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Aircraft Carrier
CVA / CV 59 - USS Forrestal
		USS Forrestal (1962)							US Navy photo
Type, Class:		Aircraft Carrier; Forrestal – class;
Builder:		Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia, USA
STATUS:		Awarded: July 12, 1951 Laid down: July 14, 1952 Launched: December 11, 1954 Commissioned: October 1, 1955 Decommissioned: September 11, 1993 Fate: Currently, she is on donation hold as a museum and memorial at the Naval Station, Newport, R.I.
Homeport:		-
Namesake:		named after James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949); Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV / May 19, 1944 – September 17, 1947); and the first United States Secretary of Defense (September 17, 1947 – March 28, 1949);
Crest Motto:		> FIRST IN DEFENSE <
Displacement:		approx. 59500 tons (light) / 79000 tons (full)
Length:		325 meters
Beam:		76,80 meters
Draft:		11,30 meters
Propulsion:		4 geared steam turbines; 8 600psi boilers; 4 shafts; 4 screws; 3 rudders; 260000 shaft horsepowers (shp);
Speed:		30+ knots (55+ km/h)
Crew:		approx. 5200 (incl. airwing)
Armament:		see: INFO > Forrestal – class Aircraft Carrier
Aviation :		full flight deck with island, up to 85 aircraft
>INFO>: (Deployments, Port Visits, etc.)		see ship’s history, below …
Pictures, photos & more ...
USS Forrestal on trials – September 1955
USS Forrestal in the Mediterranean – April 1957
USS Forrestal enters port at Naples, Italy – May, 1959. Mount Vesuvius is in the distance. Aircraft visible on deck include A3D-2 bombers of squadron VAH-5, F4D-1 fighters of squadron VF-102 and A4D-2 attack planes of squadron VA-12.
USS Forrestal in the Mediterranean – April 1960
USS Forrestal at anchor in Souda Bay, Crete, Greece – June 1978
USS Forrestal – 1987
Crew members fight a series of fires and explosions on the carrier's after flight deck, in the Gulf of Tonkin, 29 July 1967. The conflagration took place as heavily-armed and fueled aircraft were being prepared for combat missions over North Vietnam.
James V. Forrestal				Fleet Admiral King, SECNAV Forrestal & Fleet Admiral Nimitz – November 1945
Photo credits: US Navy, US Naval Historical Center
Namesake & History:
James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949):
James V. Forrestal was a Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense (September 17, 1947–March 28, 1949). He was a tremendous supporter of naval battle groups centered on aircraft carriers. The newly created Department of the Air Force opposed his plans to build new ones, claiming that operations could be accomplished from ground bases. The conflict between Forrestal and the Air Force was probably the foremost cause of his mental breakdown and ultimate suicide. One year after his suicide his ideas were vindicated by the Korean War, which showed an essential role for aircraft carriers in future wars. Early Life and Career Forrestal was born in Matteawan, now Beacon, New York, the son of an Irish immigrant who dabbled in politics. After graduating from high school at the age of 16 in 1908, he spent the next three years working for a trio of newspapers: the Matteawan Evening Journal, the Mount Vernon Argus and the Poughkeepsie News Press. He entered Dartmouth College in 1911, but transferred to Princeton University the following year. At the latter school, he served as an editor for The Daily Princetonian and was voted by the senior class as "Most Likely to Succeed", but left just prior to completing work on a degree. After college, Forrestal went to work as a bond salesman for William A. Read and Company. When World War I broke out, he enlisted in the Navy and ultimately became a Naval Aviator, training with the royal flying corps in Canada. During the final year of the war, Forrestal spent much of his time in Washington, D.C., at the office of Naval Operations, while completing his flight training. He eventually reached the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Following the war, he served as a publicist for the Democratic committee in Dutchess County, New York, helping politicians from the area win elections at both the state and national level. One of those individuals aided by his work was a neighbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Forrestal then returned to William A. Read and Company, earning a partnership in 1923 before eventually becoming president of the company in 1937. By most accounts, Forrestal was a compulsive workaholic who was very cold and neglectful towards his family. One instance of this trait came when Forrestal, while working in England, received a phone call from his two sons, ages eight and six. The two had missed their plane in Paris, but Forrestal simply told the boys to work out the problem themselves and meet him in London. His wife Josephine, who he had married in 1926, also was a victim of this treatment and eventually developed alcohol and mental problems. Government Work President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Forrestal as an administrative assistant on June 22, 1940, then nominated him as Under Secretary of the Navy six weeks later. In the latter post, Forrestal would prove to be very effective at mobilizing industrial production for the war effort. He became Secretary of the Navy on May 19, 1944, following the death of his immediate supervisor Frank Knox from a heart attack. Forrestal then led the Navy through the closing year of the war and the demobilization that followed. Forrestal opposed the unification of the services, but even so helped develop the National Security Act of 1947 that created the National Military Establishment (the Department of Defense was not created as such until August 1949), and with the former Secretary of War Robert Patterson retiring to private life, Forrestal was the next choice. His 18 months at Defense came at an exceptionally difficult time for the US military establishment: Communists came to power in Czechoslovakia and China; West Berlin was blockaded, necessitating the Berlin Airlift to keep it going; Israel's declaration of independence brought war to the Middle East; and negotiations were going on for the formation of NATO. His reign was also hampered by intense inter-service rivalries. In addition, President Harry Truman constrained military budgets billions of dollars below what the services were requesting, putting Forrestal in the middle of the tug-of-war. Forrestal was also becoming more and more worried about the Soviet threat. Forrestal's Death Forrestal resigned on March 28, 1949, due to a "mental breakdown" and checked into the Bethesda Naval Hospital five days later. The condition was officially announced as "nervous and physical exhaustion" with his lead doctor, Captain George Raines, diagnosing his condition as "depression" or "reactive depression." A chief reason for Forrestal's fragile mental state was that his high-profile position was in sharp contrast to his personality. As a person who prized anonymity and once stated that his hobby was "obscurity", he and his policies had been the constant target of attacks from columnists such as Drew Pearson and Walter Winchell. Forrestal seemed to be on the road to recovery, having regained 12 pounds since his entry into the hospital. However, in the early morning hours of May 22, his body was found on a third-floor roof below the 16th-floor kitchen across the hall from his room. The Montgomery (MD) County coroner called it a suicide within hours of the death. The official Navy review board, which completed hearings on May 31, did not release a brief summary of its findings until October 12. The announcement stated only that Forrestal had died from his fall from the window. It did not say what might have caused the fall, nor did it make any mention of the bathrobe sash that was tied around his neck. There were reports of paranoia and of involuntary commitment to the hospital, as well as suspicions about the detailed circumstances of his death, which have fed a variety of conspiracy theories, some of which are described below. His alleged suicide note was part of a poem from Sophocles' tragedy Ajax: Fair Salamis, the billows’ roar, Wander around thee yet, And sailors gaze upon thy shore Firm in the Ocean set. Thy son is in a foreign clime Where Ida feeds her countless flocks, Far from thy dear, remembered rocks, Worn by the waste of time– Comfortless, nameless, hopeless save In the dark prospect of the yawning grave.... Woe to the mother in her close of day, Woe to her desolate heart and temples gray, When she shall hear Her loved one’s story whispered in her ear! “Woe, woe!’ will be the cry– No quiet murmur like the tremulous wail Of the lone bird, the querulous nightingale– A Conspiracy? Doubts have existed from the beginning about the conclusion that Forrestal committed suicide. These were fueled by the fact that the Navy did not release the transcript of its official hearing. The early doubts are detailed in the 1966 book, The Death of James Forrestal, by Cornell Simpson, which received virtually no publicity. Additional doubt has been raised by the 2004 release of the Navy investigation, informally referred to as the Willcutts Report, after Admiral Morton D. Willcutts, the head of the National Naval Medical Center, who convened the review board. Among the dicrepancies between the report and the accounts given in the principal Forrestal biographies are that the transcription of the poem by Sophocles appears to many to have been written in a hand other than Forrestal's, and there was broken glass found on Forrestal's bed, a fact that had not been previously reported. Theories as to who might have murdered Forrestal range from Soviet agents (a view championed by Joe McCarthy) to U.S. government operatives sent to silence him for what he knew about UFOs. Forrestal himself maintained that he was being tracked and bugged by Israeli security agents. There was also a slander campaign against him, led by columnist Drew Pearson. The campaign tried to make it appear that he was paranoid (the claim that he once said, "The Russians are coming!" was later proven as unfounded), but paranoia was never even mentioned in the official evaluations of his psychiatric state.
USS Forrestal (CVA-59) (later CV-59 and AVT-59):
USS Forrestal was launched 11 December 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Mrs. James V. Forrestal, widow of Secretary Forrestal; and commissioned 1 October 1955, Captain R. L. Johnson in command. 1956-1962 From her home port, Norfolk, Virginia, Forrestal spent the first year of her commissioned service in intensive training operations off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean. An important assignment was training aviators in the use of her advanced facilities, a duty on which she often operated out of Mayport, Florida. On 7 November 1956, she put to sea from Mayport to operate in the eastern Atlantic during the Suez Crisis ready to enter the Mediterranean should it be necessary. She returned to Norfolk 12 December to prepare for her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, for which she sailed 15 January 1957. On this, as on her succeeding tours of duty in the Mediterranean, Forrestal visited many ports to allow dignitaries and the general public to come aboard and view the power she represented. For military observers, she staged underway demonstrations to illustrate her capacity to bring air power to and from the sea in military operations on any scale. She returned to Norfolk 22 July 1957 for exercises off the North Carolina coast in preparation for her first NATO operation, Operation Strikeback in the North Sea. This deployment, between 3 September and 22 October, found her visiting Southampton, England, as well as drilling in the highly important task of coordinating United States naval power with that of other NATO nations. The next year found Forrestal participating in a series of major fleet exercises, as well as taking part in experimental flight operations. During the Lebanon Crisis of summer 1958, the carrier was again called upon to operate in the eastern Atlantic to back up naval operations in the Mediterranean. She sailed from Norfolk 11 July to embark an air group at Mayport 2 days later, then patrolled the Atlantic until returning to Norfolk 17 July. On her second tour of duty in the Mediterranean, from 2 September 1958 to 12 March 1959, Forrestal again combined a program of training, patrol, and participation in major exercises with ceremonial, hospitality and public visiting. Her guest list during this cruise was headed by United States Secretary of Defense N. H. McElroy. Returning to Norfolk, she continued the never ending task of training new aviators, constantly maintaining her readiness for instant reaction to any demand for her services brought on by international events. Visitors during the year included King Hussein of Jordan. Forrestal again went to the 6th Fleet between 28 January 1960 and 31 August, visiting the ports usual to a Mediterranean deployment as well as Split, then in Yugoslavia. Again she was open for visitors at many ports, as well as taking part in the patrol and training schedule of the 6th Fleet. Upon her return to the United States, she resumed her schedule of east coast and Caribbean operations for the remainder of the year. 1963-1967 Forrestal made history in November 1963 when on the 8th, 21st and 22nd, Lt. James H. Flatley III and his crew members, Lt. Cmdr. "Smokey" Stovall and Aviation Machinist's Mate (Jets) 1st Class Ed Brennan, made 21 full-stop landings and takeoffs in a C-130 Hercules aboard the ship. The tests were conducted 500 miles (900 km) out in the North Atlantic off the coast of Massachusetts. In so doing, Forrestal and the C-130 set a record for the largest and heaviest airplane landing on a Navy aircraft carrier. The Navy was trying to determine if the big Hercules could serve as a "Super-COD", a "Carrier On-board Delivery" aircraft. The problem was there was no aircraft which could provide resupply to a carrier in mid ocean. The Hercules was stable, reliable, and had a long cruising range and high payload. The tests were more than successful. At 85,000 pounds (38 t), the C-130F came to a complete stop within 267 feet (81 m), and at the maximum load, the plane used only 745 feet (227 m) for take-off. The Navy concluded that with the C-130 Hercules, it would be possible to lift 25,000 pounds (11 t) of cargo 2,500 miles (4,000 km) and land it on a carrier. However, the idea was considered a bit too risky for routine COD operations. The C-2 Greyhound program was developed and the first of these planes became operational in 1965. For his effort, the Navy awarded Lt. Flatley the Distinguished Flying Cross. The fire In June 1967, Forrestal departed Norfolk for duty in waters off Vietnam. In the Gulf of Tonkin on 29 July, Forrestal had been launching aircraft from her flight deck. For four days, the planes of Attack Carrier Air Wing 17 had been launched on, and recovered from, about 150 missions against targets in North Vietnam. About 10:50 (local time), a missile fired from an F-4 Phantom II and hit an A-4 Skyhawk getting ready to launch with Lt. Cmdr. John McCain as the pilot. John McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit, walking down to the nose of the plane, and jumping off the refueling probe. A minute and a half after the impact, the bomb exploded underneath McCain's plane, starting a major fire which killed 134 sailors and nearly threatened to destroy the ship. Video tape shot aboard the Forrestal shows McCain narrowly escaping the explosion. The two A-4s ahead of his plane were engulfed in flaming jet fuel — JP-5 — spewed from them. A bomb dropped to the deck and rolled about 6 feet (2 m) and came to rest in a pool of burning fuel. The fire left 132 Forrestal 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, and the lessons learned, when teaching Damage control and Ammuniton safety. Virtually all new Navy recruits are required to view a training video produced from footage of the fire and damage control efforts that were both successful and unsuccessful that morning. Following this fire, the ship developed the permanent nickname of "Forrest Fire". 1968-1980 Forrestal deployed to Mediterranean waters four time between 1968 and 1973; she sped to Tunisia for rescue operations in the flooded Medjerda River Valley near Tunis. The ship logged three more Mediterranean deployments between 1973 and 1975. On 22 July 1974, as a result of a conflict between Turkish and Greek Cypriot forces on Cyprus, the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Roger Davies requested the evacuation of U.S. citizens from that island nation. In a joint Navy-Marine Corps effort, HMM-162 from the 6th Fleet amphibious assault ship Inchon evacuated 466 people, 384 of them U.S. citizens, in only five hours. Forrestal provided air cover for that operation. In 1975, Forrestal was selected to be host ship for the International Naval Review in New York City on the nation's Bicentennial. On July 4, 1976, on Forrestal's flight deck, President Gerald Ford rang in the Bicentennial and reviewed over 40 tall ships from countries around the world. Shortly after the review, Forrestal participated in a special shock test. It involved the detonation of high explosives near the hull to determine if a capital ship could withstand the strain of close quarter combat and still remain operational. In September 1977, following a nine month overhaul, Forrestal departed Norfolk and shifted homeport to Mayport. The carrier left Mayport on 13 January 1978 for a three-week at-sea period in the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range of the Roosevelt Roads Operating Area to complete the third phase of Type Commander's Training (TYT-3), and to undergo the Operational Readiness Evaluation (ORE). Tragedy struck Forrestal on the evening of 15 January as an A-7 Corsair II from VA-81 crashed on the flight deck, killing two deck crewmen and injuring 10 others. The pilot ejected safely and was recovered, suffering only minor injuries. The plane crashed as the pilot attempted to land while the aft portion of the flight deck was crowded with aircraft. The Corsair struck a parked A-7 and an EA-6B before careening across the deck in a ball of flames. A small fire on the aft portion of the deck, caused by fuel spilled during the crash, was extinguished within seconds. At the time of the accident Forrestal was operating about 49 miles (90 km) off St. Augustine, Florida. A memorial service for the dead was held on board on 19 January. The ship returned to Mayport 3 February. Forrestal left Mayport for the Mediterranean on 4 April 1978. At 2200 on 8 April, just minutes after the ship had finished a general quarters drill, the crew was called to G.Q. again, but this time it was not a drill; a fire had broken out in the Number Three Main Machinery Room. Freshly painted lagging in Three Main engine room had been set smoldering by hot steam lines. Watch-standers within the space activated an extinguishing system and had the fire out within seconds. Forrestal recorded her 227,000th arrested landing on 22 April 1978 while in the Mediterranean. Pilot Lt. j.g. Erick Hitchcock and Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Lt. j.g. Al Barnet of VF-74 were the crew of the F-4 Phantom that marked the milestone trap. From 19 to 29 May 1978, Forrestal participated in Dawn Patrol, the first of three NATO exercises the ship would be involved in during the deployment. Dawn Patrol involved air and ground forces and over 80 ships from six NATO countries. Forrestal's role during the exercise included protecting a Turkish amphibious task group and working with Nimitz (CVN-68) and the French carrier Foch to defend against simulated "enemy" ships and aircraft. During this sea period two separate air crashes on successive days left one pilot dead and another injured. On 24 June 1978, Lt. Cmdr. T. P. Anderson, Operations Officer for Carrier Air Wing Seventeen, was killed when his A-7E Corsair II crashed into the sea during a practice bombing mission. On 25 June a pilot from VA-83, also flying an A-7E, ejected shortly after takeoff, suffering minor injuries. A rescue crew aboard an SH-3D Sea King helicopter from HS-3 recovered the pilot and returned to the ship within eight minutes after the crash. Both accidents occurred as the ship was operating in the Ionian Sea, east of Sicily. From 4 to 19 September 1978, Forrestal participated in the massive NATO exercise Northern Wedding, which included over 40,000 men, 22 submarines, and 800 rotary and fixed-wing aircraft from nine NATO countries. Northern Wedding, which takes place every four years, practices NATO's ability to reinforce and resupply Europe in times of tension or war. During the exercise Forrestal and the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal headed separate task groups, steaming in a two-carrier formation to gain sea control and deploying their aircraft in support of mock amphibious landings in the Shetland Islands and Jutland, Denmark. From 28 September to 10 October, Forrestal participated in Display Determination, the third and final NATO exercise of the deployment. The operation, involving ships, aircraft, and personnel from eight NATO countries, was designed to practice rapid reinforcement and resupply of the southern European region in times of tension or war. Forrestal arrived in Rota on 11 October for the last overseas port stop of the deployment. On 13 October 1978, the ship put to sea to conduct a one-day exercise with a task group of deploying U.S. ships headed by the aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-60). Air Wing Seventeen's planes conducted mock attacks on the task group to allow the ships to practice anti-air warfare. Forrestal returned to Rota late in the evening on the 13th. Before dawn on 15 October, Forrestal departed Rota and outchopped from the Sixth Fleet, having been relieved by Saratoga. On the homeward transit, Forrestal took an extreme northerly course as part of a special operation code-named Windbreak. Commander Second Fleet, Vice Adm. Wesley L. McDonald, embarked in Forrestal for the exercise. Windbreak was designed to introduce U.S. sailors and equipment to relatively unfamiliar waters and conditions, and to gauge Soviet interest in U.S. ships in transit to and from the Mediterranean. During the exercise, Forrestal traveled as far north as 62 degrees latitude, 150 miles (280 km) south of Iceland, encountering seas to 34 feet (10 m), winds in excess of 70 knots (130 km/h), and a wind chill factor that drove the temperature as far down as 0 degrees. Also participating in Windbreak were the guided missile cruiser Harry E. Yarnell (CG-17) and the destroyer Arthur W. Radford (DD-968). Forrestal returned to Mayport on 26 October 1978. On 13 November Forrestal commenced a four-month period of upkeep and repair known as an Extended Selected Restricted Availability (ESRA), to be conducted as the ship was moored alongside the carrier pier in Mayport. Forrestal ended 1978 as she had started it, moored to the carrier pier in Mayport. After completing two more Mediterranean cruises, she celebrated her silver anniversary in October 1980. 1981-1987 On 2 March 1981, Forrestal began her 16th Mediterranean deployment and second quarter century of naval service. During the Syria/Israel missile crisis, Forrestal maintained a high state of readiness for 53 consecutive days at sea. In a Gulf of Sidra exercise, two Libyan aircraft were shot down after firing upon F-14s from Nimitz over international waters. Forrestal aircraft made more than 60% of all the intercepts of Libyan planes. After departing the Mediterranean she operated above the Arctic Circle as part of NATO Ocean Venture '81. After a repair period, Forrestal deployed for her 17th Mediterranean cruise on 8 June 1982, and operated in the eastern Mediterranean in support of the Lebanon Contingency Force of 800 U.S. Marines in Beirut. On 12 September 1982, after transiting the Suez Canal for the first time in her 28-year history, she entered the Indian Ocean. This marked the first time that Forrestal had operated with 7th Fleet since the 1967 Vietnam cruise. Forrestal completed the five and one-half month deployment with a nighttime arrival at Mayport on November 16 and immediately began preparing for the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). The ship shifted homeport to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 18 January 1983, and embarked on the 28-month, $550 million SLEP, designed to extend the life of U.S. aircraft carriers another 15 to 20 years. During Forrestal's SLEP the ship was completely emptied and most major equipment was removed for rework or replacement. Forrestal's successful SLEP period was completed on time when the ship left Philadelphia on 20 May 1985. After completing a four-day transit to her homeport of Mayport, Forrestal immediately began a workup cycle in preparation for her first deployment in over four years. Forrestal departed Mayport on 2 June 1986, on her 18th deployment. During this cruise, Forrestal aircraft frequently operated in the international airspace of the Tripoli Flight region, the international air traffic control sector of Libya. Forrestal also participated in Operation Sea Wind, a joint U.S.-Egyptian training exercise and Display Determination, which featured low-level coordinated strikes and air combat maneuvering training over Turkey. In 1987, Forrestal went through yet another period of pre-deployment workups. This included refresher training, carrier qualifications, and a six-week deployment to the North Atlantic to participate in Ocean Safari '87. In this exercise, Forrestal operated with NATO forces in the fjords of Norway. Forrestal and the Big Easy The ship and crew performed so well in Ocean Safari '87 that the Forrestal's commanding officer, Captain John A. Pieno Jr., recommended that the ship be granted a special liberty call in the United States as a reward. Special liberty calls serve to reward Navy personnel with a trip to other parts of the U.S. and provides Americans who would normally never see warships and planes an up close look at life in the United States Navy. Captain Pieno being a native of New Orleans, Louisiana decided that New Orleans, during her Mardi Gras celebration, would be the perfect location to show off his pride and joy. During her trip to New Orleans Forrestal broke another record by becoming the largest ship to sail on the Mississippi river. Also during her four days in the Big Easy she accommodated tours for over 40,000 visitors. The tour included viewings and descriptions of all her aircraft, damage control demonstrations, and the crowd's favorite, a ride on one of her four aircraft elevators. 1988-1993 Forrestal departed on her 19th major deployment on 25 April 1988. She steamed directly to the North Arabian Sea via the Suez Canal in support of America's Earnest Will operations in the region. She spent 108 consecutive days at sea before her first liberty port. During the five and one-half month deployment, Forrestal operated in three ocean areas and spent only 15 days inport. She returned on 7 October 1988, and received the Meritorious Unit Citation for her superior operational performance during the deployment. After a brief stand down period followed by local operations, Forrestal participated in New York City's Fleet Week in May 1989, and then commenced preparations for her next deployment. Forrestal's departure for her 20th major deployment was delayed when a fire caused major damage to a primary command and control trunk space. Through the efforts of the ship's crew and civilian contractors, Forrestal was able to depart for her deployment on 6 November 1989, completing the necessary repairs well ahead of projections. The final two months of 1989 proved exciting. Beyond the "routine" exercises and training initiatives, Forrestal's crew became part of history, as they provided support to President George H. W. Bush during his Malta Summit. The support included a three-hour Presidential visit to the ship. Forrestal participated in numerous exercises during this deployment including Harmonie Sud, Tunisian Amphibious and National Week. She returned to Mayport on 12 April 1990, ending a deployment which had included eight port visits in five different countries. The year 1991 was a year of anticipation and change for Forrestal and its crew, as she spent the first five months maintaining combat readiness as the east coast ready carrier. Maintaining a hectic and challenging period of at-sea operations, Forrestal's anticipated deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm was not to be, and orders to deploy were cancelled twice during the conflict. The call to deploy finally came and Forrestal commenced the 21st and final operational deployment on 30 May 1991. No less challenging than the months of maintaining readiness for combat, Forrestal's deployment was repeatedly referred to as "transitional." During the ensuing seven months, Forrestal was called upon to provide air power presence and airborne intelligience support for Operation Provide Comfort, and to initiate, test and evaluate a wide range of innovative COMSIXTHFLT battle group tactics and new carrier roles. The year ended with Forrestal making advanced preparations for a change of homeport to Pensacola, Florida, and the transition into a new role as the Navy's training carrier, replacing Lexington. Forrestal arrived in Philadelphia 14 September 1992 to begin a 14-month, $157 million complex overhaul prior to assuming the duties as training carrier. In early 1993, however, the Navy decided to decommission Forrestal and leave the Navy without a dedicated training carrier. Decommissioning Forrestal was decommissioned 11 September 1993 at Pier 6E in Philadelphia, and was stricken from the Navy List the same day. Currently, she is on donation hold as a museum ship and memorial at the Naval Station, Newport, Rhode Island.
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last update: 14-03-2008
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