USN nuclear powered surface units

[Karl Heidenreich]

Are there, apart from the CVN, SSN and SSBN, nuclear powered surface units in the USN inventory?
I was aware that in the 70ies and 80ies there were some but don´t know if they are still operational.
Are there operational nuclear powered warships in other navies as were the Kirovs?

Very best regards...

[lwd]

Here's an article which addresses your question.
http://www.uic.com.au/nip32.htm
From that article:
The USA has the main navy with nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (11), while both it and Russia have had nuclear-powered cruisers (USA: 9, Russia 4). Russia has eight nuclear icebreakers in service.

The US had one merchant ship and a couple of others were built.

Some more info at this site:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL33946.pdf
Apparently all the US nuclear powered ships left are CVs and subs.

[culverin]

Good 2nd link you have there lwd which seems to have been updated too. 1st appears defunct.
It has long intrigued me why the name Long Beach, CGN 9 was selected for the 1st US nuclear cruiser especially as it is a name with no previous naval history.
US cruisers had traditionally been named to honour Cities and Towns, which Long Beach certainly is, but seems rather obscure, certainly to non Americans, so who or what influenced this choice.

[Rick Rather]

Good 2nd link you have there lwd which seems to have been updated too. 1st appears defunct.
It has long intrigued me why the name Long Beach, CGN 9 was selected for the 1st US nuclear cruiser especially as it is a name with no previous naval history.
US cruisers had traditionally been named to honour Cities and Towns, which Long Beach certainly is, but seems rather obscure, certainly to non Americans...

...as are Quincy, Tuscaloosa & Astoria, I would imagine.

...so who or what influenced this choice.

Actually, as a major west-coast seaport and location of a significant naval station (battleships were home-ported there), I am somewhat surprised there wasn't a USS Long Beach before CGN-9.

[tommy303]

It is somewhat surprising that she was the first to be named Long Beach. As you say, it was an important west coast facility. I suppose it might have been due to the name changes from Roosevelt Base US Naval Dry Docks in 1945 to Terminal Island Naval Shipyard and then only to Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1948, just eight years prior to USS Long Beach being ordered.