USS Forrestal (CVA-59) was launched on December 11, 1954 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, and commissioned on October 1, 1955. Named after former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, she was the lead ship of a class of 56,000-ton aircraft carriers and the first carrier of the US Navy to be of entirely post-World War II design. She was the first American aircraft carrier to be built with an angled deck, which allowed simultaneous takeoffs and landings.

Forrestal spent the first year of her commissioned service in intensive training operations off the Virginia Capes and in the Caribbean. On November 7, 1956, she put to sea to operate in the eastern Atlantic during the Suez Crisis, ready to enter the Mediterranean should her strength be necessary. On January 15, 1957, she began the first of her many Mediterranean cruises.

Between 1958 and 1966, Forrestal deployed to the Mediterranean six more times. She sailed on her only Pacific Ocean cruise in June 1967 to provide additional air power to the Vietnam war effort. This was cut short, when on July 29 she suffered a great fire that began among aircraft on her flight deck and spread into her hangar. The ship was left badly damaged, more than 130 men were lost, 26 aircraft were destroyed and over 30 were damaged. Because of this tragic incident, the Navy learned firefighting.

Forrestal returned regularly to the Mediterranean over the next 23 years, operating with the Sixth Fleet for a career total of 20 separate deployments. Her Mediterranean visits included participation in Tunisian flood relief efforts in 1973, the confrontation with Libya in 1981, and protecting Iraq's Kurdish population in 1991. Following her 1991 deployment, she served as the Navy's training carrier, spending much of 1992 on training service out of Pensacola, Florida.

Forrestal was decommissioned on September 11, 1993. In 1999, the USS Forrestal Museum Inc. began a campaign to obtain the ship from the Navy via donation, for use as a museum, but this plan was unsuccessful. The carrier is slated to be sunk as an artificial reef, the date for which is yet to be announced.

With the USS Forrestal wooden ship model, one can almost hear the roar of the ocean waves. It is an exact replica of the original, handmade with vigilance, from the very first to the last step. Master craftsmen diligently carve high quality mahogany to create the ship's form. After it is sanded and puttied, skilled artists paint on the intricate details. Hand-casted resin and handmade metal parts also constitute the model. Clear lacquer provides the finishing touch and long-lasting protection. Each ship comes on a a display base with brass pedestals and a brass name plate. All items then undergo quality control and are delivered to eagerly waiting customers in professionally-packaged wood crates via FedEx Next Day Air. More than just a display piece, the Forrestal ship model is a work of art.