US Navy’s USS Forrestal (CVA-59) supercarrier which burst into operational status in the mid 1950s to become the largest carrier ever to be built.
by Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
When we look at the powerful images of the US Navy’s modern aircraft carriers, it is easy to overlook the years of development and experimentation which preceded them and inspired their configuration, mission objectives and technologies.
Of course we all know the USS Gerald Ford and the Navy’s current fleet of Nimitz-class carriers did not spontaneously materialize out of a vacuum but instead results from years of innovation, design work and modernization initiatives, many of them from the carriers which preceded them.
USS Forrestal “Firsts”
One such example can be seen with the US Navy’s USS Forrestal (CVA-59) supercarrier which burst into operational status in the mid 1950s to become the largest carrier ever to be built. There were also many “firsts” with the USS Forrestal, as it was not only the first carrier built to support fighter jet aircraft but also pioneered other now standard carrier features such as an angled flight deck, steam catapult and optical landing system.
The Forrestal was also known as the FID, for “First in Defense,” as it was named after the first ever Secretary of Defense James Forresal. The ship was 1,067ft long and operated with a displacement of 81,101 long tons at full load, making her the first “supercarrier” ever to exist.
The USS Forrestal served for four decades across multiple theaters to include the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific regions. The ship was decommissioned in 1993 and made available as a museum before ultimately being scrapped in Brownsville, Texas in 2015.
The innovations pioneered on the Forrestal have generated a lasting influence upon aircraft carrier designs, technologies and practices. Although steam catapults are now being replaced by advanced Electromagnetic jet-launching systems on the Navy’s Ford-class, they were a signature element of the Navy’s Nimitz-class carriers, a group of strong, long-serving carriers which evolved from the Forrestal’s supercarrier era.
Optical landing system technology is another defining element of US Navy aircraft carrier operations, and it can be traced to the Forrestal as well. Today, fighter jets seeking to achieve an optimal “glide slope” to descend upon and land onto a flight deck are guided by a balancing high-tech light called the Fresnel lens. This is a light which aligns with the angle, trajectory and glide slope of the aircraft to help the pilot stay “on course” for a successful landing. This was a breakthrough technology adding optical technology to support and further stabilize carrier-deck landings, and it still exists in upgraded form on the US Navy’s Ford-class carriers. The USS Gerald R. Ford, for example, uses a modernized “Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System,” to assist pilots as they establish a glide slope and land a fighter jet on deck. ”
When landing on carriers in fighter jet, pilots learned to “fly-the-ball” as it was called and align, balance and center their glide slope with the alignment with the circular yellow Fresnel lens light.
Supercarriers
It would not be a huge stretch to suggest that the long flight deck of the USS Forrestal inspired the deck of the USS Ford and Nimitz-class carriers, as they are the same length of roughly 1,092–to-1,101 feet. The deck area was also of consequence when it came to engineering future carriers, as the Forrestal’s full deck area encompassed four acres, whereas the Ford and Nimitz-class carriers operate with a slightly larger 4.5 acre deck area.
It makes sense that the Navy would seek to enlarge the flight deck area as both the Nimitz and Ford carriers were engineered to optimize sortie rate and high-op-tempo air attack operations. The Ford-class goes even further by repositioning the island on the flight deck, a configuration which enables the class to increase sortie rate by as much as 33-percent. Both the Nimitz and Ford-class flight decks seem to have roots in the USS Forrestal’s design.
Interestingly, the USS Forrestal is described as capable of carrying as many as 100 aircraft, something entirely commensurate with its “supercarrier” label, as the Nimitz and Ford-class carriers were engineered to carry 80 and 90 aircraft respectively. This means aircraft were likely parked or stored differently on the USS Forrestal in a manner that enabled the carrier to operate with a slightly larger number of planes,
Kris Osborn is Military Technology Editor of 1945 and the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University