Aircraft Carrier Photo Index: USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6)

Task Force 16 Citation Enterprise , Hornet , 16 other ships and their 10,000 sailors, airmen and Marines, who took part in the Doolittle raid in April 1942, were officially recognized for their daring exploit 53 years later, on 15 May 1995. In a ceremony at the Pentagon they were presented the Task Force 16 Citation by the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. John H. Dalton.

British Admiralty Flag On 23 Nov. 1945, at Southampton, England, Sir Albert Victor Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew B. Cunningham, First Sea Lord, visited USS Enterprise and the British Admiralty Flag was hoisted in the ship. This was the first time since its creation in the 16th Century that such a pennant had flown from a foreign warship. The flag was presented to the ship as a memento.

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Name

NS098660401
27k

“Enterprise” means “boldness, energy, and invention in practical affairs.” CV-6 was
named to commemorate six American warships which had previously borne the name:

1. A sloop used during the Revolutionary
   War
2. A Continental Navy schooner
3. A schooner (1799–1823)
4. A schooner (1831–1844)
5. A screw sloop-of-war
6. A non-commissioned motorboat

Image: NS098660401, The first Enterprise,
a sloop-of-war, with the galley Congress
and other ships at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain New York, 11–13 October 1776.
Photo from Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, via Robert Hurst.

NavSource

Construction

NS0205bt
606k

Enterprise building at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Virginia,
1 October 1936.

USN and NNSDDC photo, courtesy of Pictorial
Histories Publishing Company,
via Gerd Matthes, Germany

NS020579
200k

On Saturday, October 3, 1936 Enterprise was christened by Mrs. Lucy (“Lulie”)
Lyons Hall Swanson, wife of Claude A. Swanson,
Secretary of the Navy. She quoted William Shakespeare’s Othello: “May she also say with just
pride: I have done the State some service.”

USN and NNSDDC photo, courtesy of Pictorial
Histories Publishing Company

NS020579a
7k

Mrs. Lucy (“Lulie”) Lyons Hall Swanson, ship’s sponsor, photographed when she was received
at St. James Palace, London.

Courtesy of Charles C. Hall, www.ClaudeSwanson.us

NS020679c
108k

Launching the Big E.

Via David Wright

NS020679b
1.76M

“More Armor for America—Navy’s New Ship, Into the water splashes the U.S.S.
Enterprise, the giant new aircraft carrier, at Norfolk, Va. All armor is in place and
her turrets and guns are mounted, almost ready to parade the seas. Mrs. Claude A. Swanson, wife of
the Secretary of Navy, christened the ship. A.P. Photo.”

The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., 4 October 1936.

Chronicling America, via Michael Mohl

NS020bh
2.10M

“Mrs. Swanson, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, shown breaking the traditional bottle
on the Enterprise‘s bow.”

“U.S.[S.] Enterprise, giant new aircraft carrier, launched last October at Norfolk,
Va. Mrs. Claude A. Swanson christened the ship and became a member of the Society of Sponsors.”

The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., 7 February 1937.

Chronicling America, via Michael Mohl

NS020577
961k

The future USS Yorktown (CV-5), left, and USS Enterprise
(CV-6) at a Yard pier in Norfolk, during outfitting in 1937.

Newport News Shipbuilding photo,
# DCS19-23-8.

Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.)

NS020533
94k

USS Enterprise (CV-6), left, and USS Yorktown
(CV-5) under construction at Newport News, Virginia, 8 February 1937. National Archives photo.

Steve Whitby

NS020534
185k

USS Yorktown (CV-5) foreground, and USS Enterprise
(CV-6) under construction at Newport News, Virginia, 8 February 1937. National Archives photo.

Steve Whitby

NS0206aq
554k

Builder’s plaque.

Robert C. Gray

NS020675
41k

Port bow view of the yet to be commissioned Enterprise (CV-6), James River,
Newport News, VA, 6 April 1938. The carrier is lying in stream after builder’s preliminary trials. (Note
this is not the same photo as NS020681.)

Robert Hurst

NS020675a
91k

Broadside view of the yet to be commissioned Enterprise (CV-6), 6 April
1938. James River, Newport News, VA, lying in stream after builder’s preliminary trial.

Gerd Matthes, Germany

NS020675b
2.25M

Aerial view of the yet to be commissioned Enterprise (CV-6), 6 April 1938.

National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) photo, # 80-G-463049.

Bob Canchola, BT, USN (Ret.)

The Pre-War Years

NS020674
67k

At anchor, location unknown, early in her career.

Robert Hurst

NS020680
82k

At anchor, pre-war, exact date an location unknown.

Robert M. Cieri

NS0206ax
530k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS New
York (BB-34) at one of Norfolk Navy Base’s piers in 1938. It appears a Captain’s inspection
is happening on Enterprise‘s aft flight deck and a smaller one on New York‘s.
US Navy photo from the Bureau of Yards & Docks Record accession 71-CD now in the custody of the
National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

Tracy White, Researcher @ Large

NS020681
131k

At anchor, pre-war (1939?), location unknown. (Note this is not the same photo
as NS020675.)

Robert M. Cieri

Shakedown Cruise

NS020682
118k

Off Puerto Rico, July 23, 1938.

Robert M. Cieri

NS020676
142k

“Shellback” Initiation. These photos were taken on August 20, 1938 as USS
Enterprise (CV-6) headed south to Rio de Janeiro during her shakedown cruise.

James D. Card, QMCS.

From the collection of his grandfather, Albert Weigandt, F 1/c, then WT 2/c, who reported aboard Enterprise
four days after she commissioned

NS020676a
142k

NS020676b
119k

NS020676c
161k

NS020676d
140k

NS020676e
171k

NS020676f
188k

NS020676g
118k

Unknown sailor on Big E flight deck.

 

NS020661
29k

Circa 1939. From Our Navy magazine, 1 October 1943 issue.

Chester O. Morris

NS020603
272k

Aerial, underway, aircraft on deck; April 12, 1939. Image # 80-G-463246.

National Archives

NS020603a
105k

“Norfolk, Va., April 12 [1939]—A plane carrier rides at anchor—The airplane
carrier Enterprise, its decks loaded with the Navy’s latest war planes, is shown riding
at anchor in Hampton Roads after its arrival with three other carriers [Lexington
(CV-2), Ranger (CV-4) and Yorktown (CV-5)]
and scores of fighting craft today to take part in the greatest concentration of the Fleet here since
1907. On April 27 the Fleet will pass in review before proceeding to New York. AP wirephoto WRW41730CPG.”

Events in Europe, however, reached a crisis, the United Kingdom gathered her fleet in the Mediterranean
and the U.S. Fleet was immediately ordered back to the Pacific, six weeks ahead of schedule (see NS020617).
The naval review (in connection with the opening of the New York World’s Fair early in May) was cancelled.

AP photo from the collection of Micheal Strout, via Jonathan Eno

NS020617
223k

In the Panama Canal, en route to the Pacific, 27 April 1939.

Tom Kermen.
Larger copy submitted by Brad Proffitt.

NS0206ab
92k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) entering San Francisco Bay, 1 July 1939. Official
U.S. Navy photo.

Steve Singlar
ETCS USNR-ret.

NS020628
117k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) en route to Pearl Harbor, 8 October 1939.
Photographed from USS Minneapolis (CA-36).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-13554).

NHC

NS020616
173k
Off Pearl Harbor, 1940. Note the ship’s name initials at
the leading edge of the flight deck.
USN

NS020629
123k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) photographed circa 1940, with TBD and SBC
aircraft parked on her flight deck, aft.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (photo # 19-N-29688).

Scott Dyben

NS0206am
139k

Aerial view of USS Enterprise (CV-6) at sea in January 1940. During this
period, “EN” was painted on the forward and rear areas of the flight deck, to facilitate identification
of the ship from the air.

Item part of a scrapbook assembled by CDR William H. Balden, USNR, documenting his World War II service.

National Naval Aviation Museum,
photo #2007.084.001.510.

Mike Green

NS0206an
45k

USS Enterprise (CV-6). LIFE magazine
photo by Carl Mydans taken in Hawaii in 1940.

Tom Kermen

NS0206ana
146k

Closeup of the bridge, superstructure and stack of USS Enterprise (CV-6),
during U.S. Aircraft Carrier Operations off of Hawaii in April 1940 for Fleet Problem XXI.

LIFE magazine photo by Carl Mydans, shared by Peter DeForest.

Mike Green

NS0206ay
163k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Hawaii in 1940. LIFE
magazine photo for educational, non-commercial use.

Tom Kermen

NS0206au
179k

Crew removing plane [SBC-3 Helldiver, # 0524] which has made a slight crash landing
aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6) during the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet maneuvers
in 1940.

–

NS0206av
235k

Crew aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6) listening to instructions
during the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet maneuvers around Hawaii in 1940.

–

NS0206bi
285k

Broadside port view of USS Enterprise (CV-6), probably at Honolulu, mid-September
1940. The Yorktowns had a large, open hangar deck (a feature introduced with Ranger
and common to other U.S. carriers designed before 1945), equipped with sliding steel shutters that
provided weather protection.

Naval History & Heritage Command, photo
# NH 67732.

US Navy Photo, thanks to Jim Kurrasch, Battleship
Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center

NS020630
147k

USS Enterprise (CV-6) operating in the Pacific, circa late June
1941. She is turning into the wind to recover aircraft. Note her “natural wood” flight deck
stain and dark Measure One camouflage paint scheme. The flight deck was stained blue in July
1941, during camouflage experiments that gave her a unique deck stripe pattern.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-14254).

Scott Dyben

NS0206ad
86k

Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo plane landing on board USS Enterprise
(CV-6), in about July 1941. Note landing signal officer is in the foreground, and plane guard destroyers
in the center distance. The original photo caption gives a date of 8 April 1942, which is highly improbable
as the plane is in mid-1941 vintage overall gray paint and the destroyers are wearing peacetime light
gray paint.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-17531).

Robert Hurst

NS0206bl
141k

Cake and celebration of the 44,000th landing aboard USS Enterprise
(CV-6), made by Ensign Lloyd Thomas, USN, Torpedo Squadron (VT) 6, on 24 August 1941.

Then LT(JG) Lloyd Thomas gave his life
in his squadron’s immortal attack in the Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942, and was posthumously awarded
the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism and courage in combat.

Photos from the LIFE magazine archive.

Jason McDonald

NS0206bla
161k

NS0206blb
179k

NS0206aw
136k

Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless scout bombers, of Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6). Composite
photograph of 9 planes in flight, with USS Enterprise (CV-6) and a plane guard destroyer
below. The original photo is dated 27 October 1941. Note differences in ocean surface wave patterns
between the upper and lower images, skillfully blended to combine the two photographs.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-6678.

NARA