Design
Enterprise was meant to be the first of a class of six, but construction costs ballooned and the remaining vessels were never laid down. Because of the huge cost of her construction, Enterprise was launched and commissioned without the planned RIM-2 Terrier missile launchers. These were never installed and the ship's self-defense suite instead consisted of three shorter-range RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, Basic Point Defense Missile System (BPDMS) launchers. Later upgrades added two NATO Sea Sparrow (NSSM) and three Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS gun mounts. One CIWS mount was later removed and two 21-cell RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers were added.
Enterprise is also the only aircraft carrier to house more than two nuclear reactors. having an eight-reactor propulsion design, with each A2W reactor taking the place of one of the conventional boilers in earlier constructions. She is the only carrier with four rudders, two more than other classes, and features a more cruiser-like hull.
Enterprise also had a phased array radar system that was better at tracking multiple airborne targets than conventional rotating antenna radars. These early phased arrays, replaced around 1980, were responsible for the distinctive square-looking island.
Read more about this topic: USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
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—John Adams (1735–1826)