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Baltimore-class cruiser
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===Missile conversions=== {{main|Boston-class cruiser|Albany-class cruiser}} By the latter half of the 1940s, the US Navy was planning and experimenting with warships equipped with guided missiles. In 1946 the [[battleship]] {{USS|Mississippi|BB-41|6}} and in 1948 the [[seaplane tender]] {{USS|Norton Sound|AVM-1|6}} were converted to test this idea. Both were equipped with, among other weapons, [[RIM-2 Terrier]] missiles, which were also used after 1952 on the first series of operational missile cruisers. Two ''Baltimore''-class cruisers were refitted in this first series, {{USS|Boston|CA-69|2}} and {{USS|Canberra|CA-70|2}}. These were the first operational guided missile cruisers in the world. They were designated the ''Boston'' class and returned to service in 1955 and 1956 respectively, reclassified as CAG-1 and CAG-2β"G" for "guided missile" and maintaining the "A" because they retained their heavy guns. In the following years, six light cruisers of the ''Cleveland'' class were retrofitted to be equipped with guided missiles, and in 1957, the first warship designed from the start to be a missile cruiser was completed ({{USS|Long Beach|CGN-9|2}}). Other ships also continued to be converted, so starting in 1958, two ''Baltimore''-class cruisers, {{USS|Chicago|CA-136|2}} and {{USS|Columbus|CA-74|2}}, along with an {{sclass|Oregon City|cruiser|1}}, (considered a sub-class of the ''Baltimore'' class) {{USS|Albany|CA-123|2}}, were converted to the new ''Albany'' class. These were recommissioned in 1962 and 1964, respectively. Two more ships were planned to be refitted as ''Albany''s, the ''Baltimore'' class {{USS|Bremerton|CA-130|2}} and the ''Oregon City'' class {{USS|Rochester|CA-124|2}}, but these conversions were cancelled because of cost. As opposed to the ''Boston''-class refit, the ''Albany''-class refit required a total reconstruction. Both entire weapons systems and the superstructure were removed and replaced with new ones; the cost of one refit was $175 million. Because no high-caliber guns were retained, the ''Albany'' class ships received the designation ''CG'' rather than ''CAG''. In addition to the operational conversions, four ''Baltimore''-class ships, {{USS|Helena|CA-75|2}}, {{USS|Los Angeles|CA-135|2}}, {{USS|Macon|CA-132|2}}, and {{USS|Toledo|CA-133|2}}, received modifications to operate the [[SSM-N-8 Regulus]] [[cruise missile]] between 1956 and 1958 on an experimental basis. Regulus was a nuclear-armed weapon that was primarily used by the US Navy in the [[deterrence theory|nuclear deterrent]] role. Although associated primarily with submarines, the four ''Baltimore''-class cruisers fitted to operate the missile undertook operational taskings with it to the Western Pacific during the experimental period. <gallery mode="nolines"> File:USS Toledo (CA-133) launching Regulus missile c1956.jpg|USS ''Toledo'' launches a Regulus cruise missile File:USS Boston (CAG-1) underway at sea, circa in early 1957.jpg|USS ''Boston'', the first of two ''Boston''-class conversions File:USS Chicago (CG-11) underway in the Coral Sea, in October 1979.jpg|USS ''Chicago'' after reconstruction as an ''Albany''-class cruiser </gallery>
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