The 1969 USS Enterprise fire was a major fire and series of explosions that broke out aboard USS Enterprise on January 14, 1969, off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. After a Zuni rocket detonated under a plane's wing, the ensuing fire touched off more munitions, blowing holes in the flight deck that allowed burning jet fuel to enter the ship. The blaze killed 28 sailors, injured 314, and destroyed 15 aircraft. The cost of replacing the aircraft and repairing the ship topped $126 million. Even graver damage was likely prevented by improvements made after the similar 1967 USS Forrestal fire.
Fire on the stern of USS Enterprise
Sailors from the destroyer Rogers use their hoses to help fight fires aboard Enterprise.
The Zuni 5-inch Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket (FFAR), or simply Zuni, is a 5.0 in (127 mm) unguided rocket developed by the Hunter-Douglas Division of Bridgeport Brass Company and deployed by the United States Armed Forces, and the French Air Force. The rocket was developed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It can be used to carry various types of warheads, including chaff for countermeasures. It is usually fired from the LAU-10 rocket pod holding four rockets.
Zuni (rocket)
A VA-113 A-4F launching Zunis during the Battle of Khe Sanh, 1968.
Sailors aboard Forrestal battle a massive ordnance fire triggered by a Zuni rocket.
