The Talos supersonic surface-to-air missile was 38 ft long, weighed nearly 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg), and was powered by a novel 20,053 lbf ramjet engine, plus a solid-fuel rocket booster.
With a range of over 65 miles (105 km) for early variants, and over 100 for later ones, and speeds of up to Mach 4, it was designed to destroy enemy aircraft at high altitudes using either a conventional or atomic warhead.
Galveston reported the shot "hot, straight and normal" as she proudly proved her capability as one of the most mighty warships of the modern United States Navy.
[1] In July 1959, Galveston conducted shakedown and acceptance trials in the Virginia Capes area, followed by a refresher training cruise to waters off Cuba and the testing of her radar and communications in war games with the U.S. Air Force.
On 4 January 1960, she departed Norfolk for a visit to Charleston, South Carolina, and operations off the Florida coast, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Returning to Norfolk, the cruiser unloaded her ammunition for shock tests off the Bahamas, then entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 25 March 1960 for a yard period that extended into the fall.
The cruiser returned to Norfolk on 9 April, but soon steamed to Jacksonville, where on 8 May she began duty under the Operational Technical Evaluation Force that included extensive testing of her missile system and many Talos firings.
[citation needed] Galveston departed Philadelphia on 23 July 1962, transited the Panama Canal for San Diego, California; and joined Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 9, U.S. Pacific Fleet, on 24 August 1962.
In addition she provided air defense for 7th Fleet carriers in the South China Sea and conducted search and rescue operations in the Gulf of Tonkin.
[citation needed] In 1970 she was placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego and in 1975 was sold for scrap to National Metal and Steel Corp.[2] The 1963-1964 Far East tour was commemorated in the large back patch on the G-1 flight jacket worn by lead Tom Cruise in the 1986 film Top Gun.