USS Enterprise (CV-6)

The Yorktown class aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CV-6) was commissioned at Newport News, Virginia, on May 12, 1938.   Relocating to the Pacific, she was at sea during the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.   Three days after, she became the first U.S. Navy warship to sink a Japanese warship, submarine I-70, and later that month participated in the Wake Island expedition.  In April, Enterprise covered the Dootlittle Raid on Japan and participated in the Battle of Midway that June, where her planes helped sink three Japanese aircraft carriers and a cruiser.   During the Guadalcanal Campaign, she covered the landings and participated in the battles of Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands.   Despite being damaged in both battles, she launched aircraft to assist the ships involved in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.    In late 1943 and early 1944, Enterprise took part in the Gilberts and Marshall invasions and air attacks on the Japanese in the Central and Southern Pacific.   In the summer of 1944, she participated in the Marianas operation and the Battle of the Philippine Sea, followed with the largest naval battle in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October.    In February 1945, Enterprise took part in the Iwo Jima invasion, then raids on the Japanese home islands and the Okinawa campaign in April.  Due to damage received by two kamikaze attacks in April and May, she returned to the United States with the distinction of being the most decorated U.S. Navy warship during the war.    Following Japan’s surrender, she helped transport U.S. servicemen back to the United States.   Decommissioned in February 1947, Enterprise was redesignated (CVA-6) in October 1952 and then to (CVS-6) in August 1953.   Despite efforts to turn her into a museum ship, she was sold for scrapping in July 1958.  

Image:  80-G-456514:  USS Enterprise (CV-6).  Photograph received 1950.   Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.