F-104N Sea Lance — A single-seat, carrier-adapted Starfighter variant fitted with hydraulically-actuated variable-angled wing gloves, full-span airbrakes and an arrestor hook; standard armament was four wing/fuselage hardpoint–mounted AIM-9 Sidewinders for short-range interception. Designed for blistering dash intercepts rather than sustained dogfights, the Sea Lance traded endurance for climb and sprint performance and used reinforced nosegear and a beefed-up arrestor package to survive carrier work.Born of the secretive Project Trident in the early 1960s to give the fleet a rapid-response point-defense fighter, only a single production block (~72 aircraft) entered service after controversial deck trials aboard USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise. VF squadrons praised its scramble record but cursed its brutal carrier approaches; a handful of high-profile interceptions in the North Atlantic and a 1972 Mediterranean incident cemented its legend. By the late 1970s the Sea Lance was phased out—its short, spectacular career nonetheless shaping Navy thinking on variable-geometry aids and arrestor design, and several retired airframes now hang in naval aviation museums as a reminder of the fleet’s most temperamental interceptor.