Part of ‘Forward Presence’ : Aircraft Carrier Theodore Roosevelt Enters Service

The United States put a new aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, into active service Saturday in a festive ceremony that contrasted with the ship’s difficult birth.

Roosevelt descendants attended the commissioning, but a former President who was not there, Jimmy Carter, was one of the centers of attention. Carter attempted to abort the Roosevelt in 1979, vetoing legislation containing money for its construction. But Congress “overturned a presidential veto in 1979 to make this ship a reality,” Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. said at the ceremony.

Carter and his defense secretary, Harold Brown, had contended that the nation did not need another nuclear-powered supercarrier like the Roosevelt, citing cost constraints and the vulnerability of the ships to the “smart” weapons coming into the Soviet inventory.

Saturday, however, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger told the audience that the Roosevelt will carry out the nation’s maritime strategy, which he said will emphasize “forward presence” in distant trouble spots “to prevent non-hostile situations from becoming hostile. If a crisis involves the actual use of force, our strategy calls for controlling the situation with forward deployed forces on the scene.

Cost $2.46 Billion

“Our prime objective is to be strong enough so that no one dares attack us,” he said. “Such is our maritime legacy from Teddy Roosevelt.”

The $2.46-billion Roosevelt will be the last carrier to enter service during President Reagan’s term. The next two, the Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, are scheduled to be commissioned in 1989 and 1991. The Navy says each will cost $3.4 billion.

With the commissioning of the Roosevelt, the Navy has 14 supercarriers available for duty. The 15th, the Independence, is in overhaul in Philadelphia. Plans call for retiring the Coral Sea when the Abraham Lincoln enters service.

The Roosevelt, constructed by 29,000 workers at the Newport News Shipbuilding yard here, dominated the skyline of the Tidewater on a gray day. The ship displaces 91,487 tons, has a flight deck longer than three football fields for its 85 aircraft and carries a crew of 6,000.

Among Roosevelt descendants attending the ceremony was Frederick Roosevelt Jr., 19, of Essington, Pa., who is the President’s sixth cousin and one of the crew members.