ISSUE 10 USS ENTERPRISE CV-6 – CVN-65 – CVN-80 ★★★ ★★★ 9 9 8. £ ALSO AVAILABLE £8.99 £8.99 each each (inc p&p*) (inc p&p*) £8.99 each (inc p&p*) Subscribe to the War at Sea series today for just £32.36. Visit https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/ subscription/WAS ORDER ONLINE AT SHOP.KELSEY.CO.UK/WAS OR CALL 01959 543 747 AND QUOTE WAS Lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.30pm. Calls are charged at your standard network rate. *Price is for UK only. EUR and ROW price is £10.99. Saving based on the Direct Debit UK Price. War at Sea is a quarterly bookazine series – subscribers will receive four issues a year. All prices include p&p. for full terms and conditions visit shop.kelsey.co.uk/terms USS Washington (BB-56) and USS Enterprise in the Panama Canal, October 1945. ISSUE 10 USS ENTERPRISE CV-6 – CVN-65 – CVN-80 ★★★ ★★★ Author: Patrick Boniface Published by Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent, ME18 6AL. Editor: Charles Waters First published May 2022. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except Publisher: Paul Appleton with prior permission from the publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors in Design and layout: Burda Druck India Pvt. Ltd. articles or advertisements. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Editor or Publisher. Images: The Defence Picture Library ISBN: 9 772633 765007-05 CONTENTS An F-14 Tomcat, an A-6 Intruder and an A-7 Corsair II (foreground) and two UH-46 Sea Knight helicopters (background) are parked on the flight deck as USS Enterprise transits San Francisco Bay in August 1985. CHAPTER ONE USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) In 2028, the latest warship to bear the illustrious name of USS Enterprise should enter service with the US Navy. It will be the seventh warship to have been christened with the name, but all of the last three have been ground-breaking and record making warships in their own right. Since the first of the aircraft carriers entered service, all US Navy ships with the name Enterprise also carry with them the nickname of ‘The Mighty E or Big E.’ Today we celebrate a legacy that encompasses all but two of the major campaigns of the Pacific War of the Second World War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the Gulf War and numerous other incidents and campaigns throughout almost 90 years of War at Sea. CHAPTER TWO GOING NUCLEAR The construction of any aircraft carrier is a heady mix of military requirements and political will. The building of a revolutionary, one of a kind warship that would for the first time, harness the power of nuclear fission as a propulsion choice was a bold move indeed. It was a gamble, and it is an expensive choice, but we must remember the era in which the decision to build the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier was made, the height of the Cold War, where every advantage over the perceived enemy was to be explored and exploited if at all possible. CHAPTER THREE USS ENTERPRISE CVN-80 The Olympic Gold medallists Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky on 24 August 2017 were signing their names, not in some avid sport collectors signature book, they were signing the first steel components in a new warship for the United States Navy. Together with Jennifer Boykin, President of Newport News Shipbuilding, the three ladies became the ship’s sponsors by signing a 25-ton piece of steel plate that launched the construction phase for the next USS Enterprise and the ninth ship to bear the name in the history of the US Fleet. 4 WAR AT SEA | USS ENTERPRISE USS ENTERPRISE Of all the names of American warships, – CVN-65 – became the world’s first a new warship for the United States Navy. one has truly become a legend. USS nuclear powered aircraft carrier and, for Together with Jennifer Boykin, President Enterprise. Two of the nine ships named a time, was the world’s largest and most of Newport News Shipbuilding, the three Enterprise have been aircraft carriers and powerful warship. The carrier served ladies became the ship’s sponsors by each served with distinction. The first of during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the signing a 25-ton piece of steel plate that these aircraft carriers – CV6 – became Vietnam War throughout its 50 plus year launched the construction phase for the the most decorated American warship career. Then, on 24 August 2017, Olympic next USS Enterprise and the ninth ship of all time serving across the Pacific Gold medallists Simone Biles and Katie to bear the name in the history of the campaign and seeing action in almost all Ledecky signed their names, not in some US Fleet. USS Enterprise – CVN-80 – is of the major battles against the Imperial avid sport collectors signature book, they expected to be in service with the US Japanese Navy. The next USS Enterprise were signing the first steel components in Navy by 2028. USS Enterprise at anchor, circa 1940. US National Archives 5 USS ENTERPRISE | WAR AT SEA 1 CHAPTER USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) In 2028, the latest warship to bear the illustrious name of USS Enterprise should enter service with the US Navy. It will be the seventh warship to have been christened with the name, but all of the last three have been ground-breaking and record making warships in their own right. Since the first of the aircraft carriers entered service, all US Navy ships with the name Enterprise also carry with them the nickname of ‘The Mighty E or Big E.’ Today we celebrate a legacy that encompasses all but two of the major campaigns of the Pacific War of the Second World War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the Gulf War and numerous other incidents and campaigns throughout almost 90 years of War at Sea. 6 WAR AT SEA | USS ENTERPRISE Insignia of USS Enterprise (CV-6) 1938. T he fi rst six USS Enterprise’s, were small schooners plus a 1919 motor patrol boat, but it was the seventh ship of the name that was destined to become a legend. In the mid-1930s the US Navy placed orders for the construction of three Yorktown-class aircraft carriers that were ahead of their time in terms of design and operational fl exibility. Two of the class would become victims during the Second World War, but the third survived and earned more battle stars than any other US Navy warship in history, it was the Enterprise. Th e Yorktown-class design evolved throughout the late 1920s until 1933 when the US Congress authorised the construction of the new carriers. Th e detailed design work began in May 1931 and two years later, on 3 August 1933, contracts were placed for the fi rst two, USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise. Th e contract for USS Hornet was authorised later. As designed, the Yorktown-class had a displacement of 25,600 tons full load, a length overall of 824ft 9in, a beam of 83ft 1in at the waterline and a 28ft draught. Power came from nine Babcock and Wilcox boilers producing 120,000 shp driving four propeller shaft s giving a top speed of 32.5 knots. Each ship could accommodate 85-100 contemporary aircraft of all types while the ships were initially armed with eight 5in/38 guns, four 1.1in (quads) and 24 0.50 calibre guns. Each of the ships had a bulbous bow, a round bilge and a cruiser style stern together with a single rudder. USS Enterprise and its sister ships, were designed with a wooden fl ight deck laid on light steel plate. Th ree elevators were a feature of the design and to launch aircraft from the deck, the ships were fi tted with USS Enterprise CV-6 at anchor, circa 1939. a H-2 type hydraulic catapult. Th e H-2 Naval Heritage Command image could launch a fully armed aircraft up to a weight of 70,000 pounds at a speed of ➽ 7 USS ENTERPRISE | WAR AT SEA 1 CHAPTER USS Enterprise at anchor, circa 1940. US National Archives Enterprise underway in August 1944. US National Archives 8 WAR AT SEA | USS ENTERPRISE 70mph. At the start of the Second World and conducting sea and acceptance trials at sea training when the attack occurred, War, the H-2 was the height of technology before it was commissioned into service and Enterprise was undamaged. The ship but by the end of the war it was completely in the US Navy on 12 May 1938. The ship returned to port to rearm and refuel obsolete as aircraft size and complexity sailed to join the Pacific Fleet based out leaving port on 9 December. First blood grew out of all proportions to the pre-war of Pearl Harbor and continued to operate was drawn by Enterprise’s anti-submarine requirements. in that theatre throughout its all too brief aircraft when on 10 December they The Yorktown-class were designed and peacetime career. USS Enterprise made sank the Japanese submarine I-70. The built under the terms of the interwar history when it became the first American submarine had been part of a group sent Naval Restrictions and among the aircraft carrier to be equipped with aircraft to patrol off Hawaii. The previous day, its compromises made to their design was fitted with an early form of airborne early last radio message reported that they had limited levels of armour plating protection warning radar (AEW). One of its torpedo seen USS Enterprise near Naval Station to remain within the strict tonnage limits bombers had under a secret program Pearl Harbor. At 0600 on 10 December for aircraft carriers. These restrictions called ‘Project Cadillac’ been fitted with a the submarine was sighted by a Douglas contributed greatly towards the eventual large radar radome. With the set fitted, the SBD-2 Dauntless from Enterprise’s VS-6 loss of both of Enterprise’s two sister ships aircraft could fly at a height of 20,000 feet Squadron. The aircraft dropped a 1,000lb Yorktown and Hornet. and could detect incoming threats out to a bomb towards the submarine and scored a Newport News Shipbuilding Company distance of some 200 nautical miles. At the near miss but sufficient to damage its hull in Newport News, Virginia, was selected time this was a revolutionary innovation and prevent it from submerging. Later the as the shipyard to build the aircraft carrier and would prove to be invaluable in the same day another Dauntless dive bomber and the first steel plates in its construction Second World War. saw the submarine trying to manoeuvre were laid down on 16 July 1934. The Sunday 7 December 1941, was a fateful on the surface. The Japanese crew on the build proceeded uneventfully, and the day for the US Navy when the Japanese deck fired its 13mm deck machine gun at new warship was launched into the James Navy rained down bombs on the Pacific the attacking aircraft which then dropped River on 3 October 1936. Another 20 Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Fortune had meant another bomb on the submarine which months would pass finalising the build that all the US Navy’s aircraft carriers were sank to the bottom of the ocean. ➽ Enterprise (CV-6) underway on 2 August 1944. National Archives 9 USS ENTERPRISE | WAR AT SEA 1 CHAPTER Deck view of Enterprise. US National Archives On 1 February 1942, Task Force 8 formed In June 1942, came the most important Alaska and was based on overly optimist on the Enterprise struck Kwajalein, Wotje carrier battle in history at the Battle of intelligence that suggested that the and Maloelap in the Marshall Islands. Midway. The Japanese wanted to continue Americans could only deploy two aircraft The attacks sank three ships, damaged a expanding into the Pacific Ocean and carriers, USS Enterprise and USS Hornet further eight as well as numerous aircraft take the strategically important atoll of with the USS Yorktown severely damaged and ground facilities. The following month Midway from which they could range and under repair at Pearl Harbor after it was the turn of Wake and the Marcus across the Pacific Ocean. A large Japanese battle damage inflicted at the Battle of Islands to feel the wrath of the Americans. force sailed to take the islands from the Coral Sea the previous month. What the This was personified in Lieutenant Colonel Americans, but the US Navy had broken Japanese did not comprehend was that Jimmy Doolittle and his audacious idea to the Japanese naval codes and knew of their naval code (dubbed JN-25 by the attack Tokyo with 16 long range US Army their intentions so put a counterforce into Americans) had been cracked allowing Air Force B-25 Mitchell bombers flown place. The USS Enterprise sailed from American intelligence operatives to from the deck of Enterprise’s sister ship Pearl Harbor on 28 May with explicit determine large portions of the Japanese USS Hornet. USS Enterprise would provide orders from Rear Admiral Raymond A battle plan in advance and to distribute fighter cover for the bombers which flew Spruance ‘to hold Midway and inflict their ships accordingly. Admiral Chester from the deck of the aircraft carrier on 18 maximum damage on the enemy by Nimitz soon realised that he needed April before dropping their bombload on strong attrition tactics’. The strong every available aircraft carrier he could the Japanese capital in a surprise attack American task force comprised of USS muster to combat the large Japanese force. that caught the Japanese off guard. While Enterprise and USS Hornet, six cruisers Eventually, he got three, Enterprise, Hornet the mission had little strategic value it was and 10 destroyers. and Yorktown, which had been repaired in a major morale booster for the American The Japanese plan of attacking Midway a staggering 72 hours of round the clock people and a reminder to the Japanese Atoll was typically complex and multi work at Naval Station Pearl Harbor. Repair that their home islands were far from layered involving co-ordinated attacks at work on USS Saratoga over ran and it was impregnable to attack. Midway and at the Aleutian Islands off unavailable for the battle. ➽ 10 WAR AT SEA | USS ENTERPRISE