The USS Enterprise (CV-6), commissioned in May 1938, was to become the most important American aircraft carrier to serve Active Duty in that momentous year of 1942 as World War II raged on. A new class generation of ships provided for by Yorktown Class, the Enterprise displaced a massive twenty-five thousand tons, attained a maximum speed of thirty-three knots, and held the capacity for the generation of nearly eighty combat aircraft. These, with the illustrious combat record, marked the cementing of its position as the greatest vessel to have ever served in the U.S. Navy.
In 1939, Enterprise joined the Pacific Fleet and narrowly evaded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, anchoring at night on 7 December. For the rest of the winter and into the early spring of 1942—the carrier prowled the Pacific, conducting raids on recently acquired Japanese-held islands. In April she supplied a screen for USS Hornet within the daring Doolittle Raid.
The most important contributions of Enterprise came during the June 1942 Battle of Midway, when its dive bombers sank a heavy cruiser and four Japanese carriers, dealing a victory that would break Japanese momentum in the Pacific and turn the war around. Undeterred by the loss of its sister USS Yorktown during the battle, the Enterprise forged into continuous battle across the grinding Solomons campaign.
While newer carriers, such as the Essex class, began entering service in 1943, the Enterprise’s importance slowly dwindled. However, it went on to contribute to major carrier actions like the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, which decimated the Japanese carrier fleet and battleships.
In its service, Enterprise received an unrivaled twenty battle stars—more than any other U.S. ship. Foundation efforts to retain the carrier as a memorial after the war were scuttled and it was scrapped in 1958, a decision most people would later lament at the waste of military heritage.
Among these successors would be the nuclear-powered CVN-65, the upcoming CVN-80, and the fictional starship in the creation of the legendary “Star Trek” series. According to Robert Farley, contributing to The National Interest, “Just as CV-6 survived combat situations that destroyed other carriers, NCC-1701 would survive wildly improbable scenarios.”
The USS Enterprise (CV-6) will forever stand as a representative of resilience, adaptability, and naval superiority—a true legend that charted the course of World War II for the Pacific.