Virginia-class cruiser

USS Virginia (CGN-38)
Class overview
Name: Virginia for Virginia
Builders: Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Operators: United States Navy
Preceded by: California-class cruiser
Succeeded by: Ticonderoga-class cruiser
Cost: $675 million (1990 dollars)
Built: 1972–1980
In commission: 1976–1998
Planned: 11
Completed: 4
Cancelled: 7
Retired: 4
General characteristics
Type: Guided missile cruiser
Displacement:
  • Light Displacement: 10,663 tons
  • Full Displacement: 11,666 tons
Length: Overall Length: 586 ft (179 m)
Beam: Extreme Beam: 63 ft (19 m)
Draft: Maximum Navigational Draft: 32 ft (10 m)
Propulsion: 2 D2G General Electric nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp
Speed: 30+ knots (55+ km/h)
Range: unlimited
Complement: 39 Officers, 540 Enlisted men
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
Armament:
Armor: 1" Kevlar plastic armor installed around combat information center, magazines, and machinery spaces
Aircraft carried:
  • As built: below-deck hangar for one SH-2F Seasprite helicopter
  • Flight deck occupied by Tomahawk missile storage & launcher after refitting

The Virginia-class nuclear guided-missile cruisers, also known as the CGN-38 class, were a series of four double-ended (with missile armament carried both fore and aft) guided-missile cruisers commissioned in the late 1970s, which served in the United States Navy until the mid-to-late 1990s. With their nuclear power plants, and the resulting capability of steaming at high speeds for long periods of time, these were excellent escorts for the fast nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, such as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Their main mission was as air-defense ships, though they did have excellent Flagship facilities, capabilities as anti-submarine (ASW) ships, surface-to-surface warfare (SSW) ships, and in gun and missile bombardment of shore targets.

The ships had a relatively short service life. They were so expensive to operate that it was determined that it was more effective to replace them with new conventionally powered ships, so they were decommissioned rather than put them through a refueling overhaul.

Class description

USS Mississippi (CGN-40) and USS Texas (CGN-39) (second and third from left) underway with USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS Biddle (CG-34) in the Mediterranean Sea, August 1981.

The ships were derived from the earlier California class nuclear cruiser (CGN-36 class). They were decommissioned as part of the early 1990s "peace dividend" after the Cold War ended. A fifth warship, the CGN-42, was canceled before being named or laid down. It was found that, while it was possible to mass-produce nuclear-powered warships, the ships were less cost-efficient than conventionally powered warships and the new gas-turbine-powered ships then entering the fleet—(the Spruance-class destroyers)—required much less manpower. Following the end of production of this class, the U.S. Navy continued conventional destroyer/cruiser production, and it redesignated the DDG-47 class of guided missile destroyers as the CG-47 Ticonderoga-class cruisers. Three of the four Virginia-class ships were authorized as guided missile frigates (in the pre-1975 definition), and they were redesignated as cruisers either before commissioning or before their launching. The last warship, USS Arkansas, was authorized, laid down, launched, and commissioned as a guided-missile cruiser.

Early decommissioning

A shock trial of Arkansas.

The early retirement of the Virginia class cruisers has been criticized by some. They were new, modern ships; given a New Threat Upgrade electronics overhaul, they would have been well-suited to modern threats. They had rapid-fire Mk 26 launchers that could fire the powerful Standard SM-2MR medium-range surface-to-air missile - earlier decommissioned cruisers used the slower-firing Mk-10 launchers, which required manual fitting of the missiles' fins prior to launch.

Nevertheless, the CGN-38-class cruisers, with their missile magazines and Mk-26 missile launchers, were incapable of carrying the SM-2ER long-range surface-to-air missile, being restricted to the SM-2MR medium-range surface-to-air missile. This was a significant limitation in their capabilities. Another weakness was the loss of LAMPS helicopters, due to the installation of Tomahawk cruise missile launchers.

Virginia in drydock at Norfolk; the ship's superstructure has been removed and replaced by containment vessels to allow the safe removal of her nuclear reactors

In the end, what really doomed the Virginia nuclear-powered cruisers was economics. They were coming due for their first nuclear refuelings, mid-life overhauls, and NTU refittings, which were all expensive projects, together costing about half the price of a new ship. Further, they required relatively large crews, straining Navy personnel resources. The 1996 Navy Visibility and Management of Operating and Support Costs (VAMOSC) study determined the annual operating cost of a Virginia class cruiser at $40 million, compared to $28 million for a Ticonderoga class cruiser, or $20 million for an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the latter two classes designed with the much more capable Aegis Combat System.[1] Given a lower requirement for cruisers, it was decided to retire (this decision was made while Texas was in the middle of her refueling overhaul) these nuclear ships as a money-saving measure. The early Ticonderoga class cruisers which lacked the Vertical Launch System had equally short careers, serving between 18 and 21 years.[2]

Ships in class

Ship Name Hull No. Builder Ordered Laid Down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate NVR link
Virginia CGN-38Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News21 December 197119 August 197214 December 1974 11 September 1976 10 November 1994 Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1999
Texas CGN-39 18 August 19739 August 197510 September 1977 16 July 1993 Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1999
Mississippi CGN-4021 January 197222 February 197531 July 1976 5 August 1978 28 July 1997 Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 2004
Arkansas CGN-41 31 January 197517 January 197721 October 197818 October 1980 7 July 1998 Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1998
CGN-42 N/AIntended nuclear-powered AEGIS cruiser; cancelled 1983

See also

References

An example of an inconvenient helicopter operation on Mississippi after the flight deck was occupied by Tomahawk ABL's (at left and right).
  1. ↑ CG-47 Ticonderoga-class
  2. ↑ CG-51 - 18 years. CG-47 - 21 years.

(This entry includes information from the sci.military.naval newsgroup FAQ)

External links

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