The USS Enterprise becomes the first ship to receive the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award any American vessel can achieve. It's half-time in the carrier war for the Pacific, as Enterprise heads home for a major refit. With a new crew of "Citizen Sailors" aboard and new technology, "The Grey Ghost" returns to the battleground and in the bloody Gilberts Invasion, launching the first night air operations ever flown from an American carrier.

While the allies storm France, on the far side of the world, American forces hit Saipan in the Marianas Island. The Enterprise supports one of the largest and most deadly battles of the Pacific War, nearly wiping out Japanese naval airpower in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," devastating enemy surface forces in the Philippine Sea.