Monday, November 10, 2014

James Curtin - USS Enterprise CVN-65 - Post 8

 
 USS Enterprise with E=mc2 spelled out on the deck, a reference to her status as the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier.
USS Enterprise being tugged out of port.

In 1997 I was fortunate enough to receive a guided tour of the USS Enterprise while she was in port in Norfolk, VA. While not a building in the traditional sense, at 1,123 ft she is not only the longest naval vessel ever she is also longer that most building are tall. She housed 3,000 sailors for months at a time. In addition to the 3,000 sailors, she was also capable of carrying up to 90 aircraft at a time, although her normal compliment was around 60. When I visited her there were no aircraft on her because when aircraft carriers come into their home port, all the aircraft fly from the aircraft to a local naval air-station shortly before the ship arrives into port. I think they said this was for security, so that if anything happened to the ship in port (whether terrorist attack of hurricane) all the aircraft wouldn't be lost as well. This current Enterprise (nicknamed the Big E) is currently inactive and will be officially decommissioned in 2016, but a new Enterprise (CVN-80) is already planned.

While I have been to and in larger buildings, I have never seen anything that seemed so big. Perhaps this is because on top of everything else it still floats and moves under its own power. Or perhaps its because it isn't a building, it's a ship, and you just don't expect to see a ship that's so big.

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