USS Little Rock was commissioned in June of 1945 as CL-92, a light cruiser of the Cleveland class. She served through the final months of World War II and into the post war years until she was decommissioned in 1949, to spend the next 8 years in mothballs. In early 1957 she was taken out of the reserve fleet, and work began on her conversion to a guided missile cruiser.
In June of 1960 she was recommissioned as CLG-4, fitted with the Talos missile
system mounted in place of her after gun batteries. She made several Mediterranean
cruises, serving as flagship of the 6th Fleet from 1967 to 1970. The photo above, courtesy of the USS Little Rock Association (see link below)
shows her sometime in the early 70's.
USS Little Rock was decommissioned for the last time on November 22, 1976. She was again placed into storage at Philadelphia, until she was moved to her present location at the Buffalo Naval and Servicemen's Park in Buffalo, NY. She is now open to the public, with tours throughout much of her interior. She is in the company of USS The Sullivans (DD-537), a Fletcher Class destroyer, and USS Croaker (SSK-246), a converted WWII Gato Class submarine. In addition to the ships, there are several military vehicles and airplanes on the grounds of the museum.
At right is a photo of Little Rock's forecastle, showing her 6-inch triple and 5-inch twin turrets.
Some statistics:
Length: 610 feet
Width: 66 feet
Displacement: 12,000 tons
Crew : 1,100 enlisted, 150 officers