USS Enterprise Takes Its Final Voyage 455
westlake writes "The AP is reporting that the world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Enterprise, is to be retired after fifty years of active service — the longest of any warship in U.S. naval history. Its final deployment will take it to the Middle East and last for seven months. The big ship has become notoriously difficult to keep in repair. As an old ship and the only one in its class, breakdowns have become frequent and replacement parts often have to be custom made. Despite its place in naval history and popular culture, Enterprise will meet its end at the scrap yard rather than being preserved at a museum. This is expected to happen in 2015, after the nuclear fuel has been removed."
Re:Not to take anything away from the Big E... (Score:4, Informative)
They did say the longest in "active service", not by commissioned date.
It has to be scrapped (Score:5, Informative)
Sadly, it has to be scrapped. Removing the reactors requires cutting out decks from the flight deck down to all eight nuclear reactor compartments. The hull gets towed to Bremerton, WA for disposal. The reactors, less fuel, go to a trench in Hanford, Washington. [brookings.edu]
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
It also makes sense to put the best one there, since it would be best equipped to fight back.
Or, if you have the resources, put the weakest one closest, with as many other better ones nearby as possible, so you can take the first hit (and thus be "justified", whatever that means) and then immediately fight back hard.
And indeed, that's likely the case. CVN-70 Carl Vinson and CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln are currently in the Gulf as well. And CVN-68 Nimitz is under way to relieve Lincoln - if the timing is right, both will be in the Gulf when the shit hits the fan, meaning four aircraft carriers (nearly 360 aircraft) plus the accompanying ships (four cruisers, eight destroyers, four attack submarines and various supply ships).
Story is wrong: (Score:5, Informative)
The USS Constitution, launched in 1798, retired from active service in 1856, after 58 years of active service. And after that, she was turned into a school ship, then a whole bunch of that kind of service, and she's still afloat today, the official "symbolic flagship" of the US fleet.
Re:Not to take anything away from the Big E... (Score:5, Informative)
Ref. 1 [navy.mil]
Ref. 2 [wikipedia.org]
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
Further, given that it was CNV-72, the very much not obsolete yet, Abraham Lincoln that had the dubious honor of passing through the Strait of Hormuz(ie. within range of practically anything not classified as a 'small arm', the Enterprise certainly hasn't been obviously singled out as the sitting duck.
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
Sadly, these links never go out of style.
Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report [popularmechanics.com]
Questions and Answers about the NIST WTC 7 Investigation [nist.gov]
World Trade Center Disaster Study [nist.gov]
Re:It was a beater in the 90's. (Score:3, Informative)
The condition of old ships can wax and wane based on the quality of the leadership and money invested. I was on Kitty Hawk during her last few years, and I had heard stories about how bad of condition she was in, however after repeated SRAs (Ship Repair Availability) in Japan, and a lot of investment repairing old systems, she was in much better shape in the end than her sister ships (Connie, America, JFK) and was the last decommissioned despite being the oldest. To be fair, Connie had a great rep and I never set foot on her, but America and JFK had bad reps. Repairing old aircraft carriers always involves a lot of custom work and fabrication, however at some point the things that start wearing out are parts that were NEVER planned on being replaced. You still can replace them, it just gets really expensive.
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
I guess it's one straw man against the other here. Either all of the wacky conspiracy theories are credible - despite their incompatibilities - or the Official Version of events is gospel truth (at least for the 30 or 40 years that the truth still matters).
But if you're in power and need to bend recent history for some purpose - like starting a war - your best move is to get as many nut-job theories into circulation as you can. That way the real truth gets lost in the circus and yours is the only one left standing.
Re:Nuclear Powered Surface Ships of the World (Score:2, Informative)
Eleven.
CVN-65 Enterprise is in home port at Norfolk, about to be deployed to the Mideast
CVN-68 Nimitz is in the Pacific for trials,
CVN-69 Eisenhower is in home port Norfolk.
CVN-70 Vinson is in the Arabian Sea 5th Fleet AOR, arrived 1/17/12.
CVN-71 Roosevelt is at Newport News for RCOH & non-deployable, Avail: late 2012.
CVN-72 Lincoln is in the Arabian Sea, 5th Fleet AOR, arrived 1/12.
CVN-73 Washington is in home port Yokosuka, Japan.
CVN-74 Stennis is now in homeport, Bremerton (arrived 3/2/12)
CVN-75 Truman is home at Norfolk for DPIA & non-deployable. Avail summer 2012.
CVN-76 Reagan is in home port at Everett, WA (arrived 3/5/12)
CVN-77 Bush is in home port at Norfolk.
Re:Custom made parts (Score:5, Informative)
Aren't most parts for US Navy vessels custom made regardless? I don't recall seeing a section at WalMart for warship parts.
Most modern US warships of a class are constructed with modern modular techniques, with tooling at the ready to reproduce standard, common parts. The Nimitz class... like all of our other modern warship classes... was basically built in modular parts in an indoor factory, and then put together piece by piece at the yards. You can look up pics of modern carrier construction where they're using cranes to lift factory made sections into the ship, where they're welded and secured into the vessel. The Enterprise... a unique design... was built the old fashioned way, completely (and uniquely) built in the drydock itself from the keel up. So when a major part on a Nimitz needs replacing, they simply tell Newport News Shipbuilding, where machinists simply make one quickly and economically from an existing productions template. The Enterprise's parts have to very much be custom made.
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
Confirmed. The Nimitz is now in home port Everett, Washington after a week or so of sea trials. It may very well be scheduled to relieve the Lincoln eventually, but they haven't left yet. Also, they just got to Everett. They have been at PSNS Bremerton for the last 15 months undergoing maintenance.
Re:Story is wrong: (Score:5, Informative)
China's Army and Air Force are doing fine, but their Navy is in relatively poor shape. They're good enough to be a threat to anyone invading them, maybe even a threat to the locals, but even the Royal Navy could take them at this point.
They've got one aircraft carrier. One. Not even a full one. They bought an incomplete and stripped Soviet "carrier-cruiser", and are currently finishing and refurbishing it. It's designed to carry a mere 40 aircraft, mostly helicopters. Compare that to the 90 or so carried on the Enterprise or a Nimitz-class. Now, they somewhat compensate by having quite a few more missiles, including some pretty hefty AA, but they're as outclassed as a PDP11 on the TOP500.
Re:Story is wrong: (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, she's been de-comissioned and re-comissioned several times. So the "continuous" thing has some holes in it. The stretch I quoted was the longest in-service stretch where she was legitimately a member of the fighting force to be reckoned with.
Two members of my family have served aboard her; hence my particular interest.
Re:That's odd (Score:5, Informative)
Calm down dude, and explain why WTC7 came down.
I can help you with that.
Questions and Answers about the NIST WTC 7 Investigation [nist.gov]
World Trade Center Disaster Study [nist.gov]
Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report [popularmechanics.com]
Re:Story is wrong: (Score:5, Informative)
I know better than to whoosh you, but to be a good pedant, you'd need to be technically correct...