We know how the story of the USS Enterprise is supposed to end: The deactivated, decommissioned hull will be brought to the Mobile waterfront, where it will be broken down in a $418 million job that is supposed to be finished by September 2030.
There’s still a lot we don’t know, though, including when the ship will arrive in Mobile and whether it will be as warmly received as the hulk of the SS United States was, a historic vessel that became a significant tourist attraction after arriving in Mobile in early 2025. Plans call for what’s left of the SS United States to be sunk as a recreational reef off the Florida coast; backers are awaiting federal permits.
As the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, with a service record stretching from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the war in Iraq, the Enterprise certainly seems capable of provoking at least as much historical interest as the SS United States. The carrier also is substantially bigger than the ocean liner: it is more than 100 feet longer, more than twice as wide (thanks to a flight deck that is 257 feet across), and displaces well over twice the tonnage. The carrier was 65 feet taller, too, though recent photos show that the mast atop its superstructure has been removed…