Virginia-class cruiser

The Virginia class (also known as the CGN-38 class) were four nuclear-powered, guided-missile cruisers that served in the United States Navy until the mid-to-late 1990s. The double-ended cruisers (with missile armament carried both fore and aft) were commissioned between 1976 and 1980. They were the final class of nuclear-powered cruisers completed and the last ships ordered as Destroyer Leaders under the pre-1975 classification system.

USS Virginia (CGN-38)
Class overview
Name	Virginia class
Builders	Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	California class
Succeeded by	Strike cruiser (CSGN) (planned) Ticonderoga class (actual)
Cost	US$675 million (1990) per unit
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 long tons (10,834 t) Full displacement: 11,666 long tons (11,853 t)
Length	586 ft (179 m) oa.
Beam	63 ft (19 m) max.
Draft	32 ft (9.8 m) max.
Propulsion	2 General Electric D2G nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp (45,000 kW)
Speed	over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	Unlimited
Complement	39 officers, 540 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar AN/SPS-49 2-D air search radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9A gun fire control radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPG-51 missile fire control radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32 Mark 36 SRBOC AN/SLQ-25 Nixie
Armament	2 × Mk 26 missile launchers for 68 missiles RIM-66 Standard Missiles (MR) / RUR-5 ASROC 8 × Tomahawk missile (from 2 armored-box launchers after a refitting) 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon (from two Mk-141 quad launchers) 4 × Mk 46 torpedoes (from fixed single tubes) 2 × Mk-45 5-inch/54 caliber rapid-fire gun 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS (post-refit) 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 chain guns 6 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns
Armor	1 in (25 mm) 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 ships had relatively short service lives for surface ships. As nuclear-powered ships, they were expensive to operate. The class was coming up for their mid-life reactor refuelings when the 1994 Defense Authorization Bill was being formulated, which would effect cuts of 38% to the Navy's budget compared to the 1993 bill. The $300-million-plus cost of each refueling and other upgrades made the class easy targets for decommissioning. Each ship was therefore retired, starting with Texas in July 1993 and ending with Arkansas in 1998; all went through the nuclear vessel decommissioning and recycling program.

Class description

Virginia underway off the coast of Cape Henry, Virginia (VA)

Artist's impression of CGN-42, the planned AEGIS version of the Virginia-class

The ships were derived from the earlier California-class nuclear cruiser (CGN-36 class). Three of the four Virginia-class ships were authorized as guided-missile frigates (in the pre-1975 definition); they were redesignated as cruisers before commissioning or launching. The last ship, Arkansas, was authorized, laid down, launched, and commissioned as a guided-missile cruiser. A fifth member of the class, CGN-42, was canceled before being named or laid down.

With their nuclear power plants and the resulting capability of steaming at high speeds for long periods, these ships were excellent escorts for the fast nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, such as the Nimitz class. They also had superb flagship facilities. Their primary mission was as air-defense ships, while they also had capabilities as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships, surface-to-surface warfare (SSW) ships, and in gun and missile bombardment of shore targets.

The Virginia class, as designed, carried one LAMPS helicopter aft of the superstructure with a flight deck. In a unique arrangement in the U.S. Navy, the hangars were below deck, with an electro-mechanical elevator covered by a telescopic hatch. This improved over the preceding California class, which only had a landing pad aft and basic refueling equipment.

A shock trial of Arkansas in 1982

It was found that, while it was possible to mass-produce nuclear-powered warships, the ships were less cost-efficient than conventionally powered warships. Also, the new gas turbine-powered ships then entering the fleet—the Spruance-class destroyers—required much less manpower. While eleven ships of the Virginia class were planned, only four were produced, and the remainder were canceled. Following the completion of the final member of the class, Arkansas, 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.

Refit

Mississippi and Texas (second and third from left) underway with the aircraft carrier Nimitz and cruiser Biddle in the Mediterranean Sea, August 1981

In the 1980s, the class received a New Threat Upgrade electronics overhaul to better suit them to modern threats. Their rapid-fire Mk 26 launchers 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; they were restricted to the SM-2MR medium-range surface-to-air missile. This was a significant limitation in their capabilities.

Each member of the class also received Tomahawk cruise missile armored box launchers. The Tomahawk missiles were installed, even though this meant the removal of the LAMPS helicopter as it was found that the elevator and below-deck hangar proved problematic during aviation operations.

Early decommissioning

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

All four vessels were decommissioned as part of the early 1990s "peace dividend" after the Cold War ended, considered by naval standards an early retirement given their designed service life of 38 years. Despite being of a modern design with a recent refit, what doomed the Virginia nuclear-powered cruisers was a lack of resources, as the Navy and other branches of the U.S. military faced major budget cutbacks after the Cold War. The ships of the class were coming due for their first nuclear refuelings, mid-life overhauls, and NTU refittings, which were all budgeted projects, together costing about half the price of a new ship. Further, they required relatively large crews, straining the operating budget. 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. Given a lower requirement for cruisers, it was decided to retire the Virginia class and other nuclear-powered ships as a money-saving measure, a decision made while Texas was in the middle of her refueling overhaul. The early Ticonderoga-class cruisers, which lacked the Vertical Launch System, had equally short careers, serving between 18 and 21 years.

Ships in class

Name	Hull no.	Builder	Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate	NVR link
Virginia	CGN-38	Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News	21 December 1971	19 August 1972	14 December 1974	11 September 1976	10 November 1994	Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1999	[1]
Texas	CGN-39			18 August 1973	9 August 1975	10 September 1977	16 July 1993	Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1999	[2]
Mississippi	CGN-40		21 January 1972	22 February 1975	31 July 1976	5 August 1978	28 July 1997	Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 2004	[3]
Arkansas	CGN-41		31 January 1975	17 January 1977	21 October 1978	18 October 1980	7 July 1998	Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program at Bremerton, 1998	[4]
	CGN-42	—						Intended nuclear-powered AEGIS cruiser; canceled 1983	[5]

See also

• List of cruisers of the United States Navy
• List of United States Navy destroyer leaders
• Nuclear powered cruisers of the United States Navy

References

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

External links

• Globalsecurity.org Virginia class
• Plans for an Aegis modified Virginia class