Posted on 02/01/2017 10:49:59 AM PST by TermLimitsforAll
The sun is setting on one of the most famous warships to ever serve in the U.S. Naval Fleet.
On Feb. 3, the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) will be officially decommissioned at the Newport News Shipyard, the same place where the ship was built decades ago.
On December 1, 2012, the USS Enterprise was inactivated at Naval Station Norfolk less than a month after returning from her final deployment, marking her 25th and final homecoming after 51 years of service.
In June 2013, the USS Enterprise made her final voyage, transiting from Naval Station Norfolk to the Newport News Shipyard where the ship has spent the past several years having nuclear fuel removed from its eight nuclear reactors.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtkr.com ...
I had lunch aboard her once as a teen! Very overwhelmed by the fancy silver aboard her and the handsome navy men who served us lunch!
[sigh]
There is a new one in the wings, yes?
Ford class?
Very sad to hear this. I truly wish there was a law against naming Naval Ships, bases, government buildings, roads after people. I don’t like it at all and never had. Sure, I loved Ronald Reagan, but I much prefer that aircraft carrier named Wasp or Saratoga or Essex or Intrepid or Enterprise, etc.
Bttt.
5.56mm
There was am unusually good show on “The History Channel” several years ago about the WWII Enterprise.
The men who served on her always considered it a lucky ship. It was damaged severely several times but always survived. A couple of times only because of the crew’s heroics.
WIKI.....”USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is an inactive[11] United States Navy aircraft carrier. She was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed “Big E”. At 1,123 ft (342 m),[5][6] she is the longest naval vessel ever built. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 tonnes)[4] displacement ranked her as the 12th-heaviest supercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class and the USS Gerald R. Ford. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.[9]
The only ship of her class, Enterprise[12] was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo.
She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement, USS Gerald R. Ford,[13] but the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship’s retirement for 2013, when she would have served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier.[14]”
“Having served on this fine vessel It’s a day of remembrance for me.”
1974
Me too! I don’t like them being named after people either!
I was stationed on her 1983-1986. My first ship.
It’s been nearly 30 years since I was aboard. I am sad and will miss her. 4 plant, pushing 1 and pulling 2 and 3.
I met an Officer who served on a conventional destroyer sailing with Enterprise. A downed plane report came in and the Enterprise Task Force was closest to the downed plane. Enterprise ordered the TF to flank speed towards the datum. My friend reported that they all went to flank and that Enterprise was over the horizon in less than an hour. That is one fast carrier.
Or do like the Brits:
Invincible
Ark Royal
Dreadnought
Victory
I see your point.
Who wouldn’t want to serve on the Ronald Reagan?
But I have a sinking feeling that I’d get assigned to the Barack Obama complete with security lapses, bathroom confusion and flies.
Don’t forget sodomy.
I went to the launching ceremony in Newport News, Virginia; I think that was around 1962.
Evolution of the Aircraft Carrier....
http://navylive.dodlive.mil/files/2015/04/FINAL_JPEG_Infograph_EvolutionOftheAircraftCarrier.jpg
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