USS Enterprise: The aircraft carrier that changed everything turns 50

Daily Press ^ | September 24, 2010 | Peter Frost

[sukhoi-30mki]

USS Enterprise: The aircraft carrier that changed everything turns 50

Task Force One, headed by the USS Enterprise, left Gibraltar on a trip around the world. The task force was comprise of three nuclear-powered surface vessels. Crewmen of the Enterprise formed the famous Einstein equation, E=mc2, on the flight deck symbolizing the development of nuclear propulsion. (Daily Press archive, Daily Press / September 22, 2010)

By Peter Frost, pfrost@dailypress.com | 247-4744

11:28 AM EDT, September 24, 2010

NEWPORT NEWS — Fifty years ago today the largest dry dock in the world filled with water from the James River, setting afloat the world's largest ship and first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

At 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, 1960, Mrs. William B. Franke, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, smashed a bottle of champagne across the bow of the USS Enterprise as the rushing seawater freed it from its last keel block.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Arleigh A. Burke told some 12,000 guests at the christening ceremony that the 1,101-foot Big E was "the largest ship ever built of any kind by any nation," containing the most powerful nuclear power plant ever constructed anywhere in the world.

Yard president William E. Blewett Jr. paid tribute to the thousands of workers who "labored with imagination, skill and pride to build a vessel worthy of its name."

Today, the Enterprise sits across the harbor at Naval Station Norfolk, preparing for two final, six-month deployments before it's decommissioned in 2012.

Neither the Navy nor the ship's crew has planned an event to celebrate the milestone, preferring to wait until Nov. 25, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the Enterprise becoming an official member of the fleet.

Nonetheless, when the one-of-a-kind supercarrier was launched that Saturday five decades ago, it

[Beowulf9]

Oh, total ping for later!!

[VR-21]

Showboat!

[DCBryan1]

Woot! I got to see the hulk of the Long Beach CGN when I overflew Seattle. I wish we could get her and the Iowa-class BBs up and going.

[existtoexcel]

Salute.... and bookmark.

[Ev Reeman]

My father worked for the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard as a shipfitter. He was able to get us aboard the Enterprise in a tour group for employees and their families. It is a day that I will never forget. We were able to walk through the entire ship, on all decks and it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever seen in my life. Unfortunately, shortly after the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard closed down forever.

[Gaffer]

You should see the one of ‘Missouri’ blowing off her guns broad side!

[tanknetter]

got to see the hulk of the Long Beach CGN when I overflew Seattle. I wish we could get her and the Iowa-class BBs up and going.

Here you go, from sea-level: ex-USS Long Beach

[married21]

Can’t remember which Star Trek movie this ship was in, but I vaguely remember a wonderful moment when Chekhov was at or in the ship, reporting to Kirk that he was at “the Enterprise”.

[brivette]

I served on-board the USS Dace SSN-607 for a number of years, also on-board the JFK (CVA-67).

[neodad]

What a ship!

[tanknetter]

Showboat!

That would be the battleship North Carolina.

Enterprise's official nickname is "Big E" (legacy from her predecessor, CV-6 from WWII). More recently she's been referred to as "Ghettoprise" and "Enterprison" because she's VERY long in the tooth and showing her age. Her most recent overhaul - not even a refueling - took much longer and went way over budget.

[wally_bert]

That one Star Trek incarnation with Scott Bakula had a bunch of Enterprises during the open sequence except this one if I remember right. It wasn’t that great a series.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

The last sentence in the article states the Enterprise is to be “dismantled”. The Navy was stupid enough to junk the last Enterprise, the single carrier that was at one time all that stood between the USA and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Does anyone remember that?
Surely there must be an oceanside harbor smart enough to house one of the most famous ships in US Navy history.
From the Revolution to this very day, there has been a USS Enterprise in our Navy. A name so famous it was chosen as the STAR SHIP in the noted TV series.
Check the USS CONSTITUTION, Battleship Cove in Mass, the USS Intrepid in New York and so many others. The place and chance to actually walk where history was made.

[Vroomfondel]

ping

[skeeter]

The yard(Newport News) had built 17 carriers before the Enterprise, including ships in the Forrestal class and the Kitty Hawk class, but it wasn't the only player in the business.

You'd think they'd mention ships of the Yorktown & Essex class before Forrestal.

[oldsalt]

I served aboard Enterprise as a member of Reconnaissance Attack Squadron Seven in 1966-67.

I could go on at great length with a multitude of stories about that great ship,suffice it to say that of the seven carriers I've served aboard she was always my most memorable one.

[Haiku Guy]

I remember, back when I was a kid, the Enterprise was the coolest thing in the whole world... Cooler than the Astronauts... Cooler than the Blue Angels... Cooler than anything.

It still is.

[married21]

I remember it from a movie, in the theater, not a tv show. 1980s, I think, with Kirk and Spock in the SF Bay Area.

[tanknetter]

Can’t remember which Star Trek movie this ship was in, but I vaguely remember a wonderful moment when Chekhov was at or in the ship, reporting to Kirk that he was at “the Enterprise”.

That would be "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" when they went back in time to save the whales. Made more poignant, I'd mention, by the fact that the original Starship Enterprise (N-C-C-1-7-0-1. No bloody A - B - C - or D!) had been blown up and then burnt up via atmospheric reentry in Star Trek III.

Unfortunately, when the movie was shot Enterprise was on a WestPac deployment. And carrier row at Alameda didn't have the best visuals for shooting the scene you mention. So they shot the scene on North Island (San Diego) and the carrier in the background playing Enterprise was really USS Ranger (CV-61)