Named in honor of America’s 34th President and former General of the Army, her keel was laid on 15 August 1970, launched on 11 October 1975, and commissioned on 18 October 1977 at her home-port of NAS Norfolk, VA. Although deployed in 1998 with CVW-17 for a Med/Persian Gulf cruise, she returned 9 Dec 1998 and switched airwings to CVW-7. This is the desert version of their patch.
