The world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ended its career at sea on Sunday when it pulled into its home port for the final time after participating in every major conflict since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.
The ship’s fighter planes flew more than 2,200 combat sorties in Afghanistan while supporting US and international ground troops
The USS Enterprise began shutting down its eight nuclear reactors almost as soon as it arrived at its pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, where thousands of cheering family members and friends welcomed the ship home from its 25th and final deployment after nearly eight months at sea.
The ship will never move on its own power again and will eventually be scrapped in Washington state, making its final voyage a sentimental one for those who have sailed aboard “The Big E”.
Copies of the ship’s daily newspaper – The Shuttle – were in short supply as sailors looked for memorabilia to take with them. Countless personal photos were taken by sailors throughout the ship as it approached shore.
“It’s exceptionally emotional and exceptionally satisfying,” Rear Admiral Ted Carter, commander of the Enterprise Strike Group, said as Naval Station Norfolk came into view and his sailors manned the rails.
However, Carter is the first to say that the Enterprise’s final deployment was anything but a sentimental victory lap.
The ship’s fighter planes flew more than 2,200 combat sorties in Afghanistan while supporting US and international ground troops.
In a show of force to Iran, the ship also passed through the strategic Strait of Hormuz 10 times.
The Enterprise has been a frequent traveller to the Middle East over its career. It was the first nuclear-powered carrier to transit through the Suez Canal in 1986 and it was the first carrier to respond following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
An entire room on the ship serves as a museum to its history, which includes a large photo of the burning World Trade Centre Twin Towers placed in a timeline that wraps around a wall.
The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on December 1 but it will take several more years for it to be decommissioned as its reactors are taken out.
About 15,000 people are expected to attend the deactivation ceremony, which will be its last public ceremony after several days of tours for former crew members.
Some of the ship’s original crew members from 51 years ago – known as plank owners – were among the 1,500 civilians who joined the Enterprise for its last two days at sea, known as a Tiger Cruise.
“This is the end of an era that I helped start, so I was just honoured that the captain invited me on board. There’s no way I’d turn that down,” said original crew member Ray Godfrey of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The aircraft carrier is the eighth US ship to bear the name Enterprise, with the first one being confiscated from the British by Benedict Arnold in 1775.
Current sailors and alumni like Godfrey are lobbying to have a future carrier also named Enterprise. The ship’s crew created a time capsule to be passed along to each Navy secretary until a new ship carries its name.