Home»History and Legacy»Timeline»1966-1967: Taking the Offensive»Fire aboard the USS Oriskany

Fire aboard the USS Oriskany

October 26, 1966

1966-10-26_USS_Oriskany(CV-34)_on_fire
1966-10-26_USS_Oriskany(CV-34)_on_fire
Smoke pours from the USS Oriskany’s hangar bay, October 26, 1966. (Naval History and Heritage Command)

In the first of three disastrous fires aboard aircraft carriers during the war, a fire starts in a flare locker on the USS Oriskany and subsequently sets much of the vessel on fire. The incident takes the lives of 44 men from the ship’s crew and air group.1

1“USS Oriskany,” http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-o/cv34.htm (link is external) (accessed 4/8/14); Edward J. Marolda, By Sea, Air, and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the War in Southeast Asia (Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1994), 96–97. Other two fires were the Forrestal (“The Forrestal Fire,” http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=73 (link is external) (accessed 4/8/14)) and Enterprise “Enterprise Remembers 1969 Fire,” January 17, 2012, http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=64783 (link is external) (accessed 4/15/14).