USS Enterprise (CVN 65) - Naval Cruise Book

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flight U)ecA SJnferno The day started out like most — sunny, warm and calm. En- terprise was 70 miles south of Hawaii going through an Opera- tional Readiness Inspection, similar to REFTRAand ATA. At 8: 15 several men started working their way to their general quarters stations for an anticipated drill. What they did not anticipate was that in five minutes they would be involved in the real thing — fighting for their lives and the ship ' s survival. At 8:19, Tuesday, January 14, 1969 the ship ' s IMC (main in- tercom system) called away, Fire, Fire, Fire on the flight deck! This is not a drill! This is not a drill! The initial explosion and fire was caused by hot air exhaust T from a jet starter cart which overheated a Zuni air-to-ground re attached to an F-4 Phantom. The aircraft on the flight deck were being readied to launch bombing exercise on Kahoolawe. As such, most of the aircraft loaded down with ordnance. When the first explosion occurred, Enterprise was in a port in preparation for launch. Captain Kent L. Lee, commanding off : immediately ordered the turn be continued. This manuever kq 18-knot wind blowing the flames aft, away from aircraft and land. Chief Warrant Officer Jim Helton was one of the men woi topside when the rocket exploded. I was walking aft on the i deck, he said. Suddenly, a fire ball went off in front of me. Helton and several others immediately retrieved fire hose: helped rescue injured men from the spreading fire. A series of eight explosions shook the ship between 8:22 and Helton and the others fighting the fire were knocked to the deck eral times, yet got back to their feet to battle the blaze. One sailor who worked in the island wrote home, The guys f ing that fire had more guts than anything I have ever seen. B( were going off and they still kept pushing those damn hoses in frc themselves and dragging guys out. Below the flight deck the fire ravaged several compartments crewmember described the unbelievable damage. Some of the things back there were unreal. It ' s hard to be what fire can do. The bulkheads melted, ran onto the decks whij™ 1 turn melted and fell into the berthing spaces below. It ' s amazing we didn ' t lose more guys than we did j. | $i toil (diiie.B BBC jjwoto jJgtLsOl lahenti tawed I Etrpnsecre ' 1969 (GonLj Navy EC- 121 reconnaissance aircraft and Enterprise was once again ordered to the Sea of Japan. The Big E became the flagship of the recreated Task Force 7 1 and was joined by three other carriers, becoming the largest task force assembled in 25 years. Enterprise returned to Alameda in July and departed once again for its birthplace, Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. 1-7 ZU Enterprise remained at the shipyard for overhaul and refueling the entire year. 1971 Enterprise completed its sea trials in January and departed the Norfolk area en route to its homeport, Alameda. In June, Enterprise arrived at Subic Bay on its fifth WESTPAC. Later that month it was on station in the Gulf of Tonkin. After a six-day port visit to Singapore in September, Enter- prise and Bainbridge transited into the Indian Ocean and conducted extensive training operations. In October the Big E visited Subic Bay and returned to the Gulf of Tonkin. On Dec. 10, Enterprise was ordered to proceed to the Malacca Straits to await further orders. There, it was joined by several destroyers and an LHA, forming Contingency Force, Seventh Fleet. Soon after forming up, the ships proceeded into the Indian Ocean as a result of the Indo-Pakistan War which began a few days earlier. 1972 On Feb. 12, Enterprise returnee to Alameda ending an eight month deplo) ment. Enterprise departed Alameda on Sept. 12, for its sixth combat deployment Southeast Asia. ™ it tap Him. In, 1 7jl J On station in the Gulf of Tonkii Enterprise and the world received news tl a peace accord was signed in Paris on Jan 27, thus ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, North Vietnam released 59 POWs and on March 29, the last U.S. troops returned home. Also in March, Enterprise earned its second Battle E. ' ..:- iWESTPAC ' fatYei fell in Ian N)fci Skip: 1-ylU Chicago Seven found innocent, U.S. forces strike over Cambodian border, Kent State protestors killed, Floods kill 500,000 in Pakistan, Marxists gain control of Chile, Films: Woodstock, Catch- 22. J- -7 £ 1 Charles Manson convicted, Greenpeace founded, Saljut first manned space station in orbit, Voting age lowered to 18, U.S. devalues dollar, Large-scale bombing of Vietnam. J- -7 1 £ Bangladesh gains independence, President Nixon visits China, 2.5 million- year old skull discovered in Kenya, Films: The Godfather, Cabaret, 1 1 Israeli Olympians murdered in Munich. 1973 Paris peace accord signed. SALT- 1 arms limitation treaty signed, Watergate hearings commence, Arab sfc embargo oil to West, cause energy crisi Arabs, Israelis fight Yom Kippur War, ' President Agnew resigns. J- -7 1 tt Nixon resigns, Ford assumes! presidency, pardons Nixon, Syria and Is | agree to cease-fire, IRA bombs in Irela England, Turks invade Cyprus,

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• 1 07 11 ream When Congress authorized construction of Enterprise — the d ' s first nuclear-powered super carrier — it was 1954. The con- • was bold and went far beyond anything ever tried before. Even t echnology to be used was new, and in many cases, untried. The giant ship was to be powered by eight nuclear reactors, two •ach of its four propeller shafts. This was a daring undertaking, Wiever before had two nuclear reactors ever been harnessed to- ■lier. As such, when the engineers first started planning the ship ' s ulsion system, they were uncertain how it would work, or even if fm )uld work according to their theories. Under the direction of the Atomic Energy Commission, ghouse Electric Corporation and Newport News Shipbuilding pany were contracted to build a prototype of the ship ' s propul- plant at the Atomic Energy Commission ' s Naval Reactor Testing Won near Idaho Falls, Idaho. I Newport News was responsible for building an exact replica of a .tljon of the ship ' s hull while Westinghouse was designing and con- ifting the reactors. Engineers at both companies worked in con- nsuring each understood the requirements of the other. June, 1958 the keel section of the prototype was laid and in ber, 1958 one reactor of the propulsion plant was tested. The d reactor was installed less than a year later and both were tested ltaneously — they worked perfectly. le construction and testing were taking place in Idaho, the awarded construction of Enterprise to Newport News Shipbuild- ompany. On February 3, 1958 the Big E ' s keel was laid. During the construction , the shipyard faced several challenges and problems. The first of which was the construction of a special dry dock, an engineering feat in itself, to house the 90,000-ton super carrier. Aircraft elevators were another problem — their massive size turned out to be bigger than the doors to the building they were constructed in. The elevators had to be cut in half and reconstructed at the dry dock. Other problems involved moving large sub-assemblies, some of which weighed more than 1 00 tons, from their building sheds to the dry dock. Structures for each of the ship ' s 3,612 compartments were built off the ship. Materials used by the shipyard included 60,923 tons of steel, 1,507 tons of aluminum; 230 miles of pipe and tubing; and 1,700 tons of one-quarter-inch welding rods. The materials were sup- plied from more than 800 companies. Nine hundred shipyard en- gineers and designers created the ship on paper and if the millions of blueprints they created were laid end-to-end, they would stretch 2,400 miles, or from Miami to Los Angeles. Three years and nine months after the keel was laid, Enter- prise left the shipyard for six days of Builder ' s and Navy ' s Pre- Acceptance trials. The new super carrier ' s performance during the trials surpassed the Navy ' s most optimistic expectations. Enterprise, the longest, tallest, heaviest and mightiest war- ship on the seas, broke all previous records for speed when it ex- ceeded 40 miles-per-hour during initial trials. Its escort during the trials, destroyer Laffey, sent this message, :Subject: Speed Tri- als. 1. You win the race. 2. Our wet hats are off to a real thorough- bred. When the Big E returned to port, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral George W. Anderson, Jr., stated enthusiasti- cally, I think we ' ve hit the jackpot. i ;ar-powered warship to engage in -: i )at. During the next six months, aircraft Enterprise carried out bombing raids North Vietnamese supply lines. artnflTforaW ' aaUtalSSLoiis. 1% t -S jdrag and overhaii On June 21, after its first combat Enterprise arrived at its new homeport of ., California. Enterprise left Alameda ovember 19, for its second combat tour Gulf of Tonkin. - 0 Air Wing Nine aircraft continued to x »te over North Vietnam air space. On p e e :h 27, Enterprise was given its first Battle E award. Enterprise ' s second at tour ended in June with 13,400 battle ions flown and the ship returned to . Dominican civil war, Malcolm X shot, Jl ia violence, Watts riots, Rhodesian indepen- e, Films: Dr. Zhivago, The Sound of c, Over 1 84,000 American troops in Viet- Cultural Revolution in China, aaulle removes NATO forces in France; a with four nuclear bombs crashes in the -flit ll ; 1 near Spain; Bombings escalate in tiam; 478,000 Americans stationed in S.E. Alameda on July 6. Four months later, the Secretary of the Navy anno unced that the Big E had won the Navy Unit Commendation Medal. lirOO On January 3, Enterprise set sail for its third WESTPAC deployment. Twenty days later, the USS Pueblo was seized by North Korea. Enterprise became the flagship for the specially-created Task Force 71 in the Sea of Japan. On February 16, Enterprise proceeded to Yankee Station, commencing combat operations Feb. 22. On March 31, President Johnson announced a halt of all bombardment. Enterprise returned home July 18, and departed nine days later for a minor overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Asia. iyO China becomes a nuclear power. Six-day War between Isreal, Arab countries, First heart transplant, Three U.S. astronauts killed in fire, anti-war sentiment escalates, McNamara reports pacification, air war ineffective in Vietnam. 196S USS Pueblo seized by North Korea, Papal encyclical against artificial birth control, in Washington. The ship departed Bremerton on September 20. 1 Uy On January 6, Enterprise left Alameda en route to Hawaii. The Big E arrived in Pearl Harbor on January 1 1 . Three days later tragedy struck when a Zuni rocket accidentally exploded on the flight deck. The ensuing fire and explosions killed 28 men, injured hundreds more, destroyed 15 aircraft and left horrendous holes in the flight deck. Enterprise returned to Pearl Harbor for extensive repairs. On March 11, it departed for its fourth Vietnam tour at Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. On April 16, North Korea shot down a Navy M.L. King, Robert Kennedy assassinated, Mylai massacre, Tet Offensive, Film: Space Odyssey, President Johnson resigns. lyOy Richard Nixon becomes President, Cambodia bombing commences, Neil Armstrong first man on moon, Woodstock music festival, First flight of the Concorde, American troops in Vietnam peak at 541,500.

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ifhe explosions and fire killed 27 and injured 85. Eighteen is earlier, a fire almost exactly the same aboard USS Forrestal ' ' wliolaiijc ed 132 lives. he relatively low casualty rate was credited to the skill of prise ' s firefighters and damage control teams. As one com- f wasinapo er stated, ' They told me we had a good firefighting crew, but La.CMiiiiaaiijti i ' t know they were that good. lifter the fires were out and the smoke subsided, the two-inch : iiraafjaml flight deck had three major holes blown into it, as well as al minor ones. There was a 26-foot hole in elevator four, a : iiiieiMi ot hole near the landing signal officer ' s platform, and on the ■•JhgafiooilK ,af d s ide, across from elevator four, was a 25-foot hole. light hours after the holocaust started. Enterprise returned to - • ' icaifkiM] Harbor under its own power — its eight reactors intact and ibcfa. naged. tawertSaa vt tne P ear l Harbor Naval Shipyard were a host of yard work- knocked to the da siting to board the Big E to start repairs. Over 650 people, ng around the clock, restored charred bulkheads, replaced rerrae. ' Tlieani stee l sorted through the spaghetti of power cables and :i a;; ever seen | ilitated ventilation systems below the flight deck. •jiv inm hose in | ' refabricated sections of the flight deck, weighing up to 21,000 Is, were airlifted to Hawaii as well as 20 special steel weld- ' .:::. iwal. Its hard to I nolo the decks Hi M Mm ■. nil enterprise crewmembers worked alongside the yard force help- ith repairs, installing gear and cleaning spaces. )n March 5, Enterprise was operational again and after five rf sea trials, it departed for Yankee Station, its fourth Vietnam jwfe. , end. l ly 30, Enterprise sailed from Alameda 1; Bremerton Naval Shipyard for a six l overhaul. Enterprise returned to Alameda on May 20. Alameda. LEBepiseietM j£ ..-.;■ jjejattl Alameda on flfccsBbatdeplovma Enterprise returned to Alameda in February. In August, the Big E won Battle E and on Sept. 17, left for its th WESTPAC. (aaB U Gulf ofTonl ewlditctivedw s sped in Pans on 5 ai olvement in the njj.ilielastll -, tkiim i cood BattieE .. | --ess. YouKipiw O New Years found Enterprise in Bay where it had also spent Christmas. Subic on Jan. 7 to begin another sion into the Indian Ocean. Following a Indian Ocean cruise, Enterprise was upon to help in the evacuation of During Operation Frequent Wind, ft from the Big E flew 95 sorties. n rnments toppled in Portugal, Greece, jj j pia, Film: Chinatown. tO Saigon evacuated, Apollo and link up in space, first personal uter introduced, King Faisal murdered , 0 idi Arabia, Khmer Rouge terrorizes . .j KxJia, Civil war erupts in Lebanon resist r is in Ira 76 Vietnam united, Droughts in ly O July 30 Enterprise departed on its eighth WESTPAC. Highlighting this deploy- ment was the Big E ' s participation in Operation Kangaroo, a joint exercise with the Australian and New Zealand navies. Follow- ing the exercise, the ship visited Hobart, Tasmania Oct. 29 through Nov. 5. iy l On Jan. 15, Enterprise departed Subic Bay for the first all-nuclear-powered excursion into the Indian Ocean since 1964. The ship was joined by the guided missile cruisers Long Beach and Truxton and the submarine Tautog. The long deployment ended March 28, when Enterprise returned to Europe, Mao Tse-tung succeeded in China, Ozone layer depletion discovered, Earthquakes kill 780,000 worldwide, Book: Roots, Films: Taxi Driver, All the President ' s Men iy Carter elected President, pardons Vietnam draft dodgers, First flight of space shuttle Enterprise, Military coup in Pakistan, President Sadat visits Israel, ly O On April 4, Enterprise departed for its ninth Western Pacific Deployment. Soon after leaving port, the Big E participated in RIMPAC-78, a four-nation exercise involving 42 ships, 225 aircraft and nearly 22,000 men from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. After visiting the Philippines in May, Enterprise rescued 13 Vietnamese refugees from a sinking sampan about 90 miles west of Luzon R.P. During the deployment, Enterprise also made a 33- day excursion into the Indian Ocean, making a port visit to Perth in August. After leaving Perth, Aug. 12, the ship Volcanos erupt in Japan, Italy and Hawaii, Film: Star Wars 1 y O Senator Hubert Humphrey dies, First test-tube baby born, Senate votes to turn Panama Canal over to Panama, Sandinistas fight guerrilla war in Nicaragua, First non-Italian pope in 456 years elected, Film: The Deer Hunter