MovieChat Forums > Battle 360 (2008) Discussion > Sad Enterprise fate, but maybe it helped...

Sad Enterprise fate, but maybe it helped other ships

posted 16 years ago by Willisroute2
6 replies | jump to latest

It was actually painful to see the scrapping photos of Enterprise, though it was interesting at the same time. I've been aboard several ship museums, including the Essex-class Yorktown. Enterprise would have been a jewel to preserve. But I guess the nation was ready to put the war behind it. It was 30 years after the Civil War before major preservation efforts to keep Civil War battlefields succeeded. I guess Enterprise just couldn't hold out long enough.

Perhaps Enterprise's death spurred action to save other ships. Enterprise was scrapped in the late 1950's. It was also during this time that the battleships North Carolina and Alabama were also slated to be scrapped. Public efforts to preserve them worked. Maybe Enterprise's sacrifice had a positive ending afterall.

[–] leonsls 16 years ago

It's a two edge sword. Had the Big E been saved as a museum ship, there wouldn't be any future Enterprises. As it was, the Navy honored her by naming the nations first nuclear powered carrier after her.

Now even that carrier is slated to be retired after fifty years and replaced by the new Gerald Ford Super Carrier. Again there is talk of turning CVN-65 into a museum. I don't know...

Do we want to carry on the name to future ships or retire it as a museum representing the past???

[–] sandpebbels 16 years ago

Once a ship is decommissioned and struck from the Navy List, the name is available for use. If Enterprise CV-6 had been preseved as a museum, the name could still have been used for an active ship. For example, decommissioned battleships Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas have all since seen the names passed to active vessels. Decommissioned aircraft carrier Yorktown had a namesake.

[–] jwiles1 16 years ago

Yep, the USS North Carolina BB55 is still in Wilmington while the new SSN USS North Carolina is on active service.

[–] eye3 16 years ago

>> Had the Big E been saved as a museum ship, there wouldn't be any future Enterprises. <<

Not necessarily. CV-64 was U.S.S. 'Constellation' even while there was a retired sailing frigate in Baltimore by the same name.

[–] rogcbrand 15 years ago

As a kid I read "The Big-E" and learning just how important the Enterprise was, making her, along with the Constitution, the most important ships ever in the U.S. Navy. Knowing that, it just made me think how absolutely disgusting the paper-pushing bureaucrats in the Navy are. Very often there's a huge difference between those in the military that are in the combat arms and those that are career bureaucrats who have no heart. Just look at World War 2 and other wars, of most any nation, when those parasites would steal warm clothing, food, etc., being sent to combat soldiers from home. While sitting nice and comfy in the rear areas many would take what should have gone to those risking their lives, living in horrible conditions.

Ugh! I still think that every person involved with having the Enterprise scrapped needs to be "honored" by having the sewage treatment plants on military bases named after them!

[–] F6Pilot 11 years ago

Yeah, it's sad - the idea of great warrior lady - one that haunted the dreams of our enemies- being torn apart by dockworkers.

Still, in a way it's fitting. Enterprise didn't go out in a blaze of glory, like the Hornet, Lexington, Wasp and Yorktown -- she didn't die that way becuase she never lost a battle.

And perhaps sadly, she wasn't turned into a museum.

She left this world the same way she came in - under the blowtorches of American steel workers. She was born into the service of the states, and her death served the non-violent uses of steel for the states.

"Whiskey for my men! And beer for my horses!"

T. Keith