Haha, exactly!
I was F-14s, so it usually was two legs going East and three legs coming back West. We couldn’t match the Hoovers!
F-4s were the fighters on my first two cruises. Brave guys with brass balls landed those beasts, especially at night.
On my catapult officer and last two flying cruises we shipped F-14s. Beautiful aircraft. As with the War Hoover, form followed function in the F-14.