Boston class fleet escort (missile conversion) US Navy. USS Boston, Canberra, 1953-78 (CAG-1, 2). The Boston class were the world’s first missile cruisers. They emerged from the idea missiles were the future against jet-powered high altitude bombers, and especially in 1951 when the Soviet threat seems all too real. Instead of waiting for three to … Read more
Nimitz class Aircraft Carriers (1974) USS Nimitz, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Carl Vinson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, John C. Stennis, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush (CVN-38-77, built 1969-2009), all in service. Special 4 of July ! The Nminitz-class nuclear-powered fleet carriers really constituted the backbone of US Navy for the last decades of … Read more
Des Moines class cruisers (1947) USA (1945-58) USS Des Moines, Newport News, Salem. Dallas and 8 more cancelled Dec. 1945 The Des Moines-class were the last planned conventional heavy cruisers of the U.S. Navy heavy, designed as successors to the Baltimore, stretched and improved in every way. Laid down in 1945, only three on the … Read more
Cold War USN Aicraft Carriers Circa 85 ships 1945-today The bulwark of the “free world” For 43 years, NATO’s safety and strength rested on the shoulders of US Navy task forces, centered around its mighty aircraft carriers. By their numbers and size, they dictated the composition, procurements, doctrine, strategy of the surface fleet alongside the … Read more
Worcester class cruisers (1947) USA (1945-58) USS Worcester, Roanoke, Vallejo, Gary (CL-144-147) +6 cancelled Dec. 1945 The last US conventional light cruisers Technically a class of WW2 cruisers as they were laid down before the en of the war in January and May 1945, studied from 1943, the Worcester class were a planned replacement for … Read more
23 ships (DDG 2-DDG 24) 1958-99: USS Charles F. Adams, John King, Lawrence, Claude V. Ricketts, Barney, Henry B. Wilson, Lynde McCormick, Towers, Sampson, Sellers, Robison, Hoel, Buchanan, Berkeley, Joseph Strauss, Conyngham, Semmes, Tattnall, Goldsborough, Cochrane, Benjamin Stoddert, Richard E. Byrd, Waddell The Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyers were built for the United … Read more
Cold War USN Submarines 90 submarines 1950-1990: SA, SSN, SSBNs, SQLs The story of USN Submarines is an epic journey from WW2 submersibles to the perfect silent hunters. From diesel-powered to nuclear-powered and a galaxy of technological advances in between over 50 years. It was for the USN a quest on one side for the … Read more
Ten ships (DDG 37 – DDG 46) 1957-93: USS Farragut, Luce, MacDonough, Coontz, King, Mahan, Dahlgren, William. D. Pratt, Dewey, Preble USS King off Oahu in September 1961, freshly commissioned. The Farragut-class were the first were ten USN guided-missile destroyers in the 1950s, creating a brand new branch in the US fleet classification. Second destroyer … Read more
Forrest Sherman class destroyers (1955) 18 destroyers 1953-1959 Forrest Sherman, John Paul Jones, Barry, Decatur, Davis, Jonas Ingram, Manley, Du Pont, Bigelow, Blandy, Mullinnix, Hull, Edson, Somers, Morton, Parsons, Richard S. Edwards, Turner Joy The “last gunships”, first postwar US destroyers The 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers were many things: The first post-war US destroyers, successors … Read more
USS Enterprise (1960) Nuclear-powered Fleet Aircraft carrier The Nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (1960), probably the most famous ship of the contemporary US Navy, was also in her time the largest ship in the world, exceeded only by the Super-tankers born from the first oil crisis. She remains the largest warship afloat ever built before … Read more
