Omanghana
The former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, has begun its final voyage from Newport News, Virginia, to Mobile, Alabama, where it will be dismantled and recycled.
Known as the “Big E,” the historic warship departed under tow on November 2, 2026. Its arrival in Mobile is expected around November 13, depending on weather and other conditions.
More Than Five Decades of Service
Commissioned in 1961, Enterprise served the United States for more than 50 years and travelled over one million nautical miles under nuclear power.
Its service included the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it participated in the naval blockade of Cuba, and the Vietnam War. It later supported operations in Afghanistan and Iraq following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The carrier was inactivated in December 2012 and formally decommissioned on February 3, 2017.
A Complex Dismantling Project
Enterprise was powered by eight nuclear reactors, compared with two on later Nimitz-class carriers. The Navy says the ship’s reactor plants were defuelled in 2017, but the reactors and other components still require careful dismantling and disposal.
Low-level radioactive waste will be packaged and transported to authorised facilities, while suitable materials from the ship will be recycled.
NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services will carry out the work under a $418.5 million contract. The project is expected to be completed by September 2030.
The contract followed a dispute over the original award and a renewed competition. The total cost of the carrier’s inactivation, storage and dismantling has been estimated at approximately $1.4 billion.
A Blueprint for Future Carriers
The Navy expects the Enterprise project to provide lessons for dismantling other nuclear-powered aircraft carriers as they reach the end of their service lives.
Among them is the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), which is scheduled to leave service in 2027.
The Enterprise name will remain part of the fleet. The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier under construction, will be the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name.
Source: Omanghana
