Task Force One, 1964
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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 kept “the Big E” going for a couple more years, but it could only delay the inevitable. 2012 saw the ship’s last mission come to an end, and by 2014, 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
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 refurbishment dry docking from 2008-2010, and are not included here.
FY 2011 – 2013
Enterprise: From CVN 65 to CVN 80; Inactivation begins.
June 28/13: Inactivation. Huntington Ingalls Inc. Newport News, VA, is awarded on a sole-source basis a $745 million cost-plus-incentive-fee inactivation contract (N00024-13-C-2112). Work is expected by NAVSEA to be completed by September 2018, though HII NNS is scheduling completion two years earlier. The first inactivation of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will keep more than 1,000 people busy. The ship was towed to Newport News earlier this month.
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March 8/13: Pre-inactivation. General Dynamics NASSCO Earl Industries in Portsmouth, VA receives a $10.4 million contract modification, exercising an option for the 1st “availability” (work period) in the ship’s inactivation. It’s part of a multi-ship, multi-option contract covering US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA, and is expected to be complete by June 2013. All funding is committed immediately, and expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30/13. The USN’s Norfolk Ship Support Activity in Norfolk, VA manages the contract (N00024-11-C-4303).
Dec 20/12: FY 2013. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. in Newport News, VA receives a $33.7 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification for the FY 2013 continuation of CVN 65 advance defueling and inactivation planning. As usual, that includes advanced planning, ship checks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication and preliminary shipyard or support facility work. All of these funds are committed immediately, and expire at the end of this fiscal year, on Sept 30/13.
This seems to bring total FY 2013 planning work to $106.2 million (vid. Oct 15/12 entry). Note that the total estimated value of the base contract, if all options were exercised, was announced as $282 million. Announced awards to date, which may not have seen every dollar spent, total $373.9 million.
Work will be performed at Naval Station Norfolk (62.4%) and in Newport News, VA (37.6%), and is expected to complete by June 2013. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA manages this contract (N62793-07-C-0001).
Dec 1/12: Inactivation. Nearly 12,000 past and current crew members, family and friends attend the formal inactivation of USS Enterprise at Naval Station Norfolk, VA. It’s the last public ceremony, but there’s still a lot of work to do, and significant contracts to issue, before the ship is deactivated and safe.
US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus doesn’t attend, but he plays a video message to announce that the 3rd Ford Class carrier, CVN-80, will become the next USS Enterprise when and if she is built. US Navy | USN CVN 65 site.
Inactivation
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Nov 4/12: USS Enterprise steams into Norfolk, VA as it returns from its 25th and final deployment, after 51 years of distinguished service. The carrier’s inactivation ceremony is scheduled for Dec 1/12 at Norfolk Naval Station. US Navy | Agence France Presse.
Final voyage
Nov 2/12: General Dynamics NASSCO Earl Industries in Norfolk, VA receives a $25 million contract modification for USS Enterprise’s Ship Terminal Operation Program, in support of the deactivation of the ship. Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA, and is expected to be complete by June 2013. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13. The Norfolk Ship Support Activity in Norfolk, VA manages this contract (N00024-11-C-4303).
Oct 15/12: FY 2013 base. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. in Newport News, VA receives a $72.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification, exercising an option for the FY 2013 continuation of CVN 65 advance defueling and inactivation planning. As usual, that includes 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 is expected to be completed by June 2013. Funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The US Navy’s supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA manages the contract (N62793-07-C-0001).
The total estimated value of this contract, if all options were exercised, was announced as $282 million. Announced awards to date, which may not have seen every dollar spent, total $340.2 million.
July 31/12: Huntington Ingalls, Inc. in Newport News, VA receives a $10.7 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification to continue FY 2012 advance planning efforts to prepare for USS Enterprise defueling and inactivation. That includes advance planning, ship checks, design, documentation, engineering, long lead time material procurement, fabrication and preliminary shipyard or support facility work.
This work will be performed in Newport News, VA, and is expected to finish by September 2013. The US Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Newport News, VA manages the contract (N62793-07-C-0001).
USS Enterprise is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf.
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: FY 2012 base. 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.
FY 2008 – 2010
Inactivation planning.
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Nov 12/10: Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding – Newport News in Newport News, VA receives a $48.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee 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 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: FY 2011 base. 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: Base contract. 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 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 (N62793-07-C-0001).
This is the end… beautiful friend
Additional Readings
* US Navy – USS Enterprise
* 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.
