Naval History of the American Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise

At the launch of ENTERPRISE on September 24, 1960, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was the mightiest warship to ever sail the seas. Enterprise is the longest carrier in the Navy at 1,123 feet. It is also the tallest (250 feet) and fastest (30+ nautical miles per hour) carrier in the fleet. She was built with a distinctive square island supporting phased-array radars and a complex EW system. Aviation facilities include four deck edge lifts, two forward and one each side abaft the island. There are four 295 foot C-13 Mod 1 catapults. Hangars cover 216,000 sq. ft with 25-ft deck head. The Enterprise carries 8,500 tons of aviation fuel (12 days flight operations).

During the Enterprise's November 25, 1961 commissioning, then-Secretary of the Navy John B. Connally Jr. praised the ship as a worthy successor to the highly decorated seventh USS Enterprise of World War II.  "The Fighting Gray Lady," as it was called, served in such well-known battles as the raid on Tokyo and the Battle of Midway.

Built to a modified Forrestal class design, Enterprise was the world’s second nuclear-powered warship (the cruiser Long Beach (CGN-9) was completed a few months earlier).  This new dispensation in propulsive machinery would give her a maximum speed of 35 knots and an estimated endurance of five years; by eliminating the need for oil storage and stacks it would provide twice the aviation fuel capacity of her largest predecessors and permit the installation, on the sides of the island structure, of fixed radar antennae of advanced design.  This astounding vessel marked the culmination of the Navy’s development of shipboard aviation, a development begun within the service lives of many still on active duty with the conversion, in 1922, of the old 15-knot collier Jupiter into the Langley as an experimental aircraft carrier.

The first of the eight reactors installed achieved initial criticality on 2 December 1960, shortly after the carrier was launched.  After three years of operation during which she steamed more than 207,000 miles, Enterprise was refueled from November 1964 to July 1965.  Her second set of cores provided about 300,000 miles steaming.  Refueled again in 1970 the third set of cores lasted for eight years until replaced in 1979-82 overhaul.  There are two reactors for each of the ship’s four shafts.  The eight reactors feed 32 heat exchangers.  She completed a fourth refueling in the mid-1990s.

Enterprise made its maiden voyage under the command of Capt. Vincent P. DePoix, Jan. 12, 1962.  In August, Enterprise joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Soon after its return to Norfolk, Va., in October, Enterprise was dispatched to its first international crisis.  Enterprise and other ships in the Second Fleet set up a "strict quarantine of all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba."  The blockade was put in place on Oct. 24, and the first Soviet ship was stopped the next day.  On Oct. 28, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles and dismantle the missile bases in Cuba.

ENTERPRISE joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, and made its second and third deployments to the Mediterranean in 1963 and 1964. During the latter deployment, on May 13, the world's first nuclear-powered task force was formed when USS LONG BEACH and USS BAINBRIDGE joined ENTERPRISE. On July 31, the three ships were designated Task Force One and sent on "Operation Sea Orbit," a historic 30,565-mile voyage around the world, accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment. She was the first nuclear ship to enter combat when her aircraft struck targets in Vietnam, and she assisted in the evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam conflict.

In October 1964 ENTERPRISE returned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company for its first refueling and overhaul. ENTERPRISE returned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in 1970 for an overhaul and second refueling. Following the 1973 cease-fire in Vietnam, ENTERPRISE proceeded to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., where "Big E" was altered and refitted to support the Navy's newest fighter aircraft -- the F-14A "Tomcat."

When commissioned on 25 November 1961, ENTERPRISE was designated as a 'nuclear-powered attack aircraft carrier' and was assigned the hull number CVAN 65. To more accurately reflect ENTERPRISE's multi-mission capabilities, the "A" (for attack) was dropped on 1 July 1975, and the Big E became a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with the hull number CVN 65.

The years 1979 to 1982 were spent at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard receiving a reconstructed island and numerous improvements. When first completed the island of the Enterprise had a very unique shaped structure consisting of a dome shaped top resting on a box, supporting SPS-32 and 33 radars, plus many ECM antennas, which were located on all four sides and top dome of the ship. These were all removed during retrofit, and the island was completely altered to resemble the island of Kitty Hawk class carriers. And in October 1990 ENTERPRISE moved to Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company for refueling and the Navy's largest complex overhaul ever attempted, being updated for service through 2015. ENTERPRISE completed its overhaul, the most extensive in U.S. Naval history, on Sept. 27, 1994.

In mid-January 1995, "Big E" returned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company for a five month Selected Restricted Availability. The yard period involved upgrades to all of the combat and communications systems, intelligence suites, command and control capabilities, ventilation systems, berthing and dining areas, and underway replenishment equipment. In January 1997 Big "E" returned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company for a six month Selected Restricted Availability. The focus of the yard period was habitability upgrades and various combat systems. An extended overhaul for the Enterprise began at Newport News Shipbuilding in 1999 and continued through mid-year 2000.

CVNX 1, which will replace USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in 2013, is scheduled to begin construction in 2006. Upon her planned replacement by CVX-78 in 2013 she will be 52 years old.