James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last cabinet-level United States secretary of the navy and the first United States secretary of defense. [1] Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic family.

USS Forrestal (CVA-59) (later CV-59, then AVT-59), was a supercarrier named after the first United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. Commissioned in 1955, she was the United States' first completed supercarrier, and was the lead ship of her class .

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 ...

Feb 11, 2025 · James V. Forrestal (born February 15, 1892, Beacon, New York, U.S.—died May 22, 1949, Bethesda, Maryland) was the first U.S. secretary of defense (1947–49). Earlier, in the Navy Department, he directed the huge naval expansion and procurement programs of …

Sep 11, 1993 · On 29 July 1967, USS Forrestal (CVA/CV-59) suffered a catastrophic fire during flight operations while on Yankee Station off the coast of Vietnam. Wracked by eight high-order explosions of...

May 29, 2009 · This month marked the 60th anniversary of the death of James V. Forrestal, America’s first secretary of defense. Historians were invited to comment on the official investigation of his death. The...

Indeed, when James Forrestal became the first secretary of defense on 17 September 1947 his swearing-in took place, at President Truman's order, several days earlier than originally scheduled.

A site loaded with USS FORRESTAL history, pictures and sounds. Lots of information about the effort to save the ship. Neat graphics, A crew registry and a touching memorial to those killed in a tragic fire while conducting combat operations on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf off the North Vietnam coast 29 July 1967

Jan 9, 2023 · During late June/early July 1946, Forrestal visited Joint Task Force 1 at Bikini Lagoon in the Marshall Islands for Test Able—part of Operation Crossroads—to witness the detonation of an atomic...

Jun 27, 2018 · James Vincent Forrestal (1892-1949) was the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense. He was instrumental in building America's Navy during World War II and contributed to the unification of the armed forces.