Enterprise embodied the US Navy's wartime experience in a way that another surviving carrier such as USS Ranger could not. Decommissioned in 1947, she remained alongside a pier for years before breaking-up began in 1958. A preserved ship could have displayed aircraft from several periods and hosted historical events. Her hangar and flight deck would also have made the scale of carrier warfare tangible to visitors.
Notable Point · 56:00-58:29
USS Enterprise as the symbol of the US Navy's Pacific war
Enterprise was one of only three US carriers to begin the Second World War and survive it, making her loss a missed chance to interpret the American Pacific war effort.