Enterprise (CVN 65) - Naval Cruise Book

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On Jan. 23, ENTERPRISE was suddenly ordered into the Sea of Japan, following the seizure of USS PUEBLO by North Korea. She remained in the area nearly a month as the flagship of the specially-created Task Force 71. Relieved in the Sea of Japan on Feb. 16, she proceeded to Yankee Station, commencing combat operations on Feb. 22. On June 26, the Big E and her veteran air wing finished their third combat deployment. ENTERPRISE arrived in Alameda on July 18, made a brief call in her homeport, and departed July 27 for minor overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington. She left Bremerton on Sept. 28. After Christmas in port, she departed California on Jan., 6. 1969, Arriving in Pearl Harbor on Jan. 1 1, when she began preparing for her operational readiness inspection off the FHawaiian Islands. On Jan. 14, the ship was struck by an unfortunate and untimely disaster. Fire and explosions resulted after a missile on an aircraft on the flight deck was accidently set off, costing the lives of 28 crewmen, the loss of 15 aircraft, and extensive damage to her flight deck. The ship returned to Pearl Harber Naval Shipyard. Crewmen and Pearl Harber employees began immediate repairs on the Big E . The efforts and cooperation of these men were such that the world ' s mightiest carrier was again ready for sea on March 5. After five days of sea trials, the Big E departed Hawaii on March 1 1 , en route to Yankee Station for her fourth Vietnam tour. She reached the Gulf of Tonkin March 31, beginning immediate air strikes against the enemy. When the North Koreans shot down a Navy EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft on April 1 6, ENTERPRISE was once again ordered into the Sea of Japan, where she was joined by three other carriers and numerous sup- port ships. As flagship for the newly reinstated Task Force 71, ENTER- PRISE became an integral part of the largest task force assemblied in more than 25 years. ENTERPRISE returned to Alameda in July 1 969 and soon sailed for her new home port in Norfolk, Va., arriving in August 1969. From Norfolk, the giant carrier returned to the Newport News Ship- building and Drydock Company where she underwent her second refuel- ing and overhaul. Having been refitted and refueled, ENTERPRISE com- pleted her sea trials in January 1 971 and then began the trip around South America for her home port at Alameda, Calif. In July, ENTERPRISE arrived at the Subic Bay Naval Base in the Repub- lic of the Philippines, and later that month, began her first line period of the cruise in the Gulf of Tonkin. After a six-day port visit to Singapore in September, ENTERPRISE and the nuclear-powered guided missile frigate USS BAINBRIDGE com- menced a transit into the Indian Ocean. During this transit. Task Group 77.5 demonstrated the quick response of nuclear vessels, conducted extensive training operations, and collected hydrographic and meteoro- logical data. After ENTERPRISE ' S run into the Indian Ocean and the Java Sea, she returned to Subic Bay on Oct. 2. After a 10-day stay, she returned to Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. On Dec. 1 0, while on the line, ENTERPRISE received orders to proceed to the Malacca Straits south of Singapore and await further orders. This movement was a result of the Indo-Pakistani War, which had begun a few days earlier. While awaiting further orders, ENTERPRISE was joined by several destroyers and a helicopter carrier. This task force became Contingency Force, Seventh Fleet, with ENTERPRISE as its flagship. Shortly after its formation, the task force was ordered to proceed into the Indian Ocean. On Jan, 7, 1972, ENTERPRISE received orders to cease operations in the Indian Ocean and proceed to Subic Bay. ENTERPRISE ended her fifth West-Pac deployment and headed home, arriving in Alameda Feb. 12. On Sept. 12,1 972, ENTERPRISE departed Alameda for her sixth com- bat deployment to Southeast Asia. The arrival of 1 973 brought good news to ENTERPRISE and the world, the announcement of a cease-fire in Vietnam. ENTERPRISE — A 200 Year Heritage FIRST ENTERPRISE SECOND ENTERPRISE FOURTH ENTERPRISE THIRD ENTERPRISE FIFTH ENTERPRISE 6 HISTORY

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le name ENTERPRISE is inherited from seven former ships of the U.S. Navy, including the famous Big E of World War II — the indestructible attack carrier that earned 20 battle stars againt the Japanese in the Pacific. The latest Big E was commissioned on Nov. 25, 1961. The new carrier went to sea )an. 12, 1 962 for her shakedown cruise, finishing April 1 5 with the highest score ever attained by a new aircraft carrier. Carrier Air Wing Six came aboard June 22, 1962, to form, along with ENTER- PRISE, the most powerful seaborne unit in existence at that time. In August, ENTERPRISE joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean for her first deployment. Following her return to Norfolk on Oct. 11,1 962, she was assigned for a month to the U.S. Navy blockade involved in the Cuban crisis. After returning in September 1 963 from a second Sixth Fleet deployment, the Big E alternated periods in port with deployments at sea with the Second Fleet until Feb. 8, 1964, when she once again returned to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. On May 1 3, the world ' s first nuclear-powered task force was formed, bringing ENTERPRISE together with the guided missile cruiser USS LONG BEACH and the guided missile frigate USS BAINBRIDCE. On |uly 31 , the three ships were designated Task Force One and sent on Operation Sea Orbit, a 49,190 kilometer (30,565 mile) voyage around the world. ENTERPRISE and her nuclear-powered sisters performed a new feat in naval history by steaming 52,465 engine kilometers (32,600 miles) with- out a single replenishment or refueling. In October 1964, ENTERPRISE returned to Newport News Shipbuild- ing and Drydock Company for her first refueling and overhaul. She was ready for sea again the following Spring. The nuclear-powered surface force soon transferred to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. With Carrier Air Wing Nine reporting aboard in September, the Big E joined the Seventh Fleet on Nov. 21, 1965, and became the first nuclear-powered warship to engage in combat. During the next six months, Big E plans carried out bombing raids against the enemy mi litary transport and supply areas, bridges and coastal shipping in Vietnam. ENTERPRISE concluded ber first combat cruise, arriving at her home port of Alameda, Calif., on June 21, 1966. ENTERPRISE again left the United States on Nov. 19 to rejoin the Seventh Fleet. Following a brief call at Pearl Harbor, she sailed for her second combat cruise in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air Wing Nine planes were again in the air over North Vietnam by Dec. 1 8, beginning six months of combat. On March 27, 1967, ENTERPRISE was awarded the battle Efficiency E, her first award as part of the Pacific Fleet. The Cruise ended in June with 13,400 battle missions flown, and ENTERPRISE returned to Alameda July 6. On Oct. 9, the Secretary of the Navy announced that the Big E had won the Navy Unit Commendation during her 1966-67 deployment. After Christmas at Alameda, ENTERPRISE sailed again on Jan. 3, 1968, for her third Western Pacific Cruise. Opposite Page: USS Enterprise, the world ' s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, keel laying at Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, 1958. (Inset) Completely refurbished Enterprise underway for 1982-83 WESTPAC Cruise This Page (Left): Hull No. 546 takes shape, 1 958. (Right): Construct on progresses during 1959. HISTORY I 5

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Left: Enterprise launching at Newport News Ship- building and Drydock Company, 24 September, 1960. Above: Mrs. William B. frank, wife of the Honorable William B. Frank, former Secretary of the Navy, christening Enterprise during launching ceremonies, 24 September 1960. The name ENTERPRISE has been part of Naval history since its beginning in 1 775. Eight ships have carried the name into battle, from the first ENTERPRISE, a 70-ton sloop captured from the British in 1775, to the nuclear pow ered attack air- craft carrier commissioned in 1961 . The latest EN- TERPRISE takes up a proud tradition set forth by her seven illustrious predecessors. The first ENTERPRISE was captured by Benedict Arnold from the British and was used to patrol the waters of Lake Chaplain and the Saint Lawrence River. The first ENTERPRISE, a 70-ton sloop, was re- placed by an eight-gun schooner, the second EN- TERPRISE. She served the Navy briefly, however, and mainly as a cargo ship. The third ENTERPRISE was a 12-gun schooner built at Baltimore, Md., From December 1799 to February 1 801 , with a frigate CONSTELLATION , she patrolled the West Indies, capturing and destroying several French ships which were threatening Ameri- can commercial shipping. The third ENTERPRISE spent the rest of her ca- reer in equally successful deployment, for six years n the Mediteranean, again protecting American commercial ships, and in the War of 1812, patrolling the United States ' east coast for invading British ships, After two other deployments, one in the Mediterranean and one in the Caribbean, her career came to an end in 1823. The fourth ENTERPRISE, built in 1 831 , spent the majority of her commission protecting North Ameri- can interests off the troubled shores of South Amer- ica. During her active days, she also traveled from South America ' s east coast to her west coast by way of Japan and the Pacific Ocean while carrying the honorable Edmund Roberts, who was negotiating treaties with countries in the Far East. From 1874-1909, the fifth ENTERPRISE was commissioned and decommissioned three times. During this time she made cruises to Europe, South America, Japan, and Australia. Her last 17 years were spent as a training ship for the Public Marine School in Massachusetts, taking summer cruises to England and Portugal. The sixth ENTERPRISE, in the service of the Second Naval district, performed harbor tug duties at Newport, Rhode Island. The seventh ENTERPRISE, an 827-foot 4-inch aircraft carrier, avoided destruction early in her career at Pearl Harbor when she was delayed at Wake Island by bad weather. Following the December 7th raid by the Japanese, the seventh ENTERPRISE took up patrol off Hawaii, and her planes sank a Japanese sub- marine on December 10th. Throughout the rest of World War II, with occa- sio nal time out for repairs, the Seventh ENTER- PRISE was engaged in many major battles and played a definite part in the United States ' eventual victory in the Pacific. Serving as a flagship for Admiral Halsey, and engaging in such well known major battles as the raid on Tokyo and the Battle of Midway where many Japanese ships were lost, including four carriers, the seventh ENTERPRISE continued her career as a distinguished and formidable American warship. She also instigated a new type of carrier warfare — night fighting. For the rest of her operations for the last years of war, the seventh ENTERPRISE used this method effectively. On May 14, 1945, a Japanese suicide plane dove into ENTERPRISE ' S forward elevator destroying it and starting fires. After repairs in Puget Sound, she returned veterans to New York from the European Theatre from September 1 945 to January 1 946, and was decommissioned on February 17, 1947. SIXIH LMLKl ' RISt SEVENTH ENTERPRISE HISTORY I 7