On 1 December 2012, during the presentation of a pre-recorded speech at the inactivation ceremony for , then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that CVN-80 would be named "Enterprise". She will be the ninth ship and the third aircraft carrier in the history of the United States Navy to bear the name. CVN-80 will also be the first American supercarrier not to be named in honor of a person since the was commissioned in 1966. In December 2016, Mabus chose Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles to sponsor the ship.