The Sun Is Setting on the U.S. Navy’s Cruiser Fleet, With No Replacements in Sight
By 2027, the entire class could join the battleship in obsolescence. Could destroyers, augmented by robo-ships, make a solid replacement?
In August, the U.S. Navy struck one of its most powerful ships from the rolls of active duty, heading for a well-deserved retirement. USS Mobile Bay joined the fleet in 1987, and the service officially retired it during a decommissioning ceremony at Naval Base San Diego on August 10, marking 36 years in the battle force. The Navy, which has had decades to prepare a replacement, will eventually replace the cruiser and the rest of her class with a new class of less-powerful destroyers that hasn’t even begun construction yet.
The Bodyguards
The threat of Tu-22 Backfire bombers—shown here in 2010, swarming Navy carriers—led to the development of the Aegis combat system.
In the 1980s, the U.S. Navy began production of the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers. The Ticonderoga class was the first to incorporate the Aegis Combat System, the combination of the SPY-1 phased array radar and, chiefly, the SM-2 Standard surface-to-air missile system. Aegis could detect, track, and engage over 100 aerial targets at ranges in excess of 100 miles. The system was meant to provide a defense against Soviet bombers carrying anti-ship missiles, which in wartime would swarm carrier battle groups operating in the Atlantic and Pacific.
The Navy built 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers, including 22 with 122 Mk.-41 vertical launch missile silos. Each armored silo could store one SM-2 surface-to-air missile, Tomahawk land-attack missile, or ASROC anti-submarine rocket torpedo. This gave the Ticonderogas a deep magazine of at least 122 missiles of all types, allowing it to carry a wide mix of weapons, while still having plenty of missiles for the air-defense mission.
Toward the end of the 1980s, the Navy built another, smaller class of warship: the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. The Burke-class ships also incorporated the Aegis Combat System, but were built with only 90 silos, later increased to 96. The Burke class, with the exception of a five-year pause in the 2010s, has been built continuously since 1988, gradually upgraded to be essentially the equal of the Ticonderoga class in almost all areas except for missile firepower.
Failed Replacements
The cruiser warship was originally meant as a ship smaller than a battleship, but faster, meant to scout ahead of the fleet to locate the enemy fleet. Less powerful than a battleship but more prestigious than a destroyer, cruisers could also “show the flag” worldwide. In World War II, American cruisers were packed with anti-aircraft guns, protecting aircraft carriers from aerial attack. This mission carried on through the Cold War, and is still valid today.
The end of the Cold War made aircraft carriers no less important to the U.S. Navy—carriers were used in the 1991 Gulf War, NATO intervention in Yugoslavia, and 2003 invasion of Iraq—but the dissolution of the Soviet Navy removed the major threat to them. The Navy tried to develop replacements, first with the CG-21 (cruiser, guided missile, 21st century) concept and next CG(X) (cruiser, guided missile, experimental/next-generation). A combination of expensive, concurrent land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2008 recession, the 2011 federal Budget Control Act, and poor Navy planning meant both programs eventually ended without a viable replacement for the Ticonderogas.
A Suitable Replacement?
The Navy Is Planning Its Next-Gen Destroyer
In the meantime, the Ticonderogas chugged on, growing older and picking up new missions, including ballistic-missile defense and anti-satellite warfare. In 2022, Chief of Naval Operations Mike Gilday told Congress: “These ships were intended to have a 30-year service life, we’re out to 35.” Only two countries operate destroyers: the United States and Russia. The U.S. military designates China’s Type-055 warship—which China considers a destroyer—as a cruiser due to its size. Their scarcity makes cruisers a prestigious platform.
What’s Next?
The Navy’s next-gen surface warship, DDG(X) might not have the firepower of a cruiser, but seagoing robots could augment the ship’s firepower.
In the early 2000s, the Navy decommissioned five of the original 27 cruisers, which were fitted with twin-arm Mk.-26 missile launchers instead of individual armored silos. The service has already begun retiring the remaining 22, Mobile Bay included, with the last set to leave the service in 2027. When that happens, cruisers as ships of the U.S. Navy will cease to exist. The cruisers will be replaced with new-build Arleigh Burke destroyers, which are technologically their equals … but with 96 missile kilos instead of 122. As a result, the Navy could build five new destroyers for every four cruisers it retires, and still come up eight silos short.
largest us destroyer out for trials DDG(X) will have the electrical generation capability of the Zumwalt-class destroyers, pictured here, capable of powering lasers and other high energy weapons.
In the meantime, the Navy is working on its next-generation major surface combatant, DDG(X). It will have a number of nifty features, including the electrical generation capability of the Zumwalt-class destroyers to power lasers, railguns, and other energy weapons—but the Navy won’t even award the contract to build them by 2030. DDG(X) will carry about the same number of silos as the Burke class. Pointedly, it’s designated a guided-missile destroyer.
It’s not clear what, if anything, will replace today’s cruisers. One option is to pair existing destroyers with large numbers of cheap, robotic ships designed to carry dozens of missiles. Such robo-ships could self-deploy to a war zone, operate in tandem with destroyers, and sail to the nearest port to reload; this would be a much more affordable solution than designing, building, and crewing a whole new class of cruiser.
The Takeaway
The sun is setting on the U.S. Navy’s cruiser fleet, with no replacements in sight. By 2027, the class could join the battleship in obsolescence. The pressure to build a bigger fleet to counter China’s naval expansion, plus budgetary issues and new unmanned technology, will compel the Navy to explore different, more affordable ways to cruiser. Whatever it is, it will spell bad news for America’s enemies at sea.
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