List of ships of the United States Navy named Enterprise

Eight ships used in the service of the United States or of the Colonial Forces of the United States Revolutionary War (six of which were United States Navy ships) have been named Enterprise with a ninth currently under construction:[1]

Into the early years of the 20th century there was no fixed form for Navy ship prefixes. Ships were rather haphazardly identified, in correspondence or documents, by their naval type (U.S. Frigate ____), their rig (United States Barque ____), or their function (United States Flag-Ship ______). They might also identify themselves as “the Frigate _____,” or, simply, “Ship ______.” Though the term "United States Ship," abbreviated “USS,” is seen as early as the late 1790s; it was not in frequent, and far from exclusive, use until the last half of the 19th century. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order that established the present usage: In order that there shall be uniformity in the matter of designating naval vessels, it is hereby directed that the official designation of vessels of war, and other vessels of the Navy of the United States, shall be the name of such vessel, preceded by the words, United States Ship, or the letters U.S.S., and by no other words or letters. --Executive Order 549, 8 January 1907. Current Navy Regulations specify that only COMMISSIONED vessels carry the prefix USS.[2]