You have this completely wrong. Suggest you look up the official report from Naval Institute Proceedings.
On the USS Forrestal, John McCain was sitting in his fully armed & fueled A-4 Skyhawk, in rotation for launch, next to an A-4 piloted by LCDR Fred White. White’s A-4 was struck by a Zuni rocket fired accidentally from an F-4 Phantom across the deck. The rocket launcher assembly on the F-4 had an electrical safety pin with a flag on it, notorious for flying off in the wind on deck. So, when the power on the F-4 was switched over to internal power, the safety pin did not prevent a power surge, and this fired the rocket.
White’s plane was hit by the rocket and his fuel tanks ignited- the rocket did not explode-it punctured the tanks and they caught. The impact also dislodged 2 1K lb. bombs onto the flaming fuel. LCDR White was killed when a bomb cooked off from the fire. McCain’s plane was surrounded by the fire, just prior to this explosion, and he climbed out of the cockpit, over the nose and then out onto the refueling probe to escape. McCain’s plane and armament then blew up completely leaving a crater in the deck.
The fire team chief and the first wave of firefighters were killed instantly in the explosion. McCain just barely escaped his own plane’s explosion.
John McCain did not fire ANY missile. And the ship was the USS Forrestal, NOT the Ticonderoga.
I can’t stand McCain, but you should get things factually correct. He was also repeatedly tortured, hung by his arms from behind his back to where he could never again raise his arms above his shoulders. He was also put in solitary for two years and his hair turned white from poor nutrition. His problem is his experiences and trying to conflate them with our effective waterboarding of islamofascists. Good Night.
Thanks. I appreciate being corrected. I had read the account I spoke of several times a long time ago. Thought it to be true.
I fully concur I should have relooked the issue before I posted.
I very much appreciate the tone of your response to my inappropriate post and the very detailed description of what happened on the Forrestal.
As for the torture part—is there any credible verification of McCain’s alleged torture?
My only explanation is my utter contempt for the man McCain has become. I got inexcusably carried away.