USS Enterprise named an ANS Nuclear Historic Landmark

The Enterprise was commissioned in November 1961 and completed 25 deployments during 51 years of service. At 1,123 feet (342 meters), the Enterprise was the longest naval vessel ever built and had a crew of about 4,600 service members.

The Enterprise was inactivated in December 2012 and was officially decommissioned in February 2017. It was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be decommissioned. Naval enthusiasts requested that the Enterprise be converted into a museum, but it was deemed to be too expensive to approve, in part because the ship would need to be partially dismantled to remove its eight nuclear reactors.

The final reactor was defueled in December 2016, and in February 2017 the ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry.