Ex-Enterprise (CVN 65), the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, leaves Newport News on her final voyage to be dismantled

The former USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, left Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on Monday on her last voyage. She is headed for Mobile, Alabama, where the ship will be dismantled, the U.S. Navy said in a statement published through DVIDS.

Commissioned in 1961, Enterprise served for more than 50 years. According to the U.S. Navy, she played a central role in naval operations during the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the post-9/11 conflicts, including Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and steamed more than one million nautical miles under nuclear power.

From inactivation to the tow

The ship was inactivated in December 2012, and the U.S. Navy finished defueling her reactor plants in 2017. A decommissioning ceremony was held in the hangar bay on Feb. 3, 2017, which marked the end of a career of nearly 55 years and the first decommissioning of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Enterprise was built by Newport News Shipbuilding and christened on Sept. 24, 1960, by Bertha Irene Franke, the wife of former Secretary of the Navy William B. Franke. She was the eighth naval vessel to carry the name.

The Navy’s tribute

Kevin Cormier, Deputy Portfolio Acquisition Executive Maritime for Aircraft Carriers, said the ship “will always be remembered for her proud legacy of service,” made possible by the sailors and support personnel who kept her mission-ready. He added that everyone who served aboard or sustained the ship “should take pride” in the role they played in supporting the fleet.

The name will live on. The future Ford-class carrier Enterprise (CVN 80) will be the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear it. The announcement came from the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Maritime, the organisation that the U.S. Navy describes as the single body accountable for delivering its surface ships.

The Navy’s statement did not give a date for the arrival at Mobile or say how long the dismantling will take.