Virginia-class cruiser

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USS Virginia
Class overview
Name	Virginia class
Builders	Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	California class
Succeeded by	Strike cruiser (CSGN) (planned) Ticonderoga class (actual)
Cost	US$675 million (1990) per unit
Built	1972–1980
In commission	1976–1998
Planned	11
Completed	4
Cancelled	7
Retired	4
General characteristics
Type	Guided-missile cruiser
Displacement	Light displacement: 10,663 long tons (10,834 t) Full displacement: 11,666 long tons (11,853 t)
Length	586 ft (179 m) oa.
Beam	63 ft (19 m) max.
Draft	32 ft (9.8 m) max.
Propulsion	2 General Electric D2G nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp (45,000 kW)
Speed	over 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range	Unlimited
Complement	39 officers, 540 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar AN/SPS-49 2-D air search radar AN/SPS-55 surface search radar AN/SPQ-9A gun fire control radar AN/SPG-60 fire control radar AN/SPG-51 missile fire control radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32 Mark 36 SRBOC AN/SLQ-25 Nixie
Armament	2 × Mk 26 missile launchers for 68 missiles RIM-66 Standard Missiles (MR) / RUR-5 ASROC 8 × Tomahawk missile (from 2 armored-box launchers after a refitting) 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon (from two Mk-141 quad launchers) 4 × Mk 46 torpedoes (from fixed single tubes) 2 × Mk-45 5-inch/54 caliber rapid-fire gun 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS (post-refit) 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 chain guns 6 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 machine guns
Armor	1 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.