USS Ranger (CV-61) 1976 Cruise Sweatshirt

USS Ranger (CV-61) was a Forrestal-class aircraft carrier commissioned on August 10, 1957, homeported at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California. Named for the Continental sloop-of-war Ranger commanded by John Paul Jones, which in 1778 received the first salute ever given to an American flag by a foreign warship, Ranger conducted regular Western Pacific deployments throughout the Cold War era. This sweatshirt commemorates her 1976 cruise, one of many WestPac deployments Ranger completed in the course of over three decades of distinguished naval service before her decommissioning on July 10, 1993.