with increased tension in general. Freedom of the seas, and security would come to loggerheads, and a conflict would come at some point when someone shot first. Probably more of a "first strike" issue than ICBMs and 'counterforce' scenarios since the time frame in which it would happen is so tight.

Originally Posted by BenRoethig

They try to park the cats aft if at all possible. They take up quite a bit more deck space than a hornet.

I love that one glimpse of the Tomcat secured on the elevator coming up to deck level in the movie "Top Gun". Kind of reminds me of a fathfull hunting dog ready to go and awaiting masters orders.

Tomcats look awesome when they're silhouetted against the sun.