wiredinUSA August 2012

The world’s first nuclear- powered surface warship, the USS Long Beach , has been put up for auction as scrap metal, to be dismantled and recycled. The 720-foot (219m) vessel, the first American cruiser since the end of World War Two to be built new from the keel up, boasted the world’s highest bridge and Nuclear cruiser up for auction

was the last such US vessel with teakwood decks, according to Navy history. LongBeach , commissioned in 1961, is not the first war- ship to be recycled. But the defense contractor that exclusively handles such auctions, Government Liquidation, said it would be the first time in its 11-year history that a nuclear powered guided missile cruiser has been sold for scrap. Other decommissioned US military vessels have been sunk, sold toother countries or more rarely turned into museums open to the public, as was the fate of the storied battleship USS

Iowa , which opened in Los Angeles as a museum in July. “I’m sure that Long Beach was always designated for scrapping. We don’t make a lot of ships into museums,” said Pat Dolan, spokesperson at the US Naval Sea Systems Command. Long Beach had 10,000 tons of steel, 300 miles of electrical cable and 450 tons of aluminum, earning it the voice radio call sign “Alcoa” after the aluminum maker of the same name.

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wiredInUSA - August 2012