The USS Forrestal Fire

 The USS Forrestal Fire

My neighbor Hughey loaned me the book, Sailors to the End, the Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal and the Heroes Who Fought It. This book has a special meaning for Hughey, for he served on the Forrestal prior to the tragedy of July 29, 1967, in which 134 men died and 161 were injured.

As is the practice with institutions, the U.S. Navy covered up the roots of the tragedy. From the flyleaf: “Sailors to the End also corrects the official view of the fire, providing evidence that the U. S. government compromised the ship’s safety by insisting on increased bombing despite the shortage of reliable [and safe!] weapons.” 

The author, Gregory A. Freeman, did a fine job of detailing the events and connecting us with the heroic sailors and pilots, but, considering that he is a journalist, he fell short – he did not ask the probing questions that begged to be asked. For there was a heroism that was not displayed, a heroism that, had it been displayed, may have saved lives. The heroism that I write of is that of asking hard questions and following them up with hard actions – in the face of a culture that discourages such questions and actions. 

The increased bombing of North Vietnam that the government insisted on, meant that the Forrestal was provided with out-of-date ordinance, bombs which did not meet safety standards on a number of levels, including having a high level of fire resistance. The sailors who were ordered to ship the bombs to the Forrestal knew there was a problem with the bombs. The sailors and officers who accepted the bombs on the Forrestal knew there was a problem. The doubts that were expressed were quickly covered up, orders were orders.

At the same time, two different teams on the Forrestal were bypassing electrical safety procedures in arming rockets on the fighter jets – and neither knew what the other was doing. Therefore, the safety features of the rockets were compromised not just once, but twice. These decisions were also made because of the pressure the carrier was under to meet the aggressive bombing schedule. Bypassing the safety measures meant the jets could be launched more quickly. 

The tragedy unfolded when, the day after the obsolete bombs were received by the carrier, a problem electrical circuit launched a rocket from one plane on the flight deck that hit another plane (which John McCain was in), which ignited a fire. As the fire suppression crews responded, one of the obsolete bombs on a plane exploded, killing many of the trained fire crew. Before the day was over, obsolete bomb after obsolete bomb exploded, killing and injuring sailors and pilots and blasting holes throughout the ship. The firemen assumed that the bombs on the planes were rated, per current standards, to withstand a fire for an hour or more, little did they realize that they running to their deaths. 

The electrical malfunction that launched the rocket occurred on a jet whose crew had bypassed the two safety protocols, had they been in place the launch could not have happened. Had obsolete bombs not been on the flight deck, the fire would have likely been limited. 

Freeman, the author, ought to have gone farther in his book, he ought to have asked the hard questions about Navy culture, about the cover-up, and he ought to have asked why we lack the courage to speak up in the face of danger, why we are trained and acculturated to go along to get along. He might have also asked why we simply don’t want to be bothered with the truth, not as individuals, and not as institutions. 

As much as we like to think that we live in a John Wayne culture (sorry, I’m not in tune with current actors and actresses so John Wayne is the best I can do), we are conformists at heart, our only question is which of the prevailing “cultures” we will conform to. 

And so we see professing Christians, across the spectrum, adopting the world and its ways and attempting to enforce tyranny on others as they align themselves with ideologies inimical to Jesus Christ, the Cross, and the Gospel. We see other professing Christians adopting a passivity that is inexplicable. I suppose some pastors think that if they don’t raise hard questions, including about the way we treat others, that they will preserve unity in their congregations, that if they don’t call their people to live as citizens of heaven first and foremost that all will be peaceful. 

If the bonds of a congregation cannot bear the challenge of difficult questions, if they cannot hold together amid the call to worship Jesus and Jesus alone, if they are so enfeebled as to not be able to consider difficult issues and obedient responses to Jesus…then what does such a people actually possess? Who are they? 

We load dangerous items onto our ships and we are afraid to speak up, to ask questions, to point out the lethal content of what we are inviting into our churches, seminaries, colleges, and other institutions. We have lost the capacity to be self-critical, just as our political, business, and academic leaders have abandoned self-criticism and honesty. On the other hand, we have sharpened our skills in ostracization and demonizing those who disagree with us – if it weren’t so tragic, we could applaud ourselves for becoming better at something.

What is beyond comprehension is that the Forrestal is on fire and we don’t even know it.