Mobile Channel Closes as Carrier Dismantling Begins
The $418.5 million dismantling of USS Enterprise, the first nuclear carrier, is contracted to finish by September 2030.
Updated on Nov. 12, 2026 in Nuclear
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The U.S. Navy has awarded NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services a $418.5 million contract to dismantle USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The dismantling is a contracted, announced project now underway in transit, not a completed or demonstrated process.
Why it matters
The ship's eight nuclear reactors, defueled by 2017, make its disposal a long-duration nuclear decommissioning job rather than routine scrapping. The project reached Mobile only after a legal dispute between NorthStar and HII over who would handle disposal, which shapes how the Navy's aging nuclear fleet is retired.
The Navy's contract value is $418.5 million for a 1,123-foot carrier that ran on eight nuclear reactors. The contract must be completed by September 2030, and the project is projected to reach a safe stage by around May 2030, though that projection is not a firm commitment.
The players
NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services
A maritime dismantling contractor that holds the $418.5 million Navy contract to take apart USS Enterprise in Mobile.
U.S. Coast Guard
The federal maritime service that established the temporary safety zones and a 500-yard protection zone around the carrier.
The details
USS Enterprise was commissioned on November 25, 1961, and its eight reactors were defueled by 2017, meaning the remaining work focuses on removing the ship's structure and waste rather than the active fuel core. Hazardous and low-level radioactive waste will be sent to licensed disposal sites. The U.S. Coast Guard has set a 500-yard Naval Vessel Protection Zone around the carrier, requiring boats to stay outside 100 yards unless permitted.
Timeline
November 2: USS Enterprise left Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia under tow.
November 12: The Coast Guard published the final rule establishing two temporary safety zones.
September 2030: The dismantling contract must be completed by this date.
The Tech Race
USS Enterprise was the first nuclear-powered carrier, so its dismantling marks the retirement of a foundational design in the Navy's nuclear carrier lineage. The Mobile project is one of the largest disposals of nuclear naval hardware now underway, and its handling will inform how future retirements of nuclear-powered vessels are contracted.
Boats are barred from coming within 100 yards of the carrier without permission inside the 500-yard protection zone, which affects mariners using the Mobile River and Mobile Bar channel. The shipping channel from the Mobile Bar entrance to the Cochrane Bridge is closed under the first safety zone while the ship arrives and is berthed.
The takeaway
The dismantling must reach a safe stage by around May 2030 and be fully completed by September 2030, so those dates are the markers to watch. Track whether the second safety zone's projected May 2030 end date holds, since it signals how the project is progressing.
What happens next
The Coast Guard's temporary safety zones and the contract's September 2030 completion deadline mark the dated milestones to track as the ship's dismantling proceeds at its Mobile berth.
Further reading
For background on how the nuclear fleet is retired, see the Nuclear section.
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