Watch WWII Carrier Operations Aboard USS Enterprise CV-6 with F6F Hellcats and SB2C Helldivers

A Glimpse of the Fighting Carrier

Film preserved in the National Archives captures the USS Enterprise CV-6 in the summer of 1944. At that time, the carrier was sailing in the central Pacific with a strong mix of aircraft. Among them were Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters, the rugged planes that carried much of the U.S. Navy’s air battles, and Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers, which were used for strikes on heavily defended targets. Also seen are TBF and early TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, large aircraft flown on dangerous missions against enemy shipping.

These scenes date from late August to September 1944, shortly after the ship’s overhaul in Hawaii. Enterprise joined Task Force 38 for operations against the Volcano and Bonin Islands from August 31 to September 2, followed quickly by raids on Yap, Ulithi, and the Palau Islands between September 6 and 8. The slates in the film are dated August 23, though notes suggest the footage may span from August 21 to September 21.

From Wartime Action to Peacetime Role

Enterprise, launched in 1936, belonged to the three-ship Yorktown class. By the end of the war, it was the only survivor of that class. Its sister ships, the first USS Yorktown and the USS Hornet, had been lost in earlier Pacific battles. Enterprise itself had fought in nearly every major naval action of the war, earning a reputation as one of the most active American carriers.

When the fighting ended, Enterprise was given a new task. It joined Operation Magic Carpet, carrying more than 10,000 American service members back home from overseas. The carrier was finally decommissioned in 1947. Attempts to preserve it as a museum did not succeed, and in 1958, the ship was sold for scrap in New Jersey.

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