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10 - E=mc2(Part 1)
The Post-War EraShortly after the end of World War II, the world was at war again, this time in Korea. American and British aircraft carriers played an important role in maintaining a balance against the hordes of communists descending on Korea from Communist China by disrupting communist supply routes and providing close air support for Allied ground forces. The Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had already been decommissioned when the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, and did not participate. The bloody conflict dragged on for 3 years, and when the armistice was signed on June 27, 1953, the line separating North and South Korea had changed little from what it had been before the war. The most recent HMS Enterprise (A71) was an Echo-class hydrographic survey ship constructed at Bideford, England and commissioned on September 30, 1958. She and her two sister ships were specially constructed of laminated wood for coastal survey duties. She was equipped with sonar for detecting shipwrecks and two fathometers for measuring ocean depths. The Enterprise could also be armed with a 40mm gun in time of war and was capable of being converted for use as an inshore minesweeper. She reportedly was involved in the search for the wreck of the ocean liner RMS Titanic in 1986, and was retired shortly after that expedition. After decommissioning, HMS Enterprise was purchased by record producer Tom Newman, who spent 10 years turning the ship into a floating radio station and recording studio. Newman had a dream to offer the opportunity of becoming involved in music to youths from conflict areas around the world, and he formed an organization called Pirates for Peace. Enterprise became the headquarters for that organization and, as of November 2005, was homeported at Kilkeel, on the southeastern coast of Northern Ireland, still serving in the cause of peace. [Information kindly provided by Charlie Warmington of Lagan Legacy.]
In 2001, the British Ministry of Defense placed an order with Vosper Thornycroft Ltd for the design and construction of two new specialized warships known as "Multi-Role Hydrographic and Oceanographic Survey Vessels." The two ships of the new "Echo class," the HMS Echo and HMS Enterprise (H88), "will represent a major enhancement of the capabilities of the Royal Navy's Survey Squardon." The Enterprise, which was commissioned on Octboer 17, 2003, will be one of the first Royal Navy ships to have omni-directional podded electrical propulsion, which will provide a very high level of maneuverability. Enterprise will also be equipped with the very latest state-of-the-art technology in computerized oceanographic survey sensors and computers. The new ship is expected to have a 25-year service life and will be capable of filling war-time roles, such as mine counter-measures, should the need arise. She will also be equipped with a heliport forward of the bridge. Using crew rotation techniques for her nominal crew of 48, Enterprise will be capable of maintaining continuous operations for as long as 330 days each year. If necessary, the Enterprise can accommodate up to 81 personnel for short periods of time.
Atoms for the Navy
The latest USS Enterprise (CVN-65, formerly CVAN-65) was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. A tremendous amount of
controversy surrounded her construction, primarily because of the extremely high cost and questions about the safety
of nuclear power. In the words of Rear Admiral Ralph Kirk James, who was then Chief of the Bureau of Ships and
responsible for overseeing the ship's construction:
By the time I took over as chief, she [the Enterprise] was committed for over $425 million. The original estimate, I think, was on the order of $350 million. What with changes, with escalation, and the likes, the cost had risen to a figure that began to embarrass the Navy Department. I was called in and asked what the final cost to complete was. I think I estimated somewhere in the order of $525 million. I remember that [Admiral] Arleigh Burke [Chief of Naval Operations] said "this ship will not cost one cent more than $464.8 million" one of the numbers I had in my presentation. I said, "That would mean cutting out a lot of things." ... I remember having to struggle madly to keep within the arbitrary figure of Admiral Burke. I hate to admit it now, but I'm sure the ship cost more than $464.8 million. I think Arleigh Burke's basic concern was that if it got over half a billion dollars it might be the last nuclear carrier, and well it might, for even then we were estimating a follow-on ship which was well over half a billion dollars. There is a conventional-powered carrier that was built after the Enterprise -- the Kennedy.... because of the cost of the Enterprise, we couldn't get authority to build another nuke. We were required by SecDef [Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara] to make our next carrier a conventional-powered ship. There was a great deal of internal Navy stress over this, particularly from Rickover and Company and from some members of Congress who thought the Navy was stepping backwards.58
As suggested by Admiral James's comments, controversy also surrounded the one individual who played a pivotal role in
the very existence of the nuclear Navy -- Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. During World War II, Admiral Rickover had been
the head of the Electrical Section of the Navy's Bureau of Ships, and in 1946 studied nuclear physics and engineering
at the government's nuclear research facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He returned to the Bureau of Ships in September
1947 to manage the Navy's nuclear propulsion program. Within six years, through his unorthodox, high pressure leadership
style, his team produced the submarine USS Nautilus, the first nuclear powered naval vessel. Admiral Rickover was
known for getting his way, and during the construction and early operation of the Enterprise, this was no
exception.
[The Enterprise] was a ship that got out of hand costwise. We thought it was out of hand in those days but, as subsequent developments have indicated, maybe we were real parsimonious in the way we doled out the money to build the Enterprise. Here, Rickover again had a major hand in the project, because he was again supplying the nuclear boilers. He preempted much of the responsibility for the ship, although the basic ship and most of its features were not his responsibility. Nonetheless he parlayed his position into one where he even dictated who would be the first commanding officer. He wanted desperately to have a submariner with nuclear-ship-propulsion experience as the CO, but the aviators won that one. I think it was one of the very few times that the line people won from Rickover.59
Admiral James recalled one humorous event, related to the cost of the Enterprise, that occurred during an
inspection tour at the Newport News shipyard where she was being built.
One particular time, in the interest of cost reduction which was being imposed on my [sic] very forcefully by Arleigh Burke, CNO, my boys had been instructed to eliminate everything that was nonessential in the interest of cost reduction. One of the cost reduction items offered which I approved, was to eliminate the personnel elevator in the island structure. On this particular visit, I was greeted by the powers that be at Newport News and a chap by the name of Tilly Smith -- Tilford Smith -- was my guide. I believe he was general manager at the time. He asked me where I would like to start the inspection of the ship, up at the top or down at the keel. I elected to start at the keel and work up. We did. We went through the ship and it took us several hours. By the time I got to the flight deck I was bushed but we still had another five or six levels to go before we got to the top of the island structure. By the time we got to the extreme upper level, which was the objective of my inspection, I was so pooped I could hardly lift one foot or the other. Whereupon, Tilly Smith pulled out of his pocket a piece of paper and he said, "I've got your signature on something that you ought to read," and shoved under my nose the letter which gave the change order to eliminate the elevator in the island structure! He said, "What do you think the guys who are going to run this ship are going to think about you when they know that you personally knocked the goldarned elevator off of the ship?" Well, I had to laugh like hell and said, "If I've got any strength, I'll go back and revise that order and put the elevator back in."60
Regardless of the controversy regarding the Enterprise's cost, there was almost unanimous agreement within the
Navy that the advantages of nuclear power more than justified the cost of construction. In additional to savings in
later operational costs, the ability of the ship to carry out its mission was greatly enhanced by the use of nuclear,
rather than oil-powered, engines.
The Enterprise had eight nuclear reactors, which powered the ship for about 4 years without the need for
refueling. During later refits, more efficient uranium cores were installed, which provided unrefueled propulsion for
up to 12 years. Additionally, because space did not have to be allocated for fuel oil to power the ship, more space
was available for aviation fuel, ammunition, and provisions. Another advantage of the nuclear carrier was simply a
matter of cleanliness. Aircraft and sensitive ship components were not subjected to the black soot common on
conventionally-powered ships. And certainly not least, the ship's performance was greatly enhanced.
You can fly more missions because you have more space for jet fuel.... You can accelerate and decelerate the ship on the order of a car, in comparison with a conventional ship. You pull that throttle and she stops. You give it the gun, and it surges ahead. Now, of course, you can't do that on a conventional ship because it takes a long time to build up your acceleration, a long time to decelerate.... With that immediate sustained speed that you can crank into the Enterprise, she makes a harder target to get at for a nuclear sub because she can outrace them and take evasive action almost instantly. Nuclear power plants are also more reliable and rugged. Hence, there are fewer engineering casualties.61
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1996-2008 Arnold E.
van Beverhoudt, Jr.
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