On April 22, 1967. The USS Diamondhead (AE-19) arrived at Subic Bay Naval base in the Philippines to pick up a cargo of ordnance to be delivered to navy ships on station around the pacific. Among the cargo were many AN-M65A1 "fat boy" 1000 pound bombs, some of which had been manufactures BEFORE WW2, and which had been stored in open Quonset huts, having been exposed to nearly 30 years of heat and humidity. The bombs were in such bad condition the commander at Subic bay refused to sign the release order that would allow them to be loaded until he received a written order to do so from CINPAC. On July 28, 1967, these same deteriorating, leaking, bombs were delivered to the USS Forrestal (CVA-59), for a strike planned for the next day against North Vietnam. The bombs were in such bad shape that when the ordnance officers aboard Forrestal saw them, they immediately informed their chain of command that the bombs were a threat to the safety of the ship and should be immediately jettisoned. Since more modern bombs were not available, the decision was made at the command level to keep the bombs on board, but to leave them on the deck, not to put them in the ships magazine, where one of them going off could destroy the entire ship. The next day, as the planes were loaded with these dangerous and obsolete bombs, an MK-32 "Zuni" rocket on a Phantom F4-B accidentally launched, due to two different safety feature failures at once. It struck an A-4E Skyhawk waiting to be launched, ripping off a wing fuel tank, spraying jet fuel in a large area, then igniting it. The more modern Mark-83 1000 pound bombs, which were not available, were specifically designed to take at least 10 minutes while sitting in a fire before they could possibly "cook off", and were actually designed to melt rather than explode if exposed to fire. The 30 year old bombs were not. Exactly 1 minute and 36 seconds after the "Zuni" rocket launched, the "fat boy" bombs began exploding. Before the fire could be controlled 134 sailors died and another 161 were severely injured.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 06:06:55 +0000
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