Sinking the USS Enterprise Would be Easier Than Scrapping Her: The USS Enterprise, CVN-65, was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Launched in 1958, it was the eighth vessel in the US Navy to ...

Notably, CVN-65, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, served from 1961 to 2012, participating in numerous conflicts and surviving significant incidents, including a major fire in 1969.

Compared to the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the Nimitz class featured a much simplified powerplant comprising two Westinghouse A4W pressurized water ...

Ford class (CVN 78) was ordered in 2008 and is slated to be delivered in 2016 as the force structure replacement for USS ENTERPRISE (EX-CVN 65) which inactivated in 2012.