Tag Archives: USS Enterprise (CVAN-65)

It’s official: CVN-65 headed to Mobile for final cruise

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Operation Sea Orbit: On 31 July 1964, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (bottom), USS Long Beach (CGN-9) (center) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) (top) formed “Task Force One,” the first nuclear-powered task force, and sailed 26,540 nmi (49,190 km) around the world in 65 days. Accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment, “Operation Sea Orbit” demonstrated the capability of nuclear-powered surface ships.

The world’s first nuclear powered flattop and the longest carrier ever constructed (at 1,088 feet oal, later pushed to 1,123 feet, some 31 feet longer than a Nimitz and 17 feet longer than a Ford) will be deconstructed slowly in Mobile Bay through the end of the decade, under the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She will disappear while docked at Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services, LLC (MARRS), where the former SS United States is now tied up.

The ex-USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, was ordered on 15 November 1957 during the Eisenhower administration and commissioned on 25 November 1961, somehow just four years later. She left on her inaugural deployment just seven months later in June 1962. In all, she would complete 25 overseas deployments in her career.

Keep that in mind when you note that Ford took nine years from ordering (2008) through commissioning (2017) and only deployed for the first time six years later (2023).

Big E’s original cost, in 1961 dollars, was $451.3 million. Her recycling, after over 55 years of service, will be more expensive until you consider inflation.

Per DOD’s contract announcements last Friday:

NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, Vernon, Vermont, is awarded a $536,749,731 firm-fixed-price contract (N00024-25-C-4135) for the dismantling, recycling, and disposal of Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65). Under this contract CVN 65 will be dismantled in its entirety, and all resulting materials will be properly recycled or disposed of. Specifically, hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, will be packaged and safely transported for disposal at authorized licensed sites. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and is expected to be completed by November 2029. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $533,749,731 will be obligated at the time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation module, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

 

Sea Orbit at 60

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Some 60 years ago this week, the world’s ocean saw a novel naval squadron take to sea. On 13 May 1964, the first all-nuclear-powered task group, “Task Force One,” was organized and deployed to the Fleet as Carrier Division 2.

Comprising the brand new 93,000-ton supercarrier USS Enterprise (CVAN 65), the sleek and enigmatic 15,000-ton cruiser USS Long Beach (CGN 9), and the 9,000-ton destroyer leader USS Bainbridge (DLGN 25), the group, thanks to their dozen installed nuclear reactors (8 A2Ws on Enterprise, on 2 C1Ws on Long Beach, and 2 D2Gs on Bainbridge) could make 30+ knots non-stop for years, with their endurance limited generally to the amount of food aboard for their combined 7,600 sailors and Marines, and the finite quantity of lubricants and spare parts to keep things in motion.

U.S. Navy National Naval Aviation Museum photo NNAM.1996.488.125.008

They weren’t just showboats and had serious combat potential as well.

The “Big E,” whose radio callsign was “Climax,” had the newly redesignated Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 6 embarked (F-4B Phantoms of VF-102, F-8E Crusaders of VF-33, A-4C Skyhawks of VA-64, VA-66 and VA-76; A-1H Skyraiders of VA-65, A-5A Vigilantes of VAH-7, and smaller dets of E-1Bs, EA-1Fs, RF-8As, UH-As, and C-1As) while the two escorts brought a combined four twin Terrier launchers (with 200 missiles), a Talos twin (52 missiles), two ASROC matchboxes (16 missiles), two 5″/38s, two 3″/50s, and 4 triple ASW tubes along to keep the flattop safe.

Operation Sea Orbit, 1964. A formation of A4 Skyhawk jet aircraft flies over nuclear Task Force One, on whose return to the United States on October 3, 1964, concluded a sixty-five-day unreplenished world cruise. The three ships, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65); USS Long Beach (CLGN-9), and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25), are under the command of Rear Admiral Bernard M. Strean, aboard the carrier. Photograph released October 2, 1964. Accession #: 330-PSA-211-64 (KN 29719)

The force was under the command of RADM (later VADM) Bernard M. Strean (USNA 1929)– an Oklahoma-born naval aviator who earned the Navy Cross for personally scoring a direct bomb hit on a Japanese aircraft carrier in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Task Force One’s Mediterranean deployment turned into a high-speed circumnavigation, dubbed Operation Sea Orbit. In all, they traveled 34,732 statute miles without refueling or taking on supplies in just 65 days (57 steaming), covering 600 miles each steaming day on average.

Nonetheless, they made time to make six non-replenishing port calls (Karachi, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, and Rio De Janeiro) and “fly-by” visits in which local dignitaries were flown in from 10 other far-lung ports (Rabat, Dakar, Monrovia, Freetown, Abidjan, Cape Town, Nairobi, Montevideo, Buenos Aries, and Sao Paulo).

Operation Sea Orbit, 1964. Officials at Dakar, Senegal, were flown to Enterprise for an air demonstration as the nuclear task force sailed down the coast of Africa in the first phase of the global cruise. Captain E.W. Hassel, Chief of Staff for the Commander of the Task Force escorts Senegalese cabinet officials. Photograph released August 22, 1964. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (2015/11/03). Accession #: 330-PSA-178-64 (USN 11042204)

As noted by the Navy:

The World Cruise has a dual mission. It offers practical experience in the operation of nuclear-powered warships independent of support ships, a fast impractical for conventionally powered ships. Equally important, and immediately evident is the opportunity to win friends in areas not frequently visited by U.S. Navy ships, and to show the world an all-nuclear element of the world’s great power for peace.

Of note, several men of TF1 were descendants of Great White Fleet sailors, Teddy Roosevelt’s slow battleship force that had taken 14 months to cover its 42,000 mile/20 port call circumnavigation a half-century prior.

The Navy men who had relatives aboard ships in the Great White Fleet, 1907-09, are, (left to right): Aerographer’s Mate Third Class William C. Longstreet, USN, whose grandfather made the cruise in 1907; Chief Electrician’s Mate J.E. Norton, USN, whose uncle Joseph Starr was a Quartermaster with the Great White Fleet; Boatswain’s Mate Third Class Henry Lopez, who had an uncle, Eddie Romers, in the Great White Fleet, and Fireman William C. Stock, whose father sailed with the 16 battleships on their history-making voyage. 330-PSA-208-64 (USN 1105502)

Of course, the above is a rarity that could never occur today, as the Navy has long ago put its nuclear-powered escorts to pasture as part of the Great Clinton-era Cruiser Slaughter. Speaking of which, all of the ships of TF1 have long been retired, with Enterprise the last leaving the fleet, decommissioned on 3 February 2017 (although her hulk remains).

VADM Strean passed in 2002, aged 91, and, besides Task Force One, he went on to be the technical adviser for the 1976 film “Midway” and helped establish the Naval Air Museum. His papers are in the NHHC Collection.

Vigilante at 65

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31 August 1958 saw the first flight, with North American Aviation test pilot Richard Wenzel at the stick, of the No.1 prototype North American XA3J-1, eventually to be known as the A-5 Vigilante.

The big American carrier-based supersonic bomber was powered by a pair of General Electric J79-GE-2 turbojet engines each rated at 15,150 lbs trust with afterburning, and the program sped along with the Vigilante going supersonic for the first time just a week later on 5 September.

Some 76 feet long and with a 50-foot wingspan, the big bird had a maximum takeoff load of some 32 tons– nearly twice that of the B-25s that Jimmy Doolittle had to shoehorn onto the deck of the USS Hornet just 16 years before. Likewise, they could carry a much more capable bomb load much further, being dedicated to the strategic nuclear strike role and capable of air-to-air refueling.

A3J-1 Vigilante pictured during an open house at an unidentified air station in 1961. Likely NAS Stanford where VAH-1 was set up

By 1960, the 6th Vigilante (4th production frame) completed carrier suitability tests by making 14 launches and landings on the USS Saratoga (CVA-60).

The 4th production North American A3J-1 Vigilante bomber (BuNo 146697) conducted the type’s initial carrier suitability tests aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CVA-60) during the week of 25 July 1960. Piloted by NATC’s CDR Carl Cruse, LCDR Ed Decker, and LT Dick Wright, the Vigilante made 14 successful launches and arrested landings.

On December 13, 1960, an A3J-1 crewed by CDR Leroy Heath and LT Larry Monroe set a new altitude record of 91,450.8 feet– beating the previous record by over 4 miles. They did this with an operational 2,200-pound payload. The Vig was capable.

The first squadron, VAH-3, was set up in 1961 and the operational debut of the Vigilante was in August of 1962 when VAH-7 deployed aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) for a short cruise in the Mediterranean. 

Heavy Attack Squadron (VAH) 7 “Peacemakers” aircrew pictured in front of an A-5A Vigilante on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVAN 65) on its first cruise, 1962, just four years after the type first flew– note the brown shoes

However, with the Navy wanting more nuclear eggs in one SSBN-shaped basket, they soon started converting the A-5 to the RA-5C recce bird, and 10 RAVH squadrons were ultimately established, with eight of those seeing service over Vietnam– and 18 Vigilante left there, numbers that qualified as decimation by the old Roman standard.

With air bosses wanting more room on their flight decks for sexy new F-14s, post Vietnam the Vigilante’s days were numbered.

The size difference between the A-5 Vigilante and A-4 Skyhawk. She was a big bird that took up lots of space. 

The last RA-5C squadron, RVAH-7, completed its final deployment to the Western Pacific aboard USS Ranger in late 1979 and the type was retired by the end of the year.

RA-5C BuN0 156608 of RVAH-7 Peacemakers of USS Ranger (CV61)– the last operational Vig

In all, just 170 Vigilantes of all variants would be produced, one of the shortest runs of U.S. carrier tactical aircraft in modern times. Compare this to 188 S-3 Vikings.

60 Years Ago Today: Welcome Aboard, Big E

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View of the christening of the world’s largest warship at the time as well as the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia on Saturday, 24 September 1960. Enterprise was sponsored by Mrs. William B. Franke, wife of the U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

Note the brand-new George Washington-class fleet ballistic missile (FBM) submarine, USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN-601) to the left– a name that would bring a tremendous amount of pearl-clutching today– which had been commissioned the week prior and the cutting-edge Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawk borrowed from Carrier Air Group 8 on the deck of the Big E.

Enterprise was deactivated on 1 December 2012 at Norfolk after a 51-year career and she is still there, although far from the same material condition that she is seen above. She far outlived Lee who was decommissioned in 1983 and recycled by 1991.

50 years ago today: The worst morning on the Big E

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At 8:19 a.m. on 14 January, a MK32 Zuni rocket loaded on an F-4J Phantom overheated due to the exhaust from a nearby starting vehicle aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65), setting off a chain of events as the carrier was about 70 miles off Hawaii.

The rocket blew up, setting off a series of explosions. Fires broke out across the deck of the ship, and when jet fuel flowed into the carrier’s interior, other fires were sparked.

In all, 27 sailors lost their lives and another 314 were seriously injured. Although 15 aircraft out of the 32 aboard Enterprise at the time were destroyed by the explosions and fire, the Enterprise herself was never threatened.

More here

Tapping in, 53 years ago today

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(Abbreviated Warship Wednesday due to the holidays). 

USS Independence (CVA-62) (foreground) and USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) rendezvous in the Indian Ocean on 21 November 1965– OTD 53 years ago.

Photographed by PH3 E.R. Pomponio. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 97717

Independence was en route to Norfolk, Virginia, after six months on the line off Vietnam. Enterprise was headed for combat duty in Vietnamese waters.

Just two weeks later, on 2 December 1965, Enterprise became the first nuclear-powered warship to see combat when she launched air strikes at the Viet Cong near Biên Hòa, South Vietnam.