U.S. CARRIER LAUNCHED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29681, 27 November 1961, Page 17

U.S. CARRIER LAUNCHED

Propelled By Reactors (N2 Press Assn.—Copyrtght) NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia, Nov. 26. The United States’ first nu-clear-powered aircraft carrier, the 85,000-ton Enterprise, was commissioned yesterday. The Enterprise, as tall as a 25-storey building from keel to mast top, is capable of circling the globe 20 times at a speed of 20 knots, without refuelling. Under full power it could make five circuits of the globe at about 35 knots without a fuelling stop. The £2OO million ship is powered by eight atomic reactors, each of which is several times more powerful than those that drive America's nuclear submarines. The Enterprise is the second nuclear-powered surface ship in the American Fleet The first was the cruiser Long Beach, completed earlier this year. Next week, the Savannah, the world's first commercial ship powered by an atomic reactor, probably would receive her first fuelling, it was reported from Camden, New Jersey. About 15J00 pounds of enriched uranium oxide in pellet farm—enough to power the vessel for three years, according to earlier reports—will be loaded aboard, A series ot low-power tests, using the reactor at 10 per cent, of its potential, will be made .at the dock after the fuel loading. Some time before the end of the year, the ship will move under auxiliary boiler power to Yorktown, Virginia, at a speed of about six knots. Later, she will use the reactor to gain full operational speed of 20 to 21 knots. The £2l million ship, which is designed to carry 10,000 tons of cargo and 60 passengers, was moved from dry dock on Friday to the outfitting dock for final preparation for the fuel loading routine.