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.

There should ALWAYS be a carrier in the US Fleet proudly wearing the name USS Enterprise.

Like Nurse said, anything else is just un-American.

The America was a [bleep] Kitty class (CVA/CV 63) bird farm (Kitty Hawk).

I have picture from a cruise book from 1973 shows uss Bronstein DE-1037 USS America CVA -66 USS Corry DD817 USS lawe DD763 my ship. USS Enterprise CVAN -65 USS ORISKANY CVA 34 USS FANNING DE-1076 USS RANGER cva-61 USS CONE DD-866 off Yankee Station.spend alot time plane guarding.30 days on the line 30 days planeguarding and a few days in subic bay.man what wild time that was.seem to forgotten a few trips over [bleep].

that paints a pic of careful design of a floating airport made to be stable as possible for flyboys landing,specially with a wounded bird

will they ever replace her with a deck that big or bigger??

norm

I have seen such a thing from both vantage points. I went to Korea with her when the Norks grabbed the Pueblo. Not a fun trip.

There will be another Enterprise. Review the history of the name. It's one of the few that does repeat.

Saw the Big-E only once - tied up at a dock in Hawaii circa 1968 while the boat I was on at the time (USS Redfish) was there for a new batch of torpedos.. Sure was a big bastid..

She's served well for a long, long time..

Never deployed on that one. Happy for that actually. Spent enough time on Ranger and Constellation to prefer newer boats. Much preferred the Nimitz class boats.

Actually America (CV 66), Enterprise (CVN 65) JFK (CV 67)are in a class of their own and not related to the Kitty-Hawk (CV 63) or her sister ship Constellation (CV 64). The Enterprise was unique all to herself in hull design, Island setup and of course the eight reactor setup. America and JFK WERE supposed to be nuclear, but McNamara and Kennedy family pressure of (heaven forbid) having a nuclear carrier named after America or that serial philanderer stopped it under the excuse it was cheaper in the end, which was of course bullshit. If one were to look at the "plumbing" of both, you'll see the same setup as the CVN 68 Nimitz class similarities. America had the distinction of having the largest flight deck of all and both her and JFK also had an 11.5 degree angle whilst everybody else had the standard 8.5 deg angle. Also America was weird inside in her configuration and her island was a bit farther aft than the rest. JFK has the weird funnel arrangement. SIGH...

I think ti is very-very sad, an icon for sure. What is she being replaced with?

CVN 77 I guess, then again, who knows.

I spent a lot of quality time on the America VA-85 Black Falcons. Of course the Intruders got retired a long time ago as well for that matter. To make a barrier reef of a carrier named America instead of making a museum out of her is wrong. Considering it has been 21 years since I flew off to come home at the end of Desert Storm the Enterprise getting scrapped come as no surprise.

We do rescue training on the Lexington once a year. It still has the smell! I visited the Midway two summers ago. I once had orders to AIMD (Aviation Electronics Shop) aboard her when she was in Okinawa. Walked right by that shop for the first time that day as I managed to get the orders changed to remain in Matwing 1 and cross over to VA-85.

The former AT2 Crow (USN 85-91)

America was sunk as part of an evaluation of the abilities of Super Carriers to absorb damage. She was the test bed for the damage control/compartimentalization of subsequent carriers. She was sunk after three days of constant hammering and very very deep to avoid snooping.

Jorge,

I didn't realize she was sunk in deep water. I knew about the damage testing. It still doesn't seem right to sink one named after the country though.

My neighbor was on her during early 'Nam.
And said he had on a couple of occasions, run into others who served on her at the same time. And never met.

THAT is a big boat!

I share your sentiments and offer you a similar story: At the height of the British Royal Navy's power during and after WWI, the "Big Three" England, the US and Japan signed a treaty limiting the number of capital ships (Battleships and Battlecruisers at the time). One of them HMAS Australia was on the block. She was decommissioned and with great ceremony towed out to sea and sunk off Sydney Australia. However, the Aussies removed part of her bridge and mainmast and a monument was constructed in Sydney Harbor that stands to this day. Sadly after WWII when the age of the battleship was over, the Brits scrapped ALL of their battleships some of them with storied battle records and they lived to regret it. jorge

+1!

Gotta have another Enterprise in the fleet at some point...

While a museum is mice there is a limited number of sites and cities that can support and maintain a museum of the size of a CV.

IMHO I would rather see a great old ship go out in a blaze of glory in a SINKEX than cut up for scrap.

Daaaham! Surprised none of you picked up on anything or researched anything.

The CVN77 USS George H W Bush is the last of the ten Nimitz-class carriers, and is already built (mostly!) and scheduled to join the fleet.

CVX78 is the Gerald R Ford, and first of a new class of aircraft carriers that will be more automated, use more electrical lifts, robots, methods of moving stuff, etc. than the Nimitz boats - also with a smaller crew even though she'll have a similar size flight deck as the Nimitz class ships. The new CVX carriers will also only have three elevators instead of four, and the island will be redesigned and moved further back on the ship - THIS ALL ACCORDING to the internet!

CVX79 has already had its keel laid and the name being considered is the John F Kennedy!

The keel to CVX80 has already been approved by congress (that's the opposite of "progress," folks!), and the name being considered for that flattop is ..... ENTERPRISE!

So cheer up fellas!

Actually, my dad was in the Navy from '62 to '84. He hated the CVN65 because to him it was always the "show boat!" My pops flew helos, off of the USS Sacramento (AOE1) and Niagra Falls (AFS3). When un underway replenishment (unrep) was being conducted, my dad and fellow det pilots did the vertrep part.

I'm not 100% percent sure why my dad was NOT impressed by the big E, except his first deployment to Nam in 65/66 lasted 11 months (not too unusual back then!). He had a good freind who H2's (SAR/guard)on four cruises (that all took place during 34 out of 39 months) Back then there were ships on Yankee Station like the Ticonderoga, Hancock, Bonnie Dick, Kersarge, the 2nd York Town, the 2nd Hornet, Oriskany (which served 8 tours off VNam), all four of the Forrestal class, all four of the Constellation/ KittyHawk class, the Midway and Coral Sea ..... what have I left out?

My dad did not think many of those other carriers got near enough recognition for their efforts, compared to the show boat.

But someone said there's a tradition in the Navy that there's always a 'Enterprise,' which is absolutely TRUE!

There's also (usually) a USS RANGER too, and another couple names that I can't recall (Intrepid? Kersarge? )

One of the HUGE-EST TRADGEDIES I thought to come out of WWII was how the original CV5 CV6 USS ENTERPRISE (CV5 was the USS YORKTOWN, lost at Midway) was not saved from the scrap torch! Esp considering she was the only carrier left from her sister (group) of flattops that were made when they were, when they were pioneers in naval aviation! That the Japs sought to ALL destroy ......

Also, CV5 CV6 Enterprise provided support /air cover when CV8 Hornet and Jimmy Doolittle's raiders kept their date with destiny.

Yeah there's always been an 'Enterprise' in the US Navy, if this congress and gubmnt (with folks like Leo "pathetic") don't ruin and cancel that US Navy tradition, maybe CVX80 will be the next one?

By the way, wasn't the original USS SARATOGA 'CV6?' EDITED: ("NO!", answering my own question; CV3 was the Saratoga answered below, and CV4 was the USS RANGER that spent most of WWII in the Atlantic).

Saratoga was CV3, she like Enterprise survived the war, Like the enterprise she was used up. Took a Nuke to to put her down.

Seems very sad to me that such an important piece of American history cannot be preserved for future generations.

Bikini Atoll; Was there more than one test? / explosion? I had forgotten at least one flattop was sunk there, along with many capital ships, including one or two German and several Japanese ships.

ADDED: Beginning in 1946 to 1958, some 23 explosions were conducted in the Bikini test zone. And while the IAEA in 1997 determined every island "is now safe to walk on," as recently as 2007/2009 it is still unsafe to eat fish caught in Bikini bay where several ships should become popular dive sights (someday). The area has been declared a world heritage sight.

Yep, sad. I flew against her airwing in a mass raid in about '75 or '76 off Hawaii as they prepared for WestPac and If I remember correctly, that was the first time she deployed with Tomcats. Got intercepted by one late one night. Several years later I got some traps during a Carqual event.

It was really a sad day when I learned America would be sunk 'cause I've got over 200 traps on CV 66 and a lot of underway time with VF 33 around Puerto Rico, North Atlantic and the Med. The song they always used to play on the 5MC as they started the breakaway maneuver after an unrep was Neil Diamond's "They're coming to America".

Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" in the late 80-early 90's when breaking away for CV-66.