Prowlers and the Big E

The U.S.S. Enterprise put to sea a few days ago on her last deployment, some 50 years after her first.

As is the custom, the Air Wing (all the planes) arrived a day or so later in what is called a "fly-on." At the end of this deployment, the air wing will depart the ship a few days prior to her arrival in Norfolk in what is not-so-surprisingly called a "fly-off."



Pretty cool plane pr0n, even if the only Hornet in the video bolters at the 2:15 mark. Yeah. I almost missed it too. Based solely on this video, it would appear that Carrier Air Wing One has one Hornet (still circling the ship), one Hawkeye, a few Greyhounds, and about 50 Prowlers. Maybe this is some sort of CHINFO disinformation campaign to lull our enemies into thinking that the "flying drumstick" is all we've got.

Or maybe scare our enemies.

Prowlers are pretty bad-ass machines, if I do say so my damn self, and the Growler is nothing to sneeze at.

In any case, ships come and go. A very good friend of mine served as a CAT Officer on the Big E back in the late 60's. Long hair, beards, Phantoms, A-3Ds, A4-s, and Spads. Shore leave in the Philippines.

When she is decommissioned, the U.S. Navy will be without a U.S.S. Enterprise either in service or in the pipeline for the first time in a VERY long while. As we dither about naming ships after people for the sake of political expediency and clout, we're losing sight of our heritage.

And that's a shame.