So Dad came home, grabbed me and we went out to Boulder (Hoover) dam and saw the ship sitting there. From there we went and met a Naval Officer and one of the Physicist from the Nevada Test Site that worked on Atomic bombs at the Lake Mead Naval Station. The photo of the ship appeared in the Las Vegas Sun the next day and on local news programs that afternoon.
About a week or so later it was gone. Official explanation. “We (the Navy) wanted to test the possibility of a sea going warship in inland waters. The ship was disassembled and reassembled in secret (Not likely considering the openness of the area,) and will be disassembled and shipped back to San Diego.” No trucks seen shipping parts, hull, engines, turrets etcetera before or after.