Forrestal (CVA 59) - Naval Cruise Book

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MED 79-80 The USS Forrestal, a gracious old girl, entered into a most ungracious decade. Hostages, Afghanistan, inflation, and a whole gammut of other problems highlighted the beginning of the eighties. The isolation of shipboard life and the lack of english language newspapers made it difficult to understand why everyone was in such an uproar, over the world situation. It was business as usual for the Fbrrestal - with one difference . . . we were alone. On January 3, 1980, we watched the USS Nimitz leave Naples Harbor for the Indian Ocean. Before leaving, Rear Admiral James R. Sanderson and the. staff of Carrier Task Group 60 embarked the Forrestal for the remainder of our time in the Mediterranean. The P Med became our show and ours alone. Fortunately we never got a chance to see what the Nimitz was doing. We were busy enough picking up the pieces in the Med. Some important things happened to us on the cruise. Things that -. you'll never read about in the headlines, but by far are more important. We grew, matured and hopefully got a little wiser. - - :ia From the beginning we were never certain of what was to become of us. The confident words of the Skipper, Captain Rudi Kohn, over the 1MC helped to reduce the apprehensions of an extended deployment. Thankfully we returned without a hitch. Soon after leaving Mayport, many crewmen began entertaining thoughts of a lonely holiday season abroad. More than an ocean separated us from our families and friends. On December 20, 1979 loneliness got put aside, when families from Marsaille practically begged us to spend Christmas with them. From then on, in city after city, it was the same. Whole towns seemed to be on holiday in celebration of the arrival of the crackerjack sailors from America. There is a lot to us and a lot happened to us. If you could listen to everyone, you would hear at least 5,000 different storys. Hopefully these pages will help describe something about us. The Fottestal is called the ship with a heart , so often we take that title without thinking of the nature of the title. We cannot forget that the officers and enlisted men of the Forrestal are the heart and soul of the ship. Without these amazing people there is no heart. Our aim in this book is to show a bit of that heart, the environment and lifestyle of this ship. As this book evolved, one thing became more and more apparentg that we were creating a book of people for people. The five and a half months we spent together stimulated the cruise book staff to want to show others our little community. Hopefully the results will stimulate your memory and imagination. Perhaps somewhere in these pages a spark will ignite a fleeting memory. If so, we have done justice to the crew of the Forrestal, for working as a team. Thank You. The Cruise Book Staff Cdr. Steven J Ancowitz Lt. Ernie Malboeuf ,Ltjg. Bernard J. August PH1 Barney Coman PH2 Paul O'Mara Special thanks to the entire Photo Lab for their patience while the book was being produced and for their diligence during the long, thankless hours it took out of their time. When viewing the section The, Crew please note that the names proceed from left to right, back to front. lf there is no formal order to the group, it is nearest to farthest, left to right.

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