{"id":366025,"date":"2026-06-18T18:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/366025\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:14:13","slug":"navy-finally-seeking-to-dispose-of-uss-long-beach-the-worlds-first-nuclear-powered-cruiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/366025\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy Finally Seeking To Dispose Of USS Long Beach, The World’s First Nuclear-Powered Cruiser"},"content":{"rendered":"

The TWZ Newsletter<\/p>\n

Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.<\/p>\n

More than three decades after decommissioning the USS Long Beach<\/a>, the Navy is finally preparing to dispose of<\/a> what\u2019s left of the world\u2019s first nuclear-powered surface combatant. The cruiser \u2013 which already had its distinctive boxy superstructure as well as its bow and stern sections removed \u2013 has been moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility since being decommissioned in 1995.<\/p>\n

After a long process to determine what to do with Long Beach, the Navy on Wednesday put out a call for companies<\/a> willing and able to perform the extremely complex and lengthy operation to transport, dismantle, de-militarize, and dispose of what was once a 721-foot-long ship that displaced 15,540 tons, including its two defueled reactor plants.\u00a0Long Beach was launched in 1959 and commissioned two years later.<\/p>\n

You can read more about the ship, its unique character, armaments and exploits in our two-part interview with a master chief who served on Long Beach here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"The USS Long Beach, world\u2019s first nuclear-powered surface combatant, under construction. (USN) <\/p>\n

This marks just the second time the Navy has opted to select a commercial yard to dismantle a nuclear-powered warship. The first was the ex-USS Enterprise, the world\u2019s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from the same era as Long Beach. It is vastly more complex and expensive to dispose of nuclear-powered vessels than conventionally powered ones because of all the radiological concerns, even long after the reactors have been defueled.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get into more details about how difficult, time-consuming and costly a process this could be later in this story when we examine the pitfalls of the Enterprise situation, admittedly a much more complex undertaking for various reasons we will explain. However, first we need to understand how Long Beach got to this point.<\/p>\n

\"\"USS Long Beach. (USN) <\/p>\n

The decision to go forward with the Long Beach dismantling process came after a Naval Vessel Historical Evaluation <\/a>(NVHE) in April determined that the ship was ineligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) despite its history as the first surface combatant ever to have nuclear propulsion and combat service that ranged from the Vietnam War to Operation Desert Storm.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"USS<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tUSS Long Beach (CGN-9)\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ship was deactivated in 1994 and towed to Newport News Shipbuilding where the entire superstructure was removed and the reactors were defueled,\u201d according to the NVHE. \u201cAfter this work was completed in the winter of 1995, the hull was towed through the Panama Canal to Puget Sound where it has been waiting to be recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2012, the ship was sold for scrap.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong Beach had 10,000 tons of steel, 300 miles of electrical cable and 450 tons of aluminum, earning it the voice radio call sign \u2018Alcoa\u2019 after the aluminum maker of the same name,\u201d Reuters reported at the time.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMore than a dozen scrap dealers have expressed interest in taking part in sealed online bidding for the hull, with more than 7.35 million pounds (3.33 million kg) of steel, aluminum and copper wiring, galley equipment, tables, chairs, lockers and bunks,\u201d Government Liquidation president Tom Burton told the news outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a two-year process but it could take 18 to 26 months,\u201d Burton said. \u201cWhat\u2019s left is an inert hull.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"USS<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tUSS Long Beach CGN-9\t\t\t<\/p>\n

It remains unclear what happened to that scrap sale. We reached out to the Navy for answers.<\/p>\n

The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard subsequently completed a limited-scope hull preservation availability in 2015 that resulted in the removal of the bow and stern, according to the NVHE records. It was ultimately decided not to save the ship by placing it on the NRHP because \u201cmajor alterations have been made in design that do not maintain the historic design of the vessel (loss of the superstructure and major hull elements),\u201d the review found. \u201cCharacter defining features of USN warship have been lost, such as main armament, superstructure, bow, and stern. Does not evoke the aesthetic of a 20th Century USN warship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"What\u2019s left of the USS Long Beach. (Google Earth) <\/p>\n

Moreover, a 60-day period for stakeholders to comment expired earlier this month with no responses.<\/p>\n

\"\"USN <\/p>\n

With all the hurdles to ultimate destruction now out of the way, the Navy will host an Industry Day meeting on June 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C. for companies interested in learning more about what is involved in the final dismantling of the USS Long Beach.<\/p>\n

\"\"Screenshot <\/p>\n

Whoever gets the job will first have to transport it from Puget Sound to the shipbreaking yard by \u201cdry transport via semi-submersible barge, deck barge, or semi-submersible heavy lift vessel\u201d because the ship\u2019s \u201ccurrent structural condition precludes an open ocean tow,\u201d according to the RFI.<\/p>\n

\u201cDismantling and disposing of ex-Long Beach is necessary in order to comply with Navy policy for inactive nuclear-powered ships stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, and Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) statutory responsibilities,\u201d the RFI explains. \u201cThe requirement for disposal includes dismantling, demilitarizing, and recycling the remnant hull sections at an authorized commercial facility in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, and removing and packaging the reactor plant components for transportation and disposal as low\u2011level radioactive waste (LLRW) at an authorized radioactive waste facility or facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no timelines or cost estimates associated with the RFI, nor is there any guarantee that a request for proposal will be issued. We\u2019ve reached out to the Navy for more details.<\/p>\n

Our past reporting offers some insights<\/a> into the tremendous time and money it takes to dismantle a nuclear-powered warship, as evidenced by the saga of the aforementioned Enterprise. However, it should be noted that there are some big differences between that vessel and Long Beach. The carrier is far larger and more complex, had eight reactors compared to two, and had less prep work done in advance.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tugs move the USS Enterprise into Newport News Shipbuilding\u2019s yards in 2013. USN <\/p>\n

In 2019, the Government Accountability Office found that it could cost the Navy more than $1.5 billion to fully dispose of Enterprise.<\/p>\n

The GAO report also stated that a complete process could take more than 15 years to finish.<\/p>\n

\"\"A trio of nuclear-powered Navy surface warships sail together in 1964. From left to right, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, the cruiser USS Long Beach, and the frigate USS Bainbridge. USN <\/p>\n

From our previous story about the dismantling of the ship known as the Big E:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Navy officially decommissioned Enterprise<\/a>, also known by its hull number CVN-65, in February 2017, after more than five decades of service<\/a>. The ship had already effectively been in mothballs since 2012 and Newport News Shipbuilding completed a lengthy \u2018inactivation\u2019 process, which included removing nuclear fuel, mission systems, and other items from the ship, in April 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018At approximately 76,000 tons, CVN-65 will require an unprecedented level of work to dismantle and dispose of as compared to previous ships,\u2019 GAO\u2019s review, which the congressional office published <\/a>on Aug. 2, 2018, said. \u2018Regardless of the approach the Navy chooses, CVN-65 will set precedents for the processes, costs, and oversight that may be used to dismantle and dispose of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the future, such as the Nimitz-class carriers which the Navy will begin to retire in the mid-2020s.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn SH-60 Blackhawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Seven (HS-7) hovers off the bow of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVN 65. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Timothy Smith.) Cpl. Madisyn Paschal<\/p>\n

The first of those, the USS Nimitz, the Navy\u2019s oldest operational carrier, is scheduled to be inactivated in 2027, the Navy told us.<\/p>\n

On March 13, the Navy signed a $95.7 million contract<\/a> with Huntington Ingalls Inc. \u201cfor advance planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the inactivation and defueling of USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz underway. (USN) <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Navy originally projected that it would cost somewhere between $500 and $750 million to scrap the Enterprise, but by 2013, this figure had grown to over $1 billion. The difficulties involved forced the service to push back<\/a> the start of the process more than once<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The regulatory and logistical picture was equally tangled. The Navy and the NRC disagreed on what standards should apply if a private company did the work, and NRC only has direct authority in 13 states, potentially limiting where the job could even be done. Conducting the work at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard \u2014 the Navy\u2019s proven approach \u2014 risked worsening an already serious maintenance backlog for active ships. The commercial route could be faster and cheaper, but no private yard had ever handled military nuclear reactors at this scale, and the highly classified nature of U.S. naval reactor design added another layer of complexity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can read more about the challenges involved with breaking up a nuclear behemoth in our deep dive into the problems with the Enterprise effort here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tThe Decommissioning Of The USS Enterprise\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The challenges of disposing of Enterprise, however, continued even after a final decision was made about what to do with the vessel.<\/p>\n

On May 30, 2025, the Navy awarded a $536.7 million contract to dismantle the ship to NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services, LLC, of Vernon, Vermont, according to Pentagon records<\/a>. The work was initially expected to be completed in November 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time a U.S. nuclear-powered warship will be dismantled through a commercial effort, representing a significant milestone in responsibly and safely closing out the legacy of one of the most iconic nuclear-powered warships,\u201d the Navy noted at the time, according to USNI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the effort unraveled over a legal battle over how the Navy handled final bid submissions, ultimately resulting in the service being \u201cordered to pause the project and reassess bids, while the appeal now puts the future of the contract back in question,\u201d according to NBC15 News<\/a>. \u201cThe Navy is expected to re-award the contract by June 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have reached out to the Navy to find out the status of that contract as well.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"USS<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tUSS Enterprise to be dismantled in Alabama\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Even as the Navy is working to dispose of its first nuclear-powered surface combatant, it is planning for the newest one. The Navy says its proposed Trump class battleships will be nuclear-powered<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen how the complications the Navy has faced trying to dismantle Enterprise will affect the disposal of Long Beach and what lessons will be applied, if any. The answers to some of those questions should come into sharper focus next week when interested parties get to ask the Navy for themselves at the Industry Day.<\/p>\n

Contact the author: howard@twz.com<\/p>\n

Howard is a Senior Staff Writer for TWZ. He writes frequently about conflict, focusing heavily on the Middle East and Ukraine, and interviews with military and intelligence officials and industry leaders from around the globe. He lives near Tampa, Florida, home of U.S. Central Command, U.S. Special Operations Command.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The TWZ Newsletter Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-366025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}