Enterprise-class (CVN-65)

The Enterprise class, represented solely by the lead ship USS Enterprise (CVN-65), was designed under project SCB 160 for the United States Navy. Originally planned as a class of six nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the other five vessels were cancelled due to rising construction costs. Built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, the ship was laid down in 1958, launched in 1960, and commissioned in 1961.

The carrier’s propulsion system consists of eight Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors driving four Westinghouse geared steam turbines. The ship features a cruiser-like hull, four rudders, and C-13 steam catapults. The original SCANFAR phased-array radar system, pairing AN/SPS-32 and AN/SPS-33 radars, was replaced during a 1979–1982 refit with AN/SPS-48 and AN/SPS-49 radars due to high power consumption and reliability issues.

Enterprise was commissioned without planned RIM-2 Terrier missile launchers. In 1967, a prototype Basic Point Defense Missile System with two eight-round Sea Sparrow launchers was installed, with a third added in 1971. Later upgrades added NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems, and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers. In 1973, the carrier was modified at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to operate the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

During its 1962 shakedown, Enterprise tracked the Mercury-Atlas 6 spaceflight. In October 1962, the carrier joined Task Force 135 to enforce the naval quarantine of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1964, the vessel completed a global circumnavigation during Operation Sea Orbit alongside the cruisers USS Long Beach and USS Bainbridge.

Deploying to the Seventh Fleet in 1965, the carrier launched strikes against Viet Cong targets from Yankee Station as part of Task Force 77. In January 1968, Enterprise served as flagship for Task Force 71 during the USS Pueblo crisis. On 14 January 1969, an accidental explosion of a MK-32 Zuni rocket on the flight deck caused a fire that killed 27 crew members.

The carrier deployed to the Bay of Bengal during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War and supported the evacuation of Saigon during Operation Frequent Wind in 1975. Enterprise supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986 and launched strikes against Iranian warships during Operation Praying Mantis in 1988.

During the 1990s, the ship enforced no-fly zones over Bosnia and Iraq, and spearheaded Operation Desert Fox in 1998. Following the September 11 attacks, the carrier launched air strikes during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, later supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The carrier was inactivated at Naval Station Norfolk on 1 December 2012, and decommissioned on 3 February 2017. In 2025, the US Navy awarded a contract to NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services to commercially dismantle the ship in Mobile, Alabama.