Keel Laying Commemorated for Future Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise 

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — With the words, “I hereby declare the keel of the United States Ship Enterprise truly and fairly laid,” Olympians Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky chalked their initials on respective steel plates, which were then embossed by skilled welders and affixed to the keel of the future USS Enterprise (CVN 80), Aug. 28 at the HII-Newport News Shipyard, in Newport News, Virginia.
 
Ledecky attended the historic keel laying ceremony for the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier in person, while Biles participated via a pre-recorded message from the World Champions Center in Spring, Texas, Program Executive Office Aircraft Carriers said in a release. Five years earlier, on Aug. 24, 2017, Biles and Ledecky attended CVN 80’s First Cut of Steel ceremony, marking the initial major construction milestone for the Enterprise — the third ship in the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)-class of aircraft carriers. 
 
On Saturday, after NNS welders Ephony King and Jonathan Rishor finished welding the athletes’ initials on small, steel plates, NNS Lead Rigger, Mike “Chile” Williams, passed a radio to Ledecky, who gave the command for NNS Crane Operator Charlie Holloway to lower the 688-ton keel unit into the dry dock. This section of the ship will support the forward half of the Enterprise, when the CVN 80 is fully assembled. The ceremonial plates will be affixed permanently to the ship’s keel. 
 
Work on the Enterprise has been progressing on schedule, since NNS loaded the Enterprise’s keel unit during the ship’s first “super-lift,” on April 5. With the first main structural member in place, workers have continued erecting the aircraft carrier in the dry dock by joining together a series of pre-outfitted modules. 
 
The future USS Enterprise will be the ninth U.S. Navy warship to bear the name, with the first being a sloop-of-war, commissioned in 1775, after its capture from the British during the American War of Independence. The last Enterprise (CVN 65), served as the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from 1961–2017 and is currently moored nearby in the shipyard awaiting the results of an environmental impact statement and a Navy decision on disposal options. 
 
Under Secretary of the Navy Erik K. Raven delivered the keynote address. “The power of this ceremony — at this shipyard, in our country, on this day — is to mark another ship’s life being started to serve more generations of Americans, service members, friends, families, leaders, partners, and allies,” he said.
 
“Fittingly, in the presence of the previous Big E, we now lay the keel of the next Enterprise, the newest future naval warship, CVN 80.” 
 
The ship’s sponsors are internationally renowned. Ledecky is a three-time Olympian, participating in the 2012, 2016, 2020 Games, earning 10 medals. Biles is the most decorated U.S. women’s gymnast, with 32 World/Olympic medals.
 
The future USS Enterprise is scheduled to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), currently slated for inactivation in 2029.