This title explores the history of the US Navy's guided missile
cruisers, its most powerful surface ships during the Cold War, which
were tasked with protecting carrier groups, acting as flagships, and
engaging in surface actions from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf.
Faced with an increasingly formidable antiship cruise missile threat
from the Soviet Union in the early days of the Cold War, and with the
recent memory of the kamikaze threat from World War II, the USN. placed
a great priority on developing air defense cruise missiles and getting
them to sea to protect the fleet. The first of these missiles were
sizable, necessitating large ships to carry them and their sensors,
which resulted in the conversion of a mix of heavy and light cruisers.
These ships, tasked with protecting carrier groups and acting as
flagships, entered service from 1955 and served until 1980.
The cruisers served in the front lines of the Cold War and many saw
combat service, engaging in surface actions from Vietnam to the Persian
Gulf. Complementing the conventionally-powered missile cruisers was a
much smaller number of expensive nuclear-powered cruisers, including the
Long Beach, the USN's largest-ever missile cruiser. Until replaced by
the Ticonderoga and Burke classes of Aegis ships, the USN's 38 missile
cruisers were the most capable and important surface combatants in the
fleet and served all over the globe during the Cold War. Using specially
commissioned artwork and meticulous research, this illustrated title
explores the story of these cruisers in unparalleled detail, revealing
the history behind their development and employment.
