Key Points and Summary – USS Enterprise (CV-6), “The Big E,” was the most decorated U.S. warship of WWII, fighting from the Wake relief and Doolittle Raid to Midway, Guadalcanal, the Marianas, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. Her air wing downed 900+ enemy aircraft and helped sink or damage 260+ ships.
-Damaged by kamikazes late in the war, Enterprise returned troops home before decommissioning in 1947 and scrapping in 1958.
-Her iconic stern plate, long displayed in River Vale, NJ, will appear aboard USS New Jersey for Homecoming 250, then anchor the WWII gallery of the new Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington.
Meet USS Enterprise (CV-6)
Three days after Pearl Harbor, the USS Enterprise (CV-6) became the first U.S. Navy ship to sink a Japanese warship, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.
The USS Enterprise is described by the Navy as “the most decorated U.S. Navy warship during the war.” The carrier took part in the Wake Island expedition, the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Midway, and the Guadalcanal Campaign. It later took part in the Gilberts and Marshall campaigns, the Marianas operation, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and finally the Iwo Jima invasion.
Of the 20 major actions of the Pacific war, the Enterprise participated in all except two: “Her planes and guns downed 911 enemy planes; her bombers sank 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more. Her presence inspired pride for the Allies and sparked fear into the heart of the enemy.”
Launch of the Big E
According to Pacific Wrecks, CV-6 was the seventh Enterprise, and the sixth aircraft carrier to join the Navy. Its nicknames included “The Big E,” “Lucky E,” “the ‘Grey Ghost,” and “the Galloping Ghost.”
The ship was laid down in 1934, with Captain Newton H. White as commander. Commissioned on Oct. 3, 1936, the Big E boasted “an overall length of 827 feet and displaced more than 32,000 tons of water.” And while it suffered damage in various battles, it was one of only three U.S. carriers commissioned before World War II to survive to the end of the war, along with the USS Saratoga and USS Ranger.
To the Pacific
The USS Enterprise was sent to the Pacific two years before the war, arriving there in 1939. It was on its way to Oahu on the morning of Dec. 7 when word arrived of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Enterprise became one of the first ships to respond to its nation’s call to war and went on to earn 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II, for the crucial roles it played in numerous battles,” Naval History and Heritage Command wrote, adding that Japan announced three different times that the Enterprise had been sunk in battle.
The Enterprise was damaged late in the war by Japanese kamikaze attacks, one of which prevented the carrier from participating in the surrender ceremony at Tokyo Bay.
USS Enterprise: After the War
Per Naval History and Heritage Command, the USS Enterprise helped transport servicemen back to the U.S. It rejoined the fleet at New York Harbor for Navy Day celebrations in November of 1945.
“Moored to Pier 26 on the Hudson River, she welcomed more than a quarter million visitors, and rendered ‘passing honors’ to President Harry S. Truman when he inspected the ships at anchor,” the Command wrote.
The ship was ultimately decommissioned in 1947, and while there were efforts to make it into a museum ship – including a campaign for school children to donate their nickels and dimes to the effort – the Enterprise was sold for scrap in 1958.
Fate of the Stern Plate
That said, the USS Enterprise (CV-6)’s stern plate has had a very different afterlife.
According to a 2018 article authored by Naval History and Heritage Command Director Rear Adm. Sam Cox, the author had a chance to visit what he called “the ‘Holy Grail’ of artifacts associated with U.S. naval history.” That was the stern plate of the Enterprise, which is currently housed in the Township of River Vale, New Jersey.
A man from River Vale, W. Henry Hoffman, had directed the dismantling back in the late 1950s and brought the stern plate back to his hometown.
Cox visited as part of a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Enterprise’s commissioning.
“In the early days of the war, the great majority of these men were volunteers who had served during a time of extreme austerity and neglect of military capability between World War I and World War II,” Cox wrote of the Enterprise’s crew. “Yet, none of them shirked their duty, and many of them paid the ultimate price on behalf of a nation that was not ready for war, in order to buy the time necessary to build the modern ships and aircraft necessary to achieve ultimate victory.”
Moving the Stern Plate
That stern plate, however, is moving.
In August, the Township of River Vale announced that the Enterprise’s stern plate would be preserved by the Navy. It will be moved to the new Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington, where it will anchor the WWII Gallery. Phase 1 of that museum’s construction is expected to finish in 2030.
But before that, the Enterprise’s stern plate will be displayed on the USS New Jersey (BB-62), starting in October, as part of the upcoming Homecoming 250 celebration of the Navy and Marines’ 250th anniversaries.
After moving from northern to southern New Jersey, the stern plate will stay there until the new museum in Washington is ready for it.
“The township is honored and humbled to have had this role in the history of the USS Enterprise (CV-6) and pleased that the story will be shared with the nation and the world,” River Vale officials said in a statement.
In addition to hosting the last piece of the hull, River Vale’s public library offers the USS Enterprise collection, which includes “an exhibit about the ship, its accomplishments and the men who served as its crew.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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