USS Enterprise CVN65
USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a retired United States Navy aircraft carrier. She was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At 1,123 ft (342 m),[4][5] she is the longest naval vessel in the world, a record which still stands. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 t)[3] displacement ranked her as the 11th-heaviest supercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.[8]
The only ship of her class, Enterprise[10] was the third oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo. She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement, USS Gerald R. Ford,[11] but the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship's retirement for 2013, when she would have served for 51 consecutive years, longer than any other U.S. aircraft carrier.[12]
Enterprise's home port was Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia as of September 2012.[13] Her final deployment, the last before her inactivation, began on 10 March 2012 and ended 4 November 2012. She was inactivated on 1 December 2012, with her official decommissioning taking place sometime in 2016[14] after the completion of an extensive terminal offload program currently underway.[15][16] The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80).[17][18]
Enterprise is a commissioned navy ship, but is inactive.[19] She has undergone enough of the four-year long inactivation process to render her unfit for further service. Inactivation removes fuel, fluids, furnishings, tools, fittings, and oil and de-energizes the electrical system.[20] Enterprise has already been cut open to allow the removal of useable systems.[21]
