USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

Class overview
USS Enterprise underway in the Atlantic Ocean
Name:	Enterprise-class aircraft carrier
Builders:	Newport News Shipbuilding
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Forrestal class
Succeeded by:	Nimitz class
Built:	1958–1961
In service:	1962–2012
Planned:	6
Completed:	1
Cancelled:	5
Active:	0
Laid up:	1
Lost:	0
Retired:	1
History
United States
Name:	USS Enterprise
Ordered:	15 November 1957
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Cost:	$451.3 million (equivalent to $3.85 billion in 2015)
Laid down:	4 February 1958
Launched:	24 September 1960
Christened:	24 September 1960
Acquired:	29 October 1961
Commissioned:	25 November 1961
Decommissioned:	Scheduled for 2016
In service:	12 January 1962
Out of service:	1 December 2012
Reclassified:	CVN-65 from CVA(N)-65
Homeport:	Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia
Motto:	We are Legend; Ready on Arrival; The First, the Finest; Eight Reactors, None Faster
Nickname(s):	Big E
Status:	No longer fit for military service due to inactivation process
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Enterprise-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	93,284 short tons (84,626 metric tons) Full Load
Length:	1,123 ft (342 m)
Beam:	132.8 ft (40.5 m) (waterline) 257.2 ft (78.4 m) (extreme)
Draft:	39 ft (12 m)
Propulsion:	8 × Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors four sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 × shafts 280,000 shp (210 MW)
Speed:	33.6 kn (38.7 mph; 62.2 km/h)
Range:	Unlimited distance; 20–25 years
Complement:	5,828 (maximum) Ship's company: 3,000 (2,700 Sailors, 150 Chiefs, 150 Officers) Air wing: 1,800 (250 pilots, and 1,550 support personnel)
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-48 3D air search radar AN/SPS-49 2D air search radar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:	2 × NATO Sea Sparrow launchers 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts 2 RAM launchers
Armor:	8 in (20 cm) aluminum belt (equivalent to 4 in (10 cm) rolled homogeneous steel armor), armored flight deck, hangar, magazines and reactor
Aircraft carried:	Hold up to 90 60+ (normally)
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck: 1,123 ft (342 m)
Notes:	Equipped with 4 steam-powered catapults.

External media
Images
"USS Enterprise (CVN-65)". Maritime quest.
Video
Enterprise in War. Nuclear Carrier Joins 7th Fleet, 1965/08/30 (1965). Internet Archive. Universal Studios. 1965.
Vietnam Action. Enterprise Planes Support Troops, 1965/12/09 (1965). Internet Archive. Universal Studios. 1965.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is an inactiveUnited States Navy aircraft carrier. She was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear . Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At 1,123 ft (342 m), she is the longest naval vessel ever built. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 tonnes) displacement ranked her as the 12th-heaviest supercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class and the USS Gerald R. Ford. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.

The only ship of her class, Enterprise was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo. She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement, USS Gerald R. Ford, but the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship's retirement for 2013, when she would have served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier.

Enterprise's home port was Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia as of September 2012. Her original home port was Naval Air Station Alameda until its closure in 1997. When in port at NAS Alameda, she was visible to those crossing the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge. She was the flagship of Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz while he lived in Berkeley, California until his death in 1966. Her final deployment, the last before her inactivation, began on 10 March 2012 and ended 4 November 2012. She was inactivated on 1 December 2012, with her official decommissioning taking place sometime in 2016 after the completion of an extensive terminal offload program currently underway. The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80).

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Wikipedia