WASHINGTON –The U.S. Senate today unanimously approved a resolution offered by Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Mark R. Warner (D-VA) commemorating the deactivation of U.S.S. Enterprise after 51 years of service and honoring the more than 100,000 current and former sailors and Marines who served aboard the aircraft carrier. The Enterprise, which was home ported in Norfolk, was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

“I am proud to salute the officers and crew who served on USS ENTERPRISE since her commissioning more than five decades ago,” said Senator Webb, a former Secretary of the Navy. “As a result of their dedication and sacrifice during peace and war, the Big-E answered all bells and sustained the rich legacy forged since the Revolutionary War by the seven namesake ships that preceded her. Bravo Zulu.”

“I am proud to help commemorate more than fifty years of service to the nation by the Enterprise and its sailors,” Senator Warner said. “Enterprise provided our military with unmatched combat capability during conflicts from the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War to Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.  Norfolk and our country will sorely miss ‘Big E’, and we salute the thousands of military men and women and their families who served aboard and supported her mission."

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