USS Enterprise, world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, heads to the scrapyard
The Enterprise preceded the current line of Nimitz-class carriers, which themselves will be replaced by the newer Ford-class of aircraft carriers.
The US Navy is officially scrapping one of its most iconic vessels, a ship which pioneered modern naval aviation.
The USS Enterprise, designated as CVN-65, is finally headed to the scrapyard almost 10 years after it was retired from service. The Enterprise was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, commissioned in 1961 as the only ship in class and the eighth to carry the Enterprise name.
The US Navy deactivated the Enterprise in 2012 and subsequently spent five years defuelling the ship’s eight nuclear reactors. The pioneering vessel was formally decommissioned in 2017 with over 50 years of service.
On 2 November, US shipbuilder HII, which is the exclusive designer and builder of Washington’s nuclear carrier fleet, confirmed that the Enterprise is now “bound for dismantling”.
The company shared photos of the flattop being towed out of the Newport News, Virginia, port on the US Atlantic Coast “for the final time”, HII says. The Enterprise is being transferred to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, for scrap and salvage.
“Newport News Shipbuilding bids farewell to a legendary part of our history,” said the HII subsidiary that maintains and builds the US carrier fleet.
The eighth USS Enterprise was deactivated from frontline service in 2012 and had its nuclear reactors permanently decommissioned in 2017. Source: HII
Storied past
The “Big E”, as the Enterprise was known, served on the frontline on major world events for decades, including the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the 21st Century conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first aircraft to launch from the Enterprise was a Grumman C-1A Trader carrier onboard delivery cargo aircraft during the carrier’s sea trials in 1961. Active air operations began with an arrested landing by a Vought F-8 Crusader fighter during the ship’s shakedown cruise in 1962.
The venerable Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter also logged the type’s first-ever frontline deployment aboard the Enterprise in 1974.
The USS Enterprise supported in the US evacuation of Saigon in 1975 at the close of the Vietnam War. Source: US Navy
Although officially the first nuclear-powered carrier, the Pentagon briefly reverted to conventionally powered flattops after commissioning the Enterprise, leaving the Big E as the only vessel in its class.
That reversion was driven by the high cost of construction for the nuclear Enterprise, which was valued at roughly $451 million in 1961 values, or over $5 billion today. That is notably less than half the estimated $13-15 billion cost of each new Ford-class carrier, which are actively under construction.
The next generation
The USN’s move toward a nuclear-powered fleet became permanent in 1975 with the commissioning of the USS Nimitz – the lead vessel in the Nimitz-class line of carriers that are on frontline duty today. Those carriers will eventually undergo the same decommissioning process as the Enterprise as the navy and HII ramp up production of the Ford-class.
The lead vessel in that line – the USS Gerald R Ford – is already in active combat service. The successive USS John F Kennedy is undergoing aircraft flight trials ahead of its final acceptance and commissioning in 2027.
The third Ford-class carrier, scheduled for delivery in 2030, will once again take up the name USS Enterprise – the ninth US Navy ship to do so.
“That legacy will live on in the next Enterprise, CVN-80, under construction right now at Newport News Shipbuilding,” HII says.
In November 2024, HII shared photos of the new USS Enterprise‘s mid-body hull floating in a flooded dry dock at Newport News — marking the first time CVN-80 was floated.
The next USS Enterprise, the Ford-class CVN-80, is udnerconstruction in Virginia by Newport News Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of HII. Source: HII
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