The United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 reclassified many of its surface vessels in 1975, changing terminology and hull classification symbol

Hull classification symbol

The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

s for cruiser

Cruiser

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

s, frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

s, and ocean escort

Ocean escort

Ocean Escort was a type of United States Navy warship.Ocean Escorts were an evolution of the World War II destroyer escort types. They were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mass production in peacetime.Their hull classification symbol...

s.

Classification prior to 1975

From the 1950s to 1975, the Navy had three types of fast task force escorts and one type of convoy escort. The task force escorts were cruisers (CAG/CLG/CG), frigates or destroyer-leaders (DL/DLG), and destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

s (DD/DDG); the convoy escorts were ocean escorts (DE/DEG), often known as destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

s. Added in the early 1970s was a new ocean escort called the patrol frigate (PF). In 1975, these classifications were simplified to cruiser (CG), destroyer (DD/DDG), and frigate (FF/FFG).

Under the pre-1975 classification, cruisers were large vessels, the size of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 gun cruisers, intended as the primary surface combatants. All but one (USS Long Beach (CGN-9)

USS Long Beach (CGN-9)

USS Long Beach was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She was the only ship of her class....

) were converted WWII gun cruisers (CL/CLG or CA/CAG), carrying either Talos or Terrier, and in some cases also Tartar missiles. One cruiser was to be assigned to each carrier group. There were relatively few of these ships, due to their cost and because the frigates could carry almost as many weapons as a cruiser.

From 1950 to 1975, frigates were a new type, midway between cruiser and destroyer sizes, intended as major task force escorts. The first ship of the type was a redesignated ASW

Anti-submarine warfare

Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....

 cruiser; the next four were very large AAW

Anti-aircraft warfare

NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...

 (gun) destroyers, and the remainder were essentially oversize guided missile

Guided Missile

Guided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of releases and developing the numerous GM events around London and beyond....

 destroyers. They carried the mid-range Terrier missile, but no offensive (strategic) weapons.

Destroyers were developed from the WWII designs as the smallest fast task force escorts. DDs were fast ASW ships; DDGs were AAW ships carrying the short-range Tartar missile.

Ocean escorts were an evolution of the WWII destroyer escort types. They were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mass production in peacetime. DEs were ASW vessels; DEGs were AAW vessels with the Tartar.

The U.S. frigate classification was not used by any other navy; similar vessels were either cruisers or destroyers in foreign service. The ocean escort type corresponded to foreign frigates (convoy escorts).

The "cruiser gap"

The Soviet

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

s defined "cruiser" differently, considering ships equivalent to U.S. frigates to be "cruisers." By 1974, there were only six ships in U.S. service classified as cruisers, but the Soviets had 19 ships classified as cruisers in service with seven more building. (All totals exclude gun-only cruisers.) All but two of the Soviet ships were relatively small vessels, roughly equivalent to U.S. frigates and far smaller than U.S. cruisers.

The differing U.S. and Soviet definitions of "cruiser" caused political problems when comparisons were made between U.S. and Soviet naval forces. A table comparing U.S. and Soviet cruiser forces showed six U.S. ships vs. 19 Soviet ships, despite the existence of 21 U.S. "frigates" equal or superior to the Soviet "cruisers." This led to the perception of a non-existent "cruiser gap."

Closing the gap

To close this "gap," the U.S. frigate (DL/DLG) classification was eliminated on 30 June 1975. All the gun frigates (DL) had already been stricken. Most of the DLGs became cruisers (CG), but the smaller Farragut

Farragut class destroyer (1958)

The Farragut class was the second destroyer class of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral David Glasgow Farragut. The class is sometimes referred to as the Coontz class, since Coontz was first to be designed and built as a guided missile ship, whereas the previous three ships were...

s became destroyers (DDG). All of the nuclear powered DLGNs, existing or in construction, were redesignated as CGNs. The change from DLG to CG redefined "cruiser" as smaller ships, more like large destroyers. Cruiser classifications were also simplified, with the guided missile light cruisers (CLG) simply becoming CGs. Gun cruisers were provided the designation "CA" at this time, but the last remaining gun cruiser, Newport News

USS Newport News (CA-148)

The second USS Newport News was a in the United States Navy. Newport News was laid down 1 November 1945; launched on 6 March 1948 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. The vessel was sponsored by Mrs. Homer L. Ferguson upon commissioning on 29 January 1949,...

, was decommissioned in 1975, so the designation was and remains theoretical.

The ocean escorts (DE/DEG) and patrol frigates (PF) became frigates (FF/FFG).

These changes brought U.S. Navy classifications into line with foreign classifications, and eliminated the perceived "cruiser gap."

Pre-30 June 1975	Post-30 June 1975
Cruiser (CG/CLG)	Cruiser (CG)
Frigate (DL/DLG/DLGN)	Cruiser (CG/CGN) or Destroyer (DDG)
Destroyer (DD/DDG)	Destroyer (DD/DDG)
Ocean Escort (DE/DEG)	Frigate (FF/FFG)
Patrol Frigate (PF)	Frigate (FFG)

A final change came on 1 January 1980, when the Ticonderoga-class

Ticonderoga class cruiser

The Ticonderoga class of missile cruisers is a class of warships in the United States Navy, first ordered and authorized in FY 1978. The class uses phased-array radar and was originally planned as a class of destroyers...

destroyers (DDG) became cruisers (CG).