Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00018382
Military / Navy
Changes over time
Do destroyers and cruisers play the same role in US aircraft carrier groups since they both use the AEGIS system?
Peter Burgess
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Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00018382 | |||||||||
Military / Navy | |||||||||
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Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | |||||||||
| Do destroyers and cruisers play the same role in US aircraft carrier groups since they both use the AEGIS system? Joe Pepersack Joe Pepersack, Professional Photographer (2007-present) Updated Feb 6 · Upvoted by Jason Heinisch, Reactor Operator/Electronics Technician at United States Navy (2012-present) and Eric Sprague, former Information Systems Technician at United States Navy (1999-2011) The term “cruiser” has gone out of fashion in the world’s navies. The Arleigh Burke class “destroyers” could just as easily be classified as cruisers. It’s just politics and fashion. An Arleigh Burke class destroyer displaces 8300 to 9200 tons and is 505 to 509 feet long depending on generation. The Zumwalt class “destroyer” is 610 feet long and displaces 15,995 tons Compare this to a typical WWII destroyer like the Fletcher class, which displaced 2500 tons and was 376 feet long. Now look at the Atlanta class of light cruiser, which displaced 7400 tons and was 541 feet long. The Burke’s predecessor, the Ticonderoga class cruiser, displaced 9800 tons and was 567 feet long - slightly bigger, but not by much. The Baltimore class heavy cruisers of WWII displaced 17000 tons and were 673 feet long - comparable to the Zumwalt. Even modern Frigates are much larger than their WWII counterparts. A Perry class frigate displaces around 4100 tons where WWII frigates were 1000–1500 tons. That’s right, a modern “frigate” is almost twice the size of a WWII “destroyer”. A WWII destroyer was a cheap, expendable “tin can” that escorted larger ships; cruisers were primary or secondary combatants capable of out-fighting anything they couldn’t out-run. Modern “destroyers” are primary combatants and are unquestionably capital ships; they are the largest and most powerful warships afloat in most navies besides aircraft carriers. So, in both size and mission, a modern “Destroyer” like the Arleigh Burke, Zumwalt, the British Type 45, the Chinese Type 052C, or the Russian Udaloy class, has more in common with a WWII cruiser than a destroyer. Political correctness aside, Burke is really a light cruiser and the Zumwalt is really a heavy cruiser, the only reason they are not named as such is that calling a big, powerful warship a “cruiser” is out of fashion these days. | |||||||||