Editing USS Enterprise CVN-65 (section)

==CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS==

Soon after, Enterprise was dispatched to its first international crisis. For some months, the United States had been flying U-2 reconnaissance planes over Cuba, a small island nation 90 miles (145 km) off the coast of Florida. During one such flight over Cuba pictures obtained from the spy planes revealed what appeared to be Soviet missile silos under construction. Fearing the worst, the United States began to prepare for military action against Cuba, moving several Army units to Florida and supporting these units with a strong naval force.

•	22 October 1962: In a televised address to the nation, President John F. Kennedy announced that U.S. reconnaissance flights had revealed a Soviet buildup of offensive missiles on the island of Cuba. The President ordered a naval and air quarantine on shipment of offensive military equipment to Cuba and demanded the Soviets dismantle the missile sites there. As part of the Presidentially imposed blockade of Cuba, Enterprise and other ships from the Second Fleet had been mobilized, and the ships of the blockading force were in position at sea when the quarantine officially began. Enterprise, supported by the carriers Independence, Essex, and Randolph, and backed by shore based aircraft commenced with the blockade. On the same day the service tours of all officers and enlisted men were extended indefinitely. 

•	24 October 1962: Enterprise and other ships in the Second Fleet began a "strict quarantine of all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba". 

•	25 October 1962: The first Soviet ship was stopped. 

•	28 October 1962: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles and dismantle the missile bases in Cuba. 

•	19 December 1962: An E-2 Hawkeye piloted by Lt. Commander Lee M. Ramsey was catapulted off Enterprise in the first shipboard test of nose-tow gear designed to replace the catapult bridle and reduce launching intervals. Minutes later the second nose-tow launch was made by an A-6A. 

•	1963: Enterprise's second deployment to the Mediterranean. 

•	1964: Enterprise's third deployment to the Mediterranean. 

•	13 May 1964: The world's first nuclear-powered task force was formed when USS Long Beach and USS Bainbridge joined Enterprise. This was during the third Mediterranean deployment. 

•	31 July 1964: The ships were designated Task Force One and, leaving Gibraltar, sailed on Operation Sea Orbit, an historic 65-day, 30,216 mile (49,190 km) voyage around the world, accomplished without a single refueling or replenishment. The ports the Enterprise visited during this trip were Karachi, Pakistan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Sydney, Australia. In October, Enterprise returned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company for its first refueling and overhaul. 

•	In November 1965: The Big E was transferred to the Pacific's Seventh Fleet. 

•	2 December 1965: She became the first nuclear-powered ship to engage in combat when it launched bomb-laden aircraft in a projection of power against the Viet Cong near Bien Hoa. Enterprise launched 125 sorties on the first day, unleashing 167 tons of bombs and rockets on the enemy's supply lines. 

•	3 December 1965: She set a record of 165 strike sorties in a single day. 

•	23 January 1968: Word was received of the capture of USS Pueblo by a North Korean patrol boat. A Task Group, composed of Enterprise and screen, was ordered to reverse course in the East China Sea and to run northward to the Sea of Japan where it operated near South Korea for almost a month. 

[[image:enterpriselogo.jpg|thumb|left|'''The Enterprise Logo.''']]

•	14 January 1969: At approximately 8:19 am, a MK-32 Zuni rocket warhead attached to an F-4 Phantom was overheated by exhaust from an aircraft starting unit and detonated, setting off fires and additional explosions across the carrier. The fire was brought under control relatively promptly when compared with previous carrier flight deck fires, but 27 lives were lost, and an additional 314 people were injured. The fire had destroyed 15 aircraft, and the resulting damage forced Enterprise to put in for repairs, primarily to repair the flight deck's armored plating. 

•	early March 1969: Repairs to the ship were completed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the ship proceeded on its deployment to Vietnam and Tonkin Gulf. 

•	14 April 1969: North Korean aircraft shot down an unarmed EC-121 Constellation which was on a routine reconnaissance patrol over the Sea of Japan from its base at Atsugi, Japan. The entire 31-man crew was killed. The United States responded by activating Task Force 71 to protect such flights over those international waters in the future. Initially, the Task Force consisted of the carriers Enterprise, Ticonderoga, Ranger and Hornet with a screen of cruisers and destroyers. 

The ships for Task Force 71 were drawn mostly from Southeast Asia duty (Vietnam War support), and proceeded toward the North Korea area at relatively high speed while forming Task Force 71 enroute. Captain Kent Lee (later a Vice Admiral) of Enterprise was the senior officer in Task Force 71 and, thus, was the Officer in Tactical Command (OTC) of one of the largest shows of force in the area since the Korean War.

In all, Enterprise made six combat deployments to Southeast Asia from 1965 to 1972.

[[image:enterprisefire.jpg|thumb|right|'''Crew battles massive ordinance fire triggered by Zuni rocket.''']]