USS Conyngham (DDG-17) Mainspace Fire Aftermath

On 8 May 1990, while conducting pre-deployment operations off the Virginia coast, a major fuel oil fire erupted in the ship's Forward Fire Room. The fire entered into the ship's forward superstructure, isolating the crew forward and aft, and required an all-hands effort to extinguish the blaze.

During the mass conflagration, the Operations Officer (LCDR A. Pope Gordon, Jr.) was killed and ~20 other sailors were injured, some of them severely. Cancer related to asbestos exposure has caused at least one death too.

The videotape was shot on 5 may 1990, 2-days after the fire, and is unaltered with the exception of slides being inserted to define the different areas of the ship.

Video created and reused courtesy of Youtube user ALVIEDZANE.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ALVIEDZANE

The USS Conyngham, was a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile armed destroyer in the United States Navy and was in active service from 1963 to 1990.

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[PinkOld]

A very sad day when this happened.

A good ship was destroyed, and a very good man, LCDR Pope Gordon, was lost while saving the man with whom he shared his stateroom.

[RetSquid]

"USS Conyngham was decommissioned on 20 October 1990, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 May 1991 and sold for scrap on 15 April 1994."