CVN-65 USS Enterprise

CVN-65 is the eighth American warship to be christened the USS Enterprise, following a long, illustrious history that dates back to the Revolutionary war, and includes the most highly decorated warship of World War II, the Big "E", CV-6.

The new nuclear powered era in aircraft carrier operations ushered in by the Enterprise, gave her a maximum speed of 35 knots and an estimated endurance of five years. By eliminating the need for oil storage and stacks it also provided her, and follow-on nuclear carriers, with over twice the aviation fuel capacity of their largest predecessors.

The phased array radar (PAR) mounted on the sides of her distinctive square island at the time, led the way to the now common PARs seen on many ships throughout the world, not the least of which are the AEGIS cruisers and destroyers that help protect her. Over the years the Enterprise has received numerous major upgrades to her machinary, aircraft, weapons, and electronics system, including four refuelings of her nuclear reactor cores, itself a testament to her design and the good care and maintenance given her by her charges.

At the time of her launch, the Enterprise marked a new plateau in the US Navy’s development of shipboard aviation, a development that has led to even higher vistas, including the innovation contemplated for CVN-78, the first of the CVN-21, next-generation carriers, which will replace the Enterprise in 2013. That overall development, begun in 1922, with the old 15-knot Langley as an experimental aircraft carrier, progressed to the nuclear powered Enterprise within the service lives of quite a few individuals that were still on active duty at the time the Enterprise was launched.

Since her launch in 1961, the USS Enterpise has blazed the trail for almost 45 years, protecting sea lanes and freedom, and projecting America's security interests all over the world. When she is replaced in 2013, after an astounding 52 years of service, the Enterprise will have more than earned the name of the "grand old lady of the seas".