Forrestal-Class: The Navy's First 'Supercarrier' Aircraft Carriers Were Special
The USS Midway, commissioned in 1945, boasted a massive complement of 130 combat aircraft, but it was the succeeding Forrestal-class that was the first true supercarrier, or big and powerful aircraft carrier.
The Forrestal-Class Made History and Changed the Navy
The four ships of the Forrestal-class served with distinction from the 1950s until the late 1990s, when they were decommissioned and broken up. As the first supercarriers, they demonstrated the power of U.S. Naval Aviation and taught important lessons in carrier carrier operations still in use today.
Maya Carlin is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
