Function: America's first class of "super" carrier.





History: Built in 1959, the Forrestal class carriers were the first of the "super" carriers, built specifically to accommodate modern jet aircraft. In addition to her many other special features, the Forrestal class sported an angled flight deck deck which permitted continual flight operations and multiple steam driven catapults for launching aircraft. Four ships of the Forrestal class were built; Forrestal (CV-59), Saratoga (CV-60), Ranger (CV-61), and Independence (CV-62.) All of the Forrestal carriers supported combat operations in Vietnam. On July 29th, 1967, while operating off the coast of Vietnam a weapons malfunction caused a combination fire and explosion chain reaction that would cause the greatest loss of life since the Franklin (CV-13) was bombed by the Japanese during World War II.





General Characteristics, Forrestal Class



Builders:

CV 61 - Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA



CV 62 - New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY





Power Plant:

Eight Foster & Wheeler boilers, four Westinghouse steam turbines, four shafts, 260,000 shaft horsepower (Forrestal) 280,000 shaft horsepower (all others)





Date Deployed:

August 10, 1957; decommissioned July 10, 1993 (USS Ranger)



January 10, 1959; decommissioned September 30, 1998 (USS Independence)





Length, Overall:

1076 feet (323.85 meters)





Flight Deck Length:

252 feet (76.81 meters)





Beam:

130 feet (39.62 meters)





Displacement:

Approx. 79,300 tons full load





Speed:

30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)







Crew:

Ship's Company: 3,019 - Air Wing: 2,480





Armament:

Three Mk 29 Launchers for NATO Sea Sparrow (RIM-7M) Surface to Air missile



One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (3 mounts)





Sensors:

One AN/SPS-48 air search radar



One AN/SPS-49 air search radar



One AN/SPS-67 surface search radar



Three Mk 91 fire control directors (Sea Sparrow)



Countermeasures:

One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)



One AN/SLQ-29 electronic warfare suite



One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)





Aircraft:

75











Ships:

USS Ranger (CV-61), Decommissioned, in Reserve

USS Independence (CV-62), Decommissioned, in Reserve