US Navy sends world's first nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to Alabama for scrapping.

On November 2, 2026, the U.S. Navy confirmed that the former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, departed Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia under tow for Mobile, Alabama, to undergo complete dismantlement. Executed under a $418.5 million commercial contract awarded to NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services, the scrapping operation at Modern American Recycling Services is projected to reduce disposal costs by up to 50 percent while preserving public shipyard capacity for active fleet maintenance. Dismantling the 342.3-meter hull and its eight defueled nuclear reactors establishes the technical and regulatory baseline for retiring the U.S. Navy's ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

The former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, departed Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia under tow on November 2, 2026, to undergo complete dismantlement in Mobile, Alabama. (Picture source: HII)

Key tactical insights

• Disposal Scope & Reactor Decommissioning: Workers will cut the hull, recycle non-hazardous metals, and dismantle eight defueled Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors alongside neutron-activated components and shielded compartments.

• Total Retirement Expenditure: Identifiable disposal funding totals $1.431 billion, comprising $902 million for inactivation, $111 million for storage, and $418.5 million for commercial scrapping—representing roughly three times the carrier's original $451.3 million construction cost.

• Strategic & Industrial Impact: Selecting commercial scrapping over government shipyards reduces disposal costs by up to 50 percent, preserves public dry-dock capacity for active fleet maintenance, and establishes the technical baseline for retiring the U.S. Navy's ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, starting with USS Nimitz (CVN-68).

• Service Record & Legacy: Commissioned in November 1961 and formally decommissioned in February 2017, CVN-65 completed 25 deployments across 51 years of active service. Its legacy continues through the Gerald R. Ford-class USS Enterprise (CVN-80), currently under construction at Newport News with 35,000 pounds of recycled steel from CVN-65 integrated into its hull.

On November 2, 2026, the U.S. Navy confirmed that the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), has begun its final journey to be dismantled after more than 50 years of military service. The carrier departed Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia under tow for Mobile, Alabama, where its 342.3-meter hull and eight defueled nuclear reactors will be dismantled under a $418,497,668 U.S. Navy contract. The carrier is scheduled to arrive on November 13, with dismantlement expected to continue until September 2030 at the Modern American Recycling Services facility on the Mobile River.

Commissioned on November 25, 1961, the USS Enterprise completed 25 deployments during 51 years of operational service, traveled more than one million nautical miles, and became the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier formally decommissioned on February 3, 2017. Its disposal establishes the first complete dismantlement case for this category of warship, with implications for the eventual retirement of the ten Nimitz-class carriers. The U.S. Navy awarded NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services the scrapping contract on July 15, 2026, with Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services involved in dismantlement at Mobile. The contract followed a dispute involving HII ShipCycle, which withdrew its challenge before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in October 2026, allowing the disposal program to proceed.

Related topic: US Navy awards General Atomics $15 million EMALS contract for USS Enterprise Ford-class carrier

The work will involve cutting the hull, separating eight reactor plants, recovering recyclable metals, and disposing of radioactive and hazardous materials. Although the reactors were defueled before decommissioning, reactor components may still contain neutron-activated metals, while sections of piping, shielding, machinery, and associated compartments can require controlled handling even after the removal of nuclear fuel. The Navy selected this commercial dismantlement in 2023 after considering alternatives involving government shipyards, with the commercial option expected to reduce expenditure by as much as 50% compared with other approaches while preserving public shipyard capacity for fleet maintenance. Previous costs included $902 million for inactivation and $111 million for storage, bringing identifiable retirement expenditure to $1.431 billion, including the new contract.

The dismantlement award represents 29.2% of that amount, compared with 70.8% already spent on inactivation and storage, illustrating why nuclear carrier retirement costs extend well beyond physical scrapping. The USS Enterprise was the sole completed ship of its class, with its keel laid on February 4, 1958, at Newport News Shipbuilding, its launch taking place on September 24, 1960, and commissioning following on November 25, 1961. It was also the longest aircraft carrier ever built, with a hull measuring 342.3 meters overall, 40.5 meters at the waterline, and 78.3 meters across the flight deck, for a full-load displacement of 93,284 long tons, equivalent to 94,781 metric tonnes.

How eight nuclear reactors made USS Enterprise different from modern U.S. aircraft carriers

It was also the only aircraft carrier ever fitted with eight nuclear reactors, as eight Westinghouse A2W pressurized-water reactors supplied four propulsion shafts producing 280,000 shaft horsepower, or 208.8 MW, supporting a maximum speed commonly cited at 33.6 knots. Moreover, four steam catapults, three deck-edge elevators, an angled landing area, and originally four arresting wires supported an aircraft capacity of up to 90, depending on air-wing composition. Its final operational complement totaled 4,600 personnel, including 3,100 ship's company, 1,300 air-wing personnel, and 200 embarked staff. To date, the USS Enterprise remains 9.5 meters longer than the Nimitz-class and 5.3 meters longer than the Gerald R. Ford-class, although both successors have greater displacement and use two reactors instead of eight. 

Entering service seven years after the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the USS Enterprise could sustain speeds above 30 knots without consuming conventional propulsion fuel, equivalent to 720 nautical miles per day at that speed, although aircraft fuel, ammunition, and provisions still required replenishment like the earlier Forrestal and Kitty Hawk classes. The USS Enterprise was also the first aircraft carrier equipped with a phased-array radar, as its original SCANFAR installation combined the AN/SPS-32 air-search radar with the AN/SPS-33 three-dimensional tracking radar, also installed aboard USS Long Beach (CGN-9). Four fixed AN/SPS-33 antenna faces, each measuring 7.62 by 6.10 meters, enabled electronic target tracking without rotating antennas. The AN/SPS-32 weighed 48.5 tons, and the AN/SPS-33 weighed 120 tons, giving the antenna installation a combined weight of 168.5 tons before supporting equipment.

These radars also shaped the USS Enterprise's unique beehive island, but they also imposed substantial electrical, cooling, and maintenance requirements because its electronics relied heavily on vacuum tubes, contributing to the decision not to adopt the SCANFAR across subsequent carrier classes. During the 1979-1982 overhaul, the original island was replaced with a redesigned structure incorporating AN/SPS-48 and AN/SPS-49 radars. The USS Enterprise also supported NASA's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital mission in February 1962 and participated in the U.S. naval quarantine of Cuba during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1964, it joined the USS Long Beach (CGN-9) and the USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25) for Operation Sea Orbit, during which the three nuclear-powered ships completed a global circumnavigation exceeding 30,000 nautical miles in 65 days, equivalent to an average progression exceeding 461 nautical miles per day.

From Vietnam to Afghanistan - how USS Enterprise served across five decades

On December 2, 1965, the USS Enterprise also became the first nuclear-powered warship to conduct combat operations, with 125 sorties and the delivery of 167 tons of bombs and rockets during its initial Vietnam War combat operations. The following day, its aircraft generated 165 strike sorties, 32% more than the previous day's total. In total, the USS Enterprise completed six combat deployments in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, operating F-4 Phantom IIs, A-6 Intruders, and A-7 Corsair IIs alongside reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft. On January 14, 1969, however, an accidental Zuni rocket ignition triggered flight-deck explosions that killed 28 sailors, injured 314, and destroyed 15 aircraft; the carrier resumed its deployment after repairs in March.

The accident also reinforced changes in the US Navy's ordnance handling, firefighting organization, protective equipment, and damage control training, especially following the similarly destructive fire in 1967 aboard the USS Forrestal (CVA-59). In September 1974, the USS Enterprise subsequently became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to deploy operationally with F-14A Tomcats, embarking VF-1 Wolfpack and VF-2 Bounty Hunters. The F-14 combined variable-sweep wings, the AN/AWG-9 radar, and AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, allowing the radar to track 24 airborne targets and support simultaneous missile engagements against six under suitable conditions. This capability was intended to counter Soviet Tu-16 and Tu-22M bombers carrying anti-ship cruise missiles, while E-2 Hawkeye aircraft provided airborne surveillance and fighter control beyond the carrier's shipboard radar horizon.

The USS Enterprise's flight deck and maintenance facilities accommodated the F-14 despite its 19.1-meter length and 19.5-meter maximum wingspan, substantially different from earlier carrier fighters such as the F-4. The carrier's subsequent employment also included direct attacks against opposing naval forces, notably during Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, 1988, four days after USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf. Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 11 participated in attacks against Iranian naval forces, including the frigates Sahand and Sabalan, with Sahand struck by cluster munitions and three AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles before sinking. The USS Enterprise remained operational into the 2000s through successive changes in its aircraft complement, weapons, communications equipment, and aviation support arrangements, allowing a ship commissioned in 1961 to operate combat aircraft developed several decades later.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the USS Enterprise was redirected from its return transit and joined the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in the opening strikes of Operation Enduring Freedom on October 7. Their F-14 Tomcats and F/A-18 Hornets attacked targets in Kabul, Herat, Shindand, Shibarghan, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kandahar using laser-guided bombs, JDAMs, AGM-84 SLAM-ER missiles, and AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons, supported by EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft. Missions launched from the North Arabian Sea reached targets more than 600 nautical miles away, requiring flight distances exceeding 1,200 nautical miles for a direct round trip, average sortie durations above 4.5 hours, and multiple aerial refueling events. The USS Enterprise subsequently participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom and maritime security missions, adapting its air wing from F-4 Phantom IIs, A-4 Skyhawks, and RA-5C Vigilantes to F-14s, A-6s, A-7s, F/A-18 Hornets, and Super Hornets.

Its final deployment in 2012 included VFA-136 Knighthawks, VFA-11 Red Rippers, and VFA-211 Fighting Checkmates, operating Super Hornets capable of employing contemporary precision-guided weapons and conducting both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. By the end of its operational career, the USS Enterprise had completed 25 deployments and traveled more than one million nautical miles under nuclear power, equivalent to more than 1.852 million kilometers. The Enterprise's inactivation happened on December 1, 2012, but the ship remained subject to nuclear-related maintenance, regulatory controls, and disposal expenditure long after the end of its operational service. Its final reactor was defueled in December 2016, and the carrier was formally decommissioned on February 3, 2017, becoming the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to complete that process.

Why dismantling USS Enterprise's eight nuclear reactors presents an unprecedented challenge

Its retirement will therefore extend over nearly 18 years if dismantlement finishes in 2030, compared with 51 years spent in active service. The large reactor spaces also cannot simply be extracted as a single intact hull section using the disposal method applied to smaller nuclear-powered submarines, requiring extensive structural cutting and separation of components within the carrier, followed by regulated disposal of radioactive materials. The $1.431 billion funding consequently combined inactivation, storage, and dismantlement costs, which can provide a reference for the dismantling of the ten Nimitz-class carriers, beginning with USS Nimitz (CVN-68), whose retirement is planned for 2027.

Meanwhile, the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), the ninth U.S. Navy ship bearing the name, is under construction at Newport News with two A1B reactors, electromagnetic aircraft launch systems, advanced arresting gear, and a redesigned flight deck. Additionally, the CVN-80 incorporates 35,000 pounds of recycled steel from the former CVN-65 into its keel and structural assemblies, alongside four original portholes recovered from the World War II-era USS Enterprise (CV-6). Additional components from CVN-65, including anchors and catapult parts, have also been transferred to other U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, notably the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and the USS George Washington (CVN-73), for continued operational use.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.