Retirement and Rebirth of USS Enterprise
The newest Ford Class Aircraft Carrier, CVN 80, due to be commissioned in 2018, will carry the name of the USS Enterprise. This class of ship will utilize magnetic launching systems and advanced automation that will replace some of the dangerous tasks performed by sailors today.
From WAVY10 here:
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced Saturday via video message at the USS Enterprise inactivation ceremony that the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier will be named Enterprise.
Mabus selected this name to honor USS Enterprise, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which was inactivated today in Norfolk.
Commissioned in 1961, the USS Enterprise served for more than five decades. The carrier participated in the blockade of the Cuban Missile Crisis, launched strike operations in Vietnam, and conducted combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
“The USS Enterprise was the first of its kind, and for 51 years its name has been synonymous with boldness, readiness and an adventurous spirit,” said Mabus. “Rarely has our fleet been without a ship bearing the name. I chose to maintain this tradition not solely because of the legacy it invokes, but because the remarkable work of the name Enterprise is not done.”
The future USS Enterprise, designated CVN 80, will be the ninth ship to bear the name.
You know, it doesn’t seem like that long ago when I was a welder on the USS Enterprise CVN 65 when it was in drydock at Newport News Shipyard. But I guess it was indeed a long time ago, since it was 1990. I spent a couple of years aboard helping with the overhaul, crawling through the catapults, hanging suspended below the flight deck, and mostly learning to hate welding. But I was proud of the work I did for that vessel, the Big E. I am really excited and happy that the fleet will once again have an Enterprise at sea.
