Posted on 05/05/2015 7:11:56 PM PDT by artichokegrower
The world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier was moved into its birthplace dry dock at Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding this weekend as part of the ongoing inactivation process.
The aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN 65), was moved Saturday from Newport News’ Pier 2 to Dry Dock 11, where the super carrier was constructed over 60 years ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at gcaptain.com ...
She isn’t a day over 55. Launched in 1960.
I feel that way about USS Ogden, LPD 5, and I was in Army armor, transported aboard off Vietnam but for a few days.
Went down to San Diego about 25 years later, invited by the XO, and had a truly great time sharing her history with my daughter.
But alas, now she’s gone to the scrapyard, to know no other crew ever again.
Another beauty gone.
Beautiful lady. I wonder who got the ship's bell.
I prefer it this way...I would far rather have any ship I served on be used as a target, and she can rest on the ocean floor in one piece, more or less, after having provided a valuable service to her country.
Kind of like going down fighting...:)
Far better than being broken up for scrap!
Yes, socialist FedGov policies have truly destroyed our currency ...
That was me too. I feel the same way now.
The third one in the class will be named Enterprise.
"Skuld.."
"And Lind, you won't believe the nuclear power plant on that sucker! It's got *eight* A2W nuke plants! That's four times more than any other ship before or since, ever! It's crazy overpowered! Crank those eight nuke plants full tilt and that thing would fly like a speedboat! They never did it.. too powerful, it'd break the keel! Wow, that is so cool! Admiral Hyman Rickover was totally insane when he spec'ed that mother. I mean, he's just like me! I love that guy! Pity he's dead and all. I'd love to talk to him. Next time they should build a flattop with *sixteen* A2Ws, or the newer A4Ws. With that much power I could probably levitate that sucker like in that Avengers movie, heh. I bet Admiral Rickover would let me do it too! If he was alive, I mean. Hey, that flattop is decommissioned now! Nobody will miss it. I'll just sneak inside with Banpei, we'll do the mods, then fly it out from Norfolk Naval Base, and voilà, we got ourselves an air-mobile defense platform! Whaddya think? Cool, huh?"
"Skuld, just stop."
"But it would be so cool!"
"I said stop!"
[ Excerpt from Chapter 15 of The Fifth Kind of Love ]
It is called getting smarter as you get older...:)
Thanks for your service, FRiend...
I hit the rack (my rack was DIRECTLY under the #3 wire, top rack...with a 1MC between me and the underside of the deck!) and woke up sometime around 0300 in the dark, and I heard this very loudly:
"WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM"
I just did this experiment to recreate it exactly: That is 26 "WHAMS" and do that in six seconds. Time it! Now imagine hearing that in the dark, and the guy in the rack below you is hitting the underside of your rack with a large encyclopedia with each wham...that is what it felt like!
I got dressed and went down to the fantail...it was awesome.
A mountain of white water...(they wouldn't let us go out there, but they let us Airdales walk up to the roped off part and look...:)
And I fully expect the Big E was even more impressive!
Defueling is a straightforward and relatively simple process. It’s the dismantling of each of the eight reactor plants that poses serious challenges.
When a submarine is scrapped, the entire reactor plant portion of the hull is cut from the boat intact in one piece....welded shut on the ends, then sent to a lined pit at a facility in Washington State where it will ultimately be buried. The entire defueled reactor plant goes in-tact....vessel, pumps, valves, steam generators, everything.
The Enterprise is the first nuclear carrier, and the first to be scrapped. They are going into uncharted territory, with the pitfalls of having parts of the ship that have never been accessed or inspected since new construction. Each individual reactor plant (eight in all), will have to be cut out and sealed. Don’t know if there were provisions for this when the ship was built....but they may be having to engineer the process from scratch.
Then consider the logistics....the reactor plants are buried deep within the ship. I would assume it would be easier to cut up the portion of the ship above each plant before removal, but I’m not privy to the current plans. Either way, these things are very complex and require a great deal of planning and engineering, which is very expensive in and of itself.
I’m guessing the current projected cost is on the low side, and will probably rise significantly. But...much of the cost will be the learning curve, and later on down the line as more carriers are scrapped, the process will improve and cost less.
Ri, hubs did a cruise on the big E and was similarly situated...right under the flight deck. And he was on the Group Staff...
To this day, the man sleeps through hurricanes...
I guess you’re right. Just came as sort of a shock.
Best.
Excellent point.
Thanks for the info, I didn’t consider the radioactivity of the entire reactor system. I was just thinking about the fuel rods, and perhaps the containment chamber. Nor did I know there are eight (!) reactors on board.
Its a shame they can’t just re-fuel and go out again. But I guess there are a lot of worn-out parts throughout the ship after almost 60 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
#/media/File:USS_Ogden_(LPD-5)_being_sunk_during_RIMPAC_2014.JPG){kind=link}