As an old Army guy, I had the great, distinct pleasure of meeting and working for the first Captain of the nuclear version of the USS Enterprise, Ret. Vice Admiral Vincent P. De Poix.
This was in 2002, at his home in Albany, Oregon. Adm. De Poix was 84 at the time, a frail, but handsome former Naval officer. His library was FULL of pictures of his former USS Enterprise command and staff, he had a lot of great war stories to tell and I was honored to have met him...heck, his former boss was Adm. Nimitz!!
The gentleman is 94 now and still active to the best of my knowledge, what a great time I had listening to his stories about our father's war, what a great man, I was truely humbled! I will remember my time with him with GREAT affection, a true American hero!
Got a Sea Story for ya regarding USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65), and like all good sea stories, this begins with “Now this is no s#*t”.
Back in ‘66, I was attending Second Class Diving School in Subic Bay, PI. The Big E came into Subic and submitted a work order for a diving job on the Big E. Don’t know if Capt. Vincent P. De Poix was the skipper at that time.
We tied the diving barge to the stern of the Enterprise and went about our work. The job would take a few hours to complete, both in the water as well as waiting for the Enterprise crew members to complete their task.
Now, each US ship has it’s name printed on the stern of the ship near the main deck area.
While we were waiting on the diving barge, one of the station divers took a chipping hammer and began to chip the paint away on the stern about 6 ft above the waterline.
We completed the diving job, cast off the lines and headed back across the bay to our regular mooring place. As we departed, we could see what that diver had chipped into the paint in one foot tall letters... his name.
The Big E indeed had ENTERPRISE painted up near the main deck, but down near the waterline we could read... HUEY.