Let’s talk cruisers, shall we?
Let’s talk about cruisers in the context of the world’s premier naval power with global commitments.
Let’s talk a bit about a rising power who is primarily focused on establishing hegemony on their part of the planet – parts of which we have not been challenged on for most of living memory.
This doesn’t have to be a long talk, but it does have to be blunt and fact filled.
Readers of USNIBlog do not need to be briefed about what a cruiser does at sea in the modern context, so no reason to invest time in that.
So, let’s look at our cruisers. We actually have two and perhaps three classes cruisers – though we only call one class “cruiser,” the TICONDEROGA class CG.
Anything over 9,000 tons should be considered a cruiser. The TICOs are 9,600 tons. Flight IIA BURKE DDGs are a few hundred tons less, the Flight III are expected to be a few hundred tons more. They should really be considered light cruisers at that size, especially the Flight III. The white elephant DDG-1000 ZUMWALTs come in at a whopping 14,500 tons. That is just a couple hundred tons under the WWII pocket battleships of the German GRAF SPEE class.
DDG my Aunt Fanny.
Anyway, let’s play along with our own name games and allow the BURKEs to remain DDG. The ZUMWALTS will be little more than test ships for the foreseeable future, so we’ll let them continue to play dress-up too.
That leaves us with the TICOs. The youngest TICO is the USS PORT ROYAL (CG 73), the ship most known for its memorable static display at the Honolulu International Airport in 2009. PORT ROYAL was commissioned 23 years ago.
Earlier this month, the Chinese President outlined his nation’s Direction & Guidance;
Xi Jinping has heralded the dawn of a “new era” of Chinese politics and power at the start of a historic Communist party congress celebrating the end of his first term in office.
Speaking in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, at the start of the week-long 19th party congress, Xi told delegates that thanks to decades of “tireless struggle” China stood “tall and firm in the east”.
Now, Xi said, it was time for his nation to transform itself into “a mighty force” that could lead the world on political, economic, military and environmental issues.
What does this have to do with cruisers? Look at what is now in serial production by the People’s Liberation Army Navy to meet their leader’s D&G.
Sure they call Type 55 a destroyer, but no. Really. It’s a cruiser by size and function as much as ours are.
How does it stack up to our TICO?
Loadouts can and will change, but one thing is clear – outside a few former Soviet floating Cold War museums, we no longer have the largest battle force non-aviation surface ships out there.
The Type 55 just started its life and have many upgrades already in work, with many sister ships under construction.
Our cruiser force? Those not already rusting away in mothballs are just a few years away from their fate as well.
We have the numbers, for now – but where will we be in 2030? 2030 is to 2017, as 2003 is to now.
That close.
