Shortly after the fire began, boats from other vessels operating with "John F. Kennedy" and "Belknap" began to pull alongside the burning ship, often with complete disregard for their own safety. The guided missile destroyer and destroyer moved in on both sides of "Belknap", their men directing fire hoses into the amidships area that the stricken ship’s crew could not reach. "Bordelon" was also badly damaged in a collision with "Kennedy" the following year which forced her removal from service. "Claude V. Ricketts" moved in and secured alongside "Belknap"’s port side, and evacuated the injured while fragments from exploding ammunition showered down upon her weather decks. The frigate closed in the carrier’s starboard side to provide fire-fighting assistance. Ammunition from "Belknap"’s three-inch ready storage locker, located amidships, cooked off, hurling fiery fragments into the air and splashing around the rescue boats. Undaunted, the rescuers pulled out the seriously wounded and delivered fire-fighting supplies to the sailors who refused to surrender their ship to the conflagration.