California-class cruiser

USS California
Class overview
Builders:	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Truxtun-class cruiser Belknap-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 AN/SPS-49 2-D Air search radar NTU AN/SPS-55 Surface search radar AN/SPG-51 Missile fire control radar Mk 86 Gun Fire Control System AN/SPQ-9 Search and fire control radar AN/SPG-60 Gun 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 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) 6 × 12.75" torpedo tubes for Mark 46 torpedoes 4 × .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 California class of cruisers were a set of two nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers operated by the United States Navy between 1974 and 1998. Other than their nuclear power supply and lack of helicopter hangars, ships of the California class were comparable to other guided missile cruisers of their era, such as the Belknap class. The class was built as a follow-up to the nuclear-powered Long Beach, Bainbridge, and Truxtun classes. Like all of the nuclear cruisers, which could steam for years between refuelings, the California class was designed in part to provide high endurance escort for the navy's nuclear aircraft carriers, which were often limited in range due to their conventionally powered escorts continuously needing to be refueled.

USS California (CGN-36) was the fourth nuclear-powered cruiser in the US 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 US 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.

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