Topic: By Request...some pics of the old USS Long Beach in Action

[TheJudge]

Here's the USS Long Beach pulling out to sea:



Here we are firing an SM-2(ER)



Here we are firing an ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket) - My picture didn't quite win the contest, I got the tip of the rocket as it left the launcher and the tail of the rocket.



Here is the 5" mount firing at night with flashless powder...and this was the first gun shoot with me as gun captain. 



Here's a day shot of 5" firing.

[Chris SI]

Very cool.

Isn't the Long Beach retired now?

[Soreyes]

That brings back some memories. Last time I saw the USS Long Beach up close and personell, was years ago in Subic Bay.

[TheJudge]

Ah, yes, the last time I saw Subic Bay was from the deck of the Long Beach...and it was after Mt. Pinatubo blew up.  I snapped this polaroid...




Long Beach has been decommissioned and last I heard looked like this (Long Beach is the longest hull in the pic)

[TheJudge]

Dernit, I just realized, I meant to post this in the Ten Forward, not hot & spicy.  Sigh!  should I just cross-post or can it be moved?

[Sirgod]

Sure thing Jim. Great shots there BTW Bro. I think alot of us Older Vets are starting to get into this Military history again, and It's kind of refreshing to say the least.

Stephen

[TheJudge]

By the way, Long Beach was the first surface ship to use a surface-to-air missile to down an enemy fighter.  It shot down a North Vietmanese Mig over the Gulf of Tonkin using the Talos long-range missile system.  (Talos was removed from the ship in the early 1980's, being replaced by two Tomahawk armored box launchers.  The missile magazine was converted into a very large gym, Tomahawk Control Room, and Ship's store area.)

During the same conversion they converted the forward Mk 10 launchers to the Standard Missile (1) system.  They were later upgraded to SM-2 (ER) missiles that could down aircraft or missiles at ranges of up to 125 nautical miles.  Harpoon anti-ship missiles were added as well (we fired one of them while I was on board as well, but I can't find the pic of it being launched).  Two CIWS weapons were also added on the aft superstructure.

Long Beach, along with Enterprise, also boasted the first phased array radar when originally commissioned.  The system was removed in the 70's and replaced with a standard SPS-49/SPS-48 combination.  Plans to equip her with Aegis were nixed by congress due to cost. 

[Just plain old Punisher]

Not too perdy tho...looks like someone slapped a garage on top of a frigate hull.

[TheJudge]

Hehe, she actually had the same design of superstructure as the Enterprise.  That was to support the phased array radar that was removed in the 70's.  The radar came off, but the 'box' remained.  As for frigate hull, she was 721 feet long...not exactly a frigate hull.  No other cruiser was longer than her since she was built. 

[KnightAdvancer]

The Russian Kirov-class was longer and bigger, wasn't it? Newer, too, I think.

[TheJudge]

Um, it was a battlecruiser, not a cruiser.  It was also Soviet, not American. 

[KnightAdvancer]

Well, you said "no other cruiser," not "no other American light/heavy guided missile cruiser." (And, I note, all the reference sites I have seen list the Kirov as a guided missile cruiser or a heavy missile cruiser, though I suppose calling it a battlecruiser of the missile age would not be too inaccurate. ) 

[Soreyes]

Never got to serve on a Ship like the Long Beach. But here are a few I got to spend some time on.....To much time if you ask me

USS Plymouth Rock


USS Tarawa


USS Denver


USS Barbour County


USS Fairfax County

[S'Raek]

Nice pictures, guys.  I'd post a few of mine but don't own a scanner and none of them are digital.  I remember my Dad talking about the Talos system.  He was on the USS CHICAGO for a while back during Viet Nam.