Pentagon awards $418.5 M contract to scrap USS Enterprise, pushing total costs past $1 B

The USS Enterprise, the U.S. Navy’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 1961, has been inactive since 2012 and formally decommissioned in 2017, yet its retirement has already exceeded $1 billion in expenses. The Pentagon announced a $418.5 million fixed-price contract with NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services of Vernon, Vermont, to fully dismantle, recycle and dispose of the 1,123-foot vessel, with work to be performed in Mobile, Alabama, and hazardous materials shipped to authorized licensed sites.

This contract follows a 2025 award that was nullified after Huntington Ingalls Industries ShipCycle successfully challenged the bidding process, prompting a new competition that lowered the price. Total retirement costs are estimated at $1.3 billion, including $902 million for deactivation and $111 million for storage, roughly 25 % of the ship’s original $450 million construction cost (about $5 billion in 2026 dollars).

The dismantling is expected to finish by September 2030, meaning the carrier will have spent about 18 years in various stages of disassembly—far longer than its construction period. Officials hope the project will serve as a template for safely retiring future nuclear carriers, but the high price signals significant budgetary challenges as the fleet ages, with the upcoming Nimitz decommissioning likely to incur similar expenses.