Ships
- USS Enterprise (CV-6) Captain from 12 May 1938
Captain N. H. White was Newton Harris White, Jr., a graduate of the United States Naval Academy in the class of 1907. He came from rural Tennessee. In 1919 he qualified as a naval aviator. He later served as executive officer of the carrier Lexington, and in 1932 he commanded the seaplane tender Wright.
On 12 May 1938 White assumed command of Enterprise (CV-6) at her commissioning at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, Virginia. The Yorktown-class carrier had been built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Her keel was laid on 16 July 1934, and she was launched on 3 October 1936. Lulie H. Swanson, wife of Secretary of the Navy Claude A. Swanson, sponsored the ship. White was the first officer to command her.
His immediate work was the shakedown. Enterprise sailed south on a cruise that took her to Rio de Janeiro. On 20 August 1938 she crossed the equator, and the crew held the traditional shellback initiation. From 29 October to 3 November she finished her final trials in New England waters, anchored in Cape Cod Bay, visited Boston, and then returned to Norfolk.
White’s time in the ship ended in illness. He required treatment at Naval Hospital Norfolk, and from 5 to 7 December 1938 the executive officer, Commander James C. Monfort, held temporary command. White remained too ill to resume the duty. On 21 December 1938 Captain Charles A. Pownall relieved him.
The Navy transferred White to the retired list on 1 April 1939. He returned to active service for a short time during the Second World War. The months he spent in Enterprise covered her commissioning and her first cruise, the opening of a career that later carried the carrier through the Pacific war.