Former USS Enterprise, First Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, Arrives in Mobile for Dismantling
The former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was escorted by tugboats into Mobile Harbor, Alabama, on November 13, 2026, to be dismantled, the US Army Corps of Engineers said.
The former USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, arrived in Mobile, Alabama, on November 13, 2026, to be dismantled, the US Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District said. Tugboats escorted the ship into Mobile Harbor on its way to Yard 8 of Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services (MARRS), where the work will take place.
The carrier had left Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on November 2, the US Navy said in a release announcing the start of its final voyage. It made the passage under tow, according to gCaptain.
The dismantling contractor is NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services, with MARRS as its partner, gCaptain reported. The work covers the dismantling, recycling and disposal of the whole vessel, including its eight defueled reactor plants, and is expected to be completed by September 2030, according to the outlet. According to gCaptain, the Navy decided in 2023 to use commercial dismantling for the ship, and the project will serve as a test case for disposing of the Nimitz-class carriers.
The yard was prepared under an Individual Standard Permit issued by the Mobile District. The Corps said the permit covers berth deepening, maintenance dredging to establish and maintain navigation depths, and the construction of a ship ramp, a bulkhead and relieving platforms. It was reviewed under Section 10 and Section 14, known as Section 408, of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, in coordination with the US Coast Guard, the Navy and the Alabama Port Authority, the Corps said.
Enterprise was christened at Newport News on September 24, 1960, and entered service in 1961, according to the Navy; gCaptain gives the commissioning date as November 25, 1961, and the ship's overall length as 1,123 feet. The carrier steamed more than 1 million nautical miles under nuclear power, the Navy said. It was inactivated in December 2012, and the Navy completed the defueling of its reactor plants in 2017. The ship was decommissioned on February 3, 2017, which the Navy described as the first decommissioning of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Enterprise was the only ship of its class: GlobalMilitary.net's database records one ship built, and the site details how Enterprise compares with the Nimitz class that followed it. The same database counts nine active aircraft carriers in the US Navy's carrier fleet in 2026: eight Nimitz-class ships and USS Gerald R. Ford. In the Ford class, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is fitting out, and two more ships are on order, the future Enterprise (CVN-80) and Doris Miller (CVN-81). GlobalMilitary.net looked at carrier fleets worldwide in an October article.
The name will remain in the fleet. The Navy said it continues on the future CVN-80, which will be the ninth US Navy ship to carry it. In Mobile, the dismantling of the former carrier is expected to run until September 2030, according to gCaptain.
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