World's first nuclear aircraft carrier retired from service

[YouCanToo]

USS Enterprise  (CVN 65) was the largest ship at the time of it's building. It was built to last for a meager 25 years and has went on to serve over 51 years making it the oldest active ship that ever served its country.

http://news.yahoo.com/uss-enterprise-carrier-taken-active-211422506.html

[weirdwolf]

Didn't know it was still in service http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_aircraft

Saw the Enterprise once at Norfolk, Man that thing was huge. Ya did good Big E.

[bicol_willem]

    
World's first nuclear aircraft retired from service

That really caught my attention!

But of course you turned out to mean:     
World's first nuclear aircraft carrier retired from service      

[ZX80Man]

WOW!
So we have to wait years for our new Ford & rebuilt Lincoln, but we decommission a working Enterprise...
I think it may be used, but not all used up.  Good thing they can't decommission us after 51 years.
Eight reactors, hard to imagine...

[bicol_willem]

WOW!
So we have to wait years for our new Ford & rebuilt Lincoln, but we decommission a working Enterprise...
I think it may be used, but not all used up.  Good thing they can't decommission us after 51 years.
Eight reactors, hard to imagine...

Sounds like a proven concept, why do we still burn oil?  Maybe only so we don´t need ice-breakers anymore 

[Just17]

unless it is decommissioned it cannot be replaced and huge amounts of money spent on a replacement .... seems like a good idea, no?

[horusfalcon]

Good-bye, Big E!  We'll miss ya, babe!

Some 94,000 tons displacement, with eight A1W reactors, 550 MW each.  That's... (let's see, carry the two) 4400 MW total power output.  She could power a small city.  Hell, she was a small city!

We could probably use another six like her.

Later On,
D

[Just17]

Good-bye, Big E!  We'll miss ya, babe!

Some 94,000 tons displacement, with eight A1W reactors, 550 MW each.  That's... (let's see, carry the two) 4400 MW total power output.  She could power a small city.  Hell, she was a small city!

We could probably use another six like her.

Later On,
D

I suppose you could ....

[The Chief]

Sounds like a proven concept, why do we still burn oil?

We don't.  The last oil powered carrier (the USS John F. Kennedy, CVA-67) was retired in March of 2007. 

However, smaller ships have been deemed not suitable for nuclear power due to costs - no one wants half (or more) of the cost of the ship to be the power plant.  That may change as oil becomes more expensive.

[YouCanToo]

   
World's first nuclear aircraft retired from service

That really caught my attention!

But of course you turned out to mean:     
World's first nuclear aircraft carrier retired from service      

Whoops, I didn't even notice that. Sorry

[YouCanToo]

WOW!
So we have to wait years for our new Ford & rebuilt Lincoln, but we decommission a working Enterprise...
I think it may be used, but not all used up.  Good thing they can't decommission us after 51 years.
Eight reactors, hard to imagine...

Yeah eight reactors as compared to just two reactors used in the newer carriers.

[ZX80Man]

unless it is decommissioned it cannot be replaced and huge amounts of money spent on a replacement .... seems like a good idea, no?

Just17, I guess it can work, but would it work if we only had say 2 or 3 ships total?  Unless maybe we are at a higher ship count than normal now?  Maybe it just sounds bad to me, because I don't see the big picture...

[YouCanToo]

The newest aircraft carrier is being built at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Newport News, Va. It's Advance construction started on Feb. 25 2011. It was designated as CVN-78  Gerald R. Ford

Perhaps it would of been much better to leave the Enterprise in service till the USS Ford was in/or ready for service.  They say this new class of aircraft carrier will save more than $5 billion in total ownership costs during its planned 50-year service life when compared to Nimitz-class carriers.   Funny but the Nimitz class-carriers like Enterprise design life was suppose to be 25 years to begin with.  Enterprise has served for 51 years now. We have well got our investment from her.

It is estimated the USS Ford would cost $14 billion including research and development, and the actual cost of the carrier itself would be $9 billion.  That is $23 billion dollars not including any cost overruns.

[pupthai]

USS Enterprise  (CVN 65) was the largest ship at the time of it's building. It was built to last for a meager 25 years and has went on to serve over 51 years making it the oldest active ship that ever served its country.

http://news.yahoo.com/uss-enterprise-carrier-taken-active-211422506.html

Not sure about that oldest to serve - would depend on how they are counting - the USCGC Acushnet (WMEC-167) ended service in 2011 and started with the Coast Guard in 1946 - it served as the USS Shackle (ARS-9) from like 1943 to 46 with the Navy.  My math tells me that with the CG alone the Acushnet served 65 years.  I would guess the way things work the CG will be getting the Enterprise now.

[The Chief]

Unless maybe we are at a higher ship count than normal now? 

Unfortunately, we are at a near record low in number of active ships.