NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – The longest U.S. naval vessel ever built, the former USS Enterprise (CVN65), is set to head to Alabama to be dismantled.
Friday, the Department of Defense awarded the NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services the nearly $537 million contract for the complete dismantling, recycling, and disposal of the vessel in Mobile. That includes properly disposing hazardous materials, including low-level radioactive waste, left over from the ship’s former eight nuclear reactors.
Built between 1958-1961 by Newport News Shipbuilding, the ship, also known as “The Big E,” served for more than 50 years before being decommissioned in 2017.
It currently is moored at the southern end of the shipyard awaiting its final tow.
CORRECTION: The initial headline said the ship had already begun to make its voyage to Alabama. WAVY-TV regrets the error.