USS Enterprise (CV-6), the most-decorated U.S. Navy ship of World War II and a legend in her own right, is probably the most famous single ship of the Pacific War, having been in on Pearl Harbor, Midway and several other pivotal battles. But far from being preserved as an artifact or a museum ship as she probably should have been, this magnificent ship sadly went to a New Jersey scrap yard in the late 1950s, having been in active service only eight short years. How did this happen? And how did one specific small piece of the ship, now preserved in a park, manage to survive? This video is the story of how the Enterprise ended, with the exception of that one small piece which has had a fascinating odyssey of its own, stretching into the present century.

Sean Munger's website and history classes online: https://www.seanmunger.com/
"Enterprise" by Barrett Tillman (Archive link, borrow the book for free): https://archive.org/details/enterpriseameric00till/mode/2up
Map coordinates of the Enterprise stern plate in River Vale, NJ: 41.008273, -74.009468
If you want an overview of Enterprise and her war career before the end of WWII, naval history YouTuber @Drachinifel has an excellent short video on it here: https://youtu.be/H9_d0LT_UyM

Chapters:
00:00-01:14: River Vale, New Jersey
01:14-02:35: Intro - The Demise of Enterprise
02:35-04:39: Background - USS Enterprise
04:39-06:34: After the War
06:34-08:06: Why She Was Decommissioned
08:06-09:34: Fighting For Survival
09:34-11:18: Scrapping the Enterprise
11:18-13:06: The Stern Plate
13:06-14:42: Outro