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United States Nuclear Cruisers


Entries in bold indicate photos.

Long Beach Class


CGN9 Long Beach Long Beach was the worlds first nuclear powered surface ship. At the time, guns were considered obsolete, and Long Beach was built without guns, which was later realised to be a mistake and rectified.

Bainbridge Class


CGN25 Bainbridge Based almost entirely on the Leahy class, and mounting the same weapons, the Bainbridge is slower, due to the reduced output of her nuclear plant.

Truxtun Class


CGN35 Truxtun The Truxtun was originally intended to be the last of the Belknap class, but was converted to nuclear power by order of Congress.

California Class


CGN36 California
CGN37 South Carolina
Based on the Bainbridge class, the Californias were originally classed as frigates, but were geared towards anti-aircraft work rather than anti-submarine.

Virginia Class


CGN41 Arkansas
CGN40 Mississippi
CGN39 Texas
CGN38 Virginia
The Virginias were based on the Californias, and bear a close resemblance, as most of the changes are in propulsion and electronics.

A Modified Virginia class, CGN42-45 was planned for the mid to late 1990s, and was expected to be equipped with AEGIS, but the project was cancelled.