alternatehistory.com

Initially, there were plans to produce more than one Enterprise class nuclear powered aircraft carrier, however these were cancelled due to budget cuts. The USS Long Beach nuclear powered cruiser and USS Bainbridge nuclear powered destroyer leader (later reclassified as a nuclear powered cruiser) were built around the same time, and in May 1964 all three ships came together to form the first nuclear powered naval unit, Task Force 1. The Long Beach was equipped with the powerful SCANFAR radar and Talos missiles, making it something of a precursor to the later AEGIS system.

Historically, the United States didn't begin mass production of nuclear powered aircraft carriers until ordering USS Nimitz in March 1967. Mass production of nuclear powered cruisers didn't start until May 1968, when USS California was ordered. Assuming that nuclear powered ships could be mass produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, what kind of impact would an earlier start to the nuclear navy have had on United States Navy planning and procurement? Might the United States Navy have retained nuclear powered cruisers, and perhaps even built nuclear powered destroyers?
Top