[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 23 (Thursday, February 6, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE USS FORRESTAL

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today marks the last voyage of the Ex-USS 
Forrestal, the world's first supercarrier. On this occasion, I believe 
it is fitting to recognize the ship and all who sailed on her in 
service to a grateful nation. Launched almost 60 years ago in Newport 
News, VA, she was named after former Navy Secretary and first Secretary 
of Defense James Forrestal.
  Forrestal represented American ingenuity and shipbuilding excellence, 
integrating operational needs, and engineering insight that created the 
first steam catapult, angled flight deck, and use of optical landing 
systems.
  During her 38 years of active service, Forrestal and its attached air 
wings were involved in missions around the globe. At the beginning of 
her sea life, she was sent to the eastern Mediterranean during the Suez 
and Lebanon Crises and over the course of her service life was involved 
in dozens of NATO operations, overseas deployments, patrol missions, 
and strategic port visits around the Atlantic and Sixth Fleets. She was 
``home'' to thousands of the Nation's finest sailors and aviators this 
country has ever known.
  Forrestal's contributions to the war effort in Vietnam are well 
documented. Unfortunately, so is the terrible fire that engulfed the 
flight deck on July 29, 1967, killing 134 shipmates, injuring 161 more, 
and destroying more than 20 aircraft. I will never forget when that 
Zuni rocket hit my A-4 Skyhawk after it was accidentally fired from 
across the flight deck, rupturing the fuel tank and setting that 
horrific, costly fire.
  I will always remember and honor my brave comrades who died in the 
Forrestal fire. Although the ship is being towed to Brownsville, TX, to 
be physically dismembered, her legacy, the bonds forged, and memories 
created among shipmates will live forever. I bid her a final ``fair 
winds and following seas.''

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