Builders Never built Preceded by Virginia class | Operators United States Navy Succeeded by Ticonderoga class | |
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Name Nuclear-powered guided missile strike cruiser (CSGN) Cost $1.371 billion USD - lead ship (est.) | ||
A strike cruiser (proposed hull designator: CSGN) was a proposal from DARPA for a class of cruisers in the late 1970s. The proposal was for the Strike Cruiser to be a guided missile attack cruiser with a displacement of around 17,200 long tons (17,500 t), armed and equipped with the Aegis combat system, the SM-2, Harpoon anti-ship missile, the Tomahawk missile, and the Mk71 8-inch gun.
A prototype strike cruiser was to be the refurbished USS Long Beach; at a cost of roughly $800 million, however this never came to pass.
Originally, eight to twelve strike cruisers were projected. The class would have been complemented by the Aegis-equipped fleet defense (DDG-47) version of the Spruance-class destroyers. Plagued with design difficulties and escalating cost the project was canceled in the closing days of the Ford administration. After the cancellation of the class, the Aegis destroyers were expanded into the Ticonderoga class (CG-47) Aegis cruiser program.