USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is being decommissioned.

http://news.yahoo.com/storied-carrier-big-e-makes-final-voyage-180906276.html

My ship, USS Dewey (DLG-14), a guided missile destroyer leader, was designed to operate as part of an aircraft carrier task force. Our job rarely brought us within visual range of the carriers we escorted, usually we were over the horizon on anti-sub patrol or acting as an air defense outpost and picket ship. We also served as a floating control tower, helping manage and direct air traffic when the carrier was launching air strikes. We were also available for search and rescue duty, Dewey and her helo rescued several pilots that had been shot down over N Vietnam.

Carriers are so big that they also serve as storage depots for supplies, munitions and fuel for other ships in the task force, so occasionally we would refuel or replenish from the carrier, and while waiting our turn, often did “lifeguard duty”, following a mile or two behind the carrier to be available to rescue any pilots that missed a landing or takeoff. Dewey operated in support of several carriers, among them Coral Sea and Shangri-La.

I actually saw the “Big E” once. during the Pueblo Crisis. Dewey was dispatched from the Tonkin Gulf to the Sea of Japan to support potential operations against North Korea. We were at a high state of alert, and scattered about, and except for an occasional oiler, we saw few other ships in the area, although we had assembled a huge squadron there.

While there, I did see Enterprise on the horizon, once. Even at that distance, she was huge, the biggest ship I had ever seen.