USS Forrestal (CVA-59) (later CV-59 and AVT-9) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier, the lead ship of a new class of "supercarriers", named after Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal.
Forrestal was launched 11 December 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., sponsored by Mrs. James V Forrestal; and commissioned 1 October 1955, Captain R. L. Johnson in command.
Ship Data
1956–1962: Early Service
From her home port, Norfolk, Virginia, Forrestal spent her first year in intensive training operations off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean. On 7 November 1956, she put to sea to operate in the eastern Atlantic during the Suez Crisis. She made multiple Mediterranean deployments with the 6th Fleet and participated in NATO Operation Strikeback in the North Sea.
1963: C-130 Hercules Trials
Forrestal made history in November 1963 when Lt. James H. Flatley III and his crew made 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs in a C-130 Hercules aboard the ship, setting a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a Navy aircraft carrier. At 85,000 pounds, the C-130F came to a complete stop within 267 feet. For his effort, the Navy awarded Lt. Flatley the Distinguished Flying Cross.
1967: The Fire
In June 1967, Forrestal departed Norfolk for duty in waters off Vietnam. On 29 July in the Gulf of Tonkin, a missile fired from an F-4 Phantom II hit an A-4 Skyhawk getting ready to launch with Lt. Cmdr. John McCain as the pilot. The two A-4s ahead of his plane were engulfed in flaming jet fuel. A bomb dropped to the deck and rolled about 6 feet and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel.
The fire left 132 crewmen dead, 62 more injured and two missing and presumed dead. The ship returned to Norfolk for extensive repairs. Even today the Navy commonly refers to the fire aboard the Forrestal when teaching damage control and ammunition safety. Following this fire, the ship developed the permanent nickname of "Forrest Fire."
1968–1993: Later Service
Forrestal deployed to Mediterranean waters four times between 1968 and 1973. In 1975, she was selected to be host ship for the International Naval Review in New York City on the nation's Bicentennial. On July 4, 1976, President Gerald Ford rang in the Bicentennial and reviewed over 40 tall ships from Forrestal's flight deck.
On her 19th major deployment in 1988, she steamed directly to the North Arabian Sea in support of Operation Earnest Will, spending 108 consecutive days at sea. During the Malta Summit, her crew provided support to President George H. W. Bush including a three-hour Presidential visit.
Decommissioning
Forrestal was decommissioned 11 September 1993 at Pier 6E in Philadelphia, and was stricken from the Navy List the same day. She is on donation hold as a museum ship and memorial at the Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island.