__NOTOC__ In the early 1960s, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

was the world's first to have

nuclear-powered Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

cruisers as part of its fleet. The first such ship was . Commissioned in late summer 1961, she was the world's first nuclear-powered

surface combatant Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

. She was followed a year later by . While ''Long Beach'' was a 'true cruiser', meaning she was designed and built as a cruiser, ''Bainbridge'' began life as a frigate, though at that time the Navy was using the hull code "DLGN" for "

destroyer leader Destroyer leader (DL) was the United States Navy designation for large destroyers from 9 February 1951 through the early years of the Cold War. United States ships with hull classification symbol DL were officially frigates from 1 January 1955Blac ...

, guided missile, nuclear". This was prior to the enactment of the 1975 ship reclassification plan, in which frigates (DLG/DLGN), which were essentially large

destroyers In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

, were reclassified as cruisers, so that the US Navy's numbers would compete with those of the Soviet Navy. ''Long Beach'', the largest of all the nuclear cruisers, was equipped with a C1W cruiser reactor, while all the others were equipped with D2G destroyer reactors. In the summer of 1964, ''Long Beach'' and ''Bainbridge'' would meet up with , the Navy's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, to form

Task Force One Operation Sea Orbit was the 1964 around-the-world cruise of the United States Navy's Task Force One, consisting of USS ''Enterprise'' (CVAN-65), USS ''Long Beach'' (CGN-9), and USS ''Bainbridge'' (DLGN-25). This all-nuclear-powered unit steamed ...

, an all-nuclear-powered naval unit. They would commence

Operation Sea Orbit Operation Sea Orbit was the 1964 around-the-world cruise of the United States Navy's Task Force One, consisting of USS ''Enterprise'' (CVAN-65), USS ''Long Beach'' (CGN-9), and USS ''Bainbridge'' (DLGN-25). This all-nuclear-powered unit steamed ...

, in which they circumnavigated the globe without refuelling. It was a remarkable achievement for its time, a naval group capable of sailing over in just 65 days, without replenishment. In the spring of 1967 came the Navy's third nuclear-powered cruiser, (though initially labeled a frigate), , a heavily modified design based on the cruiser. ''Truxtun'' would be followed by the two-ship , beginning with in February 1974 and in January 1975. The US Navy was the only fleet in the world with nuclear-powered cruisers until 1974 when the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

would begin construction on their own nuclear battlecruiser, the Soviet battlecruiser ''Kirov'',

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the . The

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...

would build four in total, between 1974 and 1998. The last nuclear-powered cruisers the Americans would produce would be the four-ship . was commissioned in 1976, followed by in 1977, in 1978, and finally in 1980. Ultimately, nuclear-powered ships would prove to be too costly to maintain, and they would all be retired between 1993 and 1999. A fifth ''Virginia''-class vessel was initially planned but then cancelled. The US Navy currently has the largest fleet of nuclear-powered

aircraft carriers An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a n ...

and nuclear-powered submarines.

List of United States Navy nuclear-powered cruisers

File:USS Long Beach (CGN-9) underway at sea, circa in the 1960s.jpg, USS ''Long Beach''
(CGN-9) File:USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) underway in the Suez Canal on 27 February 1992.jpg, USS ''Bainbridge''
(CGN-25) File:USS Truxtun (DLGN-35) underway off Point Loma, California (USA), circa in the 1970s.jpg, USS ''Truxtun''
(DLGN-35) File:USS California (CGN-36).JPG, USS ''California''
(CGN-36) File:USS Virginia (CGN-38) elevated starboard view.jpg, USS ''Virginia''
(CGN-38) File:USS Arkansas (CGN-41) underway, circa in the early 1980s.jpg, USS ''Arkansas''
(CGN-41)

References

External links

{{US Navy navbox, state=collapsed United States Navy *

List of United States Navy nuclear-powered cruisers

See also

References

External links