After many issues, the Enterprise is ready for battle

Virginian Pilot ^ | 4/20/2010 | Corinne Reilly

[Professional Engineer]

Bttt

[GitmoSailor]

How do you think I feel???........I did my training Sep 1961..........

[magslinger]

SONOBUOY PING!

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

[Bean Counter]

When Enterprise was built, she was powered by 8 small nuclear reactors, and a great deal of the superstructure that supported the entire engineering plant was completely inaccessible once she was fueled, and was highly irradiated forever afterwards.

There simply wasn’t any way to even inspect parts of the ship that essentially kept the Reactor department from falling through the bottom of the hull, and there were plenty of people in a position to know, who feared that was exactly what was going to happen some day. Nobody was sure how much corrosion, damage, and deterioration from long term exposure to ionizing radiation there was, which is at least partially why the overhaul expanded so dramatically.

As I recall, she has been operating with a number of her original reactors deactivated, and still has plenty of power to spare, but Newport News and the Navy put off making permanent repairs as long as they could and finally ran out of time. I believe some of the original reactor deactivation activities consisted of filling certain spaces with concrete, which of course does nothing to preserve steel and in fact probably accelerated much of the deterioration, not to mention creating another whole mess of highly radioactive waste material.

I’ve heard talk for years, speculating that it would be cheaper to scrap her than to try and rebuild her, and I think her time has almost come. Enterprize is a one of a kind hull, and I don’t think she will ever end up as a memorial anywhere; she is simply too hazardous to keep around. More than likely, large parts of her will have to be buried as high level nuclear waste for centuries, once she heads to the boneyard for scrapping.

Till then, she’ll keep on shootin’ ‘em and catchin’ ‘em...

[aomagrat]

I served on the Enterprise 1983-1986. She was my first ship. When I reported aboard they put me to work replacing the deck tile in the 2nd deck starboard side passageway. I remember pulling up a piece of tile and having a good size piece of the deck come up with it. I could look through the hole into the chief's berthing below on the 3rd deck. The deck was so corroded I could punch through it with a chipping hammer. They just welded some sheet metal over the holes and I laid the new tile on top of it.

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I have a petition on my bottom web page to have CVN-79(the new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier) to be the ninth ship to bear the the name Enterprise. I really encorage people who were veterans of the Enterprise,fans of the aircraft carrier or Star Trek to sign the petition.

[Bean Counter]

I believe there is a group out there who want to call it “USS America” ever since the last one was sent down in Glory somewhere off the Eastern Seaboard...

Lots of us old carrier sailors are still upset about that one! Keep in mind that you should NEVER mention USS America and Hanoi Jane at the same time...too many of us vets are getting too old to take much more of this crap, and our tickers might not handle the strain...

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I will be sure to keep that in mind.Thanks

:)

[Drew68]

CLick for link to: "Where are the carriers?"

That's a bit outdated. Just last week we had three of 'em parked here at NASNI.

[rottndog]

Scrapping Enterprise is NOT going to be cheap....

When they scrap a sub, they cut the entire section of the hull containing the reactor plant in one piece, weld it up closed, then store it at Hanford Washington. Fairly simple.

I have no idea how they plan to scrap Enterprise...it will be a massive undertaking....8 reactor plants. Will be fun to watch.

[Bean Counter]

yah...scrapping Enterprise won’t be done on the beach in Southern India, I can guarantee you. We might consider towing it up into Russian waters where they have sunk more than a few of their old nuclear subs and just scuttle her, but that has little chance of happening. No telling what the cost to scrap and dispose of her would be, but it is going to be a considerable sum. Might even have to have Newport News do it, since they are equipped to handle nuclear material...

But for all the talk we hear about “cleaning up” Hanford reach, it still remains the single best spot we have to bury stuff like that.

When Oregon decommissioned the Trojan nuclear power plant several years ago, they packaged the reactor vessel, put it on a barge and towed it up the Columbia River to be buried on the Hanford reservation. The thing was just enormous, and that was the only thing there was to be done with it...bury it and post a really durable sign over the top...

[rottndog]

They may have to drydock her in Newport News, completely remove the rest of the ship first, leaving the engineering spaces intact, and then basically convert what's left into a giant seaworthy barge that they can tow over to Washington where it will be handled by the SRP. They will probably have to build a special drydock there just for that job.

I can't see them putting that anywhere else, and there is so much of it to move, I can't see them breaking it up and shipping the parts separately.

This is where they keep retired submarine reactors at Hanford:

[fredhead]

When I was on the Ike in Newport News shipyard back in 94 there was, in the drydock next to us, the hull of the nuclear cruiser USS Long Beach. Don’t know what happened to her nuclear plant.

[Bratch]