Smoke visible from the burning USS Oriskany in the Gulf of Tonkin, 26 October 1966
Date
26 October 1966
Time
About 7:28 a.m. local time
Location
Gulf of Tonkin
Casualties
44 dead & 3 aircraft destroyed[1]
156 injured & 3 aircraft damaged [1]
The 1966 USS Oriskany fire was a major fire that broke out aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Oriskany on the morning of 26 October 1966. The fire broke out after a lit flare was locked in a flare locker. The fire killed 44 people, mostly air crew, and injured 156 more. It was the first of three major fires to befall American carriers during the Vietnam War.
^ ab"The USS ORISKANY (CVA-34) fire and munition explosions". Insensitive Munitions. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
1966 USSOriskanyfire was a major fire that broke out aboard the Essex-class aircraft carrier USSOriskany on the morning of 26 October 1966. The fire broke...
30°02′33″N 87°00′23″W / 30.04250°N 87.00639°W / 30.04250; -87.00639 USSOriskany (CV/CVA-34), (/ɔːrˈɪskəniː/ or /əˈrɪskəniː/), was one of the few Essex-class...
serious fires to strike American carriers in the 1960s. A 1966 fire aboard USSOriskany killed 44 and injured 138 and a 1969 fire aboard USS Enterprise...
was the last of three major fires to befall U.S. aircraft carriers in the 1960s. It followed a fire aboard USSOriskany on October 26, 1966, that killed...
explosive ordnance aboard US aircraft carriers: the 1966 USSOriskanyfire, and the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. The subsequent investigation recommended an independent...
The Battle of Oriskany (/ɔːrˈɪskəniː/ or /əˈrɪskəniː/) was a significant engagement of the Saratoga campaign of the American Revolutionary War, and one...
gunfire and a torpedo on March 11, 1999. The Essex-class aircraft carrier USSOriskany was decommissioned on September 30, 1976. In the early 1980's, consideration...
sometimes sunk to help form artificial reefs, as was done with the former USSOriskany in 2006. It is also common for military organizations to use old ships...
remainder of DesDiv 72—Buck, USS John W. Thomason, and USS Perkins—Wiltsie participated in type training evolutions with Oriskany before arriving at Pearl...
deployment, while commander of Carrier Air Wing Sixteen aboard the carrier USSOriskany (CV-34), his A-4 Skyhawk jet was shot down in North Vietnam on September...
148918 (VAW-12, USS Independence), operational loss (non-combat) 22 September 1965, crew rescued Final loss: E-1B 148132 (VAW-111, USSOriskany), operational...
was environmentally prepared for sinking as an artificial reef as was USSOriskany. Due to elements of the Forrestal design having led directly to current...
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