| California Class Cruiser | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company |
| Operators: |  United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Truxtun-class cruiser |
| Succeeded by: | Virginia-class cruiser |
| Built: | 1970–1974 |
| In commission: | 1974–1999 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Guided missile cruiser |
| Displacement: | 10,600 long tons (10,800 t) |
| Length: | 587 ft (179 m) |
| Beam: | 61 ft (19 m) |
| Draft: | 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2× General Electric D2G reactors generating 60,000 shp (45,000 kW) |
| Speed: | In excess of 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Complement: | 40 officers and 544 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: | AN/SPS-48E 3-D Air search radar |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: | AN/SLQ-32 Mark 36 SRBOC AN/SLQ-25 Nixie |
| Armament: | • 2 × Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers • 2 × 5 inch/54 caliber Mk 45 lightweight guns • 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS • 1 × ASROC missile launcher • 2 × Mk 13 missile launchers for RIM-66D Standard missiles (MR) • 6x 12.75" torpedo tubes for Mark 46 torpedoes • 4x .50 caliber machine guns |
| Aviation facilities: | Helicopter deck aft able to accommodate SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS Mk1, SH-3 Sea King, and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. No hangar facility. |
The USS California (CGN-36) was the fourth nuclear powered cruiser in the U.S. Navy; the previous three were the USS Long Beach (CGN-9), USS Bainbridge (CGN-25) and USS Truxtun (CGN-35). The second California class cruiser, USS South Carolina (CGN-37), was the fifth nuclear-powered cruiser in the United States Navy. Other than the four ships of the Soviet Navy's Kirov class (which were actually built with a combination of nuclear and fossil-fuel propulsion), no other country has launched nuclear-powered cruisers.
Only two ships of the class were built, the California and the South Carolina, and both were decommissioned in the autumn of 1999. These ships were followed on by the four nuclear-powered cruisers of the Virginia class. These cruisers were named for states because they were seen as quite large, powerful, capable, and survivable ships. Also, in the meantime, the names of cities had been given to the nuclear submarines in the very large Los Angeles class, which eventually expanded to 62 boats, all (but one) named for American cities.
The USS California and her sister ship the USS South Carolina were equipped with two Mk-13 launchers, fore and aft, capable of firing the Standard SM-1MR or SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles, one Mk-112 launcher for ASROC missiles, and eight Mk-141 launch tubes for Harpoon missiles. They were equipped with two Mk-45 5" rapid-fire guns, fore and aft. Four 12.75" torpedo launchers (two on each side, protruding from their magazine space on the main deck) were fitted for light weight anti-submarine torpedoes. Two Mk-15 Phalanx 20 mm gun systems were fitted in the 1980s.
The ships were originally designed to carry and launch the Mark 48 torpedo from a large space beneath the flight deck aft. Although a surface-launched version of the Mk 48 was never produced, the ships retained this large magazine space until their retirement.
Both ships underwent a mid-life refueling overhaul in the early 1990s. This modernization upgraded their two 150 MW D2G reactor plants with new 165 MW D2W reactor cores, installed the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) to improve their AAW capability, and removed their ASW capability, which involved disabling their SQS-26 sonar and removing their anti-submarine weapons. External differences resulting from this modernization included the removal of the ASROC launcher and the large deckhouse forward of it that served as the ASROC magazine, replacement of the SPS-40 radar antenna with the SPS-49 antenna, and replacement of the SPS-48C with the larger SPS-48E antenna. Both ships retained the bulbous sonar domes at the forefoot (beneath the waterline) until retirement, even after their sonar systems were disabled.
