Video: 'USS FORRESTAL AIRCRAFT CARRIER FIRE TRIAL BY FIRE MOVIE 1967 42704'

(Saturday, July 29, 1967, 10:51:21 a.m. local time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — An accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal today in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 U.S. Navy sailors and officers.

A Zuni rocket on an F-4 Phantom jet fighter was “accidentally triggered by a stray surge of electricity” and launched, traveling across the deck and striking an A-4 Skyhawk attack jet and setting it on fire.

Future Arizona senator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, was in the A-4 when it was struck by the rocket, and although he was struck by shrapnel, he had already been suited up in a flameproof jump suit and was able help in the rescue efforts.