The aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6), the most decorated US
ship of Word War II, built at Newport News shipyard with PWA funds between
1934 and 1938. The Enterprise played a critical role in defeating the
Imperial Japanese Navy, and saw more actions in the war against Japan than
any other United States ship, including the battles of Midway, Eastern
Solomons, Santa Cruz Islands, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf, earning 20
battle stars, the most of any US ship in World War II. Sister ship of the
Yorktown. Decommissioned in 1947 and scrapped
in 1958.
References
- USS
Enterprise CV-6, Wikipedia, accessed 17 July 2017.
- USS Enterprise CV-6, www.cv6.org, accessed 17 July 2017.
”In the summer of 1933, pressed hard by newly elected president
Franklin Roosevelt, Congress enacted a huge package of legislation —
known collectively as the "New Deal" — which, amongst many other
things, allotted $238 million for new naval construction, including nearly
$40 million for the two new carriers. The first of these two ships,
Yorktown CV-5, was laid down on 21 May 1934, at the Newport News
shipyard. Her sister ship Enterprise, was laid down just two months
later, on July 16. Largely built by workers paid by the Public Works
Administration — one of the many new federal programs created by the New
Deal — the two ships took nearly four years each to build and fit
out.”
- Wildenberg, Thomas, Destined for Glory: Dive Bombing, Midway, and the Evolution of Carrier
Airpower, Naval Institute Press (1998).
- Gouré, Daniel, The
Battle of Midway Was Won With Stimulus Money, Lexington Institute,
April 12, 2010.
- McKee, Brent, America's
New Deal Navy: Aircraft Carriers, New Deal of the Day,
nddaily.blogspot.com, accessed
17 July 2017.
- USS Enterprise
(CV-6), NavSource Naval History, accessed 17 July 2017.