USS Long Beach (CGN-9)

General Information

Name: USS Long Beach

Hull number: CGN-9
(CGN = Guided Missile Cruiser, Nuclear-powered)

Type: Nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser

Class: Unique — no sister ship

Keel laid: 2 December 1957

Launched: 14 July 1959

Commissioned: 9 September 1961

Decommissioned: 1 May 1995

Design & Features

The Long Beach was the world’s first surface vessel with full nuclear propulsion, alongside nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines.
It was also one of the first American warships to be built with an all-aluminium superstructure featuring a distinctive, angular bridge.

Key Specifications

Displacement: ~16,000 tonnes (fully loaded)

Length: 224 m

Beam: 23 m

Draught: 9.5 m

Propulsion: 2 × C1W nuclear reactors

Speed: 30+ knots

Crew: Approx. 1,100

Armament (various periods)

Original armament (1961):

RIM-8 Talos long-range air defence missiles

RIM-2 Terrier medium-range

ASROC (anti-submarine missiles)

2 × 12.7 mm machine guns

Later modernised (1970–1990):

2 × Mk 26 launchers (Standard missiles)

Harpoon anti-ship missiles

Tomahawk cruise missiles

Phalanx CIWS systems

Helicopter deck (but no hangar)

Service history

The USS Long Beach had a long and varied career, including:

Vietnam War (1960s–70s)

Aircraft carrier security.

Radar surveillance and air defence.

Shooting down enemy aircraft with Talos missiles (rare for warships).

Cold War

Intensively used by carrier battle groups.

Participation in Operation Sea Orbit (1964):
The first fully nuclear-powered fleet (including the USS Enterprise and USS Bainbridge) to circumnavigate the globe without refuelling.

Gulf War / 1980s–1990s

Deployed for air defence and strategic presence in the Persian Gulf.

End of Service

Decommissioned: 2 February 1995

Out of service: 1 May 1995

Scrapped: Reactors removed; hull scrapped in the late 2000s

Specifications: