Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea denial.
For other uses, see Cruiser (disambiguation). Not to be confused with cruise ship.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hundred years, has changed its meaning over time. During the Age of Sail, the term cruising referred to certain kinds of missions—independent scouting, commerce protection, or raiding—usually fulfilled by frigates or sloops-of-war, which functioned as the cruising warships of a fleet.
In the middle of the 19th century, cruiser came to be a classification of the ships intended for cruising distant waters, for commerce raiding, and for scouting for the battle fleet. Cruisers came in a wide variety of sizes, from the medium-sized protected cruiser to large armored cruisers that were nearly as big (although not as powerful or as well-armored) as a pre-dreadnought battleship.[1] With the advent of the dreadnought battleship before World War I, the armored cruiser evolved into a vessel of similar scale known as the battlecruiser. The very large battlecruisers of the World War I era that succeeded armored cruisers were now classified, along with dreadnought battleships, as capital ships.
By the early 20th century, after World War I, the direct successors to protected cruisers could be placed on a consistent scale of warship size, smaller than a battleship but larger than a destroyer. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty placed a formal limit on these cruisers, which were defined as warships of up to 10,000 tons displacement carrying guns no larger than 8 inches in calibre; whilst the 1930 London Naval Treaty created a divide of two cruiser types, heavy cruisers having 6.1 inches to 8 inch guns, while those with guns of 6.1 inches or less were light cruisers. Each type were limited in total and individual tonnage which shaped cruiser design until the collapse of the treaty system just prior to the start of World War II. Some variations on the Treaty cruiser design included the German Deutschland-class "pocket battleships", which had heavier armament at the expense of speed compared to standard heavy cruisers, and the American Alaska class, which was a scaled-up heavy cruiser design designated as a "cruiser-killer".
In the later 20th century, the obsolescence of the battleship left the cruiser as the largest and most powerful surface combatant ships (aircraft carriers not being considered surface combatants, as their attack capability comes from their air wings rather than on-board weapons). The role of the cruiser varied according to ship and navy, often including air defense and shore bombardment. During the Cold War the Soviet Navy's cruisers had heavy anti-ship missile armament designed to sink NATO carrier task-forces via saturation attack. The U.S. Navy built guided-missile cruisers upon destroyer-style hulls (some called "destroyer leaders" or "frigates" prior to the 1975 reclassification) primarily designed to provide air defense while often adding anti-submarine capabilities, being larger and having longer-range surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) than early Charles F. Adams guided-missile destroyers tasked with the short-range air defense role. By the end of the Cold War the line between cruisers and destroyers had blurred, with the Ticonderoga-class cruiser using the hull of the Spruance-class destroyer but receiving the cruiser designation due to their enhanced mission and combat systems.
As of 2023, only three countries operate active duty vessels formally classed as cruisers: the United States, Russia and Italy. These cruisers are primarily armed with guided missiles, with the exceptions of the aircraft cruisers Admiral Kuznetsov and Giuseppe Garibaldi.[2][3][4][5] BAP Almirante Grau was the last gun cruiser in service, serving with the Peruvian Navy until 2017.
Nevertheless, other classes in addition to the above may be considered cruisers due to differing classification systems. The US/NATO system includes the Type 055 from China[6] and the Kirov and Slava from Russia.[7] International Institute for Strategic Studies' "The Military Balance" defines a cruiser as a surface combatant displacing at least 9750 tonnes; with respect to vessels in service as of the early 2020s it includes the Type 055, the Sejong the Great from South Korea, the Atago and Maya from Japan and the Ticonderoga and Zumwalt from the US.[8]
Early history[edit]
The term "cruiser" or "cruizer"[9] was first commonly used in the 17th century to refer to an independent warship. "Cruiser" meant the purpose or mission of a ship, rather than a category of vessel. However, the term was nonetheless used to mean a smaller, faster warship suitable for such a role. In the 17th century, the ship of the line was generally too large, inflexible, and expensive to be dispatched on long-range missions (for instance, to the Americas), and too strategically important to be put at risk of fouling and foundering by continual patrol duties.[10]
The Dutch navy was noted for its cruisers in the 17th century, while the Royal Navy—and later French and Spanish navies—subsequently caught up in terms of their numbers and deployment. The British Cruiser and Convoy Acts were an attempt by mercantile interests in Parliament to focus the Navy on commerce defence and raiding with cruisers, rather than the more scarce and expensive ships of the line.[11] During the 18th century the frigate became the preeminent type of cruiser. A frigate was a small, fast, long range, lightly armed (single gun-deck) ship used for scouting, carrying dispatches, and disrupting enemy trade. The other principal type of cruiser was the sloop, but many other miscellaneous types of ship were used as well.
: The cruiser Georgios Averof is kept in ceremonial commission as the flagship of the Hellenic Navy due to her historical significance.
Hellenic Navy
: 2 Kirov class and 2 Slava-class guided-missile cruisers, the cruiser Aurora was ceremonially recommissioned as the flagship of the Russian Navy due to her historical significance.
Russian Navy
: 15 Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers in service.[99] 5 more in the Reserve Fleet.
United States Navy
Few cruisers are still operational in the world's navies. Those that remain in service today are:
The following is laid up:
The following are classified as destroyers by their respective operators, but, due to their size and capabilities, are considered to be cruisers by some, all having full load displacements of at least 10,000 tons:
announced that between 5 and 10 ships would be built under the over 13,000-ton displacement Project 18 / Next Generation Destroyers.
Indian Navy
is developing its DDX destroyer project. The 2 ships will displace 10,000 tons each, making them the largest surface combatants Italy has built since World War II.[106]
Italian Navy
Russian Navy
currently has 1 Zumwalt-class destroyer undergoing sea trials and is developing its DDG(X) project to replace the aging Ticonderoga-class cruisers. Displacing 12,000 tons, much greater than their predecessors, the DDG(X) ships will be cruisers in all but name.[108]
United States Navy
last cruiser, the Brooklyn-class cruiser ARA General Belgrano was sunk in action during the Falklands War in 1982.
Argentine Navy
lost its entire navy following the Empire's collapse following World War I.
Austro-Hungarian Navy
returned its only cruiser, D'Entrecasteaux to France following the abolition of its navy in 1920.
Belgian Navy
's last cruiser, Yat Sen, was decommissioned in 1958 and sold for scrapping in 1959. This light cruiser was akin to pre-WW1 light cruisers at time of commissioning and its contemporaries were gunboats; Taiwan's penultimate cruiser was ROCS Chung King, their lone vessel in the Arethusa-class. She defected to the People's Liberation Army Navy during the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Republic of China Navy
surrendered all its remaining cruisers to the Allies following World War II.
Imperial Japanese Navy
decommissioned its only cruiser, PNS Babur between 1982 and 1985. The ship was scrapped in 1985.
Pakistan Navy
decommissioned its last De Zeven Provinciën-class cruiser, BAP Almirante Grau in 2017.
Peruvian Navy
returned its lone surviving Danae-class cruiser, ORP Conrad, to the United Kingdom in 1946.
Polish Navy
decommissioned its last cruiser, TCG Mecidiye in 1948; they retained a battlecruiser, TCG Yavuz, which was decommissioned in 1950 and stricken from the Naval Register in 1954.
Turkish Navy
lost its entire fleet upon its reintegration into the Soviet Union in 1921.
Navy of the Ukrainian People's Republic
only cruiser KB Dalmacija was captured by Germany during the Invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941.
