Warbird Information Exchange

Very sad end to a first of it's kind.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/10/wo ... latestnews

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Remember, the propeller is only there to keep the pilot cool.If you don't believe me, have it stop and watch the pilot start sweating!

Here's hoping the "Big E" and crew have a safe final deployment.

Scrapping her will be a different issue entirely. A related article from Navy Times:

Carrier disposal proves a challenge for Navy

Anthony

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She will be towed to NS Bremerton for disassembly after being defuelled, no plans to make her a museum as she will have too many big holes cut in her to remove the reactor and plant.
Fair winds and trailing seas on your last cruise and thank you for 50 years of keeping us safe.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Not as sad as when they scrapped the USS Enterprise CV-6 from WW2.

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

The problem I have is that the solution is obvious.... 1 Billion to scrap the Big E Vs. 100K per year to secure it and guard it... I say beach it, fill with cement and don't spend 1 BILLION dollars on this.

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All I did was press this red button here...

That won't work. The reactors would have to be removed and disposed of no matter what, and that will probably cost much of the billion.

Too bad they can't just beach it, hook the reactors up to the grid, and power a few towns with it!

August

this sounds like the best answer!

One of the unique challenges about serving on the Enterprise are those eight reactors... they're actually four pairs of different designs. When she was built, we didn't know which design would be the best, so she became something of a floating laboratory for reactor design and efficiency studies- that's the biggest reason she's so unique in the fleet, and why her decommissioning is going to be such a headache. Even if they could remove them wholesale, their designs are so unique and antiquated that they wouldn't be useful for generating power ashore due to the inevitable short-term and long-term support issues they carry with them.

As a Newport News native whose grandfather worked on the ship and whose father sailed on some of her early trials, it's sad to see her reaching the end of her service life, but it is inevitable... and she has served us amazingly well over those fifty years.

Lynn

There's something wrong, I think, with the article.

I thought Enterprise was being "dismantled" (term being used rather than "scrapped") in one of the graving docks at Newport News, not at Puget Sound.

The article says the ship will be defueled at Newport News, then towed to Puget Sound for final scrapping. However, it says that the holes in the ship created by the defueling make the ship unsuitable for museum donation. What's inferred by that is that after the defueling the ship will still be sound enough to tow down and around South America!

Probably just another example of a reporter not really understanding what they're writing about. My guess is that either the dismantling WILL take place at Newport News, or that the fuel will be taken out (small holes that can be easily patched - as has happened everytime she's been recored), she'll be towed to Puget Sound for the rectors to be removed as part of the overall dismantling process.

Nope, the reactors are coming out here, from what I heard on the dock today. She'll still be seaworthy enough to be towed west, but they'll have to go down through too many decks and wreck too much stuff to get the 8 reactors and associated equipment out... it's just not feasible to put the multiple decks back in and try to turn it into something preservation-worthy.

It was moving to have her go past today, and I was very fortunate to be with a small group of Enterprise families and veterans out at the Ft Monroe engineering dock- we received a blast from the horn as a salute from the Big E as she silently slid past on a gorgeous, cloudless day. Got tons of pics, too.

It's sad that she's going to go away, but she's more than paid her dues. Our next fight should be to ensure we have a proper carrier proudly carrying the name Enterprise, not a mere LHA like they've done with the Essex, Boxer, Wasp, and Bonnie Dick.

Lynn

Everyone make sure you sign the online petition to get one of the new carriers named 'Enterprise'....don't have a ready link for it but it's out there!

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Mark Morris

Why wouldn't they keep the ship in reserve as opposed to immediate scrapping? The Navy still has a number of conventionally powered Forrestal-class carriers laid up in various locations (although, IIRC, except for Ranger and Saratoga, which are on donation hold, they are all slated for scrapping, sinkex testing or artificial reef programs)

Has something to do with 4 50 year old nuke plants, that are 10+ years older than the average crumbling Nuke plant up the road from your house. Nuke plants can't be easily placed on 'HOLD'

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Worked on her when last she was in Newport News, she will come back in here one last time (WAG about 5 years). Even when she left two cruises ago, she was ready for retirement. A lot of history on those deckplates. The reactors are very tired as well and you can man up two Nimitz class reactor departments with the folks coming out of the reactor spaces on Enterprise, once they are retrained on the newer plants.

A ship with a 50 year active duty life will have many things that are worn out. Not just the power plant, but basic ships systems. The ship would probably need a total rebuild, not just an overhaul. Another issue for any of these really old ships will be expertise with obsolete systems. Think about the USS Iowa, the ship could be put back in service, but who knows enough to safely operate it? Let the Enterprise sit for a few years and where will we find the people that could safely reactivate it? As for preserving it, it would take considerable resources just to keep it from becoming a dangerous eyesore. I served on both the Lexington and Coral Sea, it was pretty hard when I found the step by step scrapping pictures on the Coral Sea on line, but look what is happening with the Texas and the Olympia.