USS ENTERPRISE - the Navy's eighth ship to bear the name - was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. During her more than 50 years of service she has set many records and milestones including steaming with a speed of more than 40 knots during her sea trials after construction. Later, she became the first nuclear carrier to transit the Suez Canal and the first carrier to operate the F-14 fighter aircraft. Additionally, the ENTERPRISE is still the longest warship ever put to sea.
Deactivated at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on December 1, 2012, the ENTERPRISE was towed to the nearby Newport News Shipbuilding Shipyard at Newport News, Va., for dismantling on June 20, 2013. Defueling of ENTERPRISE's last reactor took place at Newport News in December 2016. She will now be prepared for the tow to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., for the final dismantling. At the moment, scrapping is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
|General Characteristics:||Keel Laid: Februar 4, 1958|
|Launched: September 24, 1960|
|Commissioned: November 25, 1961|
|Deactivated: December 1, 2012|
|Decommissioned: February 3, 2017|
|Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.|
|Propulsion system: eight nuclear reactors|
|Blades on each Propeller: five|
|Aircraft elevators: four|
|Arresting gear cables: four|
|Lenght, overall: 1,123 feet (342.3 meters)|
|Flight Deck Width: 257 feet (78.4 meters)|
|Area of flight deck: about 4,5 acres (18211.5 m2)|
|Beam: 132.8 feet (40.5 meters)|
|Draft: 39 feet (11.9 meters)|
|Displacement: approx. 93,500 tons full load|
|Speed: 30+ knots|
|Planes: approx. 85|
|Crew: Ship: 3,200 ; Air Wing: 2,480|
|Armament: three |
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS ENTERPRISE. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
USS ENTERPRISE Cruise Books:
Notes of Interest:
Accidents aboard USS ENTERPRISE:
|February 9, 1963||Atlantic||In the mid-Atlantic a wave washes over the #1 elevator on the ENTERPRISE while the elevator is in the down position. Four men are washed overboard. Two are rescued but one later dies.|
|February 20, 1963||Atlantic||An aircraft crash aboard USS ENTERPRISE sweeps the carrier's deck with fire, killing two.|
|January 14, 1969||70 nautical miles off Honolulu, HI.|
On its way to the coast of Vietnam the carrier conducts flight operations. During the arming of an F-4 Phantom one of the aircraft's Zuni missiles detonates causing a fire that quickly spreads to other armed planes and causes some of their bombs and missiles to explode, too. ENTERPRISE subsequently turns into the wind to keep the flames away from the isle.
One hour later, the fire on the flight deck was under control but there were still fires below decks which took additional hours to be extinguished.
During the eight explosions and the resulting fires aboard USS ENTERPRISE, 27 crewmen were killed and 85 were injured.
ENTERPRISE suffers heavy damage including three holes in the flight deck (one of them through two decks). 15 aircraft were destroyed or damaged.
Click here for a detailed report of the accident from the USS ENTERPRISE WestPac Cruise Book 1969.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
|July 27, 1974||off California||USS ENTERPRISE suffers a fire in an electrical maintenance area off California. No reported injuries.|
|October 29, 1975||While aboard the USS ENTERPRISE the engine of an |
|December 19, 1976||South China Sea||An |
|June 21, 1979||Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Wash.||USS ENTERPRISE, under overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Wash., sustains a two-hour Class Alpha fire in a catapult room, machine shop, and passageway.|
|April 28, 1983||off San Francisco, Calif.||USS ENTERPRISE runs aground within sight of the port of San Francisco after eight months at sea. It is stranded for five hours until the tide and tugs pull it free.|
|November 2, 1985||Bishop's Rock, about 100 miles west of San Diego, Calif.||USS ENTERPRISE is grounded on Bishop's Rock. Reports say the ENTERPRISE sustains a 60-foot gash in the outer hull and damages one propeller. The carrier continues planned operations, taking part in ReadiEx 86-1 exercise before going into drydock on November 27.|
|December 11, 1997||Atlantic||A McDonnell Douglas T-45A trainer ("Goshawk") splashed into the Atlantic shortly after take-off.|
|November 8, 1998||Atlantic||During night landing re-qualifications aboard ENTERPRISE in the Atlantic, two jets collided. An EA6-B Prowler from VAQ-130 based at Whidbey Island collided with an S-3 Viking from VS-22 (Zappers) based at Jacksonville, Fla. The S-3 was sitting on the flight deck, the Prowler then fell into the sea.|
The S-3 had just landed and was in the Prowler's path. The LSO's declared a Fouled Deck but the Prowler clipped the Viking as it attempted to go around.
All six crew, four from the Prowler and two from the Viking ejected. The two from the S-3 were injured one landing into a radar on the ship's island, the other into the sea. The four crew of the Prowler were killed, one body was found the other three missing presumed killed. The search was called off after 24 hours.The two survivors, suffering burns received treatment at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center.
The body of Lt. j.g. Brenden J. Duffy, 27, of Annapolis Md., was recovered soon after the crash. Those missing presumed dead were Lt. j.g. Charles E. Woodward, 26, of Herndon Va., Lt. j.g. Meredith Carol Loughran, 26, of Sanston Va., and the pilot Lt. Cmdr. Kurt W. Barich, 35, of Oak Harbour, Wash. The two injured were Cmdr. James G. Wallace, 44, of Jacksonville Fla., and Lt. j.g. Kirk A. Schneringer of Cardiff, Calif., they were both listed as stable.
|April 3, 2011||Arabian Sea||A sailor assigned to the flight deck falls overboard during flight operations but is quickly rescued by a helicopter of HS-11. The sailor suffers only minor injuries.|
ENTERPRISE Patch Gallery:
|Click here to view more USS ENTERPRISE Patches.|
ENTERPRISE Image Gallery:
|Click here to view more photos.|
The following images were taken by Howard Walsh jr. They were taken in Port Everglades, FL, during the Broward Navy Days in 2000.
The two photos below were taken by Karl-Heinz Ahles when USS ENTERPRISE was inport Norfolk, Va., on May 11, 1999, respectively in September 1998.
The photos below were taken by me and show the USS ENTERPRISE at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 27 and 29, 2010, after completing the Composite Training Unit Exercise in preparation for her upcoming and final deployment.
The photos below are official US Navy photos taken during the deactivation ceremony of USS ENTERPRISE at Naval Station Norfolk on December 1, 2012.
The photos below are official US Navy photos taken on June 20, 2013, and showing the ENTERPRISE being towed from Naval Base Norfolk to Newport News Shipbuilding for dismantling. Most striking is the carrier's missing main mast.
The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 28, 2013, and show the deactivated ENTERPRISE at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 24, 2014, and show the deactivated ENTERPRISE at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 4, 2017, and show the ENTERPRISE at Newport News Shipbuilding where she is slowly dismantled.
The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on September 23, 2018, and show the ENTERPRISE at Newport News Shipbuilding.