Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Big E on her last deployment

The Enterprise is on her last deployment. I wonder when she is gone for good will the powers use the name for a new carrier? It seems wrong naming carriers after people while those storied names like Hornet, Yorktown, Saratoga go either unused or on lesser ships.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) � The USS Enterprise has set sail on its final voyage.

Officials say the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was featured in the film "Top Gun," left Norfolk, Va., around noon on Sunday.

The ship with more than 4,000 crew members has been a part of history over the past 50 years. It was involved in several wars and played a prominent role in the Cuban missile crisis. It also served as a spotter ship for John Glenn's historic orbit of Earth.

The Enterprise is the longest aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet. It is also the oldest.

The ship is both old and one-of-a-kind, meaning maintenance can be tricky. Crew members acknowledge life at sea can be tough because they often have to build spare parts from scratch.

Be sad to see such a grand lady turned over to the breakers! She will be missed. Maybe she will become a floating museum instead. I can hope.

Nope she will become scrap. To remove the nuke reactors will require doing a lot of damage to the grand ship.

http://www.katu.com/news/national/Storied-carrier-USS-Enterprise-makes-final-voyage--142195905.html

Makes me feel really old.

Article I read said she will be back @Dec 1 for decomission then to Portland? for cleanup scheduled to go to scrapyard 2015.

Makes me feel really old too.I remember being about 10 or so and fishing with my dad in the James River right out in the river in front of Newport News Ship building and Dry dock Company while The Enterprise was being built.
Dad told me to remember the moment.I always did.

Stan in SC

how old is she?

Fifty years old I believe.

Keel laid down Feb 1958
Commissioned Nov 1961

52 years old , 10 Presidents have likely heard her name in the opening hours of a crisis when they asked "where are the carriers?"

The "Mobile Chernobyl" as she is known in the USN underground should have gone to the big razorblade factory long ago. The reason she's been kept around is basically the Navy does not know what to do with the eight, submarine sized reactors used to drive her and the fact JFK, originally designed as a nuke and scheduled to serve until 2018 as the "Jap Boat" in Yokosuka, ostensibly fell part (thanks to klinto era cost cutting). BTW her hull design made her the fastest of all our carriers, but she is old and very tired with huge maintenance and upkeep costs.

Sounds like me jorge

Yeah the old lady has outlived her time. Still kind of sad to see her go ain't it?

yep sad. Sad to see Saratoga and Forrestal up in Quonset just slowly rusting away. I never cruised on the Big E, but I had a good a friend who was the CO around 2004 timeframe and I spent some time aboard visitng pierside at Norfolk and Fleet Week in Ftr Lauderdale.

The big E came from the time of the F4 Phantom and circling the Gulf of Tonkin.

These are from the sister carrier the Coral Sea.

Sad to see an Icon go, Hope the name is reused for a ship worthy of the history.

my dad had command of a group of phantoms (and flew them as well) while assigned to the enterprise in the late 60's off vietnam. his home was full of plaques, mugs, pics, etc. of all the carriers and planes he flew during his 30 year navy career. he passed away in 2000. he was also on the saratoga.

Coral Sea and Midway were sister ships and conventional (oil) ships. Enterprise was one of a kind and of course nuclear powered.

My guess is there will be another Big E
She is a Naval icon

I remember standing on the flight deck of the Lex, looking into the hanger bay of the "E", thinking, "wow, that`s one big ship!" This was back in the early sixties.

My brother in law was a Marine serving aboard the USS America, CVA 66. I see the Enterprise is CVA 65. Would these two boats have been sister ships? (Jorge, or others?) BIL was attached to a Marine squadron on the boat. They flew F-4's during Viet Nam, and they were known as The Flying Shamrocks, or something similar to that. Does anyone have any ties to this boat or squadron?

No Big E? That's as un-American as anything I've heard yet. I remember reading an article in Reader's Digest 35-40yrs ago. The journalist was in the wardroom drinking coffee when an officer came in from watch, oilskins dripping. Said there was a 40 knot gale topside. The journalist went up to the bridge. The Big E was just cruising along while waves were breaking over her destroyer escorts. Never saw such a thing in person, but it paints a great picture in my mind's eye.