In the end, Long Beach seemed to be designed around the reactor plants, the SPS-32/33 (SCANFAR) radar and the Terrier and Talos missiles. Commissioned in 1961, the USS Long Beach was the world's first nuclear powered cruiser. Short amateur documentary on the historic naval. In Electrician's Mate Class A school we learned about motors generators, shipboard distribution and troubleshooting electrical systems. Ford-Class. While there, we noticed the Navy Exchange had t-shirts for sale calling USS Reeves (CG-24) 'the only real cruiser in town.' (ASSOCIATED PRESS). The billboard arrays, and the big superstructure they were mounted on, made the ship a bit top heavy as well. This meant I wore the Chief's uniform for eleven months before getting the pay of a Chief. As of May 2018, a 423 foot section of the propulsion block remains at PSNS. Politics. After completing basic engineering qualifications, I was assigned to the electrical safety shop, ensuring the portable electrical tools were checked for safety prior to issuance. An interesting note is that whenLong Beach pulled out, she left about 375 sailors behind who didn't get back to the ship before it left to avoid the storm. Laid down asCG (N) 9, 2 December 1957 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Mass. She had scored exceptionally high on the ASVAB (military entrance exam) and would have been eligible for almost any position if all were open to women, such as the nuclear propulsion field which was closed to women at that time. The world's first nuclear-powered surface fighter was the USS Long Beach (CGN-9). The first nuclearpower surface warship in history, USS Long Beach (CGN9) was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and home ported at Norfolk, Va. A friend and I were sitting on one of the bits on the port side when he pointed out a periscope about 30 yards of the port beam. After Vietnam, Long Beach performed routine duties in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, performing escort duties for USS Enterprise in 1975, and participated in multi-national naval exercises while deployed in 1976-77. [citation needed], In addition to steel, Long Beach was built with 450 tons of structural aluminum. [ 1] O USS Long Beach foi desenvolvido logo aps a Segunda Guerra Mundial, construdo no incio da propulso nuclear. Peter is also aContributing Writerfor Forbes. The crew berthing areas did not have any passageways through them and each one had fewer bunks in it than on Long Beach. [14], Long Beach received a Combat Action Ribbon for action on 26 April 1972,[16] a few days after the Battle of ng Hi. She was also the last cruiser built for the U.S. Navy as a cruiser design as all subsequent cruiser classes were essentially built on scaled-up destroyer hulls or converted from existing cruisers. 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.[22]. I was told that one time they powered it up in port and garage doors were opening and closing throughout the greater San Diego area and that it interfered with air traffic control radar at the San Diego airport. 18 September 1989 13th West Pacific deployment/world cruise. The guidedmissile cruiser conducted extensive shakedown testing of her complex weapons and propulsion systems from 2 October to 16 December 1961. $12.84. As we were entering the harbor where Yokosuka is located, the Cheng (Chief Engineer) gave the ship a history lesson on how we avoided severely damaging the Yokosuka Naval Base so the US Navy could use the facilities after the Second World War, especially the dry dock facilities where the Yamato was berthed during the war. The guidedmissile 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. USS Long Beach Navy Westpac Cruise Book depicts life during the 1969-1970 Westpac mission. [8], Long Beach served in the Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning in 1961 until completing her first refueling in early 1966, when the cruiser was transferred from her home port of Norfolk to Naval Station Long Beach, California. We learned operations and maintenance and we also learned how to react during simulated casualty operations. As one of a couple of 400 Hz maintenance techs onboard, it helped me advance in rate also. He regularly writes about military hardware, and is the author of several books on military headgear includingA Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com. Since E division was in charge of the movies for the ship, I went to the local Navy motion picture office to get new movies for the crew to watch. USS LONG BEACH got underway on nuclear power for the first time on the morning of July 5, 1961. 7 November 1974 Sixth West Pacific deployment. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. [15] In June of the same year, she downed another MIG,[14] this one at 61 miles (98km). Navy ships have unique smells, sounds, and sensations. He stated "Newport News Shipbuilding used to have 'commitment to quality' on a rock at the entrance to the shipyard but now that rock is in a museum.. The watch in Damage Control Central claimed he saw 47 degrees on the clinometer. After about a year as Recruiter-In-Charge, I heard from my detailer that he needed nuclear-trained chiefs back at sea. He had enlisted in the Navy out of high school during World War II under a program known as a kiddie cruise which allowed 17-year-olds to serve up to just prior to their 21st birthday. With a length of 721 feet (219 metres) and a displacement of 14,000 tons, the Long Beach was the first large surface warship to be built with a main armament consisting of guided missiles. As before,USSLong Beach(CGN9) spent most of her time on PIRAZ station, guiding the many planes which operated over North Vietnam. She was commissioned on September 9, 1961 under the command of then-Captain Eugene Parks Wilkinson, who had previously served as the first commanding officer for the USS Nautilus. although the conversion did not push through historically, had Long Beach been placed . There was a line of well over a block to visit Long Beach and one could walk right up and go on the Melbourne. 1959. She looked like no other ship the world had ever seen before and she definitely had her quirks. It has changed quite a bit over the years. 15 April 1968 Second West Pacific deployment. She was commissioned on September 9, 1961 under the command of then-Captain Eugene Parks Wilkinson, who had previously served as the first commanding officer for the USS Nautilus. Long Beach left San Diego in September of 1976 on what was my first Western Pacific cruise (WESTPAC). Consequently, she was redesigned and expanded to a . I arranged with Long Beach's Engineering Officer to report directly toLong Beach and then start my transfer leave in order to start my sea duty counter 30 days earlier. My regret was that my father had died from a heart attack while I was on the Arkansas and wasn't there to witness my 'pinning.' The Standard SM-2ER missiles and the associated modern electronics replaced the obsolete Terrier system. The ship was originally designed with "all-missile" armament, but was fitted with two 5"/38 caliber gun mounts amidships on the orders of President John F. [8] At commissioning, the ship was reported to have cost $320million ($2.9billion today),[9] which was over budget from earlier estimates of $250million. We had the Commander of the Joint Task Force Middle East embarked. We had picked him up at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean around Labor Day and were to transfer him and his staff to the group relieving us (with the USS Iowa) but he didn't want us to leave as no other ship had the flag spaces we had. The 'billboard' arrays of the AN/SPS-32/33 SCANFAR radar were gone and a new structure was erected over the aft superstructure to support the new AN/SPS-49 radar. This was an evolution of the California and Virginia class, most importantly . We pointed out to the Cheng that having an 'Atomic Weapons Officer' seemed counter that message. 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. Gone too was the Talos missile launcher and all of the equipment that supported it. AHM. Construction of nuclear-powered surface ships is only done at Newport News Shipyard and the maintenance is only done at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and the Portsmouth Naval shipyard, in addition to Newport News Shipbuilding. She served in the US Navy until 1921, then in the US Merchant Marine, and was scrapped in 1924. In 1976, when we were returning to San Diego from Bremerton, our Division Training Petty Officer came around asking what schools anyone wanted to attend. A big AN/SPS-48 radar dish was also mounted on the forward mast. The ship was an absolute modern marvel of her time. Long Beach was the first "all-new" cruiser designed and constructed after World War II (all others were completions or conversions of cruisers begun or completed during the war). The Long Beach was. [10], 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 also helped thatLong Beach was homeported in San Diego while the others were based in Alameda, California. For example, USS Arkansas (CGN 41) had a crew of about 450 (comparable to a Belknap class cruiser) but the Ticonderoga class cruisers have a crew of only about 370. Whenever Long Beach would make a turn, it would lean in the direction of the turn first and then lean a lot in the opposite direction. USSLong Beach, which was the third ship to be named after the California city, was laid down in December 1957 and launched in July 1959. 1940K/23, a single enemy aircraft attacked White Beach 1 at Humboldt Bay. Enterprise had eight reactors while Long Beach had two. This tour of duty in West Pac ended with her arrival again at Long Beach on 16 November. He told me to put a request through the district CO and if approved he'd give me a spot on the Long Beach. So I had prepared her to accept an engineering position such as HT (hull maintenance technician) which I'd been told was wide open for women. The warship was updated in the late 1970s and later operated as part of the UN task force during Operation Desert Storm. Find Long Beach Naval Station stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Enterprise was the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier andLong Beach was the first nuclear-powered surface warship. It was the first record use of naval SAMs in combat conditions. Learn about the amazing history of this formidable naval vessel and join in with former shipmates to read of their sea stories and what life was really like aboard the Gray Lady in our groups and forum; from the bridge down to the nuclear reactors in engineering - and it's all 100% FREE - NO . National Security. She was the only ship of her class . Free shipping. I was also aware that Long Beach had well over 60 Chiefs, Senior Chiefs and Master Chiefs in the mess and with my father gone, I needed someone I could learn about being a Chief from. She sailed 28 February 1966 for her new home port and namesake, Long Beach, California, and arrived 15 March 1966. [citation needed], 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. A comparison with the Ticonderoga class. Later in my career, when I was a senior chief (E8) on the COMNAVSURFPAC/COMNAVAIRPAC Nuclear Propulsion Mobile Training Team, I was instrumental in getting funds put into yard maintenance to move the crew ashore out of the industrial area. List of ships with the same or similar names, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Long_Beach&oldid=1052106706, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 27 October 2021, at 12:35. On September 9, 1961, the ship was commissioned at the Boston Navy Shipyard, From January to October 1985, the TOMAHAWK cruise missile system was installed onboard at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, replacing the previously removed TALOS system. She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-2 and then in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as Shii (PF-17) and Shii (PF-297) and YAS-44 Construction and commissioning. 1961. I was scheduled to transfer from Long Beach in late October but because of a cyclone in the vicinity of the Philippines, I left the ship from Subic Bay as it was making preparations to get underway for storm evasion. It was commissioned on September 9, 1961, under Capt. The result was that LST's were unable to beach at this point due . The major benefit to a nuclear-powered surface combatant, as opposed to a conventionally powered one, is the ability to stay on station for long periods without refueling. [ 2] Ele ficou em servio por quarenta anos, sendo desativado em . Free shipping. 2 Armored Box Launchers for a total of eight, Two triple 12.75inch torpedo launchers that could fire the, The rear launcher for the Talos was removed and initially replaced with two quadruple mounts for the, Two quadruple armored box launchers were added for the. Our next port visit after the conclusion of the exercise was Melbourne, Australia. Equipment wise, it had two twin arm mark 26 missile launchers fed by a rotary magazine but carried fewer Standard Missiles (the new name for the updated Terrier missiles) and it had the unmanned five-inch gun mounts like the Spruance class destroyers had. Her keel was laid down on 2 December 1957 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts. After three days' port visit, we got underway and held and exercise with the Aussie and Kiwi navies called 'Kangaroo Two.' [8], Long Beach returned to Norfolk from this cruise 3 October 1964 to join in exercises off the east coast and in the Caribbean. The district had one Saturday a month when they conducted enlistments otherwise it was a Monday through Friday operation, however, if you had not made 'goal' (put your four in the war we used to say), you were expected to work on Saturdays. A family friend also made one Tiger Cruise but he spent most of the time in his bunk seasick. We later rejoined the Kitty Hawk and made a port visit in Yokosuka, Japan. It was interesting that when on Long Beach's bridge, you actually looked down on a carrier's flight deck! Nimitz is underway in the 3rd Fleet Area of Operations. The Talos missile system and the SCANFAR radar system were just a couple of them. We made more port visits that. It marked the final end of the worlds first nuclear-powered surface warship. On 13 July 2012, Long Beach was sold at auction,[6] for recycling, as prescribed for nuclear-powered vessels by Code 350, at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash. As of May 2018, the inactivated ship's hull and reactor compartments largely remained in long-term storage there. [citation needed]. There were a few reasons for this such as the 'traditional' jobs a lot of females wanted were overfilled with females (administrative and medical positions mainly) and at the time the sea duty slots for females were few and far between. My wife arranged a flight from Sacramento to San Diego so we could drive to the base located near Chicago. The United States Navy (USN) ship is a one-time member of the Long Beach-class and on paper the successor to the Providence-class cruisers, eventually replaced by the Albany-class cruiser group. Long Beach was also planned to have the Regulus cruise missile but that program was dropped also. I was selected for advancement to Chief Petty Officer (E7) during this tour. Most naval history buffs can tell you that the USSNautilus(SSN-571) was theworlds first operational nuclear-powered submarine, while USSEnterprise(CVN-65) was thefirst nuclear-powered aircraft carrier yet many may wrongly assume that the carrier was also the first United State Navy surface warship to be powered by nuclear energy. The task force completed the 30,216 nautical mile voyage in 65 days. The Talos missiles, which could be nuclear armed, were about the size of a telephone pole and would 'sit' on the launch rail building up thrust before taking off. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The first place I sailed to after joining Long Beach was Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Washington. When it wound down, one of the locals asked if there were anyone who was sober and could drive a stick shift. 174. New tool New box New box New box New box New box Rebox Rebox New box. Box contents. I'd had three years of Junior ROTC in high school so after about a week or so I was instructing my company in the manual of arms when I was abruptly ordered to report to the battalion commander's office. Collections; Project #ShowUs; . She was reclassified CGN-160 in early 1957, but was again reclassified as CGN-9 on 1 July 1957. A lot of the other locals told us they were just enjoying the unplanned holiday. Prior to Electrician's Mate Class A school, I attended Basic Electricity/Electronics school at NTC San Diego. So this is the story of a ship, but also of the journey of a man that built his reputation largely on the deck plates of that vessel during one of the most interesting times in the U.S. Navy's history. Select from premium Uss Long Beach of the highest quality. For weapons, she had two twin rail launchers forward for Terrier missiles (and could carry over 100 of them), amidships she had an ASROC (anti-submarine rocket system) eight-cell launcher with reloading capability and two five-inch 38-caliber guns. My first job on Long Beach was to qualify on the reactor plant. In July of 2012, the hull of the Long Beach was sold for recycling as prescribed for nuclear-powered vessels by Code 350 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. My friend knew a periscope when he saw one because he'd been on the USS Seadragon previously but was transferred off because of kidney stones which disqualified him from further sub duty. All of the plank owners were given a certificate signed by the Arkansas governor Bill Clinton designating us as honorary Arkansas Travelers. This was a challenging time in the Navy. Being a member of the initial crew of any ship is a great experience as you will get to know the ship better than any future crew members can. During my 1st tour, the CO, Captain Schrader, had us secure power to it prior to getting underway. However, her displacement of 11,000 tons equaled that of WWII cruisers. 6 August 1963 First deployment to the Mediterranean. Long Beach, CA 8/30/1968 CREDIT: Neil Leifer Vietnam War: View of people on USS New Jersey Iowa-class battleship during Family Day at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. Of 400 Hz maintenance techs onboard, it helped me advance in rate also block visit! 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