USS Enterprise: The Beginning of the End for the “Big E”
Nov 14, 2011 10:07 EST
Task Force One, 1964
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Funding to keep her running to the end. (Nov 10/11)
There was a time when USS Enterprise was the most famous ship in the world. It still is, but these days, most people think of the fictional starship rather than the world’s first nuclear-powered carrier. The real USS Enterprise was commissioned in 1961, which means that its long career of service must soon draw to a close. In April 2008, a $453.3 million contract covered the ship’s Extended Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability for maintenance and upgrades – but reached over $660 million before all was said and done, and took 2 years.
That will keep “the Big E” going for a few more years. By 2014, however, USS Enterprise is scheduled to fade into history, to be replaced by the first ship [CVN 78] of the Gerald R. Ford Class. This time, there will be no reruns or syndication deals. When the end comes, plans and facilities for permanently decommissioning the ship and dealing with its A2W nuclear reactors will need to be ready…
Contracts and Key Events
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Contracts in June and December 2007 also involved “inactivation planning” of the USS Enterprise, but they were primarily aimed at the ship’s final EDSRA dry docking from 2008-2010, and are not included here.
Nov 10/11: Huntington Ingalls, Inc. in Newport News, VA receives a $26.5 million contract modification for the USS Enterprise’s FY 2012-2013 core team and continuous maintenance planning, hull planning, yard services and execution of continuous maintenance. This contract allows for the necessary planning, alterations, maintenance, repairs and routine work to run USS Enterprise until the end of the ship’s service life.
Most of the work will be performed in Newport News, VA, with some work being conducted as required in Norfolk, VA until June 2013. $24.3 million have been committed, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30/12. The contract was not competitively procured by the Us Navy’s Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA (N62793-07-C-0001).
Oct 28/11: Huntington Ingalls, Inc. Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, VA receives an $83.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification, exercising an option for FY 2012 continuation of advance planning efforts for the defueling and inactivation of USS Enterprise and its reactor plants.
Work will be performed in Newport News, VA, and is expected to be complete by September 2012. $5 million is committed by this award, and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30/12. The rest will be allocated if and as needed. The USN Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA manages the contract (N62793-07-C-0001).
Oct 21/11: The US Navy announces that it has prepared a draft environmental assessment on disposing USS Enterprise’s defueled reactor plants. the Navy has done this for submarines, and some nuclear-powered cruisers, but never for a carrier. The Navy’s preferred alternative is the same approach it has used since 1986. Reactors will be defueled and removed, then barged up the Columbia River to a designated Navy trench at the Hanford nuclear waste dump. The rest of the ship will be recycled, and could make a ton of money at Star Trek conventions, if properly marketed.
The USS Enterprise will finish her career in 2012, then enter dry dock at Newport News Shipbuilding, VA in 2013 for inactivation and defueling. The Navy will then tow it to the other coast at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, WA for reactor compartment disposal, which would run from 2018 – 2019, and finish somewhere between 2024 – 2027. Kitsap Sun.
Nov 12/10: Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding – Newport News in Newport News, VA receives a $48.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification for continuation to continue FY 2011 “advance planning efforts to prepare and make ready for the defueling and inactivation of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and its reactor plants.” This effort will include all advanced planning, ship checks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication, and preliminary shipyard or support facility work.
Work will be performed in Newport News, VA, and this contract segment will end by the same time the Pentagon’s fiscal year does, Sept 30/11. the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by the US Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA (N62793-07-C-0001).
Oct 27/10: Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, VA receives a $67.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to continue FY 2011 “advance planning efforts to prepare and make ready for the defueling and inactivation of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) and its reactor plants.” This effort will provide for all advanced planning, shipchecks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication and preliminary shipyard or support facility work.
Work will be performed in Newport News, VA, and this modification will end on Sept 30/11, the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by the US Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA (N62793-07-C-0001).
Nov 6/08: Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, VA received a $6.5 million cost-plus-fixed fee, level of effort contract modification to previously awarded contract (N62793-07-C-0001) for continuation of FY 2009 advance planning efforts to plan and make ready for the defueling and inactivation of the USS Enterprise and its reactor plants. This effort will provide for all advanced planning, shipchecks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication and preliminary shipyard or support facility work. This contract modification also includes options for additional advance planning efforts through FY 2010-13, and an option for FY 2013 advance planning efforts for inactivation of the Surface Ship Support Barge. The total estimated amount if all options are exercised is $282 million.
Work will be performed in Newport News, VA, and the contract will expire with the fiscal year on Sept 30/09 along with the allocated $6.5 million. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair at Newport News, VA manages this contract.
Additional Readings
- DID – The USS Enterprise’s Long ESDRA Drydocking. It took a lot longer, and cost a lot more than planned, before CVN 65 finally rejoined the fleet in April 2010.
