The Coral Sea, a Midway-class carrier, was originally commissioned on October 1, 1947. After a major re-fit that gave her a jet-era angled deck, she was recommissioned on January 25, 1960. She made a number of WestPac cruises, and participated extensively in the Vietnam War, as well as in operations during the fall of Saigon and the Mayaguez incident. She later saw service during the Iranian hostage crisis and, in 1986, launched her aircraft on combat sorties into Libya. In 1982, Coral Sea appeared in the movie The Right Stuff.
