The USS Enterprise was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ever built—and will be the first to be scrapped.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), known affectionately as the “Big E,” has been out of active service in the US Navy since 2012. This week, however, the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier embarked on her final voyage, from Newport News, Virginia, to Mobile, Alabama.

This final voyage, however, will be somewhat less glamorous than the Enterprise’s glory days at sea. For one thing, the enormous aircraft carrier can no longer move under her own power, and must be towed by barges. For another, her final destination is the scrapyard.

“The former USS Enterprise departed [Huntington Ingalls Industries’] Newport News Shipbuilding division today for the final time, bound for dismantlement,” Huntington Ingalls Industries, the US naval contractor in charge of the scrapping, wrote in a post on Facebook announcing the trip. “From construction through inactivation, the skilled shipbuilders of HII are proud to have supported the entire lifecycle of this mighty aircraft carrier.”

The Enterprise’s trip to the scrapyard marks the final, concrete step toward closing one of the Navy’s longest-running retirement projects.

The USS Enterprise’s (CVN-65) Specifications

• Year Commissioned: 1961
• Year Decommissioned: 2017 (inactive since 2012)
• Length: 1,123 ft (348 m)
• Beam (Width): 257.2 ft (78.4 m), widest point
• Displacement: ~93,000 long tons
• Propulsion: 8 Westinghouse nuclear reactors, 8 steam turbines, 4 shafts (280,000 shp)
• Top Speed: 33.6 knots (38.7 mph, 62.2 km/h)
• Range: Unlimited; ~20–25 years before nuclear refueling
• Armaments: 3 NATO Sea Sparrow launchers; 3 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; 2 RAM launchers; air wing of 60–90 aircraft
• Crew: ~4,600

USS Enterprise served in the US Navy from 1961 until 2012, and was inactive but still formally part of the Navy from 2012 to 2017—making it one of the longest-serving aircraft carriers in history. Unlike the preceding Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers, which were conventionally powered, and the succeeding nuclear-powered Nimitz class, the USS Enterprise was not part of a class, and its design was not replicated in later vessels.

Why Has It Taken So Long to Scrap the Enterprise? 

As previously reported, the odds that the USS Enterprise could be saved and converted into a museum ship were always slim. For one thing, unlike the handful of World War II-era aircraft carriers that have been converted into museums, the Enterprise’s design is similar to the succeeding Nimitz class, which will remain in service well into the future. This means that an inquisitive and persistent foreign “tourist” visiting the ship could probably glean some information about the weaknesses of America’s current aircraft carriers—hardly a risk the Navy wants to take.

A far more pertinent problem, however, concerns the ship’s eight nuclear reactors, which contaminated much of its interior with radiation. Though the reactors were “defueled” by removing all fuel rods in 2016, ahead of decommissioning in 2017, the reactors remained highly radioactive after decades of operation, requiring a specialized dismantling process. There was no way to render the nuclear reactors safe, and no way to take them out of the ship except by cutting it open and removing them from the side, effectively destroying its structural integrity. In short, there was never any alternative but to take the ship apart altogether.

Another factor in the delay has been litigation between the US Navy, HII, and NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services, which will take charge of the dismantlement process in Alabama. HII had fought to keep authority over the disposal after the Navy awarded it to NorthStar, but in October, it dropped its legal challenge, clearing another obstacle to the ship’s disposal.

In July, the Navy awarded NorthStar a $418 million contract to dismantle, recycle, and dispose of the former carrier. Work is expected to finish by September 2030. Hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, must be packaged and transported to licensed disposal facilities.

If the dismantling process is on schedule, almost 18 years would have passed between USS Enterprise’s deactivation in 2012 and the completion of the disposal.

One Final Task for the “Big E”

During more than five decades of service, the Enterprise participated in many moments of modern US naval history, from the Vietnam War to US combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003. Its final mission is less glamorous, but still potentially valuable to the US Navy; it intends to use the dismantlement of the Enterprise as a guideline for future nuclear supercarrier scrapping efforts. The lessons learned from the Big E’s scrapping can be applied to the future dismantlement of the Nimitz-class vessels—the first of which, USS Nimitz (CVN-68), faces its own retirement from the US Navy next year.

The final voyage is understandably bittersweet for the thousands of sailors who served aboard the Big E during her time in service—a point that HII made in its announcement.

“To the generations of shipbuilders, suppliers and sailors who are forever part of the CVN-65 legacy: thank you for your dedication to the mission,” the company wrote—promising that the ship’s legacy would live on through the next USS Enterprise (CVN-80), now under construction in Virginia.

About the Author: Hao Gao

Hao Gao is an editorial intern at The National Interest. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in security policy studies from George Washington University. His research focuses on China, Asia-Pacific security, and US-China relations.

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