Did the Forrestal class have battleship-style armor?

Did the Forrestal-class carriers have an armored deck and belt?

Not in the traditional battleship sense; they were solidly constructed and their defensive armament evolved toward missiles and close-in weapons.

Structural solidity is different from capital-ship armor. Forrestal did not use a traditional battleship-style belt and armored-deck scheme, even though the class was strongly constructed. The planned battery of eight five-inch guns was later replaced by Sea Sparrow launchers and Phalanx close-in weapon systems. That evolution shows carrier survivability shifting from passive armor and heavy guns toward layered missile and point-defense systems.