USS Enterprise, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was launched
On this day · 24 September 1960
On September 24, 1960, the Navy floated out a 1,100-foot carrier that swapped fuel oil for eight nuclear reactors.
On September 24, 1960, Newport News Shipbuilding launched USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. At roughly 1,123 feet long, she remains one of the longest naval vessels ever built, and the only ship of her class.
What set Enterprise apart sat below the waterline. Instead of burning fuel oil, she carried eight nuclear reactors, an arrangement no other carrier has matched. Together they produced close to 300,000 horsepower, pushing the ship past 30 knots and freeing it from the tankers that tethered conventional warships.
A single fueling could last for years, redrawing how far and how fast a carrier group could roam.
Commissioned in late 1961, Enterprise served for more than five decades before her 2017 decommissioning, a span that outlasted most of the aircraft she ever launched. Her eight-reactor design was bold, expensive, and never repeated, making her a one-off proof that atomic power could put a city-sized warship to sea.
Sources & references
2 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 2 independent sources.
