Bravo Zulu, Big E: Final Sail Ends 50 Years’ Service

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Navy photo by MSC Seaman Harry Andrew D. Gordon

The USS Enterprise left Norfolk Sunday on its 22nd – and final – deployment. The Navy’s first nuclear-powered flattop has been cruising the world’s oceans since her commissioning in 1961, playing a role in major U.S. military actions ranging from the Cuban missile crisis to the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a safe bet that 100,000 sailors have tended to the Big E over the past half-century.