Uss Forrestal fire

[ABBAFAN]

I watched a documentary recently about the fire on board the USS Forrestal in 1967.I was suprised to learn that at that time it was not so that all members of the ships company were trained in fire fighting.and that one man talked about hearing of the fire initially and going back to sleep.I would have thought that as soon as fire was mentioned everyone would be at emergency stations no hesitaion.
Unfortunatly this man was stuck because by the time he got out of his bunk the ship was at condition zebra and all the doors were shut.
I assume this is the old term for condition zulu does anyone know when the modern phonetic alphabet came in to use?

[fatty]

Originally Posted by ABBAFAN

I watched a documentary recently about the fire on board the USS Forrestal in 1967.I was suprised to learn that at that time it was not so that all members of the ships company were trained in fire fighting.and that one man talked about hearing of the fire initially and going back to sleep.I would have thought that as soon as fire was mentioned everyone would be at emergency stations no hesitaion.
Unfortunatly this man was stuck because by the time he got out of his bunk the ship was at condition zebra and all the doors were shut.
I assume this is the old term for condition zulu does anyone know when the modern phonetic alphabet came in to use?

1955-1960 IIRC. Was this the same fire that John McCain did his action hero dive to escape?

[ABBAFAN]

i dont know unfortunatly.

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes it is. My heating and A/C man was on the Forrestal the day it happened. He was a deck crewman. He knew McCain but not personally. Anyway, he said after it happened and smelling burnt flesh for days as they limped to port for repairs, they offered the guys steaks for dinner upon their arrival. He said no one would eat it as it reminded them of the burning flesh of crew members. Quite a mess it was.

[micky1up]

this is typical of the inexperience of large ships on large ships even today they have a standing fire and damage control party whos only job is just that unlike submarines which the entire crew close up at emergency stations it isnt surprising that a crew member who wasnt part of this party to stay in his bed

[ABBAFAN]

on all` british ships the whole crew is trained and closes up.
when was zebra changed to zulu

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by micky1up

this is typical of the inexperience of large ships on large ships even today they have a standing fire and damage control party whos only job is just that unlike submarines which the entire crew close up at emergency stations it isnt surprising that a crew member who wasnt part of this party to stay in his bed

Maybe where you're from. The U.S. Navy learned from that. When I was in part of boot camp for every sailor was spent learning how to fight compartment fires.

[micky wannop]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Maybe where you're from. The U.S. Navy learned from that. When I was in part of boot camp for every sailor was spent learning how to fight compartment fires.

im a submariner and im more trained in firefighting than some of our emergency services all royal navy get the training but as i said in the general service world standing fire party exist even today so its not surprising in the past people that are not part of these parties wouldnt react the fact that the US navy has lost more personel and submarines (nuclear) than the royal navy shows that the way we train is effective and dont come back with this we have a bigger navy therfore we lose more