Monday, September 26, 2011

USS Enterprise Class Aircraft Carrier

USS Enterprise Class Aircraft Carrier

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth US naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed the "Big E". At 1,123 ft (342 m), she is the longest naval vessel in the world. Her 93,284 long tons (94,781 t) displacement ranks her as the 11th-heaviest supercarrier, after the 10 carriers of the Nimitz class.

The only ship of her class, Enterprise is the second-oldest vessel in commission in the United States Navy, after the wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate USS Constitution. She was originally scheduled for decommissioning in 2014 or 2015, depending on the life of her reactors and completion of her replacement, USS Gerald R. Ford. But the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 slated the ship's retirement for 2013, when she will have served for 51 consecutive years, the most of any U.S. aircraft carrier.

As of September 2010, Enterprise's home port is at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. She has one more deployment before her decommissioning.

USS Enterprise Class Aircraft Carrier
Name: Enterprise-class aircraft carrier
Builders: Newport News Shipbuilding
Operators: United States Navy
Preceded by: Kitty Hawk-class
Succeeded by: Nimitz-class
In commission: 25 November 1961
Planned: 6
Completed: 1
Active: 1
Career (United States)
Name: USS Enterprise
Ordered: 15 November 1957
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Cost: $451.3 million
Laid down: 4 February 1958
Launched: 24 September 1960
Christened: 24 September 1960
Acquired: 29 October 1961
Commissioned: 25 November 1961
Decommissioned: Scheduled for 2013
In service: 12 January 1962 (maiden voyage)
Reclassified: CVN-65
Homeport: NAVSTA Norfolk
Status: in active service, as of 2011
General characteristics
Class and type: Enterprise-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: 93,284 long tons (94,781 t) Full Load
Length: 1,123 ft (342 m)
Beam: 132.8 ft (40.5 m) (waterline)
257.2 ft (78.4 m) (extreme)
Draft: 39 ft (12 m)
Propulsion: 8 × Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors
four sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 × shafts
280,000 shp (210 MW)
Speed: 33.6 kn (38.7 mph; 62.2 km/h)
Range: Unlimited distance; 20 years
Complement:

5,828 (maximum)
Ship's company: 3,000 (2,700 Sailors, 150 Chiefs, 150 Officers)

Air wing: 1,800 (250 Pilots, and 1,550 Support personnel)
Sensors and
processing systems:
AN/SPS-48 3D air search radar
AN/SPS-49 2D air search radar
Electronic warfare
and decoys:
AN/SLQ-32
Mark 36 SRBOC
Armament:
  • 2 × NATO Sea Sparrow launchers
  • 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts
  • 2 RAM launchers
Armor: 8 in (20 cm) aluminum belt (equivalent to 4 in (10 cm) rolled homogeneous steel armor), armored flight deck, hanger, magazines and reactor
Aircraft carried: Hold up to 90
70 (normally)
Aviation facilities: Flight deck: 1,123 ft (342 m)
Motto: We Are Legend;
Ready on Arrival;
The First, the Finest;
Eight Reactors, None Faster
Nickname: "Big E",
Notes: 915 engineers designed the ship. They made 16,100 drawings and 2,400 blueprints. The ship has about 625 mi (1,000 km) of electrical cables and 37 mi (60 km) of ventilation ducts. The ship has 4 steam powered catapults.

Enterprise was meant to be the first of a class of six, but construction costs ballooned and the remaining vessels were never laid down.

Because of the huge cost of her construction, Enterprise was launched and commissioned without the planned Terrier missile launchers. These were never installed and the ship's self-defense suite instead consisted of three shorter-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, Basic Point Defense Missile System (BPDMS) launchers. Later upgrades added two NATO Sea Sparrow (NSSM) and three Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS gun mounts. One CIWS mount was later removed and two 21-cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers were added.

Enterprise is also the only aircraft carrier to house more than two nuclear reactors. "This was due to the ready availability of a field-proven production design developed for nuclear submarines. Her eight-reactor propulsion design also fit well with the supercarrier hull designs of the time, with each A2W reactor taking the place of one of the conventional boilers in earlier constructions. She is the only carrier with four rudders, two more than other classes, and features a more cruiser-like hull.

Enterprise also had a phased array radar system designed to be better at tracking multiple airborne targets than conventional rotating antenna radars. These early phased arrays, which were replaced around 1980, were responsible for the distinctive square-looking island.

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