USS Forrestal (CVA-59) 1968-69 Cruise Varsity Jacket

USS Forrestal (CVA-59) was the first purpose-built supercarrier of the postwar era, commissioned in 1955 and named for James V. Forrestal, the first Secretary of Defense. Her angled flight deck and immense size set the template for every fleet carrier that followed, and she deployed repeatedly to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet as one of the most powerful warships afloat. Forrestal served until her decommissioning in 1993.

This heavyweight letterman jacket commemorates the 1968-69 cruise — in the aftermath of the 1967 flight-deck fire, after Forrestal was repaired and returned to service, her crew carrying forward the mission that had always defined her.