Because while Sea RAM and RIM-66E's are not to be scoffed at, they are barely adequate in a tier where aircraft carriers can practically send wave after wave of planes on short notice and pummel a lone ship to death very early on in a match. When playing with a Long Beach in the fleet, each ship class can provide support in their own way.įrigates, Destroyers, and Corvettes can stick with the Long beach to provide it some much needed air cover.

Not to mention such a build is practically a death sentence to submarines which are very prolific in tier 3 lobbies. The reasoning behind this is that having this is that Ikara's and ASROC's are immune to being flared, and the way the launchers have been set up allows the ASROCS to deploy their torpedoes in a very wide area once they reach their target, making it difficult to counter all of them with a single grenade launcher salvo.

If one insists on being a damage dealer, then a highly competitive setup would be loading up on RUM-139 ASROC's and Ikara's in place of the stock armament. Let the heavier and more well defended ships soak up the damage from aircraft for you while you help them by shooting down drones and bombers with your main guns and sending missiles and grenades every now and then at ships. Rather, a more preferable method of playing the Long Beach is to be a sub first line vessel, a frontline support instead of being the main damage dealer courtesy of its high number of missile slots and triple grenade launchers. While it is possible to play the Long Beach as simply an American Version of these ships with good results, that is not the most optimal way to go about making the most of the ship due to its inferior AA suite, poor handling, and rather horrendous radar signature. Those who have played the Kirov twins before acquiring Long Beach would be familiar with the less than optimal handling characteristics of such a large vessel. Steadily pumping out a unrelenting stream of gun, missile, grenade, and torpedo fire at a target until they run down their chaff and repair parties before coming in for the finishing blow. The Long Beach does not excel in dealing out a lot of damage as quickly as possible but instead, it is a master of death by a thousand cuts. making this ship a natural bane to drones and bombers. Secondly, Air defense is somewhat compensated by the Mark 30 DP guns which is probably one of if not the best aircraft killing gun in the game courtesy of its tight spread, high damage, and decent range. For one, triple grenade launchers is not a luxury that many ships have and with the right setup can deliver a lot of extra pain to the enemy. However, the Long Beach does have its own advantages. Then there are the likes of CG-21(X), Arsenal ship, and battlecruiser 2000.

For one, the Ticonderoga siblings feature arguably superior armament options (At least in terms of guns, autocannons, etc) and handle much better to boot, the Kirov siblings are much more heavily armed and better defended by AA overall, and the Varyag absolutely blowing other ships out of the water with its air defense capabilities. USS Long Beach could be considered a bit of an oddball amongst her cruiser brethren as her overall armament suite seems rather underwhelming especially when compared to the competition. After serving in the US navy for almost 40 years, she was stricken from the naval register in 1995, and most of her hull is now preserved in long term storage at Pudget Sound Naval Shipyard. The sole member of her class, Long Beach was the first nuclear powered surface combatant of any navy in the world and she was loaded with at the time cutting edge technologies, such as new forms of weaponry, fire control systems, and the much vaunted SCANFAR Radar system which later turned out to be more troublesome than it was worth.

Long beach war ship