page_title: USS Forrestal (CV-59)
section_title: 1956–1962
hierarchical_section_title: USS Forrestal (CV-59) / 1956–1962
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Forrestal (CVA-59) underway at sea in 1957. Forrestal, with assigned Carrier Air Group 1 (CVG-1), was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea from 15 January to 22 July 1957. From 16 August to 22 October, she took part in the NATO exercise "Strikeback" in the North Atlantic.
context_page_description: USS Forrestal (CV-59), was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the United States' first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz class, Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She surpassed the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest carrier yet built, and was the first designed to support jet aircraft.
  The ship was affectionately called "The FID", because her namesake was the first Secretary of Defense, FID standing for "First In Defense". This is also the slogan on the ship's insignia and patch. She was also informally known in the fleet as the "USS Zippo" and "Forest Fire" or "Firestal" because of a number of highly publicized fires on board, most notably a 1967 fire in which 134 sailors died and 161 more were injured.
  Forrestal served for nearly four decades in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. She was decommissioned in 1993, and made available as a museum.
context_section_description: From her home port, Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia, Forrestal spent the first year of 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. During this time she often operated out of Naval Station 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 Sea should it be necessary. She returned to Norfolk on 12 December to prepare for her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, for which she sailed on 15 January 1957.
  On this, as on her succeeding tours of duty in the Mediterranean, Forrestal visited many ports to "show the flag" and take on board dignitaries and the general public. 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 on 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, UK, 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 on 11 July to embark an air group at Mayport two days later, then patrolled the Atlantic until returning to Norfolk on 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 typical of a Mediterranean deployment as well as Split, Croatia (then part of 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. She completed another deployment to 6th Fleet January 1961 to August 1961, after which she entered a yard period at Norfolk Naval Shipyard where the six arresting wires were replaced with four, freed 03 level spaces were converted to berthing areas, and the right side flight deck mirror landing system was replaced with a permanent Fresnel lens in the port catwalk, among other updates. She conducted a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay in January 1962 with port calls in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Port of Spain, Trinidad. She then acted as the defending carrier in an amphibious force landing exercise on Vieques Island; it was the largest assembled naval force since the Korean War. Forrestal with Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson aboard, and Enterprise with President John F. Kennedy aboard hosted many foreign ambassadors, military attaches, and other diplomats for a Naval Air Power demonstration off the Virginia Capes in June 1962.
  Forrestal deployed to the Mediterranean again on 3 August 1962 to 2 March 1963 as flagship for Commander Carrier Division Four (ComCarDiv 4) participating in NATO exercises in the Atlantic and western Mediterranean with Enterprise, British and French carriers. Cross deck operations were conducted with HMS Ark Royal. Whilst a USMC Phantom was aboard HMS Ark Royal, it developed problems and couldn't take off to retu
caption: Forrestal in the Mediterranean, 1957 during her first deployment to the Sixth Fleet.
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