I was serving on a Brit carrier then, we were shown the film of the fire to show what we could expect if there is a major incident. Ooo-er.

After that we were off the Philippines on the way to Pubic and saw the Forrestal limping its way back to the US. We sent some rum over to them as a gesture of sympathy, we heard it was well received for a dry ship.

I have heard that the fire was caused by no name doing a wet start, but if he was waiting for a cat shot his Skyhawk should have had its engine running, so who knows?