After a brief stop in Palma (24–28 August 1978), USS Forrestal (CV-59) left the Mediterranean en route to the Atlantic and the North and Norwegian Seas, to take part in the huge NATO exercise Northern Wedding (4–18 September).
Forrestal and HMS Ark Royal (R09) led separate task groups that steamed in a two-carrier formation to gain sea control and deploy their aircraft to support amphibious landings in the Shetland Islands and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark.
Heavy seas and high winds, however, curtailed flight operations during the first phase of the exercise, but conditions improved just barely enough in the harsh northern climes to permit the ship and her embarked air wing to support the planned objectives.
The professionalism and dedication to completing their tasks which the British and Canadians displayed especially impressed crewmembers, who noted these specific allies' pride in more than one report.
Vice Admiral Wesley L. McDonald—Commander, United States Second Fleet—gave a news conference to a group of U. S. and international journalists in the carrier’s "War Room" on the 9th, describing in some detail the significance of the exercise – normally held every four years – in preparing the allies to resist a Soviet-led attack against the West.
In October 1993, after several weeks supporting United Nations peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia, orders came on four hours notice for Carrier Group Six, under Rear Admiral (lower half) Arthur Cebrowski,[6] to move quickly.
The group was to transit the Suez Canal and relieve USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) on Groundhog Station, 90 miles north of the equator in the Indian Ocean, supporting UNOSOM II in Somalia.
The turnover from Abraham Lincoln permitted the west-coast carrier to return to Alameda, California, thereby ending a scheduled six-month deployment on time.
The staff of Carrier Strike Group 6, led by Rear Admiral Richard W. Hunt, deployed to Djibouti on February 21, 2006, to fight terrorism and enhance diplomatic ties in the region.