4/15/2024 0 Comments Long beach war shipThe photo-etch fret contains twenty-seven items, the majority of which are ladders and stairs, although the option to build masts and their platforms for the rear bridge are present as well. Since the advent of slide mold technology, the model ship industry has benefitted from better detailing such as open gun barrels for the five-inch mounts. Aside from the base, and upper and lower hulls, there are ten sprues holding the parts. The plastic is similar to the medium gray product you will find in a Dragon kit, with a slight texture being present on many of the moldings. Unlike my last Cyber-Hobby kit review, this kit will leave the builder with less than twenty unused parts for their spares box. If you check out the box before you open it, you will notice the words “This kit contains over 180 parts,” and I am going to take Cyber-Hobby on their word. ![]() Additional Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers are provided for the aft deck, but with no corresponding holes on the deck I left them off. Armament consisted of two twin Mk 10 Terrier launchers, an ASROC (Anti-Submarine ROCket) launcher, two five-inch 38 caliber guns, and two triple Mk 32 torpedo tubes. This release from Cyber-Hobby represents the USS Long Beach, as she appeared in 1980, so likely when she was on a Western Pacific cruise between January and July, as the ship entered a refit from October of that year until March of 1983. The ship also took part in one Mediterranean cruise and nine Western Pacific cruises while active. During a fifty-eight day stretch, the Long Beach travelled over 30,000 nautical miles at an average speed of 25 knots without refueling or taking on supplies. ![]() The most famous cruise in the storied history of the USS Long Beach is likely that of Operation “Sea Orbit,” when she, along with the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25), formed a part of the first nuclear task group in 1964, which circumnavigated the globe. The ship displaced 17,500 tons, was 721 feet long, 73 feet at the beam, had a draft of 30 feet 9 inches, and with her crew of 1160 officers and enlisted men could travel at up to 30 knots from the power of her two Westinghouse C1W nuclear reactors. The ship is currently located at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington as it continues to be dismantled as scrap. Built by the Bethlehem Steel Company Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, the USS Long Beach had her keel laid down on 2 December 1957, was launched 14 July 1959, then commissioned 9 September 1961, and was decommissioned. ![]() The ship was ordered as CLGN-160 (Guided Missile Light Cruiser, Nuclear powered), but the designation changed to CGN-160 (Guided Missile Cruiser, Nuclear powered), and later the hull number would change to CGN-9. The ship, when completed, possessed the tallest bridge in the world, and she was the third US Navy ship to carry the name “Long Beach.” She was the last warship to be fitted with teakwood decks, and future cruisers would be built on the platforms of destroyers and frigates. Kennedy after he visited the ship in 1962. The two five-inch guns were added at the request of President John F. ![]() She was the first nuclear-powered surface warship in the world, the first cruiser since the end of WWII designed and built new from the keel up, and was the first US Navy ship equipped with guided missiles as the main armament. The USS Long Beach (CGN-9) was a ship of firsts and lasts for the US Navy. Still, the kit builds up into a very nice representation of the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), and I would recommend it to those wanting to add this fine ship to their collection. There were a couple of complications due to my choice of building the full hull version, and there were some challenges obtaining a few of the necessary small parts. This is the third Cyber-Hobby ship model that I have been privileged to build for a review (the others being the USS Chicago and the USS Virginia), and I will say that this was the most challenging of the three.
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