This U.S. Navy newsreel consists of several segments. First, the sea trials of the USS Forrestal are seen with FJ-3 Fury jet fighters landing on the angled deck of the carrier. Second, SEALs / UDTs frogmen practice off the California coast. Third, the submarine — most maneuverable built up to this time — USS Albacore is seen operating at sea.
USS Forrestal (CV-59), formerly AVT-59 and CVA-59, was a supercarrier named after the first Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class. Unlike the successor Nimitz-class, the Forrestal and her class were conventionally powered. The other carriers of her class were the USS Saratoga, USS Ranger and USS Independence. She superseded the World War II Japanese carrier Shinano as the largest aircraft carrier ever built in terms of full load displacement and was the first to specifically support jet aircraft.
The ship was affectionately called “The FID”, because James Forrestal was the first ever Secretary of Defense, FID standing for “First In Defense”. This is also the slogan on the ship’s insignia and patch. She was also informally known in the fleet as the “USS Zippo” and “Forest Fire” or “Firestal” because of a number of highly publicized fires on board, most notably a 1967 incident in which 134 sailors died and an additional 161 were injured.
Forrestal served for nearly four decades in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Pacific. She was decommissioned in 1993, and made available as a museum. Attempts to save her were unsuccessful, however, and in February 2014 she was towed to Brownsville, Texas to be scrapped.
USS Albacore (AGSS-569) was a unique research submarine that pioneered the American version of the teardrop hull form (sometimes referred to as an “Albacore hull”) of modern submarines. The revolutionary design was derived from extensive hydrodynamic and wind tunnel testing, with an emphasis on underwater speed and maneuverability.[2] She was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the albacore, a small tuna found in temperate seas throughout the world.
Her keel was laid down on 15 March 1952 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 1 August 1953, sponsored by Mrs. J.E. Jowers, the widow of Chief Motor Machinist’s Mate Arthur L. Stanton, lost with the second Albacore (SS-218), and commissioned on 6 December 1953 with Lieutenant Commander Kenneth C. Gummerson in command.
The effectiveness of submarines in World War II convinced both the Soviets and the United States Navy that undersea warfare would play an even more important role in coming conflicts and dictated development of superior submarines. The advent of nuclear power nourished the hope that such warships could be produced. The effort to achieve this goal involved the development of a nuclear propulsion system and the design of a streamlined submarine hull capable of optimum submerged performance.
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