When the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1961, Navy Secretary John Connally said, "The new Enterprise will reign a long, long time as queen of the seas." Over the next 51 years, through 25 deployments, the Enterprise was involved in every major conflict from the Cuban missile crisis to the Vietnam War and finally Iraq and Afghanistan, during which her eight nuclear reactors allowed the ship to stay at sea for an entire six-month tour without refueling. The Enterprise is the eighth U.S. warship to bear that name since the first went to sea with the Continental Navy....
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