Strike cruiser

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.

Artist conception of Mark I variant (1976 version)
Class overview
Name:	Nuclear-powered guided missile strike cruiser (CSGN)
Builders:	Never built
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Virginia class
Succeeded by:	Ticonderoga class
Cost:	$1.371 billion USD - lead ship (est.)
Planned:	8 - 12
General characteristics
Type:	Guided missile cruiser
Displacement:	16,035 long tons (16,292 t) (light) 17,284 long tons (17,561 t)(full load)
Length:	709 ft 7 in (216.28 m)
Beam:	76 ft 5 in (23.29 m)
Draft:	22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
Propulsion:	2 pressurized water D2G General Electric nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp (45 MW) 2 × 2,000 kW (2,700 hp) diesel generators 6 × ship service turbo generators
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)+
Range:	unlimited
Complement:	454 (total)
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPY-1A multi-function radar AN/SPS-49 air search radar AN/SPS-10F surface search radar AN/SPS-64 navigation radar AN/SPG-62 (x4) fire control radar AN/SQS-53 bow-mounted sonar AN/SLQ-32 ECM suite AN/UYK-7 computer processing
Armament:	2 × Mk-26 missile launchers RIM-66 Standard and ASROC 64 missiles forward 64 missiles aft 2 × quad Mk-143 ABL launchers BGM-109 Tomahawk (8) 4 × quad Mk-141 tube launchers RGM-84 Harpoon (16) 1 × 8"/55 cal MCLWG (forward) 2 × Mk-15 Phalanx CIWS (amidships) 2 × triple Mark 32 SVTT Mark 46 torpedo
Aircraft carried:	2 x SH-2F LAMPS I helicopters

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.

Line drawing of the strike cruiser.

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 destroyer. Plagued with design difficulties and escalating cost, the project was canceled in the closing days of the Ford administration.[1] After the cancellation of the class, the Aegis destroyers were expanded into the Ticonderoga class (CG-47) Aegis cruiser program.