National Harbor, MD, USA --USS Enterprise (CVN- 65 ), formerly CVA(N)- 65 ,was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth United States naval vessel to bear the name;it was officially decommissioned earlier this year, which means it is no longer officially on the Navy’s register;the completed inactivation of the former USS Enterprise was confirmed recently by officials at the Sea-Air-Space 2018 exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.

The Newport News yard, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the nation’s sole designer, builder, and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Photo above: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 14 June 2004. Enterprise, with assigned Carrier Wing 1 (CVW-1), was deployed to the Atlantic Ocean from 3 June to 23 July 2004. During this deployment, she was one of seven aircraft carriers involved in exercise "Summer Pulse 2004". "Summer Pulse 2004" was a simultaneous deployment of seven aircraft carrier strike groups (CSGs) in five theaters with other U.S., allied, and coalition military forces. "Summer Pulse" was the U.S. Navy's first deployment under its (then) new "Fleet Response Plan (FRP)". This image was released by the United States Navy with the ID 040614-N-0119G-020.

Enterprise is the only ship of its class and served the country for 51 years. It defended the nation’s interests from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was the forerunner of the Nimitz-class ships that now make up the bulk of the carrier fleet, The Task & Purposereports.

Enterprise completed its final combat deployment in 2012. It was towed from Naval Station Norfolk to the Newport News shipyard in June 2013.

The deactivation process required more than 1,000 shipbuilders who defueled Enterprise’s eight nuclear reactors, inactivated its propulsion systems and prepared its hull for a final tow.