AN / SPG - 59 The AN / SPG - 59 was an advanced phased array radar developed by the U . S . Navy starting in 1958 . It was intended to offer search , track and guidance from a single radar system and antenna . Paired with the new Typhon missile , the system was to provide wide - area air defense out to about from suitable anti - aircraft cruiser s . Both the radar and missile proved to be well beyond the state of the art of the era , and the project was eventually canceled in December 1963 . The Typhon Combat System . The Typhon / SPG - 59 started as a response to the introduction of sea - skimming anti - ship missile s into service with Soviet Naval Aviation groups . First - generation missile systems like Talos and Terrier used a combination of beam riding and semi - active radar homing ( SARH ) that required a special targeting radar to illuminate the target through the entire interception . Typical installations included either two or four such illumination radars , which limited the number of simultaneous interceptions . Facing volleys of missiles such systems could easily be overwhelmed . Adding additional radars was possible , but difficult to arrange as the radars were fairly large and required a clear view of the sky , limiting the number of suitable locations . This led to a " specification convergence " ; since there could only be a small number of radars , the missile receivers were built to tune in only a small number of potential " channels " . That meant that increasing the number of radars would also require the missiles to be updated as well . System Characteristics . The AN / SPG - 59 avoided this problem by acting as both the search and illumination radar . This reduced the problem of siting , as there needed to be only one radar on the ship , albeit a very large one . The Typhon missiles also helped solve this problem , switching from semi - active radar homing , and beam riding to tracking by a track - via - missile system . In this system the receiver on the missile is a wide - band receiver , and forwards its received signals back to the ship . The ship ' s on - board computers then calculate the interception course and forward it back to the missile from an omni - directional antenna . This is similar to the older command guidance system , but avoids the inaccuracies of that system by locating the receiver on the missile , which is closer to the target and therefore sees a stronger signal . Although this system required the missiles to be able to tune in a number of command radio channels , these are generally much simpler and smaller than radar receivers , allowing a much larger number of channels to be supported . Development Problems . Development of the radar suffered from multiple problems from its start . The phased array radar required a very large number of individual broadcaster elements which proved to be unreliable and very expensive . Additionally , the power requirements of the system were so huge that only nuclear - powered ships could provide the necessary power to operate the system . Although such ships were then under construction , they were politically controversial . The radar was canceled in December 1963 , because of mounting technical problems and being considerably over budget . Typhon Test Vessel . In November 1962 was towed to Baltimore , Maryland for installation of the Typhon Weapon Control System , including the AN / SPG - 59 . The conversion was completed early in 1964 , and " Norton Sound " was recommissioned 20 June 1964 to continue tasks in weapons research . Baltimore was designated homeport for Norton Sound , and for several months she operated in Chesapeake Bay , evaluating the Typhon System . Assigned to Port Hueneme , California in July 1965 , she arrived there the last day of that month . During a three month stay at Long Beach Naval Shipyard commencing 15 July 1966 , all Typhon equipment was removed following discontinuance of the system .