Transcript

Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969

From The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 18 min · 2,830 words · 22 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969", an episode of The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered published January 14, 2026 (18 min, about 2,830 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including USS Enterprise, Zouri, Kent Lee, USS Forestall, Buddy Payet.

What this episode is about

The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear aircraft carrier commissioned in 1961, experienced its deadliest incident not in combat, but during a catastrophic fire off Hawaii on January 14, 1969, highlighting the inherent risks faced by sailors in the Navy. Additionally, the Naval Ordinance Test Station in China Lake, California, played a significant role in weapon system development during and after World War II, including the production of the Zouri rocket, which enhanced aerial combat capabilities.

Key takeaways

  • The USS Enterprise revolutionized naval warfare, proving nuclear power's worth over 30,000 miles without a gas station.
  • Zouri rockets: low-cost wonders that went from Vietnam to Ukraine, yet ironically almost sank the USS Forestall.
  • A catastrophic 1967 accident aboard the Forestall showcased the perilous dance of technology and human error in wartime.
  • The Enterprise's complexity led to its class's cancellation; a costly reminder that sometimes less is more in design.
  • While a record-breaker, the Enterprise's legacy reminds us: the sea can be both a protector and a grave.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 3:00: USS Enterprise, Caltech University, Popular Mechanics
  2. – 6:00: USS Enterprise, USS Forestall, USS Banebridge, USS Long Beach
  3. – 9:00: Kent Lee
  4. – 12:00: USS Enterprise, Trial: Ordeal of the USS Enterprise
  5. – 15:00: Buddy Payet, Dr. Ken Barry, Perry Gard, USS Banebridge

Notable quotes from "Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969"

  • When USS Enterprise, the eighth US Navy vessel to bear that name, was commissioned on November 25th, 1961, she set a still unbroken record. At 1,122 ft long, she was the longest warship.
    about USS Enterprise · at
  • The Naval Ordinance Test Station at China Lake was established during the Second World War as a base to test weapon systems being developed at Caltech University. A publication of the.
    about Caltech University · at
  • Native American tribe, first began production in 1957. An improvement over previous designs, the Zouri rocket was a folding fin aircraft rocket, allowing the rocket to be fired…
    about Zouri · at
  • As an airto ground rocket. Sebastian Robin explains in a 2024 edition of Popular Mechanics. The goal was to engage point targets like tanks, ships, submarines, trains, and…
    about Popular Mechanics · at
  • At 0818, Captain Kent Lee ordered the ship to turn to port into the wind, planning for an 0830 launch of Samuel Cox of the US Navy History and Heritage Command explains, six F4 Phantom 2.
    about Kent Lee · at
  • Which he was attempting to call attention when the first explosion occurred. Michael Carlin, who was 21 years old at the time and helping to prepare jets for launch, wrote in…
    about Trial: Ordeal of the USS Enterprise · at
  • Press that as the fireball rose, I sat there fascinated and wondering what was going on. Then it dawned on me that I better get out of the plane. In all, Cox wrote, there were…
    about Perry Gard · at
  • Doctors and medical supplies. Frank Peak was sent by helicopter to a hospital in Hawaii. The fire aboard Enterprise demonstrated the risk of operations even away from the enemy…
    about USS Forestall · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Kent Lee — Person · Referenced commander (ship captain) · 1 mention · first at
    Named as the USS Enterprise commanding officer who ordered the ship to turn into the wind for flight ops and later continued the turn to blow smoke away during the fire—key decision points during the incident.
  • Buddy Payet — Person · Referenced service member (casualty) · 1 mention · first at
    Identified as the radar intercept officer (RIO) in the affected aircraft who was killed in the fire, representing the aircrew losses in the Enterprise disaster.
    The ship just like those who came before us. In all, 28 crewmen were killed, including the crew of the stricken Phantom 2. Cox writes that the radar intercept officer…
  • Dr. Ken Barry — Person · Referenced service member (casualty) · 1 mention · first at
    Identified as the pilot of the stricken F-4 Phantom II; he survived the initial fire but later died from burns, underscoring the human cost of the USS Enterprise 1969 flight-deck disaster.
    Phantom 2. Cox writes that the radar intercept officer, Lieutenant JG Buddy Payet, was killed in the fire and the pilot of the aircraft. Lieutenant JG Jim Barry died as a…
  • Perry Gard — Person · Referenced eyewitness (senior officer/aviator) · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted describing his reaction as a fireball rose, providing firsthand testimony of the escalating danger on the flight deck during the chain of explosions.

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • Caltech University — Company · Referenced institution · 1 mention · first at
    Caltech University is mentioned as the institution involved in the development of weapon systems.

Products & tech

  • USS Enterprise — Product · Case study · 3 mentions · first at
    The USS Enterprise is the focus of the episode, detailing its history, service, and a significant accident.
  • Zouri — Product · Case study · 4 mentions
    The Zouri rocket is discussed in detail, including its development, use, and involvement in accidents.
  • USS Forestall — Product · Case study · 1 mention · first at
    The USS Forestall is mentioned in relation to a significant accident involving the Zouri rocket.
  • USS Banebridge — Product · Referenced vessel · 2 mentions · first at
    The USS Banebridge is mentioned as part of a nuclear-powered task force.
    Larger reactors rather than eight small ones. Still, Enterprise would see long and distinguished service. She proved the value of nuclear propulsion in 1964 when along with the…
  • USS Long Beach — Product · Referenced vessel · 1 mention · first at
    The USS Long Beach is mentioned as part of a nuclear-powered task force.
    Larger reactors rather than eight small ones. Still, Enterprise would see long and distinguished service. She proved the value of nuclear propulsion in 1964 when along with the…

Media & podcasts

  • Popular Mechanics — Media · Referenced publication · 1 mention · first at
    Popular Mechanics is cited as a source of information about the Zouri rocket.

Full transcript with timestamps

When USS Enterprise, the eighth US Navy vessel to bear that name, was commissioned on November 25th, 1961, she set a still unbroken record. At 1,122 ft long, she was the longest warship ever built. She was also the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier and she would see an astounding more than five decades of service across a dizzying number of operations, including being the first nuclearpowered warship to engage in combat. Yet, the deadliest day of her long service didn't occur off the shores of Vietnam. Rather, it occurred off the shores of Hawaii. January 14th, 1969 demonstrated the risk that our sailors take every day when they go to defend our nation at sea.

The Naval Ordinance Test Station at China Lake was established during the Second World War as a base to test weapon systems being developed at Caltech University. A publication of the US Department of the Interior explains that the need for vast open space to test and evaluate weaponry led Navy and Caltech planners to the remote site in the Mojave Desert near the present-day city of Rididgerest, California. The facility played a role in the development and testing of numerous weapon systems, including the proximity fuse, a critical World War II technical development, and the development of non-uclear components of nuclear bombs.

Among its important developments were the design and testing of air launched rockets. One of those, a 5-in rocket called the Zouri, after the name of a Native American tribe, first began production in 1957. An improvement over previous designs, the Zouri rocket was a folding fin aircraft rocket, allowing the rocket to be fired from a tube, primarily the aluminum LU10A launcher pod. This made the rockets easier to reload and relatively inexpensive to mount on an aircraft. The system was modular, allowing for a range of payload options, including rockets used to illuminate targets and a shipmounted rocket that dispersed aluminum foil chaff intended to decoy anti-hship missiles. But its most common payload was a simple high explosive warhead that would disperse metal fragments, doing damage to structures, light vehicles, and personnel. The unguided rocket was more powerful and had a longer effective

range than previous designs. While initially the rocket was envisioned as both an airto ground and air-to-air weapon, it was used almost exclusively as an airto ground rocket. Sebastian Robin explains in a 2024 edition of Popular Mechanics. The goal was to engage point targets like tanks, ships, submarines, trains, and fortifications with munitions that hit harder than a plane's built-in machine guns and cannons, but with a greater accuracy than gravity bombs. The rockets were inexpensive, only some $400 while in mass production, allowing several to be fired, Robin explains, to compensate for inaccuracy.

The rocket was used primarily by the Navy and Marines mounted on attack jets, fighter jets, and helicopters, where it was, Robin writes, particularly favored for precisely targeting entrenched anti-aircraft guns, and missile batteries. He writes that hundreds of thousands of Zouri missiles were expended during the war in Vietnam. It was a powerful, reliable weapon of such utility that remaining US stocks were sent to Ukraine in 2024 for use in the ongoing war. Robin notes that all 6,000 of the rockets transferred there were expended by the end of June 2024, representing possibly the extinction of the venerable weapons system.

The Zouri rocket, however, did have drawbacks in both its engine and its warhead, as the Navy would discover. Rublin writes, "Ironically, no Soviet weapon came as close to crippling a large US warship during the Cold War as the Zouri itself. The first notable incident occurred on July 29th, 1967 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forestall. According to JM Kella writing in a 2022 edition of Naval History, more than 20 aircraft crowded the ship's aft flight deck with barely walking room between them. With the aircraft fully fueled and armed, their engines were being spooled up and pilots along with plane and deck crews were making lastminute checks for an 11:00 launch. A Zouri rocket Mark 32 was mounted on an F4B Phantom 2 fighter aircraft. 7 minutes before the mission was to launch, the Zonyi rocket motor ignited. The rocket struck the wing of an A4E Skyhawk attack bomber. The warhead didn't explode, but the strike

ruptured the Skyhawk's external fuel tank, releasing and igniting some 400 gallons of jet fuel. The fire resulted in numerous explosions of ordinance on the fully armed aircraft, and in the resulting explosions and fire, 134 sailors were killed and 161 injured. Significant damage was done to the forestall and numerous aircraft were destroyed or damaged. In the subsequent investigation, it was determined that there were several faults in the design of the LU10 launching pod that allowed an electrical surge that occurred as the pilot switched from external to internal power to reach the rocket. Procedures both in weapons handling and firefighting and damage control procedures were instituted as a result of the accident. But as it turns out, the Zouri rocket had another problem. as the 5,400 man crew of the USS Enterprise would discover. Enterprise was originally intended to be the lead ship

in a class of six ships, but the reactor system, 8 AW2 nuclear reactors, proved too complex and expensive, leading to significant cost overruns. The further ships of the class were cancelled as the Navy sought a more economical alternative, which would eventually result in the Nimtts class using two larger reactors rather than eight small ones. Still, Enterprise would see long and distinguished service. She proved the value of nuclear propulsion in 1964 when along with the nuclearpowered guided missile cruisers USS Long Beach and USS Banebridge, she circumnavigated the globe, sailing more than 30,000 m without refueling. The following year, she deployed to Vietnam. The first missions by her air group in the conflict were launched on December 2nd, 1965, making her the first nuclearpowered ship to engage in combat.

The pace of operations was astounding with a ship nicknamed the Big E launching 125 sortizes on its first day. The next day, December 3rd, Enterprise and her Airwing 9 launched 211 sortizes, 165 of which were strike sortizes. The air group commander noted that that was 34 greater than the record prior to Enterprises arrival. In its first deployment, Enterprise pilots f more than 13,000 sortizes in 132 combat days. 14 of her airmen were lost in those operations. It was an experienced and veteran ship. The air group flew another 12,000 sortizes in a second deployment between February and July 1968. The ship underwent an overhaul before beginning another deployment. Enterprise was still the only nuclearpowered aircraft carrier in the world. On January 14th, 1969, in preparation for Enterprise's fourth deployment to Vietnam, Enterprise was 70 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, undergoing her final battle

drill on the last day of an operational readiness inspection. Flight operations commenced at 06:30. At 0818, Captain Kent Lee ordered the ship to turn to port into the wind, planning for an 0830 launch of Samuel Cox of the US Navy History and Heritage Command explains, six F4 Phantom 2 fighters, seven A7 Corsair 2 light attack js, one RA5C Vigilante photo reconnaissance aircraft, one EKA3B tanker, and one E2A Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft. As part of the flight operations, several MD3 tow tractors were operating across the deck.

With the earliest models coming into service in the 1950s, the MD3, commonly called the Mule, was a multi-purpose military diesel powered by a 100 horsepower diesel engine. The tractor's approximately 8,500 lb of draw pole was sufficient to move any aircraft on the ship. The tractor was specifically designed with a low silhouette, allowing it to operate under the aircraft wings. It was a versatile and reliable workhorse that in addition to its towing ability could be modified with modules in the rear of the tractor, including an aircraft engine starting unit. This unit provided bleed air that would spin up a jet turbine. The unit produces hot compressed air, which is directed to an air turbine starter attached to the main engine, using the bleed air's energy to rapidly spin the engine's compressor and shaft. This is a faster and lighter alternative to electronic starting and was a common procedure on the carrier.

MD3A models with these units were commonly called huffers. According to Cox, one such huffer driven by airman John R. Webster was operating on the port quarter of the flight deck outside the landing area. But Webster had made an error positioning the tractor, something that junior airman apprentice Dave Reynolds noticed and to which he was attempting to call attention when the first explosion occurred. Michael Carlin, who was 21 years old at the time and helping to prepare jets for launch, wrote in his 2017 book, Trial: Ordeal of the USS Enterprise, that Reynolds noticed that the normally bright gold fuses of the Zouri warheads on one of the Phantom 2s had turned copper colored. The exhaust from the huffer is extremely hot and the tractor had inadvertently been parked so that the blazing hot air was directed to the starboard wing of the Phantom 2 and its pod of four Zouri rockets. Unlike

the forestall, it was not the rocket's engine that ignited, but its warhead. The Mark 32 rocket warhead was composed of 15 pounds of the high explosive compound B, a mix of research development explosive or RDX and TNT. This mix produces an explosion that is approximately 1/3 stronger than just TNT, and the warhead was designed to produce thousands of fragments upon explosion. While comp B is an effective military explosive, it is sensitive to heat. Cox writes that 358° was sufficient to cook off the warhead, while the exhaust from the huffer can be as hot as 850°.

At 0819, the first Zunni rocket exploded. Webster was killed in the initial blast, which ruptured the fighter's two external fuel tanks, sending thousands of gallons of burning JP5 fuel across the deck. Within a minute, the three other Zouri rockets in the pod exploded, followed by the four in the port wing. In 2014, Carlin told CBS News, "We had eight rockets go off in the first 20 seconds. Shrapnel from Shape Charges Warheads swept forward. As Seaman rushed to fight the fire, there was a much larger problem. The aircraft was loaded with six Mark 82 500lb bombs.

3 minutes after the fire started, the first of these 500lb bombs exploded, Carlin told CBS. Now, the bomb started going off and that was a totally different ballgame there. 20-year-old Frank Peak was working on deck just 200 feet from the explosion. In 2008, he told the Clarion News of Cordian, Indiana, "The force of the explosion picked me up and threw me several feet." Both his legs were broken and he had shrapnel injuries in his back and legs. He was pulled away by another sailor. He wasn't the only man injured and several men had perished in the initial explosion. Others had been thrown overboard. Elsewhere on the ship, Peak's friend Les Cberly had ducked under a catwalk at the sound of the explosions. He told the paper, "My eyebrows were singed, but I wasn't hurt.

Then I heard, "General quarters, General Quarters, this is not a drill." When he reached the flight deck, he described it as horrible. Sailor Daniel Noey was asleep in his bunk. He told Central California Valley's Eyewitness News 47 that the initial explosion threw him into a wall. He followed his first instinct and ran. He told the station that two other men from the room ran to the right, but he ran to the left. The decision saved his life. The other two men didn't make it. If I'd gone to the right, I probably would have died. The explosion had rocked the entire ship. On the bridge, Lee ordered the ship to continue its port turn so that the smoke could be blown away from the vessel, but the worst was yet to come. The explosion had blown an 8 by seven foot hole in the deck, among other damage, disabling important parts of the fire control system, and burning fuel was starting fires three decks below. More 500lb

bombs started exploding. Two more exploded, but then a bomb rack holding three detonated, rupturing a fuel tank of 6,000 gallons of JP5. That detonation created a 22 foot by 18 ft hole in the deck and the fuel exploded in what Cox described as a huge fireball. Lieutenant Commander Perry Gard told the Associated Press that as the fireball rose, I sat there fascinated and wondering what was going on. Then it dawned on me that I better get out of the plane. In all, Cox wrote, there were 18 explosions that blew five large holes in the flight deck. Coverly told the news that men from all over the ship rushed to the area and began pushing planes off the deck into the ocean to avoid more fuel tank explosions while others threw live ordinance overboard. He said the whole deck was in flames, but the men kept up the fight with fire hoses streaming water and foam. The ship's USS Banebridge and Rogers came alongside to

assist in fighting the fire and rescue crewmen that had been thrown in the water. It took 3 to four hours to extinguish the fires. In commemoration of the event in 2012, Enterprise Crewman Fire Controlman Firstclass Atlantis Davis said on the Navy official website, America's Navy, "Those sailors were the real heroes. They did what they needed to do to save their shipmates in Enterprise herself. That's something this crew has never needed to do, but we train and prepare to sweat and bleed for the ship just like those who came before us." In all, 28 crewmen were killed, including the crew of the stricken Phantom 2. Cox writes that the radar intercept officer, Lieutenant JG Buddy Payet, was killed in the fire and the pilot of the aircraft. Lieutenant JG Jim Barry died as a result of the burns months later. Cox explains that a prepoundonderance of those killed were flight decks maintenance personnel while

other crewmen were killed as they ran bravely towards the fire and others were trapped in compartments below deck. 314 were seriously injured, many with severe burns. The Newport News Daily Press reported that the ship's 80 bed sick bay was clearly not enough for Tuesday's casualties. One of the Navy's first acts was to call for helicopters to fly in doctors and medical supplies. Frank Peak was sent by helicopter to a hospital in Hawaii. The fire aboard Enterprise demonstrated the risk of operations even away from the enemy and it was the third major US aircraft carrier fire of the Vietnam War following the fire on the Forest Stall and another aboard USS Arisan in 1966.

But notably, the fire had been extinguished much faster than it had been on the forestall, which raged for nearly 12 hours. That was, Cox suggested, a result of the lessons learned from that fire. On Enterprise, 96% of ship's company and 86% of airwing personnel had received formal firefighting training. Whereas on Forest, only 50% of the crew and none of the airwing had been trained. That so many unenterprised were trained was a direct result of lessons learned during the Forestall fire. 15 aircraft were destroyed. Many others were damaged. Overall, the losses and lost planes and damage to the ship were estimated at $126 million. And yet, the ship was repaired in just 51 days and deployed again to Southeast Asia. A review board following the accident suggested many changes, including redesigning the hover so that it would direct its exhaust upwards.

For many of the crewmen aboard, having lost friends, the accident represented an end of innocence. Crewman Tom Jorgensson told Newport News TV 10, "You're no longer that adolescent teenager that you were maybe that morning before it all started.

The Big E was a warrior of the Cold War. Inactivated in 2012, she was not decommissioned until 2017 after 55 years of service. Owing to the complexity of decommissioning nuclear reactors, the ship was considered ineligible to become a museum ship and it's currently still in the process of being broken up. I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy. And if you did, please feel free to like and subscribe and share the history guy with your friends. And if you also believe that history deserves to be remembered, then you can support the history guy as a member on YouTube, a supporter on our community at locals, or as a patron on Patreon. You can also check out our great merchandise shop or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969"?

The History Guy (Host), Samuel Cox (Guest), Michael Carlin (Guest), Frank Peak (Guest), John R. Webster (Guest), Dave Reynolds (Guest).

What is "Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969" about?

The USS Enterprise, the first nuclear aircraft carrier commissioned in 1961, experienced its deadliest incident not in combat, but during a catastrophic fire off Hawaii on January 14, 1969, highlighting the inherent risks faced by sailors in the Navy. Additionally, the Naval Ordinance Test Station in China Lake, California, played a significant role in weapon system development during and after…

What is mentioned in this The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including USS Enterprise, Zouri, Kent Lee, USS Forestall, Buddy Payet, Dr. Ken Barry. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Fire Aboard USS Enterprise, 1969"?

The episode runs 18 min; the transcript is about 2,830 words in 22 timestamped sections.

More from The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.