But by the 1990s, nuclear power was deemed too expensive to use on surface ships smaller than an aircraft carrier in view of defense budget cutbacks after the end of the Cold War.

After removal of the nuclear fuel, superstructure, and sections of the bow and stern, the hull segment containing the reactor and machinery spaces was moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and sold for scrap.

Long Beach was originally intended to be a smaller frigate, but was then redesigned and expanded to a cruiser hull, allowing for an open space just aft of the bridge "box".

One of the reasons Long Beach was a single-ship class was because she was an experimental platform for these radars, which were precursors to the AN/SPY-1 phased array systems later installed on Aegis equipped Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

[10] During construction in January 1960, it was widely reported that Long Beach was sabotaged when anti-mine (degaussing) electrical cables were found to have been intentionally cut in three places.

[citation needed] After overhaul and installation of new equipment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Long Beach again trained in the Caribbean, and then sailed 6 August 1963 to join the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean for peacekeeping operations.

She returned to Norfolk 20 December for coastal and Caribbean operations through 28 April 1964 when she sailed for the Mediterranean again to join aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and guided missile destroyer Bainbridge, in the formation of the first all nuclear‑powered task group on 13 May.

Long Beach steamed over 30,000 nautical miles (56,000 km; 35,000 mi) in 58 days at an average speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), without being refueled or resupplied.

On 4 June 1965 she sailed for the Global Strategy Conference at the Naval War College, Newport, where Vice Admiral Kleber S. Masterson, Commander Second Fleet broke his flag on the ship.

[8] During this initial cruise, the ship served primarily as the Positive Identification Radar Advisory Zone (PIRAZ) unit in the northern Gulf of Tonkin.

During this tour, Long Beach was responsible for directing the downing of one Soviet-made An-2 "Colt" aircraft that was attempting to engage South Vietnamese naval units.

In 1968, the ship was redeployed to the Gulf of Tonkin, shooting down a MiG 21 jet fighter near Vinh, with a RIM-8 Talos missile on 23 May 1968,[13][14] at a range of 65 miles (105 km).

[citation needed] There was originally a plan to fully upgrade Long Beach with an Aegis Combat System in the early 1990s, requiring that her superstructure be completely rebuilt.

Due to cuts in the defense budget after the 1991 Gulf War, as well as the higher operating costs and number of crew required compared to conventionally powered ships, the decision was made to decommission all nuclear cruisers from the Navy as their reactor cores ran down.

[citation needed] A deactivation ceremony occurred on 2 July 1994 at Norfolk Naval Station, and the ship was then towed over to Newport News Shipbuilding where her entire superstructure was removed and her reactors were defueled.

On 13 July 2012, Long Beach was sold at auction,[6] for recycling, as prescribed for nuclear-powered vessels by Code 350, at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington.

[20] A crew member aboard Long Beach may have been exposed to abnormal levels of radiation in 1963,[21] and the ship was leaking radioactive coolant in 1991.