Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga Dropped 4,047,000 Pounds of Ordnance on Iraq and Transited the Suez Canal Six Times. Saddam Hussein Announced on Television That She Had Been Sunk.

The USS Saratoga (CV-60), a 81,101-ton Forrestal-class aircraft carrier that served from 1956 to 1994, has been highlighted in a profile that ties its legacy to major operations and equipment. Powered by eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers and 280,000 shaft horsepower, the carrier reached 33 knots and operated about 90 aircraft. It hosted Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon, flew seven “line periods” at Yankee Station in 1972–73 shooting down three MiGs, and later intercepted the Achille Lauro hijackers. During Desert Storm it completed 2,694 combat missions from the Red Sea, while Saddam Hussein claimed the ship had been sunk.