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The USS Enterprise

 


I have been reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and in the alternate world described in the book, there is the USS Enterprise. This Enterprise is the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but in this version of Earth, the carrier has been purchased by a rich tycoon as his personal yacht. This did get me thinking about Enterprises of yore. There have been a lot of them.

The first US Naval vessel called Enterprise that made a name for itself was commissioned in 1799. There had been a couple of earlier ships by that name but this was the first one built for the navy.  This Enterprise fought in the first Barbary War and the War of 1812, a contemporary of the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides). Though the Constitution was a 44 gun frigate and the Enterprise was a 12 gun brig. Enterprise’s most notable action was the capture of the HMS Boxer in 1813.

In 1831 The 197-ton schooner Enterprise was commissioned and decommissioned in 1844. In 1874 the 615-ton sloop Enterprise was commissioned. It was decommissioned in 1909. There was not an Enterprise in service during the Civil War. (I confess I have always been a little hazy about the difference between sloops, frigates, barques, schooners etc.)

In 1936 the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (nicknamed “The Big E”) entered service. This was a Yorktown-class carrier. Among other actions she was involved in the battle of Midway. Her planes disabled three Japanese carriers. Enterprise supported the landings in the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal. In 1943 Admiral Nimitz awarded the first Presidential Unit Citation ever awarded to an aircraft carrier. As a kid growing up in the 1960’s, you heard lots of war stories and watched lots of WWII movies. Over a decade and a half had passed since the end of the war, but that didn’t stop America’s obsession with it (It would take another war to do that). But I had heard stories about the aircraft carriers of the WWII: Wasp, Hornet, Yorktown, Saratoga, Lexington, and Enterprise.

In 1958 The navy began building the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, and they christened it the USS Enterprise. She participated in the blockade during the Cuban missile Crisis, and was later deployed to Viet Nam. This Enterprise remained on active duty until she was deactivated in 2012.

In 1977 the space shuttle Enterprise was built. This was not a ship, and technically not even a space shuttle. It was used for atmospheric testing and training, and never flew in space.

The future: (No, we are not talking about Star Trek yet. The next Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier scheduled to be built will be named Enterprise. She is scheduled to be launched in 2025 (update: now scheduled for 2030).

Of course, the iconic name USS Enterprise will be recognized by many people who know nothing of naval history because of the television show Star Trek. Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, was originally going to call the ship the Yorktown, named for the famous battle from the Revolutionary War and the WWII aircraft carrier. But in the end, he went with the more famous WWII carrier. Like the US navy, the Federation reused the name Enterprise for at least 6 different ships (not including alternate universes). The “USS” designation is a little more puzzling. In American naval ships the USS stands for “United States Ship.” But the Star Trek ship does not belong to the US navy. It is part of the United Federation of Planets. One can only surmise that Roddenberry knew the iconic nature of the name “USS Enterprise,” and didn’t want to mess with it by making it UFP or UFS or some such. So I guess he said, just call it “United Space Ship,” and hope that nobody scrutinizes it too hard. I think that worked out for him.

Star Liner

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