USS Enterprise (CV-6)

The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was an iconic aircraft carrier used by the US Navy in the Pacific Theater of World War II. She belonged to the Yorktown class of three carriers, and she was the only one that survived the war, as USS Yorktown (CV-5) and Hornet (CV-8) were hit and sunk by a Japanese submarine and dive-bombers respectively. The Enterprise was the most decorated warship in naval history, with a Navy Unit Commendation, twenty battle stars for her World War II service, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was laid down on July 16, 1934, launched on October 3, 1936, and commissioned on May 12, 1938. As soon as she entered service with the US Navy, she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. When the Japanese launched the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, she was returning to port after delivering fighter aircraft to the Wake Island. She saw combat action for the first time on February 1, 1942, when she scrambled her aircraft, launching a full deck strike of 67 aircraft against Japanese facilities on Kwajalein Island in the Marshals.

The Enterprise took part in the Battle of Midway in early June 1942, when her air group played a key role in the most decisive naval engagement of the war in the Pacific Theater. Several of her dive-bombers (SBD Dauntless) sank the Japanese carriers Akagi and Kaga, and contributed to the destruction of Hiryu. The Enterprise also participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August 1942, during the invasion of Guadalcanal. In this military engagement as well as in the Battle of Santa Cruz, she sustained damage inflicted by Japanese dive-bombers. On June 19, 1944, she took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, during which the Japanese Fleet was severely mauled and defeated. She would be decommissioned from service after the war in 1947 and scrapped in 1958.

Above, the USS Enterprise sailing in the Pacific around 1939, with the letters ''EN'' painted in white on her flight deck. She carries TBD Devastators torpedo bombers, F3F fighters, and SB2U dive-bombers.

Technical Characteristics

The USS Enterprise was a modern carrier for the time, with 20,000 tons displacement and she had enough size to allow a real degree of protection against torpedo attacks, with a 4-inch (102-mm) thick armor belt over the machinery spaces, magazines, and gasoline storage tanks. However, her flight deck had no armor protection. Like her sisters of her class, she was fitted with three catapults and sets of arrester wires at both ends of flight deck, which was much longer than the Wasp (CV-7) 222-m length, with 252 m (827 feet). She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines fed by 9 boilers.

Specifications

Type: aircraft carrier

Displacement: 19,875 tons; 25,484 tons with full load.

Length: 252 m (827 feet)

Beam: 33.4 m (109 feet)

Draft: 7.9 m (26 feet)

Propulsion: 4 Parsons geared turbines, with four shafts, and 9 boilers, delivering 120,000 sHP.

Maximum Speed: 32.5 knots

Range: 12,500 nautical miles (23,200 km = 14,400 miles)

Aircraft: 96

Armament: eight 127-mm (5-inch) and sixteen 28-mm (1.1-inch) AA guns.

Compliments: 2,175 sailors and officers.

The Enterprise at Noumea, near Guadalcanal in November 1942.

Above, the USS Enterprise CV-6 on the foreground, with Lexington CV-16, an Essex-class carrier.

The USS aircraft carrier in March 1944, during raids against the Palau islands.

Below, the USS Enterprise during flight operations in WW2 (footage)