The seventh USS Ranger (CV/CVA-61) was the third of four Forrestal-class supercarriers built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. Although all four ships of the class were completed with angled decks, Ranger had the distinction of being the first US carrier built from the beginning as an angled-deck ship.
USS Ranger in August 1961
Ranger departing for sea trials in 1957, passing USS Leyte
Ranger at Pearl Harbor, 1959
Ranger comes alongside at Pearl Harbor in March 1962 at the end of a WESTPAC cruise
Forrestal-class aircraft carrier
The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were four aircraft carriers designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. The class ship was named for James Forrestal, the first United States Secretary of Defense. It was the first class of supercarriers, combining high tonnage, deck-edge elevators and an angled deck. The first ship was commissioned in 1955, the last decommissioned in 1998. The four ships of the class were scrapped in Brownsville, Texas, between 2014 and 2017.
USS Forrestal
A 1952 design study
Saratoga (top) cruising with USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67); note the arrangement of the islands and elevators.
Image: USS Forrestal (CVA 59) underway at sea on 31 May 1962 (KN 4507)