The 696-page tome, 18 years in the making, is a fitting memorial to the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
That it was penned by a Karitane doctor who specialises in tending the dying is intriguing. Dr Dave McKay (54), who practises at the Helensburgh Medical Centre and Otago Community Hospice, became fascinated by ''The Big E'' as a young boy in the 1970s. His book is imbued with his lifelong enthusiasm; emerging as a comprehensive history, yet written in the readable style of a passionate amateur historian.
It is as much about the history of US modern maritime technology and warfare as about the ship.
The USS Enterprise has sailed through some historic times since it was launched on September 24, 1960, including the blockade of Cuba during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War and the first strikes on Afghanistan after the World Trade Centre attacks. The ship even starred in the 1986 film Top Gun.
The design, construction and infrastructure of the ship are examined in detail and there are interviews with commanders, former crewmen and aviators. All the crew killed or taken prisoner of war are honoured and there are some fascinating insights, such as a breakdown of the $NZ4.2 million weekly crew food bill.
Also revealed are the secrets of the ship's eight nuclear reactors, weaponry and all the technical wizardry which made it the most intimidating offensive sea-based platform in the world.
The US Navy hosted Dr McKay on four occasions aboard the $546 million aircraft carrier during his research and his intimacy with the ship flows through the book.
The Americans were generous hosts, offering helicopter rides, catapult launches and arrested landings.
''It felt like all my internal organs were going to pop out. I thought my heart was going to come out of my chest. But I was smiling on the inside and the outside,'' the author recalled in an ODT article this year.
The Enterprise name has been part of the US Navy fleet since 1775 and CVN-65 was the eighth ship to carry the name.
After a 51-year tour of duty, ''The Big E'' had its official inactivation at Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia, on December 1 last year.
- Nigel Benson is an ODT Dunedin reporter.
