The supercarriers : the Forrestal and Kitty Hawk classes

Responsibility: Andrew Faltum.
Publication: Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2014]
Copyright notice: ©2014
Physical description: x, 240 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm

At the library

SAL3 (off-campus storage)

Stacks Request

Items in Stacks
Call number	Note	Status
V874.3 .F3526 2014		Available

Description

Creators/Contributors

Author/Creator: Faltum, Andrew, 1947- author.

Contents/Summary

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-230) and index.

Contents

Super carrier
Thunder ballet
The golden age
The Kitty Hawk
Cold wars and hot spots
Next-generation aircraft
New developments
Vietnam
The Forrestal fire
Turning point and aftermath
Evolution
Challenges
A dangerous world
Into the sunset
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Technical data
Appendix B: Individual ships
Appendix C: Aircraft technical data
Appendix D: Air wings.

Publisher's summary

The book covers the Forrestal class supercarriers and the follow-on ships, which are basically of the same design, i.e. the Forrestal CV-59, Saratoga CV-60, Ranger CV-61, Independence CV-62, Kitty Hawk CV-63, Constellation CV-64, America CV-66 and Kennedy CV-67. (The Enterprise CVN-65 is unique and is not covered beyond an explanation of the reasons for returning to conventional power in the America and Kennedy that followed her.) As in The Essex Aircraft Carriers and The Independence Light Aircraft Carriers, the main emphasis is on the operational history of these ships, which covers a span of over fifty years. There are 81 photographs included in four signatures covering the whole history of the supercarriers interspersed within the body of the book. Maps include the Western Pacific, Vietnam, Mediterranean, Middle East, Indian Ocean and Caribbean. The front end paper illustration shows the Saratoga as representative of the Forrestal class with port and starboard profiles and an overhead view. The rear end paper shows similar views of the Constellation as part of the Kitty Hawk class. Appendix A gives a brief overview of the design technical data for the ships including their dimensions, propulsion systems, arresting gear, catapults, armament, and radars. Illustrations include an annotated inboard profile of the class as built, as well as annotated cross sections comparing the differences between Forrestal and the John F. Kennedy. Appendix B profiles individual ships with a short description of significant items that are not included in the main body of the book. Data for each ship includes the builder as well as dates for keel laying, launch, commissioning, redesignations and decommissioning. Illustrations include the command shield for each ship. Appendix C provides technical data (power plants, dimensions, weights, performance, crew, and armament) for aircraft that operated from the ships over the course of their careers. Included is a table comparing the old Navy designations with the uniform system adopted in 1962 as well as an explanation of each system. Appendix D includes a description of the air wing and its component squadrons and how they have evolved over time, as well as an explanation of the tail code system. For each ship, every deployment is covered with tables showing the dates of deployment, the squadrons assigned within the air group/air wing, the modex and aircraft types. Where the tail code letters are different from the air wing, they are shown next to the modex.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)