A Tour of the "Big E"

(Part 2)

On Board the Enterprise

Arriving at the USS Enterprise, we carefully step off the small ferry launch that brought us out to the ship and onto the gangway up to the hangar deck, which is all "decked out" with flags in preparation for a reception for Virgin Islands government officials later in the evening. The hangar desk of the Enterprise is designated as Deck 1. Decks below that level are numbered 2, 3, 4, etc. and decks above that level are numbered 02, 03, 04, etc. The flight deck is Deck 04 and the island superstructure contains Decks 05 to 011.

The hangar deck of the USS Enterprise is readied for a diplomatic reception later in the evening

Stepping out of the last gangway onto the Enterprise's flight deck, one of the most notable features is the ship's island superstructure (photo below), which is unlike that of any other carrier in the world. Its "footprint" on the flight deck is perfectly square, as compared with the more traditional rectangular or oblong shape. The smaller lower section of the superstructure also leaves more flight deck area available for parking aircraft. In white box lettering on the front of the superstructure is the ship's name and designation -- "USS ENTERPRISE CVN-65." On both sides of the superstructure is the ship's hull number -- "65." And at the rear is the ship's nickname -- "BIG E" -- with the "E" standing some 3 or 4 stories tall. By the way, the "E" also indicates that the Enterprise received a Battle Efficiency "E" Award. The mast houses the ship's many radar and communications antenna, and the platforms that protrude from the rear walls of the superstructure support the guidance radar for the Sea Sparrow missiles that are part of the ship's air defense system.

The USS Enterprise has a unique one-of-a-kind superstructure design

Most of the "command and control" operations of the Enterprise are carried out in the island superstructure. From the uppermost level (in the photo below), they are as follows:

• "Pri-Fly" or Primary Flight Control, where the "Air Boss" or air traffic controller directs all movements of aircraft on or near the ship. Pri-Fly extends beyond the in-board edge of the superstructure to give the Air Boss an unobstructed view of the flight deck.

• Below Pri-Fly is the Navigation Bridge, where the Captain, Executive Officer, and other helm control officers are stationed. The bridge stretches across the full wide of the superstructure, and contains navigational radar displays, engine controls, and helm control.

• An almost identical level below the Navigation Bridge is the Flag Bridge, where an admiral who may be on board the Enterprise and his staff would be stationed. The Flag Bridge also stretches across the full width of the superstructure, but is much less congested, with only the basic electronic and communications equipment needed for the Admiral and his staff to observe the ship's operations and communicate with the Captain, who always retains the full responsibility for the ship.

• Next is a rounded, glass-enclosed platform for television cameras that record all flight deck operations.

• Lastly, although not visible in the photo below, on the bottom level of the superstructure, directly below the camera platform is the Flight Deck Control Office, where a scale model of the flight deck and aircraft are used to control the movement of the aircraft on the flight deck.

The island superstructure houses most of the command and control operations of the USS Enterprise

The heart of the Enterprise and reason for which it exists is, of course, the flight deck. Its overall dimensions are 1,079 feet long and 235 feet wide, and it covers an area of almost 4 1/2 acres. That's 9 times larger than the 1/2 acre lot that my home sits on! The photo below was taken from the Navigation Bridge and is basically the view that the Captain sees.

The business end of the USS Enterprise is its flight deck and Carrier Air Wing

The drawing below shows the configuration of the Enterprise's flight deck. This basic configuration has been used on every carrier built since the Enterprise and is a modification of the flight deck design of the USS Forrestal, the first large carrier built specifically to operate jet aircraft. The Enterprise has four catapults (1) to launch aircraft, two foreward and two to the port at mid-ship. It also has four aircraft elevators (5), one to port and 3 to starboard, and four smaller bomb elevators (8), two near the island superstructure and two between the forward capatults. For landing aircraft, the ship has four arresting cables (3) and, for emergency use, a net barricade (4). For self-defense, the Enterprise has three Phalanx Close-in Weapon Systems (2) to destroy attacking anti-ship missiles and two 8-tube Sea Sparrow launcher arrays (6) to defend against attacking aircraft. Also shown in the drawing are the ship's main aircraft crane (7) and the position of the island superstructure (9).

The USS Enterprise's flight deck

[Source: The U.S. Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet]

During her 37 years of service, since her commissioning in 1961, the Enterprise has launched and retrieved well over 8,000 aircraft, which have logged over 20,000 hours of flight time. That's an impressive record in anyone's book!

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003