USS Enterprise was commissioned in 1938 with the words, “May she also say with pride: I have done the State some service.” During World War II, her planes and guns claimed 911 enemy aircraft, 71 ships sunk, and 192 damaged. At the end of the war she had earned 20 Battle Stars, the first Presidential Unit Citation awarded to any ship, and the Navy Unit Commendation. Her distinction was further documented in 1945 when the British First Lord of the Admiralty presented her an Admiralty pennant, making her the only foreign ship to be so honored since 1588. As the most decorated ship of World War II, her service changed the very course of a war for which she was expressly created.
