The U.S. Navy has awarded a new $418.5 million contract to dismantle, recycle and dispose of the former USS Enterprise, the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, with the work set to take place in Mobile.
NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services LLC, based in Vernon, Vermont, received the firm-fixed-price contract, valued at $418,497,668, to carry out the complete dismantling of the carrier, known formally as CVN 65. The Navy says all materials removed from the ship, including hazardous materials and low-level radioactive waste, will be properly recycled or disposed of, with waste packaged and transported to licensed disposal facilities.
The award comes in well below earlier cost projections. The Government Accountability Office had previously estimated the project could cost the Navy more than $1 billion, and the new contract is roughly $118 million less than an earlier $536.7 million award granted to NorthStar in 2025.
That earlier award was thrown into question after a competing firm challenged the Navy’s procurement process in federal court, arguing it had been unfairly excluded from the competition after technical issues prevented it from submitting a proposal on time. A judge with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims agreed, ordering the Navy to reopen the bidding, a decision that was later appealed. The new contract reflects the Navy’s fresh award following that legal dispute.
The Enterprise was commissioned in 1961, inactivated in 2012 and formally decommissioned in 2017. Its dismantlement has drawn significant attention in Mobile given the carrier’s historic status, its size and the complexity of safely handling its nuclear legacy. Work under the new contract is expected to be completed by September 2030, making Mobile the site of one of the most complex aircraft carrier disposal projects in Navy history.