#1: USS Enterprise (CV-6): The Most Decorated Warship in American History
USS Enterprise (CV-6) participated in more major actions of the Pacific War than any other United States ship, 20 battle stars, the most of any U.S. Navy vessel in World War II. She fought at Midway, the Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. At one critical point after the battles of 1942, Enterprise was the only operational American carrier in the entire Pacific, carrying the war virtually alone. Her crew hung a sign from the island: "Enterprise vs. Japan."
The "Big E" was a Yorktown-class carrier displacing 25,500 tons, capable of 32.5 knots, and carrying roughly 90 aircraft. Her air group sank or helped sink more than 70 enemy vessels and shot down 911 aircraft over the course of the war. She survived kamikaze hits, bomb damage, and near-misses that would have finished lesser ships. After Santa Cruz in 1942, when both Hornet and Yorktown were gone, Enterprise's air crews and damage-control teams kept the ship fighting through exhaustion and terrible casualties. She is the gold standard against which all warships are measured, the most battle-tested, most decorated, and most consequential aircraft carrier in the history of naval warfare. No ship has earned the title of most iconic warship more completely than the USS Enterprise.
