Ex - USS Long Beach (CGN-9)

 military, United States Navy, nuclear powered cruiser

The USS Long Beach was the first 'all-new' cruiser built by the US Navy after WWII, and has the distinctions of being the last Cruiser built on a traditional Cruiser hull and the first US Navy ship powered by Nuclear Reactors.

Laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA, in December 1957, the Long Beach launched on July 14th 1959 and was commissioned into US Navy Service on July 14th, 1961. Her powerplant of 2 Westinghouse Nuclear Reactors gave the ship a top speed of over 30 knots, with burst speeds in the area of 35-40 knots possible for short periods of time.

Above her traditional hull the ship boasted a wide array of guided missiles over her history, including TALOS, Terrier, Standard, Tomahawk & ASROC, all of which were controlled by a advanced electronics suite centered in the ships enormous superstructure, which at the time was second in height only to Aircraft Carriers. The combined radar tracking and missile guidance systems developed for and onboard this vessel are the direct precursors to the modern day AEGIS systems in operation on US Ticonderoga Class Cruisers & Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers.

Her service brought her to Vietnam where her advanced electronics suite helped monitor and secure the airspace over the Gulf of Tonkin, she participated in numerous fleet excercises and finally the first Gulf War where she worked in tandem with the Ticonderoga Class Cruisers her technology helped create.

The ship was formally decomissioned in May 1995 and was brought to the Bremerton Navy Yard where she entered the Ship & Submarine Recycling Program and had her superstructure removed and scrapped. She is currently awaiting removal of her reactor & components before her hull is taken to the breakers.

www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/details/CGN9.htm
www.navsource.org/archives/04/1109/040109.htm