The Ships of Battlegroup: United States Enterprise (CV-6)

Displacement	19,800 tons	Belt Armor	4 inches
Overall Length	809.5 feet	Deck Armor	4 inches
Beam	114 feet	Aircraft Complement	100
Speed	33 knots	Main Guns	8 × 15″

Laid down in 1934 and commissioned in May 1938, the "Big E" was the second ship of the three ship Yorktown (CV-5) class. She was the seventh United States warship to bear the name, including a wooden sailing sloop that was commanded by the swashbuckling Stephen Decatur (1779–1820) off the "Shores of Tripoli" in the early years of the Nineteenth Century.

Assigned to the Pacific Fleet, the Enterprise spent her entire active career sailing that ocean and earned more Battle Stars than any other ship in the United States Navy. At sea as the flagship of Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey, Jr. (1882–1959) when Pearl Harbor was attacked, she drew blood for the first time when her SBD Dauntless dive bombers sank the Japanese submarine I-170 on December 10, 1941.

Early in the war, as part of the naval theory of a "fleet in being" for fighting a superior enemy fleet, Pacific Fleet commander Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) staged raids while trying to mass his aircraft carriers to overwhelm a portion of the Japanese fast carrier force. Enterprise raided Kwajalein on February 1, 1942 and, in April, escorted Hornet (CV-8 - the third ship of the Yorktown class), sinking five trawlers of the Japanese early warning picket line while Hornet (CV-8) launched James H. Doolittle’s (1896–1993) B-25 bombers on their famed Tokyo raid. Racing south, the two carriers were just too late to add their overwhelming weight to the Battle of the Coral Sea.

In early June, the Enterprise, Hornet (CV-8) and the hastily repaired Yorktown (CV-5), using radio decryptions, surprised the Japanese Combined Fleet at the Battle of Midway. The Yorktown (CV-5) was lost but so were the Japanese flattops Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga and Soryu in the most decisive Pacific victory. Enterprise air strikes caused the destruction of three of the Japanese aircraft carriers (Akagi, Kaga and Hiryu ).

On August 7, 1942, Enterprise was part of the covering force for the United States Marine Corps landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal. Joined by carriers Saratoga (CV-3) and Wasp (CV-7), Enterprise faced Japanese aircraft carriers Ryujo, Shokaku and Zuikaku at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on August 24. Ryujo was sunk but Enterprise was damaged and returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs. By the time Enterprise returned to the South Pacific, Wasp (CV-7) had been sunk and Saratoga (CV-3) and battleship North Carolina had been damaged and forced home for repairs, all by Japanese submarines.

At the Battle of Santa Cruz, on October 26, 1942, Hornet (CV-8) was sunk and Enterprise was damaged and, although no Japanese flattops were sunk, Shokaku and Zuiho were both damaged and experienced Japanese carrier aircrews were approaching extinction after the latest bloodletting. While the Japanese carriers retired from the area, the damaged "Big E" remained, many of her aircraft operating out of Henderson Field with the "Cactus Air Force" on Guadalcanal. On November 13 and 14, 1942, Enterprise aircraft participated in sinking the Japanese battleship Hiei and the destruction of a convoy running down "The Slot", decisive victories that were part of the turning point in the Guadalcanal campaign.

Returning to the United States for an extensive refit, she rejoined the Pacific Fleet in June 1943. In November, now part of a powerful fast carrier task force of six large and five light aircraft carriers, the "Big E" took part in operations against Tarawa and Makin that marked the opening of the Central Pacific campaign. In December 1943, in conjunction with Yorktown (CV-10), Enterprise raided Kwajalein and hit the island again with pre-invasion strikes in January 1944. The fast carriers ranged the Pacific, striking at the great Japanese base at Truk in February 1944, where 30 ships were sunk, at Peleliu in March and at New Guinea in April. In June 1944, Enterprise and the other fast carriers were part of the vast invasion fleet that moved on the Marianas. After strikes on Guam, Saipan, Tinian and supporting airfields had destroyed Japanese land-based air power, the Japanese carrier strikes were annihilated by the Hellcat fighter combat air patrols on June 19, 1944 in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Later that day, an Enterprise air strike damaged the enemy carriers Zuikaku and Ryuho .

A full summer saw the fast carriers continuing strikes on Tinian and Guam for the rest of June, strikes on the Palau Islands in July, August and September, the Bonins in September and Okinawa, Formosa and the northern Philippines in October, as a prelude to the invasion of Leyte. The Japanese Combined Fleet made one last sortie for the Battle of Leyte Gulf and Enterprise air strikes took part in the sinking of super battleship Musashi on October 24 and the destruction of the Japanese aircraft carriers Chitose, Chiyoda, Zuiho and Zuikaku on October 25, 1944. A fighter sweep over Yap Island in November was followed by a return to Pearl Harbor where Enterprise was modified to operate as a night carrier. In December and January the landings at Lingayen Gulf were covered and the fast carriers made an offensive sweep through the South China Sea. In February and March 1945, the landings at Iwo Jima were supported, followed by strikes on Japan and pre-invasion strikes on Okinawa. After a trip to the base at Ulithi for some repairs and upkeep, the "Big E" rejoined the fast carriers of Task Force 58 near Okinawa and, on April 11, 1945, she sustained damage in two suicide attacks, requiring another trip to Ulithi for repairs. On May 14, 1945, a kamikaze scored a direct hit that required a trip back to the United States for extensive repairs and this ended the war for the United States Navy’s most decorated ship.

After brief postwar service the Enterprise was put into mothballs. Despite proposals to turn the ship into a preserved naval memorial backed by Admiral Halsey, the ship was written off and scrapped in 1958 and her name passed on to the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

For contemporary British aircraft carriers, see: Ark Royal and Victorious .

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for the culprits.