The Enterprise proved the viability of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and so much more.
Here s What You Need to Know:
Enterprise circled the globe three times, conducted twenty-five overseas cruises and completed an astonishing four hundred thousand aircraft landings in its lifetime.
The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ever built carries one of the most famous names in flattop history:
Enterprise. Designed as the nucleus of a nuclear-powered task force that could travel indefinitely without fuel replenishment, the USS
Enterprise set the standard for all U.S. aircraft carriers to the present day.
In August 1950 the chief of naval operations, Adm. Forrest Sherman, requested a feasibility study for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. A shore-based nuclear reactor was built as a test, and based on the success of the so-called A1W reactor authorization, and funds for a nuclear carrier was approved in 1958.