Крейсер с ядерной установкой «Лонг-Бич»

Long Beach class missile cruiser

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AN/SPS 12 search radar
4 × AN/SPG 55 Terrier fire control radar She was the third Navy ship named after the city of Long Beach, California. She was the sole member of the Long Beach class, and the last cruiser built for the United States Navy to a cruiser design; all subsequent cruiser classes were built on scaled up destroyer hulls (and originally classified as destroyer leaders) or, in the case of the Albany class, converted from already existing cruisers. Long Beach was laid down 2 December 1957, launched 14 July 1959 and commissioned 9 September 1961 under the command of then Captain Eugene Parks Wilkinson, who previously served as the first commanding officer of the world's first nuclear powered vessel, the submarine Nautilus. She was deployed to Vietnam during the Vietnam War and served numerous times in the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. But by the 1990s, nuclear power was deemed too expensive to use on surface ships smaller than an aircraft carrier in view of defense budget cutbacks after the end of the Cold War. Long Beach was decommissioned on 1 May 1995 instead of receiving her third nuclear refueling and proposed upgrade. After removal of the nuclear fuel, superstructure, and sections of the bow and stern, the hull segment containing the reactor and machinery spaces was moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and sold for scrap.

Long Beach was originally intended to be a smaller frigate, but was then redesigned and expanded to a cruiser hull, allowing for an open space just aft of the bridge "box". This open space was first planned to accommodate the mounting of a Regulus nuclear armed cruise missile, but was then changed to four launch tubes for the Polaris missile. However, the space was eventually occupied by the 5"/38 caliber gun mounts and the ASROC system. Long Beach was the last cruiser built with a World War II era cruiser hull style, Because of this unusually high quantity of aluminum, she was assigned the voice radio call sign "Alcoa". At commissioning, the ship was reported to have cost $320 million ($ today), which was over budget from earlier estimates of $250 million. During construction in January 1960, it was widely reported that Long Beach was sabotaged when anti mine (degaussing) electrical cables were found to have been intentionally cut in three places. It was the second of three incidents at Fore River Shipyard at that time. Long Beach was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and home ported at Naval Station Norfolk. The guided‑missile cruiser conducted extensive shakedown testing of her complex weapons and propulsion systems from 2 October to 16 December 1961; her performance proved the nuclear cruiser a capable warship. Between 28 December and 6 January 1962 she conducted operational tests of her missiles off Puerto Rico, then sailed for Bremerhaven, Germany, arriving 15 January for courtesy calls in north European ports. at a range of 65 mile (105 km). In June of the same year, she downed another MIG, In 1975 the ship changed home ports to Naval Base San Diego, California. In June, 1991, Long Beach took part in Operation Fiery Vigil, evacuating U. S. military personnel from two bases in the Philippines, Clark Air Base and U. S. Naval Base Subic Bay, during the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

There was originally a plan to fully upgrade Long Beach with an Aegis Combat System in the early 1990s, requiring that her superstructure be completely rebuilt. Due to cuts in the defense budget after the 1991 Gulf War, as well as the higher operating costs and number of crew required compared to conventionally powered ships, the decision was made to decommission all nuclear cruisers from the Navy as their reactor cores ran down. They would be replaced by the Ticonderoga (CG) and Arleigh Burke (DDG) classes, designed from the ground up with Aegis. The Long Beach had been refueled during her 1970, 1980, and 1992 refits. The decision was made to decommission her in 1994. A deactivation ceremony occurred on 2 July 1994 at Norfolk Naval Station, and the ship was then towed over to Newport News Shipbuilding where her entire superstructure was removed and her reactors were defueled. After this work was completed in the winter of 1995 the hull was towed through the Panama Canal to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Long Beach was stricken on 1 May 1995, more than 33 years after she had entered service. On 13 July 2012, Long Beach was sold at auction, for recycling, as prescribed for nuclear powered vessels by Code 350, at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. As of May 2018, the inactivated ship's hull and reactor compartments largely remained in long term storage there. A crew member aboard the USS Long Beach may have been exposed to abnormal levels of radiation in 1963, and the ship was leaking radioactive coolant in 1991. At that time, four crew members alleged that the ship's reactor was unsafe and that crew working around it had been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.

2 December 1957 – Keel laid in Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts. 9 September 1961 – Long Beach is commissioned as the first nuclear powered surface vessel at the Boston Naval Shipyard.