Hancock (CV 19) - Naval Cruise Book

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Fatal Fire Ffrofm F6F Belly Tank-November 19, 1944 Af nam, J w f smmmaf W3

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Avengers Over Cavite Already at high speed to recover her planes, the Hannah heeled far over in a sharp turn which took her clear of her column of ships and washed tons of flooding water from her hangar deck. Racing here and there, like a fear- maddened deer with the raking claws of a wildcat on its back, the Hannah utilized the wind to keep the flames from spreading and to shake the cooling but weighty water clear. Long snake-like trains of fire hose trailed from fire mains placed at strategic points on flight and hangar decks. The busi- ness end of each hose consisted of a four- to six-foot metal pipe surmounted by a fog nozzle directed at the base of the fire in a cooling spray of salt water. The resultant steam choked off the flame-feeding oxygen. Midst all the heat and turmoil, hospital corpsmen, doctors and the chaplain labored among the injured and the dead, bearing stretchers and giving shots of morphine to the wounded and succor to the dying. ln thirty-eight minutes the fire was out and a tired and gallant crew surveyed the damage to the injured ship. Below in the sick bay, seventy burned and bandaged men lay, some so seri- ously injured that within hours they would join the thirty-seven men to whom no mortal aid could come. Above on the flight and hangar decks, grim and sad-faced men worked to make room for the Hannah's planes which must find a haven upon their return. They worked with many a conspicuous gap in their ranks-a gap filled with memories of some half-forgotten liberty in far-off Dago or perhaps that one-night binge in Panama, or even back to Boston where . . . . . had come aboard this proud new carrier,

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