USS Coral Sea (CV-43) - The Ageless Warrior

USS Coral Sea, a 45,000-ton Midway class large aircraft carrier built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned on 1 October 1947 to begin a career that lasted more than four decades. Following initial operations in the western Atlantic area, she made a midshipmen training cruise in mid-1948 that included visits to the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas. In May 1949, Coral Sea began the first of many Sixth Fleet deployments. These took place nearly annually as the Cold War intensified in the 1950s and inclu