USS Enterprise (CV-6)

A ship with one of the most distinguished combat records of the Second World War, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) was aYorktown-class U.S. aircraft carrier. She was commissioned in May 1938; served through the Second World War, Korean War, and Cold War.

Even though Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, in October 1945, l recommended to President [[Harry S. Truman that Enterprise, unable to operate the heavier, faster aircraft then entering service, be preserved "as a visible symbol of American valor and tenacity in war, and of our will to fight all enemies who assail us...." Attempts to make her a museum ship failed, and she was scrapped in 1958.

Operations

• 1941
  • Task Force 8 immediately following Battle of Pearl Harbor
• 1942
  • Doolittle Raid
  • Battle of Midway
  • Battle of the Eastern Solomons
  • Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
  • Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
• 1943
  • Battle of Rennell Island
  • Operation CARTWHEEL (reduction of Rabaul)
  • Gilbert Islands
  • Kwajalein Atoll

Recognition

She won more awards than any other U.S. Navy ship in WWII:

• 20 battle stars, three more than any other ship (sisterships New Orleans CA-32, Minneapolis CA-36 and San Francisco CA-38 each received 17 battle stars), and seven more than the next carrier (Essex CV-9, which received 13 stars).
• Presidential Unit Citation, May 1943
• Meritorious Unit Citation
• In August 1945, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal cited Enterprise as the "one vessel that most nearly symbolizes the history of the Navy in this war."
• following the Navy Day celebration in New York in

Characteristics

As a straight-deck carrier, she had very little capability to handle carrier-capable jets.