Virginia-class CGN Ship Brief 

Operated reactors on the South Carolina CGN-37 from 78-82.a few notes: by 78 the helo elevators were gone. Area became weight room and study hall. At speed room was not usable due to vibration. The torpedoes were never fired as the drop to the water damaged them. Launchers were on the main deck in the aft structure. As they were inside the superstructure the launcher would have had a very small firing arc. Nixie was also never deployed. The ships wake broke the cabling. As built the 2 California class carried Asroc launchers on the main deck between the bridge and the one arm bandit ( 5 inch gun ). These were removed in the mid 80’s. Many other tidbits. Class was victim of too many people involved in design. Originally were to have 6 or 8 inch guns. Also aft gun was mounted on the 01 level (above the torpedo room ) which caused many problems. Virginias put the gun back down on the main deck.

that class had some beautiful lines. good looking warship.

DL- "Destroyer Leader" The DL's were larger destroyers and meant to be the command ships for Destroyer squadrons. When the Navy went through reclassification back in the 1970's, the DL's were reclassified as "Cruisers." The old "Destroyer Escorts" (DE) were reclassified as "Frigates" (FF/FG).

These "Destroyer Leaders," including the conventionally powered Leahys and Belknaps, had spaces available to carry a flotilla commander and staff. I spent time on the USS Wainwright (DLG-28 -->CG-28) in the early 80's.

My dad served on USS Virginia in the late 70s, early 80s. Looking forward to this!

NTU is New Threat Upgrade not new target upgrade at 18:56.

Was on the USS Texas CGN-39 as part of the decomm crew. Having served on it and a carrier, the cruiser was my favorite. Big enough the ride wasn't too bad, small enough you knew everyone on board and could still visit some cool ports.

In my opinion it's a really great looking ship class.

DLGN: Destroyer, Leader, Guided, Nuclear.

These days they would have helipads on the aft deck and maybe garages for a chopper or two. A few nuclear-powered cruisers make more sense than more super carriers. Their lives were too short. Fuel being much more expensive may tilt towards nuclear power as if the increased range was not enough. If we can refuel subs, we can design a cruiser that can be refueled.

The tomahawk knows where it is because it knows where it isn't.

Served on the Mississippi in the early '80s. Washing down the helopad with fire main would be a REALY bad idea. Fire main was saltwater. The garage door above the elevator definitely leaked in certain conditions but I don't remember every seeing seawater pour in. The main deck was a considerable height above the water. We had a portable classroom trailer on the elevator for training purposes.

Rode The Ark (CGN-41) for a couple around 91-93. Looking forward to this one.

I joined the Navy hoping to be able to serve aboard a Virginia.

Very much looking forward to this. Virginia and California classes are my favorite, because they were great.

Nice work Aaron! Looking forward to some CGN-9 USS Long Beach love at some point in the future.....

DLGN comes from the fact that at first frigates were referred to as destroyer leaders.

Would like to see a brief on the USS Chicago CG-11 the cruiser that bridged the gun era to missiles era of weaponry.

I was a crew member of USS Newport News (CA-148) The last all gun Heavy Cruiser. Then USS Springfield (CLG-7) 6 x 6-inch guns and a Terrier AA missile launcher that was nuclear capable, Marine guards were posted and no one went into the missile house except the fire control and GMM people that had approved access. I always wanted to see up close a full-on missile cruiser (large frigate) On the USS Newport News (CA-148) We had a hangar on the stern but never had problems, of course the ship was 718 feet long I'm not sure what the beam was now, but the deck was 50 feet to the water line. We used choppers very often to transfer people and it was put away for vert reps, that used the bow and stern at the same time using, CH-47F Chinook

Arkansas CGN-41 Plankowner ("Nucleus Crew" at NNSDDC Feb.1979) Nuclear Operator EM-1, 1977-83, also at her Decommissioning in 1997 at PSNS with several Shipmates (Hey Mac, Kerry, Bob, Stan, Tim, Mr. Z & Capt. Read. Sobo & T, where TF were you guys?) Best wishes to you all. На здоровье товарищ

Getting rid of the nuclear-powered cruisers and the fleet was a terrible idea. I will not change my mind on this.

Would love to see a video on cold war warsaw pact torpedoes, especially the wake following versions along with NATO countermeasures (declassified of course) Thanks.

The helicopter Beartrap was a Canadian innovation from Fairey aviation introduced back In 1967. American version is a little different but based on the same idea. Great system.

YAY! Excited for more great content.

In the opening, you should have mentioned the USS Bainbridge DLGN 25 and the Truxton DLGN 35 as the first nuclear powered Destroyer Leaders (cruisers). They actually had a longer life than the Virginia and California class with the Bainbridge ordered in 1958 and decommissioned in 1996. And also the USS Long Beach CGN 9 ordered in 1956.

I can't wait for a ship brief of the belknap class cruisers someday, my grandfather was on the USS TRUXTUN CGN-35 during Vietnam, I'd like to learn more about his ship.

SPS-48 is excellent and still in service. I think there on G model or something like that nowadays.

The fact that they were equipped with nuclear propulsion and designated cruiser are pretty much fitting for the propulsion type and size they had. Since a classic cruiser role is to also screen larger ships and be able to travel longer ranges than smaller ships like DDs and gas guzzling battleships in late 19th and early 20th century.

My understanding was the the USS Virginia class had 44 round launchers forward and 24 round launchers aft. The reverse of what the Kidd's would be built with.

The rapid capture system you describe for helicopters is called RAST (Recovery Assist Secure and Traverse).

@SubBrief Sorry that I missed this when you first posted this. I served as a nuke officer on USS Mississippi from 1980 to 1982. Here are some more facts about the Virginia class CGNs and specifically about the Mississippi (others may have already posted these): Only the Arkansas under went shock tests. Mississippi earned the Battenburg Cup in 1982 as the best ship in the Atlantic Fleet. Mississippi was the first US Navy warship to support a successful at sea US Coast Guard drug interdiction. I was the OOD that caught up with the drug runner Recife that we later assisted the Coast Guard team to board, seized 30 tons of marijuana and arrested the crew. I was one of the ORSE EOOWs when Mississippi earned her 4th excellence in a row, something unheard of for surface nuclear ships. Last, we put a trailer in the helio hanger as a training classroom for her first Med deployment.

Aaron, used to operate with USS California all the time Va Capes etc. She only had a one armed bandit launcher on her focsle in 77-79. She was in same dry dock as us in Portsmouth, Va ship yard in 1977 could’ve removed hanger then, never knew she had such. We used to beat her off Emergency Breakaways for about 1/4 mile in Knox class 🤔 variable pitch screw but then would blow by us. Rumor had it crew member poured hydraulic cement in a toilet or toilets, plumbing issues.

I was in during the 80’s early 90’s. The nuke cruisers were amazingly capable. But they all needed to be completely refitted by 1990. I wish we had made a heavy nuke cruiser fleet. Ships that could keep up with nuke carriers. My battle group would be two smaller nuke attack subs, two heavy nuke cruisers, 3 nuke destroyers and 2 nuke frigates. All of the nuke power plants would be self contained and modular for swift removal and replacement without the need to refuel. This would given a longer life to these platforms and make their maintenance costs lower. We have the tech to make these reactors far safer than in the past. Yep… not going to happen unless China makes them for their fleet

These sub briefs are great, really good information on these fighting vessels

They were decommissioned due to politics, not operating costs. One or both of the Californias were taken out of service right after refueling. This was done by our internal enemies to reduce our capabilities, one we never got back. These same people retired the A6 Intruders too. I was fortunate to visit the Virginia and Mississippi several times during the 1980s; impressive ships.

Might be a nit pick but you consistently put in CWIS for the acronym for the Phalanx and it is actually CIWS. Easy mistake to make since it gets said by the sailors as sea wiz.

Helo elevator seems quite 60's James Bond.

IMO with the increasing power requirements of modern fighting ships, especially if naval railguns become a reality, perhaps it's time for the nuclear cruisers to make a come back. The reduced fleet train requirements would also be beneficial when china's expansion and general belligerent behavior leads to a war.

Served onboard the USS Arkansas CGN-41 89-92 I still remember how it's laid out inside and out. We did not deploy to the Caribbean for drug ops in 1990, we deployed close to Panama on the Pacific side.

I was a machinist mate on the USS Texas cgn 39 from 1981 to 1984. Just too set the record straight we were in the Nimitz battle group that shot down the 2 Russian made lybian migs!!! Kadaffy dared Regan to cross his line. We did. That was the beginning of his end! Second our ammo elevators were typical 1970's junk! I know right we're not taking about a Chevy! Yeah a warship! I know. Most of the time if you were under e5 your ass was doing the job of the broke down ammo elevators! Even the wimpy Topsiders started getting muscles. I'm not going to go on and on but just thought I would set the record straight, but thanks for caring.

Just a tiny correction: around the 5:00.mark you say "...ships were going from solid state to digital" I think you meant to say "from vacuum tubes and analog systems to solidstate and digital systems.".

Great info on the elevator. I wonder in the Russian ships with elevators had the same problems?

Having been an AE on a Frigate, hearing about that helo pad is the stuff of nightmares. 🤬🤯

Would you be interested in doing a brief detailing how these ships are decommissioned and dismantled?

This is such a cool channel I have read about a lot of things like the nixie in Tom Clancy books and always wondered what they look like.

My dad's friend Jim Savoy sailed on USS Virginia I believe. These ships are odd and I'm very excited to hear about her.

My dad (FCCM Caddis) was a plankowner of USS Texas CGN-39...and was assigned to her crewing at least twice. She was his last sea duty assignment (82-84 time range) before he retired in 1990. My brother and I had a chance to join the tiger cruise around 83 with my dad in San Diego home port as he returned from WestPac through Honolulu. Best time ever! Texas was a great ship...was sad to hear she was decommissioned.

BUILD MORE... BUILD NOW... BUILD SOMETHING... BUILD ANYTHING... We need new ships yesterday.

11,000 tons, 586 feet long, 53 feet wide and can only do 30 knots, that is a tiny ship that underperforms for its size. The Iowa class comes in at 60,000 tons, 860 feet long, 108 feet wide and can do 33 knots at full load and 35 knots at light load and they were built in the 1940s. It looks like technology took a few steps backward with this ship class.

I retired from the USN 12 years ago MM Nuke ELT. Decommisioned the Mississippi (CGN40). My first ship. Nice refresher course.

DLGN is "Destroyer Leader, Guided(missile), Nuclear"

Hey, showing the nixie thing reminded me of Tom Clancy's book Red Storm Rising where the ASW ship had something called a prairie masker(I think that's what it was called). Some sort of bubble machine that made the ship quieter. Any truth to that or something Clancy got wrong?

Donor dome failed when Virginia hit a 40 foot wave which picked up the bow enough to get the dome completely out of the water. Resulted in her spending 8 of the 10 month deployment in the Philippines. South Carolina ended up spending the 10 month deployment with only 1 port visit. Both the cruisers and carrier (Ike) were deployed after only a few months back from med cruise due to threat to close the straight for oil tankers ( Iran/Irac war). First 10 month at sea deployment since ww2.

Thanks!

The USS Arkansas, CGN-41, did have a helo hanger. The metal plates covering the elevator would fold up like an accordion, then the elevator would rise to be even with the deck. Then it was ready for the helicopter to land. Also, I believe that the DLGN stands for Destroyer Leader Guided Missle Nuclear.

CGN41 plankowner. Yes, we had the helo deck/elevator

DLGN is Destroyer Leader Guided Missile, Nuclear. The USN was building ships that were halfway between Destroyers and typical Cruisers, (Traditionally intended to be the flagship of a Destroyer Squadron). The USN designation of "Frigate" runs in the tradition of the "Original Six" Large Frigates - USS Constitution and her sisters, which were larger than other Frigates of the time - nearly the equivalent of a Ship of the Line.

California beam was 61 ft, Virginia was 63. The D2G was 35000shp. The reactor itself was comparable to S6G (of Los Angeles class) although using different coolant pump/SG arrangement. The 688 was rated at 30,000 shp. But on a surface ship, there is room for a deaerating feed tank, and this allows higher thermal efficiency, hence the extra 5000 shp - there is more to this. The helicopter elevator was never on Arkansas, CGN-41? I cannot recall what was in the space. Notice the bow does not have the flared wall above the deck. On one exercise with midi's, a LT has a group of the by the forward MK 26. We were headed directly into a 20kt+ wind at 25kt, apparent wind 45kt+. I got permission to adjust heading by 1 deg. This was enough to cause the spray to walk across the deck. He gave us the bird.

CGN-35, USS Truxtun was originally designated a DLGN , Destroyer Leader Guided Missile. Was later changed to CGN.

NTU was the "New Threat Upgrade" and consisted of the SYS-2 track and engagement system fed by the 2d (SPS-39 or SPS-40) and 3d (SPS-48E) radars with cooperative detection and tracking (returns too faint for both radar's could be discriminated), engagement management and prioritization assistants, increased fire control channels to allow more simultaneous engagements, and other features supporting SM-2 (both MR and ER) missiles. When introduced NTU actually outperformed Aegis, though later upgrades to Aegis eventually surpassed NTU's ability.

My best friend was an Advanced Electronic Tech on on of these ships

It's probably not beyond human ability to put a waterproof hangar inside a Cruisers hull, but it would be funny if the Russians had the same problems with the Kirov Class and "solved" it, by just not talking about the issue 😄

DL> "Destroyer Leader"

Adm. Rickover had NAVSEA's Cost Estimating office do the cost analysis but HE SET THE RULES. Included was the cost of Fleet Oilers that would be used to refuel non-nuclear ships, Included support costs not only for the conventionally fueled alternatives, but the support and manning costs for the support ships. Support for other items was NOT included in the comparison as it was seen as the same for both designs. Yes Rickover GAMED the studies, but they were to a point valid. He was NAVSE 08 and provided all cost estimates for the nuclear power plant. I worked in NAVSEA O1 (Cost Estimating and Analysis) from 1976 to 1983)

I was a Plank Owner on USS Mississippi, CGN-40. OS3. Left in 80. Did the CNO technical evaluation with Harpoon. Got a nice letter for it. The helo hanger was used as a classroom for martial arts classes and storage. The helicopter was too big to even fit. We had the doors open a handful of times. But that's it. It never got used to my knowledge and I know the helo wouldn't fit. They never even tried. At least not in the first three years of Mississippi's operational deployment.

Not that it matters, but the clean lines of the warships designed and built for the US Navy in this era were beautiful.

Checked Jane's 1984/85 which I own and it does not state any difference between the 4 vessels relating to the helicopter capability. This was after they were all placed in service, but before any of them had had the helicopter capability removed.

The sonar damage in 1980 was caused by the ship running into a whale while underway in the Indian ocean.

My cousin served on the Virginia in the late 70’s

The two Mk 13 gmls were one fed of mt 51 and after of Mt 52. At speed the vibration was not that bad. I was in the missile house located aft when I first reported aboard. The firing arcs were broad for all weapons but the Aaron.

Fantastic video of these ships!

Hi Sub. 2:40 Oh, the Nautilus Dude. 🏆

DLGN= Destroyer Leader Guided (missile) Nuclear. Destroyer leaders were very large destroyers with space for admiral staff to control numbers of other destryers. This wasnt the function of the DLG 's so all were relabelled CG and CGN

I was on the California who is in this last picture in the front row.

13:54 The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is (whichever is greater), it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't, and arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was, is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation, the variation being the difference between where the missile is, and where it wasn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it too may be corrected by the GEA. However, the missile must also know where it was. The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows. Because a variation has modified some of the information the missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is. However, it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice-versa, and by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be, and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error.

That helicopter deck sounds like the inspiration for the landing pad/hangars in Elite: Dangerous

Aaron just like trolling lures fishing you gotta do some work when your running a whole spread of rods out making turns

Destroyer leader guided missile nuclear powered

D = Destroyer L = Leader G= Guided Missile and N = Nuclear DLGN Retired FCC(SW) I served when they were active

when you look at the weapons loadout ... its nearly like nothings changed

These would be impressive ships with SPY-6 and a big VLS forward & aft

I really like your show but would like more submarine briefs .

Pity the design turned out so expensive to run, sounds like they were a pretty successful class of ships

Here is an intersting fact. Prior to the California DLGN/CGN Class and the Virginia DLGN/CGN Class, only Battleships carried state names in the surface fleet. I served on Arkansas from sea trials to Alameda. So we were the "Battleships" of the modern fleet. And oddly enough, there were only 9 CGN's built and Long Beach, the first CGN carried that number CGN 9 One of my favorite memories was when all 6 of us together for a photo op.........that was a lot of fire power in one spot. What a delight it would have been to run across a Soviet asset at that moment. I always thought the reason we didn't have any air ops was because there wasn't a Navy helecopter that would fit inside the hanger. Thought the bird designed for it was cancelled. And always thought the helo deck would have been a great place to install VLS Another flaw was the placement of the 5" Vs Launcher. Backassward! My brother served on the USS Kidd which was a Spruance with the Virginia package and correct placement of the gun Vs launcher. In the picture of Shock Test, that is test #2 The guns and radars have been removed in an emergency trip to Mayport after shock #1 That shock busted many bolts holding the removed equipment down. At the time that photo was taken, the reactor scrammed and the puff of the geni's kicking on is seen aft starboard. They were great ships with sexy lines.......best damn job I ever had. Quartermaster/Master Helmsman, and our Helm had a nice cushy chair, not to mention.....my office had windows! Sidebar: My buddy was STS on USS Pogy (SSN-647)

Correction on the Gulf of Sidra event. I was there on the Guadalcanal as a marine. It occurred between Mar and Apr in 86, not in 1981.

I find it disappointing that our modern surface combatants are not nuclear powered. This is a problem we should be able to solve at a reasonable cost. Flotillas of Arleigh Burke's crushing around at 30+ knots non-stop would be quite a deterrent...

14 -18 years, at least it's better than. Everybody, together now... LCS!!!!!

DLGN is Destroyer leader guided missile nuclear bob

The Harpoon knows where it is, because it knows where it isnt.

The one armed bandit was the missile launcher not the gun

NTU means New Threat Upgrade.

DLGN might've stood for a Destroyer Leader Guided-Nuclear...

An amazing class of ships that were decommissioned far too soon. Literally a crime that these ships were disposed of while not even to the middle of their expected life. Like scrapping a 2 year old car because you don't want to pay for some new tires and routine maint.

Operation Eagle Claw was supported by USS Nimitz, not Enterprise.

The sonar fix was due to a chance meeting with a giant squid

Seems to be a few things in here mixed up with the immediate predecessor California-class nuclear cruisers. Bizarrely the Californias had 4xSPG-51 illuminators, Virginias (and Kidds) had only 2. This is in spite of the fact the Californias had only 2 launch rails, the Virginias (and Kidds) had 4 with their 2x twin arm mk 26 launchers

Names of these these ships were transferred to the submarine class.

I have a bad feeling that the DDGX is just another Cruiser.

FYI: You missed the Med. Deloyment 87-88 for Virginia 38

Do your homework!! DL - destroyer leader