The Long Beach had been refueled during her 1970, 1980, and 1992 refits. After a period of leave and upkeep in the fall,USSLong Beach(CGN9)sailed 7 November from Long Beach for the Far East. I finished boot camp as a company honor man and with scholastic honors. After checking out both the Air Force and Navy, I decided to enlist in the Navy's Nuclear Propulsion Program as I felt it offered me the most interesting and challenging training. On 10 April, she joined Atlantic Fleet as flagship for Admiral Robert L. Dennison, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, for exercises off the coasts of U.S. states North Carolina and Virginia. The major difference was the port visits. Every time I set foot on a ship, the memories of shipboard life and the unique routine that goes along with it come back to me. I was told that while on station off of Vietnam, Long Beach shot down a North Vietnamese MiG with one. Long Beach was ordered on October 15, 1956, laid on December 2, 1957 . As I mentioned earlier, my dad was on active duty as a Master Chief Storekeeper (supply & logistics) on shore duty in San Diego at the time of his death. En-route, we crossed the international dateline at the equator enabling us 'Pollywogs' (newbies) to become 'Golden Shellbacks'a time-honored tradition. Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier Artist Rendering. E. P. Wilkinson in command. [citation needed], Long Beach served as an escort for the USSMissouri(BB-63) task force, and provided aircraft carrier escort support after the Gulf War of 1991. There were two other prototypes at the site, an A1W (the USS Enterprise prototype) and an S1W (the USS Nautilus prototype). When we arrived in Subic Bay a few days later, they already had t-shirts proclaiming Kitty Hawk 'the best ASW (antisubmarine warfare) platform in the Navy' and others stating 'Kitty Hawk - 1, Victor III 0!'. [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. Beginning 5 January 1985 the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile system was installed with two 4-cell Armored Box Launchers on the fantail, with the Harpoon launchers resited. Supposedly when being built, Long Beach was ready before Enterprise and received the 'billboard' arrays intended for the Big E. Besides 400Hz power, the system took a lot of 60Hz power and cooling water as well. Following Vietnam, he was on the pre-commissioning crew of USS Gray (DE-1054), then director of Storekeeper Class C School at Naval Training Center (NTC) San Diego. Collections; Project #ShowUs; . There were also two forward launchers for the Terrier and Talos surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), and those were also later replaced by the longer-range Standard missile. 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. I mistakenly told him I didn't think it was important. That was a major error in judgment to say the least! After a period of leave and upkeep in the fall, Long Beach sailed 7 November 1966 from Long Beach for the Far East. The USS Long Beach, the nation's first nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser, in Massachusetts Bay on July 26, 1961. The majority of the cruise was without drama other than the Tu-95 Bear flybys with fighters from Enterprise escorting them off their wingtips. Enterprise and Long Beach were linked for most of their careers. A. USS Long Beach (CGN 9) (ex-CGN 160, CLGN 160) USS Long Beach (CGN-9) was the first nuclear powered surface warship in the world and the first large combatant in the US Navy with its main battery consisting of guided missiles. It was the last nuclear-powered surface combatant the Navy built. We left Pearl Harbor, once again saluting the Arizona Memorial, in company with Enterprise and the rest of our battle group. 1988. Having a nuclear-powered carrier battlegroup offered the fleet commander options that didn't require constant refueling to remain on station. He made an announcement on the ship's announcing system which sounded like a slam on Newport News Shipbuilding. 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. Photo taken from USS Evans (DE 1023). The USS McClusky at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station on September 6, 2008. The 1984 deployment was different than my previous deployments on Long Beach from the start. 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. She was reviewed by President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson during this time. nuclear Aegis strike cruiser). The cruiser served in the Atlantic Fleet from 1961 to 1966. 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. In the late 1970s, DARPA proposed to the USN a new warship concept called the "Strike Cruiser" provisionally designated CSGN. I was able to learn a lot about being a Command Master Chief from him. Free shipping. 1 May 1973 Fifth 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. While there, we noticed the Navy Exchange had t-shirts for sale calling USS Reeves (CG-24) 'the only real cruiser in town.' Since we would be in Hawaii for a few extra days, my first wife and our sons came over and stayed with some friends of ours who were stationed there. Check out these sailors from one such ceremony back in 1953.. HMAS Melbourne is absolutely dwarfed by the Big E., View douglas healey and tyler rogoway's Articles. When this was done at dinner time we'd call it 'having dinner rolls.'. We pointed out to the Cheng that having an 'Atomic Weapons Officer' seemed counter that message. 17,000 tonnes 1976 design. 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. 9 January 1985 Selected Restricted Availability at. [8], The summer of 1966 was spent in training and orienting midshipmen in the tactics and operations involved in the modern nuclear Navy. 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. Letters could take a couple of weeks to travel between the ship and home. They both can accomplish the same tasks without a huge difference in performance. The reactor plants were similar between Enterprise and 'The Beach' but there were enough differences that they were considered separate designs. This tour of duty in West Pac ended with her arrival again at Long Beach on 16 November. 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. Since there were more in the mess, I felt I had a greater likelihood of finding good and less good examples to model from. We were told by some of the repair personnel in Subic that a part of a blade from the sub's screw was found embedded in the Kitty Hawk's bottom. 9 December 1967 Present at Long Beach to welcome. Gone too was the Talos missile launcher and all of the equipment that supported it. Long Beach was . Around this time, Long Beach was identified as being suitable for conversion to accommodate the newly developed Aegis combat system, as part of the plans for a force of nuclear-powered Aegis cruisers, but that plan was not implemented. Peter is also aContributing Writerfor Forbes. Laid down asCG (N) 9, 2 December 1957 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Mass. All of the plank owners were given a certificate signed by the Arkansas governor Bill Clinton designating us as honorary Arkansas Travelers. 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. [20], A crew member aboard the USS Long Beach may have been exposed to abnormal levels of radiation in 1963,[21] and the ship was leaking radioactive coolant in 1991. USS Long Beach (CLGN-160/CGN-160/CGN-9) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. I was an Electrician's Mate-1 (E6) at the time, part of PCU (Pre-commissioning Unit) for USS. Fortunately, he was over-ruled and we were allowed to leave the operation area after over 100 days continuously at sea. It was going through the drawdown of the post-Vietnam era and there was a severe shortage of leadership personnel at the First and Second Class Petty Officer levels (E6 and E5). Returning to Norfolk 7 February,USSLong Beach(CGN9) trained off the east coast and in the Caribbean, on 10 April joining in Atlantic Fleet exercises off North Carolina and Virginia as flagship for Adm. Robert H. Dennison, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet. Unfortunately, when I reached the one year of sea duty point, the program requirements had changed and a full sea tour was required (four years in my case). Then there are the construction and maintenance costs. A few of my shipmates and I went to one of the nearby pubs for an adult beverage. 2022Recurrent Ventures. Technology. 1982. The USS Long Beach is a former battleship belonging to the U.S. Navy. Long Beach steamed over 30,000 miles in 58 days at an average speed of 25 knots, without being refueled or resupplied. It was an interesting time to be a recruiter. As an experimental platform,Long Beachwas the only ship of her class. For the longest time, the ship's rumor mill had it that if Long Beach rolled to greater than 45 degrees to either port or starboard, the ship would capsize. She returned to Norfolk 20 December for coastal and Caribbean operations through 28 April 1964 when she sailed for the Mediterranean again to join aircraft carrier USSEnterprise(CVN-65) and guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, in the formation of the first all nuclearpowered task group on 13 May. Afterward, my company commander wanted to know why I hadn't informed him that my father was a Senior Chief Petty Officer stationed at the NTC. In Electrician's Mate Class A school we learned about motors generators, shipboard distribution and troubleshooting electrical systems. 7 January 1980 Ninth West Pacific deployment. 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. [citation needed], Long Beach was originally ordered as CLGN-160. American ships were still dry. ), a Congressman from California, and commissioned on 9 September 1961. I believe, each one of my supervisors who gave their approval thought that someone above them would disapprove my request. 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. My partner at the recruiting station was an Engineman First Class originally from the Philippines. [7] The ship was propelled by two nuclear reactors, one for each propeller shaft, and was capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots (56km/h). 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