Forrestal (CVA 59) - Naval Cruise Book

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l ir. E415 ab . sf .i ,.,. ..,.. . . , i :g.'C2iE'I - alia-1 'Z 1 .:2'1'.! l'J1'.?v f T 5 I V: 1 ,g 1 -Vine., l M. 'i 3?1-'iw r i ,4 , fi.H:..2'l:U: J X .'.-ff-':.'wf-'5 1 1 l l 'sf-?2f?2:-gigs' 3 L fl f 1 . Hffr'-':5.fi liv si fag, 'J' , rl --J ' ' uf l' ' v ETF ..,.5jiv',, 1, f , e, irlTfl5V?i A-i .2171 rl r - ff- 1 r , t-' 'Q-17. ,. , r J 5 3.ii?fflf'1E:4?j., 'fp ii A E fl -. V' : fl 3' CE- -Q. r Q '51-1 51- 3, . E'-'i'7F2.',g.f'1-f A t X.-'.f5:'E'L . i.r5:'Efi'iiQ.. r. ,,,, N. rifilf.-'.-,,: l.lif.fQN u r if - l .. -, .,: 1 , ll'-2 .V 5. . i. l , 1 . , . :1'.'. i i l The FORRESTAL story began long before the ship her- self was laid down. In the closing months of World War ll, Admiral Mark Mitscher, at the time the com- mander of the fast Carrier Task Force in the South Paci- fic, made the first recorded suggestion for a carrier with the general characteristics of the FORRESTAL class. Other military and civilian leaders agreed with him. ln the years following the war, the need for aircraft carriers larger than the MIDWAY class became increas- ingly apparent. Advances in aviation, particularly the advent of heavier, faster jet aircraft, could be exploited fully only by construction of a large modern carrier de- signed specifically for compatibility with these high- performance aircraft. On July l2, 1951, the Navy announced that the New- port News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company had been awarded a contract to build CVA-59. The keel for the new ship was laid July l4, l952. Less than 30 months later, the first of the postwar carriers was launched: Mrs. James V. Forrestal, widow of the first Secretary of De- fense, christened her USS FORRESTAL. Commissioning ceremonies were held October l, l955, at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. On the same day, Captain Roy L. Johnson became the first commanding officer of FORRESTAL. Commander Ralph L. Werner, commander of the air group, recorded the first arrested landings on January 3, l956. Since then, FORRESTAL has had 128,897 additional landings. After a ten-week shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and summer operations off the Atlantic coast with the SECGND FLEET, EORRESTAL was called to bolster U. S. forces in the Mediterranean during the Suez crisis inthe fall of 1956. The new carrier returned to Norfolk for Christmas, but on January 23, l957. she sailed her first regularly scheduled deployment as a unit of the SIXTH FLEET in the Mediterranean. Again. in July l95S. FORRESTAL was called on short notice to augment US. forces in Europe, this time because of civil strife in Lebanon. On that occasion, the ship embarked Air Group Ten at lvlayport, lflorida. in just four hours, and sped to mid-Atlantic to operate with Task Force 23 while waiting in readiness for developments in Lebanon. When the crisis eased. she returned to Norfolk.

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