Fire on the Hangar Deck

Ever since man first ventured to sea, fire has been his worst enemy. It is no less so on a modern aircraft carrier where high explosives, volatile fuels, and flaming engines are often mixed with sailors working long hours under arduous conditions. In 1966 this hazardous situation led to a catastrophe costing the lives of forty-four men, injuring hundreds more, and causing millions of dollars of damage. The USS Oriskany, a twenty-one-year-old Essex-class carrier, was conducting combat flight operations in the Gulf of Tonkin when a night illumination flare ignited on her hangar deck and instantly transformed her into a flaming holocaust. To tell the tragic story of this terrible fire, Wynn Foster, an attack pilot who flew missions from the Oriskany, draws on his firsthand knowledge of the ship and her systems, extensive documentary research, and in-depth interviews with survivors. The result is a gripping account that describes efforts to combat a situation that was uncontrollable from the beginning. It is a story of disappointing errors, impressive professionalism, dark tragedy, breathtaking heroism, and lessons to be learned. Foster explores the preventable causes of the fire and assesses the Navy's handling of the aftermath. He reinforces current concerns about high-tempo operations conducted with dwindling resources and warns of the consequences of the mismatch that occurs when warfare is coupled with a peacetime budget. His book offers both an eye-opening view of the challenges faced by military units whose daily routine is filled with latent danger and an exciting, inspiring tale of man meeting disaster head-on.