CV-6 was the most decorated ship in WWII for the US Navy. Even after the SecNav told congress it would be a travisty to turn this ship into paperclips and after a huge campaing to save her, the funds couldn't be raised and the ship went to the breakers.
Now the Navy has a second oppertunity to "bank" on her name. The ships that are donated to foundations and are turned into museums are huge PR tools for the Navy and Marines. I have no doubt that this ship, CVN-65, will make one more first in her career: The first nuclear carrier to become a museum.
But thats not just up to the Navy. It's up to us, the public, to see that this ship stays with us. The time is now to send those letters to your congressman to make the funds available to preserve the ship.
When a ship is deactivated, especially a nuclear one, the reactors have to be "cut out" of the ship. In a submarine the ship is cut in half, the reacotrs are removed, and then she is welded back together and then towed to her scrapping point. This isn't quite the same in a carrier. The public needs to know that the Enterprise COULD be either taken apart carefully to preserve her or she could be hacked to pieces and sent off to make microwave ovens, cellphones, cars, paperclips, or whatever. The more time it takes to deactivate her the more it costs. I would start sending in letters now. I served in the Enterprise battlegroup in 1998 and after seeing her in action I hate to think of her being cut up to make Ford's or freeway reinforcement beams.
Aside from that, I'm sure her name will live on. Probably not in a carrier though. I forsee her name going to the next generation of cruisers slated to take over for the Ticonderoga class.
