[Al B.]

It will be a shame to see CVN-65 go into retirement. Still the fastest major vessel in the fleet. A great ship. My dad was on the sea trials of the Big E and was mighty proud of its capabilities.

A FReeper years ago told a great story of serving on the ship during Vietnam and how the Capt. of the ship challenged the Bainbridge and Long Beach (Nuke destroyer and cruiser) to a race to liberty port at Subic Bay. The Capt. had everything lashed down tight and told the crew to hang on...LOL. I'll never forget his description of the guys on the Big E watching the Bainbridge and Long Beach disappear over the horizon while the carrier lumbered up to speed, then left the smaller ships in its wake. Great story.

[BIGLOOK]

I told a story like that once and it was pulled.

Our detachment was on USS King, a picket for the Enterprise, on liberty in Hong Kong when a typhoon warning was issued and the CTF sailed a day early. An hour out of Victoria Harbor, the task force was ordered to flank speed and Enterprise disappeared over the horizon in twenty minutes, leaving the rest behind.

Enterprise returned to Subic a day and a half ahead of the rest.....but the stragglers were buffeted and tossed by the storm which hindered their efforts to keep up.

Still, it was no match.