USS Enterprise

[Loy Hamilton]

I am watching a show about the Big E on the History Channel.

Why didn't we save her for future generations I don't have a clue, make a grown man cry.

She was there at the start and fought her way through the whole war.

One kamikazi bomb blew its 15 ton front elevator over 400 ft in the air!!

The name from the stern is all that survives.

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[LMDawson]

I caught part of the show. Great history behind the Enterprise. Just amazing.

Best Regards
Lisa

[Don W]

You might just have to go see the USS LEXINGTON.

Home - USS LEXINGTON Museum On The Bay

DW

[Art]

Why didn't we save her for future generations I don't have a clue, make a grown man cry.

She was there at the start and fought her way through the whole war.

One kamikazi bomb blew its 15 ton front elevator over 400 ft in the air!!

The name from the stern is all that survives.

I feel the same about the Enterprise. I understand she had more battle stars than any other U.S. navy ship in the Second World War.

I think the answer is simply that at the time nobody cared enough. She was sold for scrap in the late 1950's but wasn't actually broken up intil the 1960's. I think the delay may have been in the hopes that someone would come up with the money to save her. No one did. If aircraft carriers were named after states like battleships there would be a lot more of them preserved.

I also think it's a shame the old British battleship Warspite was scrapped in 1948. As far as battle honors for a ship of her type she may not have been in a class by herself but it sure didn't take long to call the roll. Three years after World War 2, though, neither the British government or the public were interested in reminders of the war.

A real tragedy was the breaking up of the pre dreadnaught battleship Oregon in World War 2.

[FW!]

Last I knew, the USS Forestal, the first supercarrier was waiting for someone to take her. The trouble with saving carriers is because of their size they need to stay in ocean ports. Most of the big ports already have ships

[Faulkner]

From what I understand, then retired Admiral Bill Halsey was really active with trying to save the CV6 Enterprise. The necessary funds just couldn't be raised. She was the only survivor of the three Yorktown class carriers.

[John L. Lucci]

I am watching a show about the Big E on the History Channel.

Why didn't we save her for future generations I don't have a clue, make a grown man cry.

She was there at the start and fought her way through the whole war.

One kamikazi bomb blew its 15 ton front elevator over 400 ft in the air!!

The name from the stern is all that survives.

Because she is already immortal. As long as those of us know of her contributions to saving the world from tyranny she will live on longer than the steel from her nameplate. She has even inspired our reach to the stars as "Enterprise" of Star Trek fame is inspired by her.,

[Litt'le Lee]

the person that funded the series was a former Enterprise pilot during the war--he is the founder of Enterprise Car Rental co.

[larrybb]

An interesting history lesson guys. The subject made me curious to search for the fate of the aircraft carriers of WW2, and there were some surprises there for me. I didn’t know we had lost so many carriers during that war. I learned something today, thank you!!

[0311Shooter]

Great thread. Not an expert on carriers like you guys so learning here. But something Larrybb said sticks with me.

We did lose a lot of carriers and ships and Sailors in WWII. What we won the war on was perseverance and industrialization. Recall one of the carriers was so damaged and limped back to Pearl Harbor. But they turned it around in record time and had it back in the fight in just a few days with thousands working night and day on it.

I also saw a feature about tanks. Our Shermans were no match for the German tank but we built them by the thousands and just outnumbered them.

Today we could never win WWII.