Armed Forces: The Mightiest Ever

“This great ship will rule for a long, long time as ‘Queen of the Seas.’ ” With these words, Navy Secretary John B. Connally last week commissioned the CVA (N) 65, U.S.S. Enterprise, the world’s first nuclear aircraft carrier and the mightiest ship ever to put to sea.

Every adjective about the Enterprise seems to be a superlative. Displacing 85,350 tons, it is the biggest ship in the world, surpasses the Queen Elizabeth by 8,000 tons and costs an estimated $500 million. From stem to stern, the Enterprise measures 1,040 ft.—roughly the height of the 102-story Empire State Building. Yet the hefty Enterprise handles like a PT boat. In its first trials last month, it surged through the Atlantic at speeds of more than 35 knots, accelerated from a standstill to top speed so rapidly that accompanying destroyers were left wallowing far behind. Its eight nuclear reactors will drive the carrier more than 140,000 miles at full power, more than 400,000 miles at high cruising speed (15-20 knots) without refueling.

Appropriately, the Enterprise packs the biggest punch of any aircraft carrier in history: three squadrons of 680-m.p.h. Douglas A4D attack bombers that can carry H-bombs 1,000 miles; one squadron of 1,000-m.p.h. Chance Vought F8U interceptors; one squadron of North American A3J all-weather attack bombers; one squadron of the versatile, all-weather McDonnell F4H Phantom II, which last week set a new world’s speed record for jet flight of 1,600 m.p.h. To launch one of its 100 planes every 15 seconds, the Enterprise will use four steam-operated catapults that are so powerful that they could hurl a Cadillac sedan a mile and a half straight up into the sky.

Outside of its jet interceptors, the 4,600-man Enterprise has no weapons for its own defense, will rely on its speed, maneuverability and the guns and rockets of its shepherding ships for survival in the age of the atom and the missile. The Enterprise is specially reinforced to withstand nuclear attack, can seal itself off below the hangar deck to avoid fallout, and has a washdown system to sluice away the spray from atomic near misses.

For the past five years, the Navy has talked hopefully of some day having a nuclear surface fleet to match its atomic submarines. But nuclear ships cost up to approximately 50% more than their conventional counterparts, and the pinch of economy has restricted the Navy’s budget to the Enterprise, the cruiser Long Beach, and two frigates still to be built.