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Forrestal's 'Flag Country' Burns

By JOHN STEVENSON  
Virginian-Pilot Staff Writer

The Virginian-Pilot

Tuesday, July 11, 1972 Section B

NORFOLK - A fire burned for almost nine hours Monday aboard the aircraft carrier Forrestal at Norfolk Naval Station's Pier 12, damaging a berthing compartment, dining area, and galley in the flag section of the ship.

Several adjacent areas, including a plotting room for combat information, were believed damaged by the blaze of undetermined origin. There were no reported injuries.

The ship had no aircraft aboard.

The blaze was the third fire within several hours aboard the Forrestal, scheduled to sail for the Mediterranean late this month to relieve the Norfolk-based carrier John F. Kennedy.

The earlier fires damaged a mattress and a teletype machine. Lt. (j.g.) Donald Tomlin, the ship's public affairs officer, said that the first blaze apparently was caused by a careless smoker and the second broke out when a light on the teletype machine ignited the machine's paper wrap-per.

Combat areas of the carrier, "absolutely" were not related. Arson has been ruled out in the first two fires, but the cause of the large blaze is being investigated, he said.

The fire in flag country, as the admirals' section of a ship is called, was considered unusual by fire fighters because no combustibles were stored there and no one should have been in that portion of the Forrestal Monday. The section was to have remained unoccupied until later this month, when Rear Adm. J. T. Moorer was scheduled to report aboard for the Mediterranean deployment.

Flag country on the Forrestal is between the hangar deck ceil-ing and the ship's flight deck. The area is about midway be-tween the carrier's navigation is-land and her bow.

An inspection by newsmen revealed no discernible damage to the flight deck's large steel plates, which must withstand the tremendous pressure generated by jet aircraft landing and taking off.

However, there was unconfirmed speculation Monday that the deck, whose underside was subjected to intense heat for hours, may have been weakened to the point that the Forrestal's Mediterranean deployment will have to be postponed.

Official comment was guarded. "There's absolutely no way to speculate on possible operational delays," Tomlin said. "We have no experience in judging damage in a fire like this because we've never had one in these spaces be-fore."

If the Forrestal's departure is delayed, the Kennedy' Mediterranean cruise probably would have to be extended for the third time.

Two ships that were scheduled to relieve the Kennedy this spring, the Florida-based Saratoga and Norfolk-based America, were diverted to Vietnam.

The largest Forrestal fire Monday was reported about 2:53 a.m. by a crewman who discovered smoke in a starboard passage-way.

"There was an unbelievable amount of smoke up there," Tomlin said. "We had myself and a few other people gagging and nauseated with smoke throughout the night."

The officer added that the fire "ruined a hell of a lot of uni-forms. We just had almost every-body on the ship pitching in, rig-ging hoses, and getting the smoke out.

"We got the fastest response out of our damage control party that I've seen. It was amazing."

Tomlin said that electrical power from the ship's quarter-deck to the after portion of the is-land was shut off within three minutes, and ventilation systems were closed to prevent smoke from filtering through the vessel.

Besides the Forrestal's damage controlmen and other crewmen, five units from the Norfolk Naval Station Fire Department joined in fighting the blaze.

Fire fighters poured water into the burning compartments from adjacent passageways.

Ten hoses poured water onto the hangar deck ceiling to cool the burning area from beneath, and additional hoses were used to cool the flight deck above flag country.

Countless crewmen used brooms to push excess water over the Forrestal's side.

The fire still was burning heav-ily at 10 a.m. Tomlin said at 10:25 a.m. that it had been impossible, minutes earlier, for firemen to see their own hands in the smoke-filled compartments, or to enter the heart of the burning area even with oxygen breathing apparatus.

Smoke or flames were not visi-ble outside the damaged com-partments at any time, however.

As firefighters began to secure their equipment about noon, one crewman with a red cross on his white helmet sat in the hangar deck with head bent and hands crossed in an attitude of prayer. Others stood around drinking cof-fee and talking.

The intensity of the just-extin-guished blaze was indicated by the number of spent oxygen can-isters that filled two large trash cans and spilled over onto the Forrestal's flight deck.

It was the Forrestal that expe-rienced the worst ship fire since World War II five years ago this month in the Gulf of Tonkin. That blaze killed 134 crewmen.

TO MY SIX SCIENTISTS: Append this further startling victim to the amazing reder mechanisms...planted in the Chesapeake Bay area...now have knocked down four airplanes, and knocked out the aircraft carrier Forrestal (temporarily, at least). I told Bill that ships and planes would not be safe in this area...also the SI's told me to tell Bill (which I did) to tell the government to keep all ships and airplanes out of this area for thirty (30) days. Well...I guess the Forrestal got its armament and guns...gave it immunity to the PK power now prowling the Bay area. He! Poor Forrestal. Now it knows better.

Owens  
(PKWian)

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Baltimore, 7/12/65

Lightning  
Bolt Kills  
Man in Park

A 23-year-old Curtis Bay man was killed Friday after being struck by a bolt of lightning while walking through Bay-Brook Park during a severe late afternoon thunderstorm.

Stanley Holmes Jr. of the 3700 block Pascal St. was pronounced dead on arrival at South Baltimore County General Hospital about 4 p.m.

A witness, Larry Squires, 13, of the 1300 block Tompkins St., told police he was looking out the window when he saw Holmes walking through the park, located between Curtis Bay and Brooklyn. The youth said that Holmes "flew through the air and seemed to explode."

Another witness, Sidney Thompson, 38, of the same block, said he saw Holmes' legs buckle and then he flew about three feet through the air.

Police found Holmes lying face down in the field, the ground around him torn open. Police said the man's clothes were ripped off, and some pieces of his clothing were found about 80 feet away.

TO MY SIX SCIENTISTS....

I told Bill, the radar man, that lightning would attack the Bay area following my radar screen experiment (and explained that lightning is my trademark, to him at the time)....

And as you can see...it did strike.

As I told Bill would happen...storms came; lightning struck; and planes rained down in the Bay area...following the radar screen demonstration.

What is really frightening is...I didn't use my worst, strongest powers...the Deadly Triangle. Considering what did happen...I shudder to think if I'd gone all out with my mental forces.

What saddens me terribly...is the loss of lives following that radar screen experiment. But neither Bill nor I could foresee it during the experiment. It only dawned on me...in the moments after we'd finished the experiment...what could happen in the Bay area as a result of unleashing such horrendous psi-force there, that Monday night.

Bill, also, is horrified and saddened over the loss of life.

But it is important to report it, all, in detail...for scientific, objective study.

You scientists can learn more about me, my mind, and the UFO's...during that two-hour radar screen demonstration, and what followed afterward...then you can learn about the whole ten years of my work which preceded it.

-Owens

(PKI)

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Scientists' Warnings 7/23/72

Is Man Modifying the Global Climate?

Cleve. Plain Dealer  
From First Page

The effects man is having on the global environment.

The weather is cursed by those disturbed by it. Yet to survive, we all must learn to live with it. Perhaps it is the most talked-about subject in the world.

Extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves or long wet spells, are often most aggravating in cities. When it is hot and muggy, pollutants in the air help to make the weather quite unbearable. When it rains, it rains dirt - pollutants washed from the sky. And when it is calm, pollutants build up to dangerous levels as they have in parts of the nation this past week.

Whenever extreme weather conditions occur, complaints begin immediately that the cause is atomic bombs, or high-flying jet planes, or cloud-seeding experiments thousands of miles away or even astronauts walking on the moon 230,000 miles out.

This OFTEN is coupled with concern that the isolated quirks in the weather may be forewarnings of great climatic upheavals that could change human living patterns dramatically.

Atmospheric scientists immediately discard these notions.

"The only dependable thing about the weather is that it is always changing," said Dr. Jerome Namais, research meteorologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, Calif., and former head of the National Weather Service's long-range forecasting office.

Although temporary changes will occur in large areas, no massive changes can be expected on a global scale, he told The Plain Dealer.

"One problem when talking about the weather is that people's memories are not always as good as they think they are," said Dr. Louis J. Battan, professor of atmospheric sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson.

When one looks at records over long period of time, it often turns out that the good old days were not really much different from what they are now, Battan said. Even in the good old days there were hot spells, cold spells and wet spells.

LAST MONTH the major complaint in the Cleveland area was the amount of rainfall. And now it's the heat.

But even the rainfall, which measured much above average mainly because of Hurricane Agnes, was not a record for June. The record was in 1902, when 9.77 inches of rain was recorded. This year the level for June was 9.06 inches, according to meteorologist at the weather service's forecast office here.

The rain, of course, created many problems here. It washed out picnics and flooded basements. It reduced growth of some crops, especially corn, which thrives on sunlight. It helped raise lake levels, too.

Although lake levels are now above normal, they were higher in 1969 and the record goes back to 1952, according to the Army Corps of Engineers office here.

While Cleveland received abnormally high amounts of rain in June, rainfall in Cincinnati and other Ohio cities was below normal.

The current heat wave also is short of any record.

ONE OF THE MAIN indicators of weather patterns is the jet stream - the high velocity westerly winds ranging between 30,000 and 40,000 feet in altitude - according to Namais. Storms are directly related to the path the jet stream takes. As the path varies, so does surface weather.

In the 1950s the eastern part of the country had relatively warm winter weather. While the western half had colder weather than normal, Namais said. He suggested that this might have been associated with the movement of the jet stream, which dipped south over the western part of the country and then north over the east, taking the warmer southern air with it.

In the 1960s the jet stream shifted, he said, bringing colder than normal winter weather to the east.

The pattern that was noticed in the 1950s may be coming back.

Last winter was a relatively mild one in the east, Namais said, and it could mean another shift in the jet stream for a few years.

Although he is unwilling as yet to predict that eastern states can expect milder winters for the next few years, he admits it is a possibility.

Many meteorologists believe man already has influenced the climate somewhat and that the problem will get worse. Others question whether any effect have been noticed as yet. But all suggest that a close look should be taken at the situation.

Most scientists readily admit that the climate in and around large cities already has undergone changes.

MASSES OF CONCRETE retain heat and buildings slow down the winds, Dr. William W. Kellogg of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., said.

Cities on the average have a temperature of about 1 to 1½ degrees higher than the surrounding countryside, according to the 1970 report of the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

While wind speed may average about 20% to 30% lower, rainfall may be 5% to 10% more than the rural surroundings, the report added.

There also is increasing concern that as dust particles generated in a city are blown toward suburban areas, water vapor may condense on the particles, causing more rain downwind of the city, Kellogg said. A study of such effects is now under way in the St. Louis area.

One of Kellogg's major concerns is that increasing generation of heat from power plants, industries, motor vehicles and other sources may affect the world's climate in the future.

This massive release of heat energy could cause a continuous warming of the atmosphere, eventually melting ice floes, he said. This could take centuries to happen. It could result in the inundation of the earth's coastal cities, he added.

CLIMATIC changes could come in other ways, too.

The burning of coal and other fuels has helped to increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, considered to be harmless, may in fact be helping to raise the temperature at the earth's surface.

Carbon dioxide absorbs the sun's radiation but blocks out the long-wave rays emitted from the earth's surface. Thus, it creates a kind of "greenhouse" effect by retaining heat energy that would otherwise bounce off into space.

At the same time, other scientists have contended that by increasing the amount of dust particles in the atmosphere some of the sun's rays have been blocked, thus decreasing the earth's temperature.

In the late 19th century the earth's temperature began to climb slowly. By 1940 it was about 1.1 degree Fahrenheit higher than it was in 1890, according to the Council on Environmental Quality.

But since 1940 the temperature has cooled off about ½ degree. A drop of about 7 degrees would be enough to trigger a new ice age, according to the Council on Environmental Quality.

WILL THERE be a global frost or flood?

No one seems to know for sure right now. In any event, either occurrence probably would come far beyond our lifetimes.

At present, the heating and cooling effects may be balancing one another. But as clean air laws bring about a reduction in particles in the air, the warming effect may begin to dominate.

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