USS Forrestal (CV-59) was an American aircraft carrier laid down in July 1952, launched in December 1954, and commissioned with the US Navy in October 1955. The total length of the ship - at the time of launching - was 325 m, width in the waterline 39.4 m, and full displacement - 82,400 tons. The maximum speed of the USS Forrestal aircraft carrier was up to 33 knots, and its main armament comprised 85 to 90 on-board planes.
USS Forrestal was the first of four aircraft carriers of the same-name type. Aircraft carriers of this type were designed from the very beginning as the so-called super-aircraft carriers, i.e. ships with a displacement much greater than those of the Midway type, having an oblique flight deck from the beginning and adapted to the operation of jet aircraft. Moreover, the new aircraft carriers had very good armor, which made it difficult to sink them as a result of an air attack. It is worth adding that the Forrestal ships had classic propulsion, not nuclear propulsion. From the moment it entered service, the USS Forrestal (CV-59) operated as part of the Atlantic Fleet, and from 1957 it operated in the Mediterranean as part of the 6th Fleet. The ship took part in the initial period of the Vietnam War (1964 / 65-1975), during which it broke out and almost led to the sinking of the carrier. After this disaster, the ship was transferred to the USA and underwent a complete renovation. In the period 1978-1982, it operated mainly in the Mediterranean Sea, due to the growing tension in the Middle East. In 1993, the USS Forrestal was decommissioned, and in 2013 it was sold for scrap.