Today the US Navy (USN) formally deactivates the Nuclear Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) after 51 years of active service. The 8th Navy ship to bear the name "Enterprise" (ironically the first Enterprise was a British ship until captured by Benedict Arnold on May 18, 1775) she was the world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier.
In 1954 Congress authorized construction to begin on the newest edition of the Enterprise (her famous WWII era predecessor had been decommissioned in 1947). Once construction began everything about the new Enterprise quickly became superlative.
