Calling all USS Long Beach CGN-9 fans

[HvyCgn9]

Paul all the photos I have seen during my research show a darker grey for the helo deck area during all of her service life. All modellers take different interpretations into a build so you are better off going by the pics of the beast!! here are a few shots from what I have gathered of her flight deck area....

[HvyCgn9]

Also I think I used Tamiya Gunship grey II for flight decks or Tamiya IJN grey sasebo arsenal (spray tins) It will be in my 1/72 USS Long Beach build over on RC groups somewhere......

[Paul Helfrich]

Paul all the photos I have seen during my research show a darker grey for the helo deck area during all of her service life. All modellers take different interpretations into a build so you are better off going by the pics of the beast!! here are a few shots from what I have gathered of her flight deck area....

Thanks, that's very helpful! Yes, that "lighter" look - perhaps, as you say, a trick of the light - has definitely been incorporated into Dragon's box art for the 1980 version:

http://www.dragon-models.com/d-m-item.asp?pid=CHC7135

[SumGui]

Her hull is back out near the nest of SSNs awaiting recycling, her bow and stern were removed during her drydocking, but about 2/3 of her hull is still there.

Visible when looking up Bremerton on Google maps, and confirmed by visual from my boat this weekend.

[gtbred]

Just clean up the hull. Post photos later.

[maxim]

50 years ago, on 23rd of May 1968, USS Long Beach (CGN-9) shot down a MiG with a Talos at a range of 65 miles. The first kill with a ship-based anti-aircraft missile.

I built a 1/700 model using the JAG kit converted to her 1968 fit:


Long Beach

I added Terrier and Talos launchers by diStefan 3Dprint




and Mk 56 directors by Model Monkey

[DrPR]

I served with a couple of fellows who were on the Long Beach for that kill. Here is what they told me.

The NVN had "fishing boats" that followed our ships in the Gulf of Tonkin and radioed information back to Hanoi, so they knew what ships we had and their capabilities. Talos had a range of 130 nautical miles, so when a Talos ship was in the gulf they didn't fly anywhere close to it.

On the way out to WESTPAC the Long Beach stopped at Pearl Harbor and installed a TACAN system from an old WWII era guns only destroyer that was returning from Vietnam to the States. This gave the Long Beach the electronic signature of that destroyer. The Long Beach steamed into the gulf at night with most of her electronics silent so it looked like the old destroyer returning.

There were two NVN MiGs flying together when they fired the Talos. When the MiGs realized they were being tracked they started a cross-over pattern where the planes weaved back and forth with one crossing over the other. This was supposed to confuse missiles but it had no effect on Talos. The intercept happened when the two planes were some distance apart. If they had been crossing at that instant the missile might have downed them both!

For more information about Talos see:
https://www.okieboat.com/Talos.html
https://www.okieboat.com/Talos%20history.html

Phil

[maxim]

Thank you for the interesting story and the interesting links!

Hopefully there will be a Oklahoma City 1/700 kit available as some point. Alternatively I will fuse a Galveston stern part to a Springfield foreship....

[DrPR]

maxim,

The "Springston" would be interesting! There were some significant differences between the Galveston, Springfield and the OK City.

1. The Galveston's missile house upper (O2) deck was shaped different.

2. The boat decks on Galveston and Springfield were different from OK City.

3. Springfield had the Mk 34 main battery director - it was removed from the OK City in the early 60s.

4. The forward tower and O6 ECM shack were unique on the OK City from the mid '60s on.

It really depends upon the year you are modeling the OK City. It was very similar to the Little Rock in 1960, but a LOT of changes were made after that. If you decide to build the model contact me and I will help if I can.

Phil

[maxim]

Thank you for the advice! I will write you when I start that!

Do you know if the other two halves (bow part of Galveston and stern part of Springfield) can be used to built Topeka?

[DrPR]

"Galveka" should work pretty good.

The forward half of both Galveston and Topeka were mostly unchanged from the original WWII configuration. The three Terrier CLGs were pretty close to the same on the aft half. However, my experience is that no two shipyards built the ships the same way, and because Galveston and Topeka were the first Talos/Terrier CLGs the following ships had some modifications. The radar towers are probably the most noticeable differences.

I would have to look at photos pretty carefully to see what minor differences there were - and there aren't a lot of photos of Topeka after the CLG conversion.

Again, I might be able to help you with that project. I have a lot of photos of the CLGs.

Phil

[maxim]

Hi Phil,
Then I know whom to ask for both projects!

Both are not to be done soon, but for sure I would like to built all the different classes and subclasses of missile guided cruiser conversion.

Cheers,
Lars

[gtbred]

Looking better!

[SebastianP]

Ok, here's a toughie reference request, as I've been all over the internet for public photos and found nothing:

What did the life raft racks installed during the 1980s refit look like up close? I haven't seen that type of life boat rack (stacked three high vertically) on any other US Navy ship so far, and the pictures of the real ship aren't close enough to make out any detail other than that they're indeed vertical and three life rafts high.

I would also sincerely appreciate decent pictures (especially from the top) of the post-overhaul mast configuration.

(I'm working on updating a 3D model I found on Sketchup's 3D warehouse with some of the details the original builder never got around to, like the radio antennas etc.)

Also, to correct some misinformation from earlier in the thread (no offense to veterans' memories):

Talos wasn't removed during the 80-83 reconstruction, it was removed, directors and all, some time before summer of 1979 (there's a picture of this config dated June 1979 in Friedman's "US Cruisers", pg 413). In the interim, a pair of Harpoon launchers were installed where the Talos launcher had sat (picture of this, dated January 1980 is on Navsource: http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/1109/04010945.jpg) for the her Westpac cruise of 1980, after which she went to the yards for the big refit and refueling.

[TZoli]

For anyone interested in making the USS Long Beach model, here are my drawings based on the photos.
As laid down with RGM-15 Regulus II CruM:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87192922
As proposed while under construction with RGM-27 Polaris IRBM:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87212829
Various forms during her career:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87234625
Two variants (Based on a number of sources and drawings) of her proposed CSGN (Strike Cruiser) Reconstruction:
https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/87260501

[scottj]

Thank you for the drawings, Tzoli, they really help.

Comparing the Cyber Hobby 1980 kit to photos shows they were pretty careless in several areas. The foremast detail is an earlier version without the SPS-10 and SPS-12. There is a boxy form at the base of the foremast that is completely missing. The structures around the mainmast are a weird mix of pre and post Talos removal. Clearly they were trying to save on changes required to the molds. The illustration for painting & marking still includes the SPG-49 radars but they should be gone. I'm still trying to find a photo with something that resembles part G20.

I'm very happy to have the kit but my build will require a bit of work to nail down a time-specific configuration.

Scott

[TZoli]

Then you might find this rar file which I've made very useful. It contains most if not all the Long Beach photos available online sorted into years with 3 folders containing undated photos or ones which I cannot ID the year.
Here
https://file.io/lqakXz2wViOu

[Artoor]

Sorry for interupting your discussion but Im just happy to find Long Beach thread here. Im another LB fan, happy to have Revell what if LB model