Missile Loadouts: USS Long Beach (1961-1995)

USS Long Beach (CGN-9) was a truly one of a kind ship and not solely because she was the only ship of her class. Long Beach holds many records including being the world's first purpose-built guided missile warship, the first nuclear-powered surface vessel, and the first ship to use missiles to shoot down an airplane in combat (she scored two MiG kills in Vietnam). She also has the dubious distinction of being the only US Navy surface combatant to be built without any guns (although two 5" mounts were later added). Finally, Long Beach was America's last cruiser, with all succeeding cruiser classes being originally designed as either frigates or destroyers and subsequently redesignated.

The Original Armament

Long Beach originally commissioned with a mixed battery of one twin Talos launcher (52 missiles), two twin Terrier launchers (one with 40 missiles and one with 80), and an eight-cell ASROC box launcher with twelve reloads. This gave her an impressive armament of 192 missiles. However, even this was not enough, and space and weight were reserved for the later addition of strategic weapons in the form of either Regulus II supersonic cruise missiles or eight Polaris ballistic missiles.

Long Beach in 1961: 52x Talos, 120x Terrier, 20x ASROC

In 1978 the Talos missile system was removed (by this point the only operational Talos ships were Long Beach and two members of the Albany-class) and replaced with two quad canister launchers for the brand new Harpoon antiship missile. It also is likely that in this period Long Beach had her Terrier missiles replaced with the more reliable SM-1ER.

Long Beach in 1978: 120x SM-1ER, 20x ASROC, 8x Harpoon

Proposed Strike Cruiser Conversion

By the late 1970's it was clear that Long Beach's weapons and sensors were obsolescent and she had less combat capability than several much smaller ships. However, her large nuclear powered hull was still a valuable commodity and it was proposed to rebuild her as a prototype strike cruiser armed with all the most modern weapons. The conversion was expected to cost $776 million and the first $371 million was allocated in the 1977 budget.

The centerpiece of this rebuild was going to be the Aegis combat system. Weapons would consist of two Mk 26 Mod 2 launchers (64 missiles each), four Tomahawk armored box launchers, and four Harpoon quad launchers. A pair of 8" guns would round off this impressive armament. Given Tomahawk procurement at the time, it is likely that the armored box launchers would have been loaded with an equal mix of the antiship and nuclear land attack variants, giving Long Beach a significant strategic strike capability (eight 150-kiloton warheads) as well as twenty long-range antiship missiles.

Long Beach Strike Cruiser Proposal: 108x SM-2MR, 20x ASROC, 16x Tomahawk, 16x Harpoon

Tomahawk Added

However, this was not to be and when Long Beach entered the yards in 1982, she instead received an austere $175 million refit. Her radars were replaced and her combat systems were upgraded to handle SM-2, increasing both the number of targets she could engage simultaneously as well as the range of her main armament. Further, two armored box launchers were added for Tomahawk, giving some strategic strike capability.

Long Beach in 1982: 120x SM-2ER, 20x ASROC, 8x Tomahawk, 8x Harpoon

Long Beach remained in this configuration until she was decommissioned in 1995. Despite her incredible service record, Long Beach was designed before there was a good understanding of guided missiles and in some ways stands as an example of what not to do in ship design. Begun as an attempt to bring nuclear power to the surface fleet, the size and expense of her revolutionary propulsion plant led to a spiral of mission creep that resulted in a ship that was armed with two separate long range missile systems and was intended to carry intercontinental strategic weapons.

Ultimately, the massive Talos missile system that helped drive the large size of Long Beach proved to be a dead end and was removed halfway through her service life. The space and weight for strategic missiles was also never used and in hindsight the money spent on this magnificent cruiser would probably have been better employed buying more of the smaller Leahy or Bainbridge-class frigates. The failures and successes of Long Beach are particularly relevant today as we enter a new age of lasers, railguns, and hypersonics that threatens to change naval warfare to the same extent that nuclear weapons and guided missiles did when she was designed.