USS Ranger (CV-61) 1980-81 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 cruises as part of the Pacific Fleet's forward deployment strategy throughout the Cold War. This sweatshirt commemorates her 1980-81 cruise, covering the deployment that spanned those two calendar years during Ranger's long and distinguished career before her decommissioning on July 10, 1993.