Artist conception of Mark I variant (1976 version) |
|
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Nuclear-powered guided missile strike cruiser (CSGN) |
| Builders: | Never built |
| Operators: | United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Virginia-class cruiser |
| Succeeded by: | Ticonderoga-class cruiser |
| Cost: | $1.371 billion USD - lead ship (est.) |
| Planned: | 8 - 12 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided missile cruiser |
| Displacement: | 16,035 tons (light) 17,284 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 709 feet 7 inches (216.3 m) |
| Beam: | 76 feet 5 inches (23.3 m) |
| Draft: | 22 feet 4 inches (6.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 pressurized water D2G General Electric nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp (150 Mw) 2 x 2000 Kw diesel generators 6 x ship service turbo generators |
| Speed: | 30+ knots (55+ km/h) |
| Range: | unlimited |
| Complement: | 454 (total) |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
AN/SPY-1A multi-function radar AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPS-10F surface search radar AN/SPS-64 navigation radar AN/SPG-62 (x4) fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow-mounted sonar AN/SLQ-32 ECM suite AN/UYK-7 computer processing |
| Armament: | 2 x Mk-26 missile launchers SM-2MR and ASROC • 64 missiles forward • 64 missiles aft 2 x quad Mk-143 ABL launchers • BGM-109 Tomahawk (8) 4 x quad Mk-141 tube launchers • RGM Harpoon (16) 1 x 8-in/55 cal MCLWG (forward) 2 x Mk-15 Phalanx CIWS (amidships) 2 x triple Mark 32 SVTT • Mark 46 torpedo |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 x SH-2F LAMPS I helicopters |
A strike cruiser (proposed hull designator: CSGN) was a proposal from DARPA on the next generation of cruisers in the late 1970s. It was to be a guided missile attack cruiser with a displacement of around 17,200 long tons (17,500 t), armed and equipped with SM-2, Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles, an 8-inch gun, and the Aegis phased array radar system.
A prototype strike cruiser was to be the refurbished USS Long Beach (CGN-9); at a cost of roughly $800 million, however this never came to pass.
Originally, eight to a dozen strike cruisers were projected. The cruiser was to have arsenal ship offensive capabilities coupled with Aegis defensive capabilities in a nuclear-powered package. The class would have complemented the Aegis-equipped fleet defense (DDG-47) version of the Spruance class destroyers. After the CSGN cancellation, the Aegis destroyers were expanded into the Ticonderoga-class (CG-47) Aegis cruiser program.
