List of ships of the United States Navy named Enterprise


Eight ships used in the service of the United States or of the Colonial Forces of the United States Revolutionary War have been named Enterprise with a ninth currently under construction:

Into the early years of the 20th century there was no fixed form for Navy ship prefixes. Ships were rather haphazardly identified, in correspondence or documents, by their naval type, their rig, or their function. They might also identify themselves as “the Frigate _____,” or, simply, “Ship ______.” Though the term "United States Ship," abbreviated “USS,” is seen as early as the late 1790s; it was not in frequent, and far from exclusive, use until the last half of the 19th century. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order that established the present usage:
In order that there shall be uniformity in the matter of designating naval vessels, it is hereby directed that the official designation of vessels of war, and other vessels of the Navy of the United States, shall be the name of such vessel, preceded by the words, United States Ship, or the letters U.S.S., and by no other words or letters. --Executive Order 549, 8 January 1907. Current Navy Regulations specify that only COMMISSIONED vessels carry the prefix USS.
NameClassCommissioned Decommissioned Fate
Enterprise 70-ton sloop10 May 17757 July 1777Burned to prevent capture, 7 July 1777. This ship was not a ship of the U.S. Navy, it was captured from the British and operated on Lake Champlain by COL Benedict Arnold of the Continental Army. The Continental Navy did not operate on Lake Champlain.
25-ton schoonerJune 1776February 1777Returned to the Maryland Council of Safety in 1777. This Enterprise was also not a ship of the U.S. Navy. It was a privateer purchased for the Continental Navy.
Enterprise 135-ton schooner/brigThis Enterprise was the first vessel of the United States Navy to carry the name. Fired the first shots in the First Barbary War against the Tripolitanian ship Tripoli. Broken up after being stranded on Little Curacao Island in the West Indies.
Enterprise 197-ton schoonerSold, 28 October 1844.
Enterprise 615-ton barque screw sloopLent to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 17 October 1892 – 4 May 1909. Sold, 1 October 1909.
Enterprise 66-foot motor patrol boat6 December 19172 August 1919Transferred to the Bureau of Fisheries on 2 August 1919. This Enterprise was a privately owned motor boat purchased by the U.S. Navy for service as a Non-Commissioned patrol vessel. As a Non-Commissioned vessel the prefix "USS" would not have been included in the vessel's name.
12 May 193817 February 1947Served with unparalleled distinction in World War II, the most awarded and decorated ship of that war. Scrapped, 1 July 1958 – May 1960.
25 November 19613 February 2017World's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. As of 2012, the U.S. Navy's longest serving combat vessel, and third-oldest commissioned vessel after and. Inactive since December 2012, some scrapping started in 2013 prior to official decommissioning on 3 February 2017.
Scheduled 2027 Announced by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.