USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958, she became the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, and the world, as well as the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor (the USS Enterprise CV-6) of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At 1,123 feet (342 m), she is the longest naval vessel ever built and the only ship of her class, which was originally planned to have five other ships. Her 93,284-long-ton (94,781 t) displacement ranks her class as the third-largest carrier class, after the Nimitz class and the Gerald R. Ford class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.

Enterprise was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled USS Constitution and USS Pueblo (AGER-2). She was inactivated at Naval Station Norfolk on 1 December 2012, and decommissioned on 3 February 2017, after over 55 years of service. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day and remains at Norfolk awaiting final disposition. The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80).