Another one bites the dust...

Our first nuclear carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), is being decommissioned. The Navy carriers now number 10. A replacement is under construction, but not scheduled to be completed until 2015 at the earliest. This is expected to result in longer deployments and shorter stays in port for our dwindling fleet of carriers.

Enterprise Ends 51-Year Career at Sea | Military.com

I wish that another Enterprise be commissioned this decade. (When I was a teenager in the early 1960s, the next-door neighbor was Captain Mott who at that time was in charge of the Port Chicago ammunition depot. He was a gunnery officer on the earlier US Enterprise during WWII.)

I had the pleasure of going on her shakedown cruise at the end of her refit at PSNS Bremerton. A one day trip out the Straits of Juan De Fuca and back to Indian Island near Port Townsend. Must have been around 1990 or there abouts. Still have the framed souvenir picture hanging on my office wall.

Quite an experience, she will be missed!!

Larry B,

Never was on the big E but I have three trips on the Independence and two on the Tico. On the Tico when we ran into heavy weather headed to the Tonkin Gulf. Had spray and water coming over the bow as it pitched up and down and tore away some of the cat walk rails.

In the 1960's my dad took me aboard the Enterprise when it was in Sydney for a good will visit. Would this be the same boat?

Andy G said:

In the 1960's my dad took me aboard the Enterprise when it was in Sydney for a good will visit. Would this be the same boat?

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Hard to imagine otherwise.

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Awesome in her time

I was able to go aboard her one day when she was in Oakland Ca, was it 1975 or early 76?
She was the "it-shay" of her time and made a huge impression on this E1 at the time.

Appreciatte your service Fighterpilot...

South China Sea typhoon, oh yeah, been there!

She was a sight to see, especially from the deck of CV43, did 2 West Pacs on the Coral Sea. you always think you're on a really big ship on an Carrier...until a bigger Carrier comes into port and you have to look up at her flightdeck,

So long E you'll be missed

Edelweiss said:

I had the pleasure of going on her shakedown cruise at the end of her refit at PSNS Bremerton. Must have been around 1990 or there abouts. Still have the framed souvenir picture hanging on my office wall.

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Lord I must be getting old!! Took the picture of the Big "E"down to look at it a little closer and it was dated 1981 on the back, over 30 years ago. I think it went into PSNS for refit in 79' so it must have been 82' when she came out. Seems like just the other day. Picture had F14 Tomcats and A6B's on the deck. Must have been taken around 78' prior to the refit.

LB

The reactor cores from the Enterprise will be barged up the Columbia to our area. We have a nuclear area just north of town where they have been burying reactor cores from decommissioned nuke subs for many years.

I am going to her inactivation ceremony on 1 Dec in Norfolk. I served aboard her as ships company 2000-2003. She is a great ship. She will be in Norfolk for about a year and then will be towed to Washington for scrapping.

Blue Heron said:

She will be in Norfolk for about a year and then will be towed to Washington for scrapping.

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Why is she being decommissioned in Norfolk and then towed to Washington to be scraped? It's not like one of our boats that it cost $10k to ship over there. Why not take her over on her own power or better yet scrap her on the east coast or in MS. Shipping the reactor back to Washington for scraping would be less than sending the complete ship. Talk about wasting $$$$.

I'm not so sure it would be cheaper to ship the reactor core across the country for burial in WA. I have some pictures of one they had on a barge and brought up the Columbia. Those are huge.

It cost a fortune to move the shuttle just a few miles. I can't even imagine what it would cost to ship a reactor core. I'll post the pics if I can find them and you will see what I mean.

Our current environmental laws are such that shipping the reactor components across the country would be next to impossible if not cost prohibitive.

Giggitoni said:

Our current environmental laws are such that shipping the reactor components across the country would be next to impossible if not cost prohibitive.

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That's the truth. Towing that ship will cost peanuts by comparison.

Peanut prices have jumped from$450.00 to $1550.00 Per ton since last year.

She is being "deactivated" to strip her of any useful components and material (arresting gear, catapult gear, support equip, elevator cables, electronics etc... Partly due to the specialty of Norfolk Naval Ship Yard and Newport News shipyards. She will be maintained by a skeleton crew until she is towed and her reactors are removed in Washington.

EPA and so on make it cost prohibitive. She has 8 reactors so there is also a cost and logistics matter.

She will be decommissioned in a few years projected 2015.

Crazy. Decommission and virtually scrap a ship on one coast, then tow her all that way just to bury the reactors. I was in WestPac in 65-67, and might have shared a few cold ones with the "E" aviators at Cubi Point O-club during a typhoon lockdown of the whole Subic Bay facility. Lotta memories of those times that seem to pop up here and there....

Here are a few pics of a nuke sub's reactor core once it has been removed from the sub and encased in steel and concrete. The size alone would make shipping the reactor cores across the country impossible.

Here's a shot of the core as it is transported on a barge. It comes up river with a full complement of USCG and military boats guarding it.



When the barge gets to the unloading area they put it on a "creeper" that has a few hundred tires. It takes these three trucks to tow it up a slight grade to flat level ground where the creeper is towed by one truck.



Here is a shot of the creeper they use to haul it to the burial site. It's a trip of just a few miles but it takes forever because they only travel at 1.5mph. The trip is done on a gravel road that was specially built for this purpose and it's amazingly flat and wide.

Blue Heron said:

She is being "deactivated" to strip her of any useful components and material (arresting gear, catapult gear, support equip, elevator cables, electronics etc... Partly due to the specialty of Norfolk Naval Ship Yard and Newport News shipyards.

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So am I to understand that if she were off the coast of Seattle and somehow she had a mishap with another vessel which destroyed some of her gear as described she would have to sail to Norfolk to be repaired. Bremerton couldn't do it?

The point being sail her to the west coast and dismantle her there if that's where the reactors need to be. The Cat parts and other usable parts could be shipped by FedEx back to Norfolk and we would still save money.

My bet is that someone has a big juicy contract to do this and we need to spend the money.

I'm not debating whether the reactor rods need special attention or not but how is it we can change spent rods in Naples Italy. What do we do with them from there. But that aside it could all be done on the west coast.

The scrapping of the ships in the Suisun Bay (California) reserve fleet occurs in Texas.

"Once ships are removed from the fleet, they will be towed to the BAE Systems San Francisco shipyard at the foot of Potrero Hill to be cleaned of toxic paint and marine growth. They then will be towed to a facility in Brownsville, Texas, via the Panama Canal, to be scrapped."

Apparently it's cheaper or more profitable than scrapping the fleet locally such as at Hunters Point and Mare Island.


http://www.sfgate.com/green/article...t-may-finally-R-I-P-3268787.php#ixzz2CKjp2b5r

Call your congressman. Elections have consequences. Each of the shipyards at Bremerton and Norfolk have specialties. In the end it is cheaper to tow her to scrap her. I just hope we name another Aircraft Carrier "Enterprise". I enjoyed my tour on her. My Dad served on her in the 70's and my Son was baptized on her. She means a great deal to my family and friends.

JD

It is not uncommon to send Carriers to Norfolk for work that cannot be done on Bremerton. Carl Vinson used to be home ported in Washington but had her major reactor work done in Norfolk.

markpierce said:

The scrapping of the ships in the Suisun Bay (California) reserve fleet occurs in Texas.

"Apparently it's cheaper or more profitable than scrapping the fleet locally such as at Hunters Point and Mare Island.

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More profitable I'm sure but for whom. Who tows these ships the Navy or some sub contractor. Let me guess.

JD: You're right, but you live in the USA, and should know better than to assume that logic had any part in the decision. Politics controls it all.

Blue Heron said:

JD
Carl Vinson used to be home ported in Washington but had her major reactor work done in Norfolk.

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Now this makes less sense. The Vinson has to go to Norfolk to have reactor work done and the E has to got to Bremerton to have reactor removal done.

But let's be clear I'm not disparaging the E just the system.

Al

Thanks for thr reminder.

JD said:

More profitable I'm sure but for whom. Who tows these ships the Navy or some sub contractor. Let me guess.

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Per MARAD "Since there are currently no qualified ship recycling facilities on the Pacific Coast of the United States, and the ships cannot be sent overseas for recycling, contracts for recycling are awarded to qualified firms on the Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United States, so ships must be towed through the Panama Canal and into other ecosystems."

"Here are a few pics of a nuke sub's reactor core once it has been removed from the sub and encased in steel and concrete"

When they scrap a sub they defuel it an remove the "reator core". They cut the entire hull section out that held the reactor compartment. Thats why it looks so big. The reactor vessel is actual rather small. My subs old reactor compartment is sitting in that ditch in Washington.

My sub hit the big "E" with a few Mk 48s during war games in the Med in the late 70s. It was always a PIA! when the big E hit a liberty port the same time we did. 5000 sailors hitting the beach is just trouble.

Dave

Mark,

Big E will go around the cape. She's too large to fit through the canal.

JD,
The towing will be done by private contract. The Navy lost that capability in the 90's.

As for the reasoning... I think it all goes down to bidding and keeping the industrial base open for technically profiency. The Navy want two capable shipyards on each coast. Big E equipment will go go on to serve on other CVN's.

The Navy doesn't want idle ship fitters. Neither do the owners of the yards. So these are scheduled.