Virginia-class cruiser

USS Virginia
USS Virginia
Class overview
NameVirginia class
BuildersNewport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byCalifornia class
Succeeded by
CostUS$675 million (1990) per unit
Built1972–1980
In commission1976–1998
Planned11
Completed4
Cancelled7
Retired4
General characteristics
TypeGuided-missile cruiser
Displacement
  • Light displacement: 10,663 long tons (10,834 t)
  • Full displacement: 11,666 long tons (11,853 t)
Length586 ft (179 m) oa.
Beam63 ft (19 m) max.
Draft32 ft (9.8 m) max.
Propulsion2 General Electric D2G nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp (45,000 kW)
Speedover 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
RangeUnlimited
Complement39 officers, 540 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament
Armor1 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 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.[1] They were the final class of nuclear-powered cruisers completed and the last ships ordered as Destroyer Leaders under the pre-1975 classification system.

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.

  1. ^ Sobocinski, Richard. "USS ARKANSAS (CGN-41) Deployments & History". HullNumber.com. USS Arkansas commissioned in Oct. 1980. Retrieved 2016-09-22.