#CV 6 BATTLE GROUP SERIES#

At Midway, Enterprise and her sister ships Hornet - which had never directly engaged the enemy before - and Yorktown - hastily patched up after being struck by an enemy bomb in the Coral Sea battle - squared off against four battle-hardened Japanese carriers. In this first year of war, Enterprise and the other ships of the Pacific Fleet faced nearly overwhelming odds regularly. In five days of heavy combat, the Japanese landing forces were virtually destroyed, and their supporting battle groups, damaged or destroyed, were pushed away from the island, signaling the end of Japan's southern expansion. The result, known now as the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 12-15 November 1942, was the decisive action in the long struggle for the jungle island. Heavily engaged and damaged in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August, and the Battle of Santa Cruz in October, she was ordered once more in November to block yet another major Japanese effort to retake Guadalcanal. During the late summer, Enterprise covered the Allied landings on Guadalcanal, then guarded reinforcement efforts.

#CV 6 BATTLE GROUP SERIES#

What they had accomplished, though, was nothing short of remarkable.Īfter a series of raids during the spring, Enterprise, Yorktown CV-5 and Hornet CV-8 brought Yamamoto's 'year to run wild' to an abrupt halt off Midway Island. For Enterprise,ġ942 began much as 1941 had ended, as she patrolled the western approaches to the Hawaiian islands and periodically returned to Pearl Harbor for supplies, frustrating both brown shoes and bluejackets alike.īy the close of 1942, however, Enterprise was battered and barely seaworthy, her men exhausted and their nerves raw.

It was 9 December 1941, and Enterprise was at war. By 0600 the next morning, she had cleared the harbor channel and returned to the vast Pacific, with room to maneuver, room to run. Angry and frightened voices called out to her: 'You'd better get the hell out of here or the japanese will nail you too.' 'Where in hell were you?' Working in the dark, in shadows cast by the still-burning Arizona, Enterprise refueled while her men hauled on board provisions brought to the ship by lighters. It is just as well, though, as it's unlikely Enterprise alone would have been an even match for the six Japanese fleet carriers now escaping west after the devastating morning raids.Īt dusk the following day, Enterprise and her Task Force, low on fuel, crept into Pearl Harbor. Faulty intelligence and bad guesses led to her to search the waters southwest of Hawaii, where she found only more American ships. Immediately after the attack, Enterprise was ordered to seek out and attack the Japanese fleet.

Luckily the US Carriers where away from Pearl Harbor delivering F4F Wildcats to Wake Island that included Enterpize though when an SBD from Enterpize piloted by Ensign Manuel Gonzales reached Pearl they took friendly fire from trigger happy US AAA gunners neither Gonzales or his gunner/navigator where never hear from again The Japanese thought they had sunk her 3 times but she came back evey time and earned the nickname The Gray Ghost and after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands she became the only US carrier in the Pacific Theater still left in operation On the flight deck, the crew posted a sign: 'Enterprise vs Japan. Enterpize was a Yorktown-Class Aircraft Carrier she was launched in 1936 and was one of only three American carriers commissioned prior to World War II to survive the war (the others being U.S.S. Saratoga and U.S.S. Ranger) She truned out to be the most important ship in the Pacific for the USN she earned herself over 20 Battle Stars (Witch means she took part in in all but two of the major battles in the Pacifc) a Presidential Unit Citation, and a Navy Unit Commendation etc. And was the Most decorated US ships of World War II Her planes and guns downed 911 enemy planes her bombers sank 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more.

USS Enterprise CV-6 approaches the Panama Canal, enroute to New York City, October 1945

Cv 6 battle group