USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
36°58′50″N 76°26′18″W / 36.9805°N 76.4384°W USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned[12] United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958 she was the 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 feet (342 m),[4][5] she is the longest naval vessel ever built and the only ship of a class that was originally planned to have five other ships. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 t)[3] displacement ranks her class as the third largest carrier class, after the Nimitz class and the Gerald R. Ford class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.[6]
For other ships with the same name, see USS Enterprise.Enterprise[13] 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.[14] She was inactivated on 1 December 2012,[15] and officially decommissioned on 3 February 2017,[16][17] after over 55 years of service.[18][19] She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day.[20] The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80).[21][22]
History[edit]
Commissioning and trials[edit]
On 4 February 1958, Enterprise's keel was laid at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Shipway 11. On 24 September 1960, the ship was launched, sponsored by the wife of William B. Franke, then Secretary of the Navy. On 25 November 1961, Enterprise was commissioned, with Captain Vincent P. de Poix, formerly of Fighting Squadron 6 on her predecessor,[36] in command. On 12 January 1962, the ship made her maiden voyage starting an extensive shakedown cruise and a lengthy series of tests and training exercises designed to determine the full capabilities of the nuclear powered super carrier.[37] A full-speed run with her escort, USS Laffey (DD-724), demonstrated the sheer power and speed of Enterprise's novel nuclear propulsion plant; afterwards, Laffey radioed, "You win the race. Fuel gone, topside salted, crew wet, and engines tired."[38] On 20 February 1962, Enterprise was a tracking and measuring station for the flight of Friendship 7, the Project Mercury space capsule in which Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn Jr. made the first American orbital spaceflight.[39] Enterprise completed shakedown activities at Naval Station Norfolk on 5 April 1962.[37]
In popular culture[edit]
In the 1986 science-fiction film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, several characters infiltrate the CVN-65. The actual CVN-65 was unavailable at the time of filming, so the scenes for the movie were shot aboard USS Ranger (CV-61) instead.[106]
The Enterprise is a setting used in the 1986 movie Top Gun. Shots of the main characters' F-14s on the flight deck, and general flight-ops scenes were taken on the real ship, before being transferred to the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) after the Enterprise collided with Bishops rock off of San Diego, while interior shots were done onboard the USS Ranger (like Star Trek IV).[107]
