Enterprise Shows Her Awesome Powers

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30542, 10 September 1964, Page 3

Enterprise Shows Her Awesome Powers

(New Zealand Pres* Association)

WELLINGTON, September 9.

A keyhole peep at the nuclear might of the United States Navy was given a privileged party of 30 observers off the Wellington coast this morning.

The key that opened the door to the display was the gigantic nuclear-powered attack aircraft-carrier, Enterprise, which passed through Cook Strait in the course of a world cruise.

She and her two nuclear-power escorts, the cruiser, Long Beach, and the frigate, Bainbridge, both of which called briefly at Wellington on Tuesday, form the United States Nuclear Task Force One.

For the best part of an hour some of the most modern at-1 tack bombers and fighters ini the world bared their talons! and flailed the ocean with! rockets, napalm and explosive bombs, cannon shell and! “Sidewinder” guided missiles. I The noise was immense. Shock waves from each as-| sault less than a quarter of a| mile rfom the carrier jarred) the ears of the V.I.P. party and the scores of American navymen lining vantage points) on the Enterprise and the! Long Beach, slightly astern.) Crusader and Phantom jet; fighters and heavy attack; swept-wing bombers broke the sound barrier frequently. In one uncanny display two Vigilantes, capable of travelling at more than twice the speed of sound, swept past the Enterprise in ghostly silence, to be followed a shuddering second later by the shock of their sound waves. Flare Targets A “rescue” of a body in the water by a fast-moving helicopter and a crewman dangling on a line was followed by a display of “Sidewinder” air-to-air missiles. They were fired by the Phantom 1600 miles an hour fighters at parachute flares hanging in the sky and sought them out by their heat radiation. The Enterprise carries about 100 aircraft of seven types, including helicopters capable of pacing some of the

slower-moving piston-engined planes. To fly them all there are 200 pilots and 1500 maintenance men. They make up a few of the carrier’s complement of 4600 men—nearly twice the equivalent population of Picton, bigger than Lyttelton or Rangiora, and about equal to the population of Malvern County. Her cost, £l5B million, was more than four times as much as the whole of New Zealand’s defence bill this year (£36.4 million). Her displacement tonnage (85,350 tons) is more than three times that of the whole of the New Zealand Navy and she can generate enough electricity to supply the needs of a city with a population of two million. Three Fields More than two and a half full-sized Rugby fields could be marked out on her four-and-a-half acre flight deck. Her height, from keel to mast top, is equal to a 25-storey building. The daily capacity of her water distilling plants (280,000 gallons) is enough to supply the needs of about 1500 homes. And to move this massive bulk the Enterprise has eight nuclear reactors driving four 21ft diameter propellers, giving her a speed which has exceeded 40 miles an hour. Internally the Enterprise is a floating town, with all the services that a town provides. Every berthing compartment and most working spaces in the ship are airconditioned. Each bunk has its own air-conditioning outlet adjustable to individual needs. Berthing compartments are. for the most part, arranged in cubicles of from three to six men. Two galleys prepare meals during 19 hours of the day.

The ship has six doctors specialising in aviation medicine, radio-biology and internal medicine, assisted by a 'medical administrative assistant and 48 hospital corpsmen, and an 86-bed sick bay on a par with many metropolitan hospitals. Fighting Ship The list of comparisons and recitation of facts and figures could be endless. But however much the Enterprise is compared with a short-side metropolis one fact asserts itself above all others: The U.S.S. Enterprise—the “Big E” as she is called—is first and foremost, and resoundingly so, a fighting ship. In August, 1963, the Enterprise was awarded the battle efficiency pennant for the year in competition with all other United States Atlantic Fleet attack aircraft carriers. She achieved the highest rank in over-all efficiency and readiness as demonstrated by battle drills, exercises, inspections and other facets of naval preparedness. It was the first time that the pennant had been awarded to a carrier after only one year in commission.

It was a display of this kind of efficiency that the V.l.P.’s had gone to see. They could scarcely have been more thoroughly impressed.

The Last Word

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 9.

Among comments' on today’s demonstrations by the American nuclear ’ powered Task Force One were:— The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake): “Fantastic. No matter how much we have read about the Enterprise it is impossible to grasp its size,' scope and magnitude.” The Minister of Defence (Mr Eyre): “Very impressive.”

Chief of Defence Staff (RearAdmiral Sir Peter Phipps): “An obviously high standard of training is shown by the ground crews as well as the pilots in the formation flying and handling.” But the last word on the visit of Task Force One to New Zealand came from an American sailor: “The most beautiful girls in the world are right here in New Zealand. I’m coming back as soon as I’m discharged from the Navy.”