Cruiser is a large warship used to escort aircraft carriers and for independent operations with destroyers. Modern cruisers, called guided missile cruisers, can fire missiles, rockets, and torpedoes. Some can also carry helicopters. Cruisers use radar, sonar, and electronic intercept equipment to detect enemy aircraft, surface ships, and submarines.
United States Navy cruisers built in the 1980’s and 1990’s belong to the Ticonderoga class. They are about 565 feet (170 meters) long, and they have an advanced radar and weapon control system known as AEGIS.
Most cruisers have gas turbine engines. Some cruisers have nuclear reactors that provide steam power. Cruisers can travel at a speed of about 30 knots (nautical miles per hour).
During World War II (1939-1945), cruisers fought enemy ships and bombarded beaches in support of amphibious landings. After the war, the U.S. Navy built large destroyer-type ships to escort aircraft carriers. These ships were called frigates until 1975, when the Navy renamed them guided missile cruisers. That year, the Navy also decommissioned its last all-gun cruiser.
See also Frigate.
