USS Enterprise (CV-6) Stern Nameplate & Memorial

 memorial, museum, Second World War 1939-1945, aircraft carrier, United States Navy

Enshrined here at the River Vale Veterans Memorial Park is the largest remaining piece of the USS Enterprise (CV-6), a Yorktown Class Aircraft Carrier. Commissioned as the second member of her class on May 12th, 1938, the USS Enterprise and her sisters USS Yorktown (CV-5) and USS Hornet (CV-7) along with the USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Saratoga (CV-3)formed the only line of defense in the Pacific during the earliest days of the Second World War after the loss of the US Battleship Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and suffered heavily as a result.

Enterprise and her crew would go on to participate in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other US ship, beginning with the Marshalls-Gilberts Raids in February 1942 and continuing with the "Doolittle Raid" on Tokyo, the Battle of Midway the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, numerous air-sea engagements in support of the Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Bismarck Archipelago and New Guinea Campaigns, the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf by late 1944. February 1945 brought the Enterprise to Iwo Jima where her aircraft provided support for Marines engaged in fierce combat for control of the island for over a month before she departed to launch airstrikes against Japan itself through April, when she reported for duty off Okinawa. Hit twice by Kamikaze's during her time off Okinawa, the Enterprise took major damage from the second hit and returned to the US for repairs which lasted through V-J Day in August 1945.

Of the eight US Aircraft Carriers commissioned before the outset of the Second World War, USS Enterprise was one of three which survived the entire conflict and after serving as part of both the Atlantic and Pacific "Operation Magic Carpet" Fleet returning US Veterans home, she put into Brooklyn Navy Yard where she ended her service and decommissioned on February 17th, 1947. Having earned the Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy Unit Commendation and 20 battle stars for World War II service, the USS Enterprise was given the hard-earned title of most decorated US Navy Vessel of the Second World War and was further honored when she received a British Admiralty Pennant, the most prestigious decoration of the Royal Navy. Enterprise is the only ship outside the Royal Navy to have received this award since its creation. To date, she is considered by many to be second only to the USS Constitution in United States Naval history in both her service and honor.

The Enterprise was slated to be enshrined as a museum ship in New York City as early as 1946 however problems arose which delayed the process until 1949. With the US involved in the Korean War shortly thereafter, the Enterprise continued to languish in mothballs while funding was sought to preserve her. By 1958 the funding was not in place and for some inexplicable reason the US Navy decided to sell the Enterprise for scrap. Hauled down the East River and across New York Harbor one last time, the Veteran ship was cut up at the former Federal Shipbuilding Yard in Kearny, with almost nothing from the ship being preserved by the time scrapping completed in 1960.

One such item which did survive the scrappers torch was the Enterprises 1-ton 16ft nameplate from her Stern, retained by scrapping engineer Henry Hoffman who later donated the plate to River Vale Township for use as a memorial at a local Little League field in 1959. Moved to it's present location at the Veterans Memorial Park, the Nameplate was formally rededicated on December 9th, 2000 and continues to serve as a memorial to those who have served past and present and to one of the greatest ships in United States Naval History.

www.navsource.org/archives/02/06.htm