USS Long Beach (CGN-9)

USS Long Beach (CGN-9): The World's First Nuclear Surface Warship

Commissioned on 9 September 1961, USS Long Beach holds one of the great firsts in the history of naval warfare. She was the first nuclear-powered surface warship ever built by any nation. While USS Nautilus had proven nuclear propulsion underwater in 1954, Long Beach was the first ship to take the atom to the surface, and she was armed with guided missiles rather than guns. She was a quantum leap in naval technology, a ship that would have been impossible to imagine a decade before her commissioning.

Long Beach was built on a true cruiser hull, the last American cruiser to be so built at the time. Her nuclear plant gave her virtually unlimited range without refueling. Her armament, Talos long-range missiles forward and aft and Terrier medium-range missiles, made her the most capable anti-aircraft surface combatant afloat when she entered service. Her distinctive flat-fronted superstructure, designed to accommodate the massive SPS-32 and SPS-33 phased-array radar systems, gave her an appearance unlike any previous warship in history.

In 1964, Long Beach participated in Operation Sea Orbit alongside USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and USS Bainbridge (CGN-25), the first all-nuclear-powered surface task force to circumnavigate the globe. The 30,565-mile voyage was completed in 65 days without refueling any ship. It was one of the most significant demonstrations of naval capability in American history, proving that nuclear-powered task forces could project power anywhere in the world without the logistical constraints that had defined naval operations since the age of sail.

Long Beach's Vietnam service was genuine and sustained. Operating in the Gulf of Tonkin, she achieved in 1968 what was then the Navy's longest-range surface-to-air missile engagement, firing Talos missiles against North Vietnamese aircraft at extreme range. She earned seven battle stars for Vietnam service, making her one of the most decorated ships of that conflict. She was decommissioned on 1 May 1995 after 34 years of service, the only nuclear-powered surface warship built on a true cruiser hull the United States ever produced.

Tactically Acquired's USS Long Beach (CGN-9) collection honors the crew of the ship that took nuclear power to the surface and showed the world what naval power looked like in the atomic age.