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USS Enterprise (CV-6)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Enterprise (CV-6)

USS Enterprise (CV-6) was authorized by an Act of Congress on 16 June 1933; laid down on 16 July 1934, at Newport News, Va., by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched on 3 October 1936; sponsored by Mrs. Lulie H. Swanson, wife of Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson; and commissioned on 12 May 1938 at Naval Operating Base (NOB) Norfolk, Va., Capt. Newton H. White in command.

Post-commissioning repair work delayed her full operational status with the fleet until the following year. USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Yorktown took part in a series of exercises in the New Year (4 January–12 April 1939). They practiced protecting a convoy during a voyage to the Caribbean, and USS Enterprise (CV-6) anchored at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands on 8 January, Guantánamo Bay on 16 January, on 19 January at Gonaïves Bay, where the two carriers joined Aircraft, Battle Force, Carrier Division 2, and USS Enterprise (CV-6) anchored again at Guantánamo on 30 January.

USS Enterprise (CV-6) briefly (5–9 January 1940) steamed to Hilo, Hawaii, where she anchored on 7 January. The ship trained off Oahu for (30 January–1 February), and the following day was released from the detachment and set out for the west coast, arriving at San Diego on 9 February. The ship steamed to San Diego (9 November–2 December — she reached North Island on 14 November), and ended the year by completing degaussing and antiaircraft installations at Puget Sound (2–31 December 1940). USS Enterprise (CV-6) took part in the secret mission and prepared by training her newer pilots north of the Hawaiian Islands (27 March and 1–3 April). Setting out again on 4 December, USS Enterprise (CV-6) trained, anchored in Segond Channel at Espíritu Santo on 11 December, on 17 December returned to sea, and anchored again in Segond Channel over Christmas (22 December 1942–28 January 1943).

On 27 May 1943, Nimitz presented USS Enterprise (CV-6) with the Presidential Unit Citation for eight battles that the ship fought in 1942: Gilbert and Marshall Islands Raid (1 February); Wake Island Raid (24 February); Marcus Island Raid (4 March); Battle of Midway (4–6 June); Occupation of Guadalcanal (7–8 August); Battle of Stewart Islands (24 August); Battle of Santa Cruz Islands (26 October); and Battle of Solomon Islands (14–15 November). USS Enterprise (CV-6) kicked off the New Year (6–7 January 1945) by sweeping the waters north of Luzon and the East China Sea, her planes flying night fighter sweeps, night heckler missions, and dusk CAP against shore targets and shipping from Formosa to Indochina [Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam]. 

USS Enterprise (CV-6) was decommissioned on 17 February 1947, at Bayonne. A Board of Inspection and Survey team examined USS Enterprise (CV-6) (June–July 1956) and declared the ship “unfit for further naval service”. She was stricken from the List of Naval Vessels on 2 October 1956, and on that date Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Material Raymond H. Fogler signed an order authorizing the Navy to call for sealed bids on her disposal. 

For a complete history of USS Enterprise (CV-6) please see its DANFS page.