USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42)

(CVB-42: displacement. 45,000; length. 968'; bow. 113'; ew. 136'; dr. 35'; speed. 33 k. ; complement. 4,104; armor. 18 5"; class. Midway) 

The USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) was initially launched as Coral Sea (CVB-42) on 29 April 1945 by the New York Naval Shipyard. It was sponsored by Mrs. John H. Towers, wife of the Deputy Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, and was renamed Franklin D. Roosevelt on 8 May 1945. The ship was commissioned on 27 October 1945 under the command of Captain A. Soucek. It was reclassified as CVA-42 on 1 October 1952.

During her shakedown cruise, Franklin D. Roosevelt called at Rio de Janeiro from 1 to 11 February 1946 to represent the United States at the inauguration of Brazilian President Eurico G. Dutra, who came aboard for a short cruise. Fleet maneuvers and training operations in the Caribbean preceded her first deployment to the Mediterranean from 8 August to 4 October. During this time, she visited Athens to bolster the Greek government during its fight against communism and received thousands of visitors at various Mediterranean ports. The ship’s first public visit in the United States occurred during Navy Day celebrations in New York City in late October.

Franklin D. Roosevelt operated off the east coast until July 1947 when she entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard for an extensive overhaul, receiving various improvements. On 13 September 1948, she sailed from Norfolk for a second Mediterranean tour, returning on 23 January 1949. Over the next five years, Franklin D. Roosevelt participated in intensive operations off the Virginia Capes, along the east coast, and in the Caribbean, making four more tours of duty in the Mediterranean.

Assigned to extensive conversion at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the carrier sailed from Norfolk on 7 January 1954. Too large to pass through the Panama Canal, she rounded Cape Horn and arrived at the shipyard on 5 March. She was decommissioned on 23 April 1954. The carrier was then fitted with an angled flight deck, steam catapults, and a hurricane bow. Franklin D. Roosevelt was recommissioned on 6 April 1956 and arrived in San Francisco on 16 June to load stores for her voyage around the Horn to Mayport, Florida, arriving at her new home port on 8 August. She trained pilots in the use of the mirror landing system and general carrier operations until her emergency deployment to the eastern Atlantic during the Suez Crisis between 7 November and 9 December.

In February 1957, Franklin D. Roosevelt sailed to the Gulf of Maine for cold weather tests of catapults, aircraft, and other carrier equipment, including the Regulus guided missile. In July, she began the first of three post-conversion cruises to the Mediterranean, completed by 1960. Her Mediterranean assignments included NATO exercises and major fleet operations, entertaining distinguished guests annually.

On 24 October 1958, Franklin D. Roosevelt supported the evacuation of 56 U.S. citizens and three foreign nationals from Nicaro, Cuba, during the Cuban revolution.

On 6 March 1965, a Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King helicopter piloted by Cmdr. James R. Williford took off from USS Hornet (CVS-12) in San Diego and landed 15 hours and 51 minutes later on the deck of Franklin D. Roosevelt off Mayport, Florida, surpassing the existing distance record for helicopters by more than 700 miles.

A significant development in carrier fire prevention occurred on 26 May 1969 when Franklin D. Roosevelt put to sea after an 11-month overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. This overhaul included the installation of a deck edge spray system using the new seawater-compatible fire-fighting chemical, Light Water.

During the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with USS Independence (CV-62) and USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7), stood by for possible evacuation contingencies.

On 4 October 1976, the first overseas operational deployment of the AV-8A Harrier on a carrier began when VMA-231 embarked aboard Franklin D. Roosevelt for a Sixth Fleet deployment. On 13 January 1977, two other Harriers made the first bow-on, downwind landing aboard a carrier at sea.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was decommissioned on 30 September 1977 and stricken from the Navy List the following day. She was sold for scrapping on 1 April 1978 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS).