The following is the Aug. 2, 2018 Government Accountability Office Report, Aircraft Carrier Dismantlement and Disposal. Read More
Tag Archives: USS Enterprise
CVN-80 Eyed For Accelerated Contracting Pilot Program, Potential 2-Carrier Buy
Newport News Shipbuilding cut a 35-ton steel plate to kick off advance construction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN 80) on Aug. 24, 2017. Ship’s sponsors and U.S. Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles (left) and Katie Ledecky (center), along with Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin (right), signed the steel that will become part of Enterprise’s foundation. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.
The upcoming contract award for the future aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80) will be part of a Defense Department pilot program to award major contracts faster, and Navy leadership is eyeing it as an opportunity to save money by buying two carriers instead of one. Read More
Navy: Half the Carrier Fleet Tied Up In Maintenance, Other 5 Strained To Meet Demands
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) arrives pierside at Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton prior to a planned incremental availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. US Navy photo.
The Navy has run its 10 aircraft carriers hard since USS Enterprise (CVN-65) decommissioned in December 2012 and is now paying the resulting maintenance bill, with half the fleet tied up in repairs and the other five trying to keep up with combatant commanders’ needs. Read More
Ford to be Christened on Nov. 9
USS Gerald R. Ford, CVN 78, Dry Dock Flooding. Huntington Ingalls Industries Photo
The Navy’s next generation carrier will be christened in a ceremony on Nov. 9, 2013 at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va., according to yard owner Huntington Ingalls Industries. Read More
Opinion: Seapower is An American Priority
Sailors watch as the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) departs Naval Station Norfolk for Newport News Shipbuilding in June 2013. US Navy Photo
In September 1960, the carrier Enterprise was christened at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock. Adm. Arleigh Burke, then chief of naval operations, spoke to the large crowd, saying, “Whenever the Enterprise roams in the traditional freedom of the seas, she is the sovereign of the United States, a mighty symbol of our determination to preserve liberty and justice and a clear sign of our nation’s ability to do so.” Read More
The Carrier Debate: From 1922 to Now
USS George Washington (CVN-73) in 2001.
Even years before its launch, the U.S. Navy’s new class of ships — the aircraft carrier — was dismissed by some critics as an exorbitantly expensive folly that was already obsolete due to advances in modern warfare.
Although this argument has often been levied at USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78) currently under construction, it was also said about the nation’s first purpose-built carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) in the early 1930s. In the century since the Navy first started experimenting with shipboard takeoffs and landings, analysts have debated the merits versus the weaknesses of aircraft carriers.
Detractors maintain that carriers are too costly and too vulnerable, while proponents have held that the big flattops have consistently proven their worth and will remain the key to sea power well into the future. This battle over carriers has been raging in the pages of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine for decades: Read More
U.K. Royal Navy Wants to Bullseye Rogue Missiles with U.S. Help
The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) is underway with the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring (D-32) in 2010. The US and UK are exploring integrating the Type 45 into US European ballistic missile defense programs. US Navy Photo
The United Kingdom is looking to get its latest destroyer into the ballistic missile defense (BMD) game, U.K. Ministry of Defence officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
Combat Fleets: USS Enterprise
Proceedings, December 2012
In early November the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) returned home to Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare for her December 2012 inactivation. Her final deployment lasted seven and a half months, during which time she steamed nearly 90,000 miles throughout the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Sea.
U.S. Navy Photo
This marks the 25th homecoming for the nation’s first and longest-serving nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Built by Newport News Shipbuilding, the Enterprise was laid down early in 1958, launched in September 1961, and commissioned on 25 November 1962. She has participated in every major U.S. conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis. She is 1,088 feet long, has a beam of 248 feet, and a full-load displacement of more than 93,000 tons. The Enterprise is not due to be replaced in service until around 2015, when the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) joins the Fleet.
History of the USS Enterprise
On Sunday USS Enterprise, the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, arrived at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. after its final deployment. For 50 years Enterprise was involved in every major U.S. conflict and is now scheduled for decommissioning.
Cid Standifer is a freelance reporter, web designer and translator based in Arlington, Va. She has written for Military Times, Inside Washington Publishers and the Roswell Daily Record.
Looking Back — Enterprise at 50
Naval History, October 2012
During World War II, the war-ship that made the largest contribution to victory in the Pacific was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6)—hands down. By war’s end, though, newer and more capable members of the Essex class had surpassed “the Big E.” The ship was soon decommissioned, and in 1959 she was scrapped—despite efforts to pre-serve her as a museum and memorial. Her legacy was perpetuated, however, in that she bequeathed her famous name to the world’s first nuclear-powered air-craft carrier, which was commissioned in November 1961.
Then Cmdr. Kent Lee aboard the USS Enterprise
The namesake carrier, originally CVA(N)-65 and later CVN-65, is now on her 22nd and final overseas deployment, serving with the 5th and 6th fleets. When she returns to the United States this autumn, she will be inactivated and then defueled. The current Enterprise , like her World War II counterpart, will be scrapped. The process of removing her eight nuclear reactors will so disfigure the ship that she will not be recognizable as an aircraft carrier and thus not suitable as a museum. But what a record she has com-piled. Her longevity is truly remarkable.
