The Tomcat almost never was. It was the fallout of SecDef Robert McNamara's (spit spit spit) (leaves a nasty taste when I say that name) TFX program that turned out the F-111. The Navy version was to have been the F-111B.
The "B" was the test bed for the AWG-9 radar and the AIM-54 Phoenix missile system but the F-111 was exceedingly too heavy and the weight could not be brought down enough to fit the Navy's requirements. Ironically, though the TFX (F-111) program was a General Dynamics project, the Navy version was subcontracted to Grumman. So when the Navy finally got their way and put out a bid for the new fighter, Grumman already had the plan and expertise to make it happen. And out baby Tomcat was born.
Though it deployed into the fleet before the end of the Vietnam war, it would not see combat with the United States Navy until 1981, nearly 10 years after deployment. It would see combat with the only other armed forces it was ever used by, Iran, during the Iran/Iraq war though showing a good account for itself, despite having no support for the system by then.
In the USN hands it would see two separate twin kills virus LIbya. The first August 19, 1981 VF-41 (Black Aces) flying off the USS Nimitz shot down two Su 22M Fitters attack aircraft over the Gulf of Sidra. The next time it was the USS Kennedy VF-32 (Swordsmen) January 4, 1989 two MiG 23 Floggers. Both incidents were between variable geometry wing aircraft with the the first being the first time such an incident would ever happen.
The Tomcat would go on to serve in several skirmishes till it's final goodbye in the early turn of the century letting go to the F/A-18 Hornet.