List of cruisers: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

This is a so far incomplete list of cruisers 1879-present. It includes protected, light, armoured, battle-, heavy and missile cruisers. As this list gets longer, it will be split into countries, and types, each of which will be linked to separately on the "Cruisers" page.

Argentina

• La Argentina
• Veinticinco de Mayo class
  • Veinticinco de Mayo
  • ?

Australia

Early cruisers

• Protector

Light and protected cruisers

• Encounter
• Brisbane
• Melbourne
• Sydney
• Adelaide
• Hobart
• Perth
• Sydney

Battle- and heavy cruisers

• Australia
• Australia
• Canberra
• Shropshire

Britain

Light, protected and missile cruisers

• Dido class/Bellona class - 11 ships
• Crown Colony class - 11 ships
• Swiftsure class - 2 ships
• Tiger class - 4 ships

Armoured, battle- and heavy cruisers

• Invincible class
  • Invincible
  • Indomitable
  • Inflexible
• Indefatigable class
  • Indefatigable
  • Australia (presented to Australia 1910)
  • New Zealand
• Lion class
  • Lion
  • Princess Royal
  • Queen Mary
• Tiger class
  • Tiger
  • Leopard (not built)
• Renown class
  • Renown
  • Repulse
• Courageous class large light cruisers, later converted to aircraft carriers
  • Courageous
  • Glorious
• Furious large light cruiser, later converted to an aircraft carrier
• Hood class
  • Hood
  • Anson (not built)
  • Howe (not built)
  • Rodney (not built)
• Town class (including Southampton, Gloucester and Edinburgh classes) - 10 ships

Chile

• Chacabuco - 1 ship

Denmark

France

Protected, light and missile cruisers

• Sfax
• Tage
• Surcouf
• Cassini
• Chateaurenault
• La Tour d'Auvergne renamed Pluton
• Emile Bertin
• Lamotte-Piquet class
  • Lamotte-Piquet
  • Primauget
  • ?
• La Galissonniere class
  • La Galissonniere
  • Jean de Vienne
  • Gloire
  • Georges Leygues
  • ?
  • ?
• Jeanne d'Arc
• Colbert preserved at Toulouse

Armored and heavy cruisers

• Dupuy de Lome
• Jurien de la Graviere
• Waldeck-Rousseau
• Tourville class
  • Tourville
  • Duquesne
• Suffren class
  • Suffren
  • Colbert
  • Montcalm
• Algerie

Germany

Protected and light cruisers

• Emden
• Emden
• Karlsruhe
• Bremse
• Brummer
• Coln
• Frankfurt
• Wiesbaden
• Stettin
• Frauenlob
• Danzig
• Berlin
• Stuttgart
• Mainz
• Arkona
• Koln
• Strassburg
• Kolberg
• Magdeburg
• Hela
• Konigsburg
• Emden
• 'K' class
  • Koln
  • Konigsburg
  • Karlsruhe
• Leipzig
• Nurnberg
• 'SP' class
  • SP 1
  • SP 2
  • SP 3

Armored, battle- and heavy cruisers

• Kaiserin Augusta
• Hansa class
  • Hansa
  • Freya
  • Vineta
  • ?
  • ?
• Furst Bismarck
• Prinz Adalbert
• Prinz Heinrich
• Yorck class
  • Yorck
  • Roon
• Scharnhorst class
  • Scharnhorst
  • Gneisenau
• Blucher
• Von der Tann
• Seydlitz
• Moltke class
  • Moltke
  • Goeben
• Derfflinger class
  • Derfflinger
  • Hindenburg
• Makckensen class
  • Mackensen
  • Graf Spee
  • ?
  • ?
• Admiral Hipper class
  • Admiral Hipper
  • Prinz Eugen
  • Blucher
  • Lutzow
  • Seydlitz

Italy

Light and protected cruisers

• Capitani Romani class - 10 ships (6 not completed)
• Montecuccoli class - 2 ships
• Duca degli Abruzzi class - 2 ships
• Duca d'Aosta class - 2 ships
• Cadorna class - 2 ships
  • Luigi Cadorna
• Di Giussano class - 4 ships

Armoured and heavy cruisers

• Zara class
  • Zara
  • Pola
  • Fiume
  • Gorizia
• Bolzano
• Trento class
  • Trento
  • Trieste

Netherlands

New Zealand

• Achilles - formerly British Achilles

Poland

Portugal

Sao Gabriel Adamastor

Russia/USSR

• Svetlana
• Aurora
• Chervonaya Ukraina
• Murmansk (ex-Milwaukee)
• Zemtchug
• Maxim Gorky class - 6 ships
  • Kirov
  • Maksim Gorkyy
• Chapaev class - 10 ships
  • Chapaev
• Sverdlov class - 14 ships
• 'Kynda' class - 4 ships
• 'Kresta I' class - 4 ships
• 'Kresta II' class - 10 ships
• 'Kara' class - 7 ships
• Slava class - 3 ships
  • Slava
• Kirov class - 4 ships

Spain

Small cruisers

• Reina Christina

Large cruisers

• Baleares
• Canarias
• Vizcaya
• Almirante Oquendo
• Cristobal Colon

Sweden

• Gotland

United States

Battlecruisers (CC series)

• CC-1 Lexington class - 6 ships (first and third hulls converted to aircraft carriers)

Pre-1920 armored cruisers (ACR series)

• ACR-1 USS Maine
• ACR-2 USS New York
• ACR-3 USS Brooklyn
• ACR-4 Pennsylvania class cruiser - 6 ships
• ACR-10 Tennessee class cruiser - 4 ships

Pre-1920 cruisers (C series)

• C-1 USS Newark
• C-2 USS Charleston
• C-3 USS Baltimore
• C-4 USS Philadelphia
• C-5 USS San Francisco
• C-6 USS Olympia
• C-7 Cincinnati class cruiser - Two ships
• C-9 Montgomery class cruiser - Three ships
• C-12 Columbia class cruiser - Two ships
• C-14 Denver class cruiser - Six ships
• C-20 St. Louis class cruiser - Three ships

Post-1920 light cruisers (CL/CA series)

• CL-1 Chester class cruiser - 3 ships
• CL-4 Omaha class cruiser - 10 ships
• CL-15 USS Olympia
• CL-16 Denver class cruiser - 6 ships
• CL-22 New Orleans class 3rd class cruiser - 2 ships
• CL-40 Brooklyn class cruiser - 7 ships
• CL-49 St. Louis class cruiser - 2 ships
• CL-51 Atlanta class cruiser - 4 ships
• CL-55 Cleveland class cruiser - 23 ships (seven sisters were converted to Independence class aircraft carriers)
• CL-95 Oakland class cruiser - 4 ships
• CL-106 Fargo class cruiser - 2 ships (11 were canceled because of the end of World War II)
• CL-119 Juneau class cruiser - 3 ships
• CL-154 Worcester class cruiser - class canceled before any units laid down.
• CLGN-160 USS Long Beach - to CGN-160 6 Dec 1956, to CGN-9 1 July 1957

Post-1920 Heavy cruisers (CL/CA series)

• CA-24 Pensacola class cruiser - 2 ships
• CA-26 Northampton class cruiser - 6 ships
• CA-32 New Orleans class cruiser - 7 ships
• CA-33 Portland class cruiser - 2 ships
• CA-45 USS Wichita
• CA-68 Baltimore class cruiser - 17 ships; the largest class of heavy cruiser in history. Units of this class were converted into Boston and Albany class guided missile cruisers post-WW2.
• CA-122 Oregon City class cruiser - 3 ships, sister USS Northampton (CA-125) converted to National Emergency Command Post Afloat while under construction.
• CA-139 Salem class cruiser - 3 ships; USS Des Moines (CA-134) was laid down as a Baltimore-class ship but converted to a Salem class ship while under construction and nine ships of the class were either scrapped on the ways or never laid down.

Large cruisers (CB series)

• CB-1 Alaska class - 2 ships (6 planned)

Guided Missile Cruisers (CG series)

• CAG-1 Boston class - 2 ships
• CG-3 Galveston class - 3 ships
• CG-6 Providence class - 3 ships
• CGN-9 Long Beach class
• CG-10 Albany class - 3 ships
• CG-16 Leahy class - 9 ships
• CGN-25 USS Bainbridge
• CG-26 Belknap class - 9 ships
• CGN-35 USS Truxtun
• CGN-36 California class - 2 ships
• CGN-38 Virginia class - 4 ships
• CG-47 Ticonderoga class - 27 ships