USS Enterprise

{| {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = United States | Ship flag = | Ship name = Enterprise | Ship namesake = | Ship ordered = 15 November 1957 | Ship builder = Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company | Ship original cost = $451.3 million ($ in dollars) | Ship laid down = 4 February 1958 | Ship launched = 24 September 1960 | Ship christened = 24 September 1960 | Ship acquired = 29 October 1961 | Ship commissioned = 25 November 1961 | Ship deactivation = 1 December 2012 | Ship decommissioned = 3 February 2017 | Ship in service = 12 January 1962 | Ship refit = 27 September 1994 | Ship reclassified = CVN-65 from CVA(N)-65 | Ship out of service = 1 December 2012 | Ship struck = 3 February 2017 | Ship honors = | Ship status = Awaiting recycling at HII Shipyard, Newport News, Virginia | Ship motto = *We are Legend; Ready on Arrival; The First, the Finest; Eight Reactors, None Faster | Ship nickname = Big E | Ship badge or crest = | Ship badge = | Ship notes = }} |} USS Enterprise (CVN-65), formerly CVA(N)-65, is a decommissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier. In 1958, she was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name. Like her predecessor of World War II fame, she is nicknamed "Big E". At , she is the longest naval vessel ever built and the only ship of a class that was originally planned to have five other ships. Her displacement ranks her class as the third-heaviest carrier class, after the and the Gerald R. Ford class. Enterprise had a crew of some 4,600 service members.Enterprise was, at the time of inactivation, the third-oldest commissioned vessel in the United States Navy after the wooden-hulled and . She was inactivated on 1 December 2012, and officially decommissioned on 3 February 2017, after over 55 years of service."World's First Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier, the Big E, makes final voyage". foxnews.com, 10 March 2012. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register the same day.