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NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive

ENTERPRISE   (CVN-80)


(Profile courtesy of ©Windjammer-Arts Naval Art & Aviation Art)


Operational and Building Data
Gerald R. Ford Class Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier
Awarded Laid down Christened Commissioned Decommissioned Stricken
31 January 2019 27 August 2022   2029    
Builder: Northrop Grumman Newport News, Newport News, VA

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced, 1 December 2012, CVN-80 would be named Enterprise to honor the previous eight American warships of that name.

According to a DoD press release issued on 23 May 2016, the Navy awarded Newport News Shipbuilding a $152-miliion contract to begin advance planning activities. On 31 January 2017, $25.5 million were added as a contract modification.

Enterprise was procured in FY2018. The Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding a contract for two aircraft carriers, CVN-80 and CVN-81, the first of its kind since the 1980s. The company announced, 31 January 2019, that it received a contract modification valued at $15.2 billion for the detail design and construction of these two ships. (Read "Navy Awards Contract for Construction of Two Carriers", at the Navy website.)

HII-NNS laid the keel block of CVN-80 on 5 April 2022, when the ship was about 13% done.

Enterprise will replace USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) upon entering the fleet. As of March 2024, Enterprise was expected to be delivered to the Navy in September 2029.


Specifications
General Characteristics
(As of December 2005)
Displacement: approximately 100,000 long tons (approximately 101,600 metric tons) full load
Dimensions: 1,092' x 134' (flight deck, 256')  /  332.8 x 40.8 (flight deck, 78) meters
Power plant: 2 nuclear reactors; 4 shafts
Speed: 30+ knots
Armament: Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile; Rolling Airframe Missile; CIWS
Aircraft: 75+
Crew: 4,660 (ship, air wing and staff)


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Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Namesake
7th Enterprise
NS020628
117k

CVN-80 will be the ninth American warship to bear the name Enterprise. "Enterprise" means "readiness to engage in daring or difficult action."

  1. A sloop used during the Revolutionary War
  2. A Continental Navy schooner
  3. A schooner (1799–1823)
  4. A schooner (1831–1844)
  5. A screw sloop-of-war
  6. A non-commissioned motorboat
  7. An aircraft carrier, the most decorated warship of World War II (photo NS020628)
  8. The world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (photo NS026509)

Naval History & Heritage Command
8th Enterprise
NS026509
96k USN
Construction, 2017–
Enterprise
NS028001
181k

A graphic showing what the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is expected to look like when she joins the fleet after 2025. The aircraft are F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet strike fighters, E-2D Hawkeye electronic warfare planes, and an unmanned strike jet modeled on the X-47B sitting on the No. 4 catapult. U.S. Navy graphic.

Ron Reeves
Enterprise
NS028001a
129k

"The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition has asked lawmakers for 'design for affordability' research and development dollars to reduce the cost of building carriers and for advance procurement funding for a block buy of CVN-80 and 81 materials."

Read the full story here (18 March 2016).

Tommy Trampp
Enterprise
NS028001b
114k

The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80).

Courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding.

Tommy Trampp
Enterprise
NS028002
261k

U.S. Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, left, and Katie Ledecky, ship's sponsors of the future aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80), and Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, sign a 35-ton steel plate at Newport News Shipbuilding, 24 August 2017, to start advance construction of Enterprise, the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Enterprise will be the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries by Matt Hildreth (# 170824-N-N0101-110).

USN
Enterprise
NS028002e
518k

Ship's Sponsors, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, give orders to, "Cut that Steel!"

Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Ashley Major, Staff Photographer (# DCS17-546-288).

Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.)
Enterprise
NS028002a
258k

A 35-ton steel plate is displayed at Newport News Shipbuilding division during a ceremony to start advance construction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), 24 August 2017. The steel plate will become part of the foundation of Enterprise, the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries by Matt Hildreth (# 170824-N-N0101-111).

David Wright
Enterprise
NS028002c
115k

Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Ron Reeves
Enterprise
NS028002b
336k

Enterprise (CVN-80) rendering.

Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Ron Reeves
Enterprise
NS028002d
389k

Enterprise (CVN-80) First Cut of Steel, 24 August 2017. Promotional items.

Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, by Ashley Major, Staff Photographer (# DCS17-546-64).

Ron Reeves
Enterprise
NS028003
507k

A shipbuilder grinds on a unit of the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) on Platen 21, 27 June 2019.

Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Ashley Cowan (# DCS19-375-26).

Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.)
Enterprise
NS028004
314k

Shipyard worker measures and marks a steel plate that will become part of aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), 2 June 2020.

Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Matt Hildreth.

Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.)
CVN-80
NS028007
433k

"Ceremonial keel laying of the Enterprise (CVN-80), 27 August 2022. One is of the keel plate, the second shows it being lowered to be joined to the assembly already in the building dock. Steel from CVN-65 has been used in those assemblies."

Dale Hargrave
CVN-80
NS028007a
552k
CVN-80
NS028007b
409k

With the words, "I hereby declare the keel of the United States Ship Enterprise truly and fairly laid," Olympians Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky chalked their initials on respective steel plates, which were then embossed by skilled welders Ephony King and Jonathan Rishor and affixed to the keel of the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), Saturday, 27 August 2022, at the HII-Newport News Shipyard (NNS), in Newport News, Va.

Then, NNS Lead Rigger, Mike "Chile" Williams, passed a radio to Ledecky, who gave the command for NNS Crane Operator Charlie Holloway to lower the 688-ton keel unit into the dry-dock. This section of the ship will support the forward half of Enterprise, when the aircraft carrier is fully assembled. The ceremonial plates will be affixed permanently to the ship's keel.

US Navy (USN) photo, author unknown, VIRIN 220827-N-N2201-003.

USN
Memorabilia
Enterprise
NS028005
91k

"The future in drawings..."

©Jacques Marquet,
via Tommy Trampp
Enterprise
NS028005a
101k

"USS Enterprise, The legend will live on..."

Enterprise
NS028006
130k

"USS Enterprise, Protecting America in the 21st Century and Beyond"

©Nikki SpaceStuffPlus,
via Tommy Trampp

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Last update: 16 March 2024