'Big E' maintenance bill climbs to $474 million

Shipyard officials say refurbishing the carrier's systems will extend its life in the Navy to 2013

The U.S. Navy announced Tuesday that it will fork over an additional $12 million to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding for "emergent and supplemental" work on the country's oldest and first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise.

That brings the total cost of a scheduled 16-month maintenance period for the ship to $474.9 million, about 5 percent higher than its initial $453.3 million price tag.

In late September, Northrop received another supplemental contract for $9.6 million to build various replacement units on the carrier.

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