REPORTER: David Brill
The world's most iconic warship is on her way home for the very last time. After 40 years I have returned to the USS Enterprise and I feel like I've travelled back in time. It's quite a strange feeling... 40 years ago I was standing in this position, in the Gulf of Tonkin. Planes like these were flying off to bomb North Vietnam. When I filmed these black and white images, I never thought that one day I'd be back on the bridge.
REPORTER: Is it hard to believe this ship was in the Vietnam War?
WOMAN: Unbelievable. It's hard to fathom. Those are things I've only seen on pages of books, and here she goes and still operational!
For five decades, this giant war machine has patrolled the world's oceans, a constant reminder of American military power. But it's too costly to keep her running any longer. With newer carriers and more efficient technology, the navy says it's time for this relic to retire.
MAN: Smile!
WOMAN: We're smiling.
REPORTER: What does it feel like, the last voyage of the Enterprise considering the history of the ship over the last 51 years?
OFFICER: I think it feels great. It's an honour to be serving on board the Enterprise.
OFFICER 2: It’s definitely something to be proud of, making the last voyage. It’s definitely something I'll remember it for the rest of my life.
The bridge is the nerve centre of the ship, and here the memories come flowing back. The mood is relaxed here now, but I remember 40 years ago the crew was tense - as the bombing raids on North Vietnam continued.
VOICEOVER: The mighty aircraft carrier Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered ship ever to enter combat. Off the coast of Vietnam the Big E launches her phantom jets...
I hate to think of how many people were killed by these planes, and the enormous civilian toll in that war. Today Captain Bill Hamilton is in charge.
REPORTER: What's it like to captain its last voyage?
CAPTAIN BILL HAMILTON: Bittersweet, because certainly it's an honour and a privilege to be the Commanding Officer of Enterprise. And when I say ‘Enterprise’ I'm not talking about this piece of steel, I'm talking about these 5,000 sailors that execute the mission. The effort required, as you can imagine, for a 51-year-old ship, the effort required to keep it running, to make it as ready as the newer carriers, it takes more dedication and longer hours and working in tougher conditions.
REPORTER: I suppose it's a full-time job, is it? Always cleaning?
OFFICER 3: Yes, always.
REPORTER: Keeping off the rust?
OFFICER 3: Yeah, get rid of the dirt and salt water, it’s corrosive to the jet.
Tired now, but five decades ago the Enterprise was the pride of the fleet. US propaganda sung the praises of a ship run by new energy.
VOICEOVER: Out of the bursting core of the unseeable atom, scientists and engineers have released a source of energy, surpassing anything ever before known or imagined - a boundless physical force with power to reshape the world and the lives of everyone in it, now and in the future.
In theory at least, nuclear power meant this floating airbase need never return to port. And as I wander the miles of corridors below deck, I'm constantly reminded that this is a big mobile chunk of America – from a hearty meal of steak and fries, to CNN and the regular fitness classes – it's home to 5,000 servicemen and women, finishing their 8-month deployment. There's even a souvenir shop for international visitors.
OFFICER: A mug? No sorry we don't have any coffee mugs.
VISITOR: Oh, it's not a big deal. But thank you for this. It’s for my daughters.
Today the Danish and Polish Navies are on board and Admiral Ted Carter is keen to show off his firepower.
VISITOR: What would be the total time if you wanted all the aircraft to take off?
ADMIRAL TED CARTER: If we wanted to get them all up on the flight deck and ready? I've actually done one of those, where we launched 50 aeroplanes at once and you usually have about 35 aeroplanes on the flight deck and move 15 of these out to those elevators and up… about 45 minutes.
This is not a one-off visit. The Big E, as it's affectionately called, has long been used as a floating platform for US diplomacy.
VOICEOVER: Distinguished guests from Africa, Asia, Australia and South America were flown aboard on 16 different occasions. After they were given suitable honours, they were escorted around the ship.
And the visitors have included a former sailor who rose to become Commander-in-Chief.
MAN: The President of the United States.
JOHN F KENNEDY, US PRESIDENT: The United States Navy helps secure the freedom of countries thousands of miles away, ships which sail hundreds of miles from coast, far off places, preserve the freedom of those countries.
But preserving freedom, as JFK described it, also meant frequently swapping diplomacy for direct action.
VOICEOVER: The United States answer to Soviet blackmail in Cuba…
One of the carrier's first deployments was to the Cuban missile crisis, and she has fought in every major conflict since then.
VOICEOVER: The nuclear powered carrier Enterprise has joined the Seventh Fleet off the Vietnam Coast to land added punch to the coastal patrol.
The first strike against the Taliban following 9/11 was launched from these decks. Most recently, the USS Enterprise has been launching combat missions into Afghanistan and Iraq. Fighting war is one thing, but the big ship's influence has extended beyond the battle zone and into popular culture.
STAR TREK: Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
TOP GUN: Come on, lock up baby. Lock up baby. I got him locked. Bingo!
OFFICER: Oh those fuzzy dice? Those were here in Primary, where we’re at, when they filmed 'Top Gun'.
REPORTER: They filmed 'Top Gun' on here?
OFFICER: They sure did.
ADMIRAL TED CARTER: I went to the last Top Gun class in Miramar when they were filming the movie in this airplane. And I went back to be an instructor in the F14 after that.
Admiral Ted Carter commands the entire Carrier Strike Group, a lethal combination of the Enterprise and her Destroyer escorts.
ADMIRAL TED CARTER: There is still no other force in the world that does what we do day and night. This one over here is a little bit more historical.
As a keen student of naval history, he's heard all the arguments about aircraft carriers being out-dated war-fighting machines.
ADMIRAL TED CARTER: All I have to say is, you go up on this flight deck, four and half acres of US sovereign territory, it can go wherever we need it to go without a permission slip.
REPORTER: So they’re back again?
ADMIRAL TED CARTER: It’s never going to go away. We're building an aircraft carrier right now that's going to be a technological leap that will be so much further advanced than what Enterprise brought that’s still relevant after 50 years. And this ship that we’re building now, the Gerald Ford, will last for over 90 years.
Whatever the new technology, aircraft will still have to take-off and make heart-stopping landings. Just below the flight deck are the men and machines who make it all possible. These are the wires that hook the planes when they land. Right in here, this is it?
OFFICER: Yes. This cable right here is what it grabs onto on the flight deck and it pulls it out. This whole thing is one big hydraulic ram that pushes in, and it pushes fluid through this cylinder here. As it comes in, this closes so that every plane stops in the same spot on the flight deck. This is original. This is a newer model.
REPORTER: Right, but that's like 51 years old?
OFFICER: Yes. It’s still holding up today with the planes and the size of the stuff we have coming in. I'm surprised it doesn't break more than it does.
REPORTER: Does it break now and then?
OFFICER: Oh yes it does. But our guys do an awesome job of keeping up with it.
OFFICER ERIC YOUNG: I've been in several spots where we were downstairs scrambling to fix something or redo something that maybe fell out of calibration or out of spec for that morning. And to know that the flight deck have no idea, they're going on to the catapult to launching the aircraft as if nothing is going on but below decks, we're sweating and struggling.
Air Department Master Chief Eric Young has spent a total of almost 10 years on the Enterprise, longer than anyone else on board.
OFFICER ERIC YOUNG: Some people joke with me and say the only way to get me off the ship was to decommission it. I'm going to miss her and it's been a great ship. A great tour for me. A lot of history here. A lot of great sailors have come through here. It's a sad day for me.
As the big carrier heads home for the final time, there will be many who feel the same way.
ANJALI RAO: David Brill there on that historic final voyage. There's more from David on our website and an interview about the ship’s history. Plus, a photo gallery of the Enterprise over the years.
Reporter/Camera
DAVID BRILL
Producers
DONALD CAMERON
GEOFF PARISH
Editors
WAYNE LOVE
MICAH McGOWN
Original Music Composed by
VICKI HANSEN