A Salute for USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise (CVN-65), the U.S. Navy’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, passes Gaillard Island in Mobile Bay the morning of NOV 13 2026. Being towed to a ship yard to be scrapped, the 1,123 foot by 257 foot ship is the longest naval vessel ever built, with a flight deck area of almost four and a half acres. Decommissioned in 2017, the Enterprise, nicknamed Big E, provided more than 55 years of service, including during the Vietnam War as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq. The ship could accommodate up to about 4,600 crew members.

The process of dismantling, recycling and disposing of the ship with its low-level radioactive waste is expected to take until SEP 2030 at a fixed cost of $418.5 million. The total cost of deactivating the Enterprise is estimated at $1.3 billion, about a quarter of Big E’s original construction cost.

Photo shot from Magnolia Park in Fairhope, roughly 6.5 miles away…