For the few that are interested the USS Enterprise just finished her last deployment and is moving across the Atlantic now. The finality is in the fact that she has now off loaded all her ammunition/weapons onto to cargo and ammunition ships. She logged 51 years of service.


click on the spectacular high res photo of her in this link and then click on it a second time for real detail
Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet



Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet

Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet

Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet
Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet

 

I hope she's offered the dignity of becoming a museum piece. She has reached the unfortunate time in her life where updating her systems and merely keeping her screws turning are too expensive.

The "E" has been at the tip of our spear for over five decades. May she live on to tell her story.

 

I too hope they preserve her as a museum piece. It would be a sahe to cut her up and sell her to China, or to use her for a target. She should be preserved for all to tour to help us remember what made this country so great.

On a side note, I went to the Wings Over Houston airshow over the weekend. There was a beautiful F-4 Phantom on display that also flew during the show. I was saddened to learn that it has been outfitted with remote control gear and will be used as a target drone in the Nevada desert soon. What a shame.

Here's the plane that we saw:

 

51 years. We will never truly know how many wars she kept us out of. She stands as a hero of the cold war.

What a proud history.

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

 

That has been thoroughly discussed. After her decom ceremony, Dec. 1st at Norfolk, she will spend 6 more months there to be made ready for her tow to the Newport News Shipyard for defueling and inactivation. This will take 4 years at Norfolk to finish. She will then be towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for dismantling and disposal. All items of historical interest will be removed while at Norfolk.

To defuel and then ultimately remove the reactors they need to cut through the side of the hull to access. By the time this is done it would not be cost effective to repair the ship. Translation tens of millions of dollars.

Museum wise there is no place for her to occupy a berth big enough and with enough of a draw to make a viable museum. The fact of the matter is that she is too big to make a go of it. The USS Ranger, which has been on donation hold for 4 years, has just seen it's bid fall through. The Ranger is now back on the scraping list. I have been involved with the USS Hornet Museum for 15 years now and a ship this big is hard enough to maintain especially when the entire cost falls on the museum. If ever a museum ship needs to be scrapped then the museum must foot the entire bill themselves. This is something the USS Yorktown Museum is now facing as she is do or die at this time.

 

The Big E is a magnificient ship!!!!!!!!

While I am a diehard Battleship fan, there's no denying that our carriers are some of the most beautiful ships to ever go to sea!!

 

I am supprized China don't get her for some of what we owe them. I would rather see her scraped. I knew some of her crew and her skipper back in the 70's

 

You've obviously never talked to the engineers aboard the Enterprise. While she is the first (and only) ship of her kind, she's an outdated piece of technology. A lot of history in those steel <STRIKE>walls</STRIKE> bulkheads, but the reactors in her (7 of them) are more often than not inoperative. I can remember being berthed next to her on the USS Roosevelt. She was supposed to get underway and had to potpone the deployment because she seemed to be perpetually broken. I can also remember hearing that she was being decom-ed ever since I joined the navy (in 1989). If it does finally happen, it's about time. She's served our country very well. It's a shame that she won't become a museum. However, a manmade reef is a great idea.

 

I could see where it wouldn't be practical to keep her as a display. So I would guess selling for scrap or as a artifical reef is most likely. Would wonder if she isn't too big to be used as a reef though? Have read somewhere that there are getting to be talks about sinking ships for artifical reefs also. Will have to try looking it up.

 

That's a lot of ship at PSNS, I did some work on the Lincoln when it was here, it was impressive. Coming into Bremerton from 3 it looked like you were drive into it.
As far as refueling, subs get refueled that way and the hull integrity is far more critical on those. It's probably so many other little things that just add up on a ship that big.

 

Very, very true sir. A sub refueling takes 12-18 months and we're talking about one reactor, fresh water coolant pipes, saltwater coolant pipes and the steam plant / steam turbines which may or may not be corroded and in need of replacement. A sub may get refueled once on it's lifetime as the Navy rarely runs them longer than 30 years. A carrier however is a much larger investment so 50 years of service is the norm.

 

Undoubtedly, there will be a new Enterprise when the next class of CVNs is launched.
This old girl has served with honor and is ready for whatever fate awaits her, I hope it is better than her predecessor the Enterprise of WWII fame and most decorated ship in USN history............unceremoniously scrapped after the war.

 

Right here:

CVN 78 Gerald Ford

CVN 79 John F. Kennedy

CVN 80 JEFFHEAD.COM - PETITION TO NAME CVN-80 THE USS ENTERPRISE

 

The historic markings and airshow use of QF-4s is basically the only way the public will see one flying any more. Eating a missile to improve new weapons systems and train pilots for combat is a very good use compared to scrapping, and there are plenty of Phantoms in museums.

Where Have All the Phantoms Gone? | Military Aviation | Air & Space Magazine

QF-16s are being converted now, and will take their turn as the Phantoms are expended.

If any FTE folks live near where the Enterprise is scrapped, keep sharp lookout for surplus auctions of things like machine shop equipment.

 

I'm less than 20miles away, but I think all the small stuff goes through govliquidation.com, so it may be for pickup at PSNS, Ft. Lewis, Richland, or any of the other sub-sites around here.