World’s First Super Carrier Completes Its Final Deployment

USS Enterprise arrived in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 4 following a seven-and-a-half-month deployment supporting operations in the Mediterranean and the Arabian Seas. The arrival marks the 25th and final homecoming in her 51 years of distinguished service. The aircraft carrier is scheduled to be inactivated Dec. 1, in a ceremony at Norfolk Naval Station, in Norfolk, Va.

In 1954, Congress authorized the construction of the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the eighth U.S. ship to bear the name Enterprise. The giant ship was to be powered by eight nuclear reactors, two for each of its four propeller shafts. This was a daring undertaking. for never before had two nuclear reactors ever been harnessed together. As such, when the engineers first started planning the ship’s propulsion system, they were uncertain how it would work, or even if it would work according to their theories.

Materials used by Newport News Shipbuilding included 60,923 tons of steel; 1507 tons of aluminum; 230 miles of pipe and tubing; and 1700 tons of one-quarter-inch welding rods. The materials were supplied from more than 800 companies. Nine hundred shipyard engineers and designers created the ship on paper, and the millions of blueprints they created, laid end-to-end, would stretch 2400 miles, or from Miami to Los Angeles.

Three years and nine months after construction began, Enterprise was ready to present to the world as “The First, The Finest” super carrier.

USS Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was commissioned Nov. 25, 1961. During her 51 years of service, Enterprise deployed 25 times and participated in every major conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The December inactivation ceremony will be the last official public event for Enterprise, and will serve as a celebration of life for the ship and the more than 100,000 Sailors who have served aboard the ship.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, November 7, 2012; Image: navy