--- title: "Parts From The Retired USS Enterprise Are Keeping Her Successors Ready For Combat" description: "It may take more than 15 years for workers to completely scrap the now-decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, but the Navy is already recycling parts and raw materials from the ship. Parts from \"Big E\" are already on certain Nimitz-class carriers and more could find their way onto new Ford-class carriers, including a future flattop that will also carry the name Enterprise." date: "2019-05-02" modified: "2019-07-08" authors: - name: "Joseph Trevithick" job_title: "Deputy Editor" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/joseph-trevithick" url: "https://www.twz.com/27755/parts-from-the-retired-uss-enterprise-are-keeping-her-successors-ready-for-combat" categories: - "Carriers" - "Navies" - "Sea" - "U.S. Navy" - "USS Enterprise (CVN-65)" tags: - "Aircraft Carriers" - "anchors" - "catapults" - "Ford Class" - "Huntington Ingalls Industries" - "Newport News Shipbuilding" - "Nimitz class" - "Refueling and Complex Overhaul" - "shipbreaking" - "shipbuilding" - "steel" - "USN" - "USS Enterprise (CVN-80)" --- # Parts From The Retired USS Enterprise Are Keeping Her Successors Ready For Combat ![]() *www.twz.com* It may take more than 15 years for workers to completely scrap the now-decommissioned aircraft carrier [USS *Enterprise*](), but the Navy is already recycling parts and raw materials from the ship. Components from "Big E" are already on certain [*Nimitz*-class carriers]() and more could find their way onto new *Ford*-class carriers, including a future flattop that will also carry the name *Enterprise*. *Defense One*'s Marcus Weisgerber and Brad Peniston [got the details]() on how the former *Enterprise* will continue serving the Navy during a visit to Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia on May 1, 2019. The one-of-a-kind ship, the first ever nuclear aircraft carrier anywhere in the world, has been at the shipyard since 2013. The flattop had first entered service in 1961 and the Navy finally decommissioned her officially in 2017. "She’s a unique \[nuclear reactor\] plant," Chris Miner, Vice President of In-Service Carriers at Newport News, [told *Defense One*](). "But there’s still other things that are essentially very similar that we can leverage off of." When Newport News designed *Enterprise* in the 1950s, no one had ever built a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier before, so engineers had looked back to previous flattops that used multiple [oil-fired boilers]() to drive the steam turbines that powered the ship, [according to *Defense One*](). But instead of boilers, they substituted eight relatively small nuclear reactors on Big E, two for each of its four propeller shafts. The subsequent *Nimitz*- and *Ford*-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, all of which Newport News has built, feature two larger nuclear reactors to provide the immense amount of power required for a modern supercarrier. ![message-editor%2F1556842505075-shipbuilding.jpg]() *USS *Enterprise* at Newport News Shipbuilding in 2016 undergoing an initial process ahead of her formal decommissioning., *Steve Helber/AP** The complexities of *Enterprise*'s dated and unique reactor plant design, coupled with the fact that no one has ever had to dismantle a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier before, has created a serious debate about how the service should proceed. The entire process of [breaking down]() the ship and properly disposing of its reactors could take up to 15 years to complete and cost more than $1.5 billion, depending on what course of action the Navy chooses. You can read more about these particular issues in detail [here](). As the Navy continues to consider its options, Newport News has already been stripping off parts of the ship to reuse and recycle. "We are harvesting as many parts as we can from the *Enterprise*... She’s still giving back even today," Miner said [to *Defense One*'s reporters]() during their tour. One of *Enterprise*'s massive anchors is already installed onboard the *Nimitz*-class [USS *Abraham Lincoln*](). It's not clear when this swap occurred, but *Lincoln* finished a major four-year rehab process, officially known as a [Refueling and Complex Overhaul]() (RCOH), in May 2017, three months after Big E's decommissioning. We don't know whether the *Enterprise* uses the exact same anchor design as the *Nimitz*-class carriers did, at least initially, which [weigh around 60,000 pounds]() each. The chains that hold the anchor, 12 of them in total, add another 20,500 pounds, but it's not clear if *Lincoln* got those from *Enterprise*, too. ![message-editor%2F1556838886476-anchor.jpg]() *One of the USS *Nimitz*'s two anchors., *USN** Regardless of the exact design, aircraft carrier anchors do not appear to have changed much since even before *Enterprise* entered service. As of 2003, the *Nimitz*-class [USS *Harry S. Truman*]() was [using the anchors]() from the conventionally powered first-in-class [USS *Forrestal*](), which the Navy had decommissioned in 1993. *Lincoln* also received components from *Enterprise*'s [steam-powered catapults](). Other catapult parts are now going into the *Nimitz*-class [USS *George Washington*](), which is presently at Newport News and is in the middle [of its own RCOH](). https://youtube.com/embed/KlLXAFi64RI The Navy has also taken back *Enterprise*'s [four 32-ton propellers](), each of which has five blades. Newport News [told *Defense One*]() that the Navy would refurbish and possibly use them again. The new *Ford*-class carriers do use a [30-ton five-bladed design](). It is also possible that the screws could end up on display. ![message-editor%2F1556839428433-prop.jpg]() *Three of USS *Enterprise*'s four screws are visible in this photograph from underneath the ship while it was in drydock circa 1985., *USN** Lastly, Newport News has already melted down steel from *Enterprise*'s hull to use in the keel of the future *Ford*-class carrier that will carry the same name. Commemorating old ships, or other notable objects, by incorporating them into the construction of new vessels is not without precedent. Most notably, the hull of the [USS *New York*](), a *San Antonio*-class landing platform dock amphibious ship, includes steel that workers salvaged fallen [World Trade Center towers]() in New York City, New York, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2002, the Navy had approved the naming of the ship after the state of New York following a special request from then-Governor of New York George Pataki. https://youtube.com/embed/nutEI1YBjes It seems likely that in the coming years, more components, and potentially additional raw materials, will make their way from *Enterprise* onto either existing *Nimitz*-class carriers or future *Ford*-class ones. The Navy expects the future *Ford*-class USS *Enterprise* to enter service in 2027. If nothing else, there's more than 60,000 tons of steel and another 1,500 tons of aluminum [in the decommissioned carrier]() that could be salvageable. “I think it goes to how well the material on these ships are designed and built,” Newport News' Miner told [*Defense One*]() in reference to the ability to recover useful parts and materials from *Enterprise* on new carriers. But whatever else happens, Big E is still finding ways to serve the Navy two years after its formal decommissioning. ![message-editor%2F1556840994541-cvn-80.jpg]() *An artist's conception of the future *Ford*-class USS *Enterprise*., *USN** *Contact the author:* [*jtrevithickpr@gmail.com*]() ​ ## Author Joseph is *TWZ’s* Deputy Editor, helping to oversee the site’s highly experienced and dedicated team, while also writing informative and impactful defense and national security content. He lives right in the thick of it in the Washington, D.C. area. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Bluesky]()