If the scrapyard (vs. the U.S. Navy) is paying for the ~70,000 ton, 325-meter-long former aircraft carrier to be towed ~16,000 miles, from Washington (state) to Texas - it's too big for the Panama Canal - then they are actually paying quite a few million dollars for it.
This ship also is 48 years old, so it will have asbestos in all kinds of places (probably even more so than a civilian ship would. Preventing the spreading of fire is fairly essential on a warship) Separating that from the valuable metals can be costly.
I wish this were being turned into a museum ship like the USS Midway. It's unique since it's the only surviving member of it's class. I guess it wasn't notable enough. Hopefully the Nimitz will become a museum when it is retired.
One would hope so, but it's generally thought that removing the nuclear reactors require so much structural demolition that it wouldn't be in any shape to be a museum afterwards. The USS Enterprise CVN-65 is the first nuclear aircraft carrier ever to be decommissioned and it's one of the most famous. But it's thought to be impractical to become a museum in its entirety. (Enterprise does have 8 smaller reactors compared to Nimitz 2, so not entirely comparable)
Interesting to look at the various satellite map sources of the ship breaking yard. On Bing/Google Maps you can see two carriers in different levels of disassembly. On DDG you can see one with most of the deck still installed.
If you're near San Francisco and think it's a shame this isn't becoming a museum ship, I'd encourage you to visit and support the Jeremiah O'Brien, one of two still-floating Liberty ships (WWII cargo transports). It's a much smaller ship but still needs >$1 million every so often for drydock inspection and maintenance: https://www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/pages/how-you-can-help
No affiliation, I've just enjoyed visiting a couple times. If you show up on the right day you can wander round the engine room while it's running!
Ok don't scream at me, but when I see these all I can think of is floating apartment complexes. Especially in places that are being affected by higher water levels and where zoning/lack of space makes more housing impractical. Plus I'd love one just for me...I know it would cost the Earth to reno.....but still all that space and being able to move wherever you want...you would have your own mobile island.
Their sheer size is also likely a huge issue to make them a museum ship. It's about twice the tonnage and crew/compliment as the USS Iowa class museum ships we have.
