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The ship was designed as an "all-missile" ship from the very beginning, but was fitted with two 5"/38 caliber gun mounts amidships at President John F. Kennedy's order. Long Beach was also the last cruiser built on a traditional long, lean cruiser hull; later new-build cruisers were actually converted frigates (DLG/CG USS Leahy (DLG-16), USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25), USS Belknap (DLG-26), USS Truxtun (DLGN-35), and the California and Virginia classes) or uprated destroyers (the DDG/CG Ticonderoga class was built on a Spruance class destroyer hull).
The Long Beach was first laid out to be a smaller frigate, but expanded to a cruiser hull due to the ship being slated for the Regulus nuclear cruise missile or, later, 4 launching tubes for the Polaris missile, which would occupy the space taken up by the 5"/38 caliber gun mounts and the ASROC system. The open space just aft of the bridge "box" was to be the area for these.
In addition to steel, the Long Beach was built with 450 tons of structural aluminum. Because of this unusually high quantity of aluminum, she was assigned the voice radio call sign "Alcoa".
The ship was propelled by two nuclear reactors, one for each propeller shaft, and was capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots (56 km/h). The high box-like superstructure contained the SCANFAR system, consisting of the AN/SPS-32 and AN/SPS-33 phased array radars. One of the reasons Long Beach was a one-ship class was because it was an experimental platform for these radars, which were precursors to the AN/SPY-1 phased array systems later installed on Aegis warships (Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers). At the time, Long Beach had the highest bridge of any ship smaller than an aircraft carrier.
Read more about this topic: USS Long Beach (CGN-9)