The fire and the resultant damage and deaths, which would have been less had "Belknap"s superstructure been made of steel, helped persuade the US Navy to pursue all-steel construction in future classes of surface combatants. However, in 1987 the New York Times cited cracking in aluminum superstructures such as what occurred in the s, rather than fire, as the reason the Navy returned to steel on some ships. The first USN combatant ships to revert to all steel superstructure were the , which were commissioned beginning in the 1990s. "Belknap" was reconstructed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 30 January 1976 to 10 May 1980. Since the hull was still in good condition the Navy decided to use this as a test platform for the Aegis class cruiser electronics and updated weapons systems. Until the Aegis class cruisers came along "Belknap" was one of the most powerful warships in the world and saw service in Beirut as part of the multinational peacekeeping force, becoming the first ship to fire on an enemy since the Vietnam War. It was the ship's Naval Tactical Data Systems' (NTDS) reliability during this time in Beirut which was named as the defining reason that the "Belknap" was chosen as the Sixth Fleet flagship.