Forrestal - class aircraft carrier The " Forrestal " - class aircraft carrier s were a four - ship class designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s . It was the first class of so - called supercarrier s , combining high tonnage , deck - edge elevators and an angled deck . The first ship was commissioned in 1955 , the last decommissioned in 1998 . Design . The " Forrestal " class was the first completed class of " supercarrier s " of the Navy , so called because of their then - extraordinarily high tonnage ( 75 , 000 tons , 25 % larger than the post - World War II - era " Midway " class ) , full integration of the angled deck ( and were laid down as axial deck carriers and converted to angled deck ships while under construction ; and were laid down as angled deck ships and had various minor improvements compared to the first two ) , a very large island and most importantly their extremely strong air wing ( 80 – 100 jet aircraft , compared to 65 – 75 for the " Midway " class and fewer than 50 for the " Essex " class ) . Compared to the " Midway " class , the " Forrestal " s were longer and nearly wider abeam , resulting in a far more stable and comfortable aircraft platform even in very rough weather . When commissioned , the " Forrestal " - class ships had the roomiest hangar decks and largest flight decks of any carrier ever built . Because of their immense size they were built to a new , deep - hulled design that incorporated the armored flight deck into the hull ( previous American design practice was to design the flight deck as superstructure ) . This was a very similar structural design as used on British " armored " carriers , and grew out of the requirement for such a very large carrier , because carrying the strength deck at the flight deck level produced a stronger and lighter hull . The " Midway " - class ships sat very low in the water and were poor sea boats through their long careers ; they were very wet forward and their aviation characteristics were poor . The deeper " Forrestal " hull allowed the ships more freeboard and better seakeeping . The " Forrestal " - class carriers , like the " Midway " class that preceded it , were designed with armored flight decks . " Forrestal " - class ships were the first examples of supercarriers and thus not quite a perfected design ; their elevators in particular were poorly arranged for aircraft handling . The portside elevator , a relic of the original axial - deck design , was almost completely useless , as it was located at the fore end of the angled deck , in the landing path as well as the launch path of aircraft from the # 3 and # 4 catapults . The subsequent " Kitty Hawk " class moved the portside elevator to the aft end of the angle and reversed the position of the island and the second starboard elevator , vastly improving aircraft handling . The sponson - mounted guns suffered from poor range and complicated firing arcs , and were located in very wet and thus nearly useless positions in the bow and stern . They were removed after only a few years and were later replaced by missiles and much later by close - in weapon system s ( CIWS ) . The aft guns in " Forrestal " lasted until the fire in 1967 , then were removed and eventually replaced by missiles in the mid - 70s . The original design of the " Forrestal " - class ships would have had a very small , retractable island ; this design had numerous problems ( the mechanism to raise and lower the island was never perfected before the angled deck was added to the design ) and smoke fouling of the deck was expected to be a severe problem due to lack of adequate venting . The redesign to an angled deck allowed a very large island , much larger than on previous carriers , giving unprecedented flexibility and control in air operations . All four ships have been struck from the Naval Vessel Register . One , ex - " Ranger " , was on donation hold as a potential museum ship , but as of September 2012 , all four have been designated for dismantling .