This list of cruisers of the United States Navy includes all ships that were ever called "cruiser", either publicly or in internal documentation.

The Navy has 5 cruisers in active service (14 in reserve), as of 30 September 2026, with the last tentatively scheduled for decommissioning in 2029. With the cancellation of the CG(X) program in 2010, the Navy currently has no cruiser replacement program planned. The Navy is looking to the Aegis-equipped destroyers to increasingly fill the role of the cruiser in the protection of the carrier strike group, as it could be well into the 2030s before any possible cruiser replacement program is up and running.

Ship status is indicated as either currently active [A] (including ready reserve), inactive [I], or precommissioning [P]. Ships in the inactive category include only ships in the inactive reserve, ships which have been disposed from US service have no listed status. Ships in the precommissioning category would include ships under construction or on order; as described above there currently are no such cruisers.

Historical overview Nomenclature Comprehension of the history of cruisers as shown in these lists requires some understanding of the unique role (sharing both independent and combined fleet operations) that cruisers were expected to support in the US fleet, and of the consequent influence this role had on design. In one example, the Navy's Bureau of Ships issued a memorandum in 1947 listing the ways in which cruiser hulls differed from destroyer hulls, including details such as double hull construction, electrical generation and distribution, water mains for firefighting, fuel lines and tankage, and fresh water distillation.

CGN-9 Long Beach, commissioned in 1961, was the last US cruiser built on a true cruiser hull. All subsequent cruisers, including nuclear powered cruisers, were based on the less expensive and less capable destroyer hulls. The one attempt since Long Beach to revert to the advantages of a "cruiser hull" design was the canceled CSGN nuclear strike cruiser; the CSGN proposal mentioned the greater powerplant survivability from the separation of the two nuclear reactors in a cruiser hull over the adjacent reactors in a destroyer hull.

The sole example of a destroyer built on a cruiser hull was the experimental DL-1 Norfolk, which was originally classed as a hunter-killer cruiser (CLK).

Overview of hull classifications

Since the cruiser nomenclature predates the hull numbering system, and there were several confusing renumberings and renamings, there are multiple entries on these lists referring to the same physical ship. Combat history summaries (wars and battle stars"NavSource website") are listed only for the specific hull classification and number; for example, the World War II battle stars for a heavy cruiser (CA) and the Vietnam War battle stars for the same ship after its conversion to a guided missile cruiser (CG) are listed separately in each ship type list.

Hull reclassifications and skipped hull numbers

CA-1, CA-6 and CA-10 were never used, as ACR-1 Maine, ACR-6 California/San Diego and ACR-10 Tennessee/Memphis were lost prior to the 1920 redesignation, and their sisters' original hull numbers were carried over. CA-20 through CA-23 were skipped with the merger of the CA and CL sequences, which allowed the reclassification of the Washington Treaty CLs as CAs without re-numbering.

Heavy cruisers CA-149 and CA-151 to CA-153, light cruisers CL-154 to CL-159, and nuclear guided missile cruiser CGN-42 were canceled before being named.

Guided missile cruisers CAG-1 and CAG-2, along with CLG-3 through CLG-8 and CG-10 through 12 were converted from World War II cruisers. CAG-1 USS Boston and CAG-2 USS Canberra retained most of their original gun armament and were later returned to their gun cruiser designations CA-69 and CA-70. CGN-9, Long Beach, originally held the last designation in the heavy-light cruiser sequence, CLGN-160.

CG-15 was skipped so the Leahy-class guided missile frigates (CG-16 class) could be redesignated without renumbering. The other missing numbers in the guided-missile cruiser series, 43–46, were not used so that DDG-47 Ticonderoga and DDG-48 Yorktown could be similarly redesignated. (It has been argued in some sources that the DDG-993 guided missile destroyers, which were essentially identically armed to the s, should have been redesignated CG-43 through −46.)

Before 30 June 1975, CG-16 USS Leahy through CGN-38 USS Virginia were designated DLG or DLGN (Destroyer Leader, Guided Missile (Nuclear powered)). They were redesignated cruisers in the 1975 ship reclassification. CGN-39 USS Texas and CGN-40 USS Mississippi were laid down as DLGNs but redesignated CGN before commissioning. CG-47 Ticonderoga and CG-48 Yorktown were ordered as guided missile destroyers (DDG) but were redesignated to guided missile cruisers (CG) before any ship was laid down. CGN-41 Arkansas and CG-49 through 73 were ordered, laid down and delivered as guided missile cruisers, although as Virginia or Ticonderoga-class ships they had not been designed as cruisers.

Cruisers without hull designations First cruisers The first three modern cruisers in the Navy, the Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago, were most successful as technology demonstrators that stimulated the US industrial base, with features such as steel hulls and electricity generation. Their technology proved so operationally decisive they came to be seen as the dividing line between the "Old Navy" and the "New Navy". The last two protected cruisers which initially served without hull classification numbers, the New Orleans and Albany, were purchased from a British builder during mobilization for the 1898 Spanish–American War.

Atlanta (1884), protected cruiser Boston (1884), protected cruiser – Spanish–American War, later Despatch (IX-2) Chicago (1885), protected cruiser Vesuvius (1888), experimental dynamite guns – Spanish–American War

New Orleans class New Orleans (1898), ex-Brazilian Amazonas – Spanish–American War, WW1 Albany (1899), ex-Brazilian Almirante Abreu – Spanish–American War, WW1

Armed merchant cruisers

Beginning in 1891 Congress subsidized a number of fast ocean liners with plans to requisition them in wartime. St. Louis, St. Paul, Harvard, and Yale were the largest and were chartered by the Navy for the Spanish–American War, and seven others were purchased in 1898. St. Louis (1894) – Spanish–American War St. Paul (1895) – Spanish–American War Harvard (1898), ex-SS City of New York – Spanish–American War, later WW1 as troopship USS Plattsburg SP-1645 Yale (1889), ex-SSCity of Paris – Spanish–American War, later WW1 as troopship USS Harrisburg ID-1663 Badger (1889), ex-Yumuri – Spanish–American War Panther (1889), ex-Austin – Spanish–American War, later WW1 as destroyer tender AD-6 Prairie (1890), ex-El Sol – Spanish–American War, United States occupation of Veracruz, later WW1 as destroyer tender AD-5 Buffalo (1892), ex-El Cid, later WW1 as destroyer tender AD-8 Yankee (1892), ex-El Norte – Spanish–American War, sank 4 December 1908 after grounding Yosemite (1892), ex-El Sud – Spanish–American War, scuttled on or after 15 November 1900 after typhoon damage Dixie (1893), ex-El Rio – Spanish–American War, later WW1 as destroyer tender, later AD-1

German war prize Frankfurt (1915), sunk as target 1921

Armored cruisers (ACR)

Officially these ships were e.g., "Armored Cruiser No. 1". Unofficially, top naval officers initially referred to these ships as battleships because they cost almost as much, shared many features with them, and were intended to accompany them in fleet actions; they took care to ensure that Congress never heard their opinion. The 1905 Russo-Japanese War showed armored cruisers did not perform as well as either battleships or as other cruiser types. As battleship technology advanced they were judged obsolete for their original role about the time the last U.S. armored cruiser was commissioned (this advance in part led to the development of battlecruisers as a replacement), and so they were retained for other cruiser roles despite their deficiencies. During 1912–1920 the U.S. armored cruisers had their names changed from states to cities within those states to free up the names for battleships. (ACR-1) Maine (1895), later classed as a second class battleship, sunk by explosion 15 February 1898, 286 killed (ACR-2) New York (1893) – Spanish–American War, later Saratoga, WW1 as Rochester, later CA-2 (ACR-3) Brooklyn (1896) – Spanish–American War, later CA-3

(ACR-4) Pennsylvania (1905), later Pittsburgh – United States occupation of Veracruz, WW1, later CA-4 (ACR-5) West Virginia (1905), later Huntington – WW1, later CA-5 (ACR-6) California (1907), later San Diego – WW1, sunk by mine 19 July 1918, 6 killed (ACR-7) Colorado (1905), later Pueblo – WW1, later CA-7 (ACR-8) Maryland (1905), later Frederick – WW1, later CA-8 (ACR-9) South Dakota (1908) – WW1, later Huron CA-9

(ACR-10) Tennessee (1906), later Memphis, wrecked 29 August 1916, 43 killed and missing (ACR-11) Washington (1906), later Seattle – WW1, later CA-11 (ACR-12) North Carolina (1908) – WW1, later Charlotte CA-12 (ACR-13) Montana (1908), later Missoula – WW1, later CA-13

Protected and Peace cruisers (C, PG)

In the pre-1920 period abbreviations were informal and not standardized; officially these ships were, e.g., "Cruiser No. 1". Only the Montgomery class were unprotected cruisers, all the rest were protected cruisers. The Navy often referred to unprotected cruisers and obsolete protected cruisers (and some large gunboats without cruiser features) as peace cruisers due to their use in major policing and diplomatic roles.

(C-1) Newark (1891) – Spanish–American War (C-2) Charleston (1889) – Spanish–American War, wrecked 2 November 1899 (C-3) Baltimore (1890) – Spanish–American War, WW1, later minelayer CM-1 (C-4) Philadelphia (1890), later IX-24 (C-5) San Francisco (1890) – Spanish–American War, WW1, later minelayer CM-2 (C-6) Olympia (1895) – Spanish–American War, WW1

(C-7) Cincinnati (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1 (C-8) Raleigh (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1

(C-9) Montgomery (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1 as Anniston (C-10) Detroit (1893) – Spanish–American War (C-11) Marblehead (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1, later PG-27

(C-12) Columbia (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1, later CA-16 (C-13) Minneapolis (1894) – Spanish–American War, WW1, later CA-17

(C-14) Denver (1904) – WW1, later PG-28, CL-16 (C-15) Des Moines (1904) – WW1, later PG-29, CL-17 (C-16) Chattanooga (1904) – WW1, later PG-30, CL-18 (C-17) Galveston (1905) – WW1, later PG-31, CL-19 (C-18) Tacoma (1904) – United States occupation of Veracruz, WW1, later PG-32, CL-20 (C-19) Cleveland (1903), later PG-33, CL-22

(C-20) St. Louis (1906) – WW1, later CA-18 (C-21) Milwaukee (1906), wrecked 13 January 1917 (C-22) Charleston (1905) – WW1, later CA-19

While classified as patrol gunboats by the Navy and as sloops by the 1930 London Naval Treaty, the 2,000 ton displacement Erie-class gunboats were designed to fulfill the role of peace cruisers in Asia and the Caribbean as detailed in internal Navy documents.

(PG-50) Erie (1936) – WW2: 1 battle star, burned out and beached after torpedo hit 12 November 1942, 7 killed, later capsized (PG-51) Charleston (1936) – WW2: 1 battle star

Cruiser minelayers (CM)

In 1919 two cruisers were reclassified as Cruiser Minelayers (CM); they had participated in the laying of the North Sea mine barrage during WW1. Other large minelayers with no cruiser features or history were later given the 'CM' hull symbol, and the 'cruiser' nomenclature was dropped.

(CM-1) Baltimore, ex-C-3 (CM-2) San Francisco, ex-C-5

Scout cruisers (SCR, SC, CS)