Cruiser (CG/CGN)

A cruiser is a large surface combatant built for sustained independent operations and fleet air defense, ranking below the capital ship and above the destroyer. In US Navy hull classification CG is a guided-missile cruiser and CGN a nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser; the conventionally powered Ticonderoga class (CG-47 onward, commissioned from 1983) carries the Aegis combat system and 122 Mk 41 vertical-launch cells. CGN types such as the retired California (CGN-36) and Virginia (CGN-38) classes used reactor propulsion for unlimited range escorting nuclear carriers.