United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
In 1975, the United States Navy undertook a major reclassification of many of its surface vessels, including cruisers, frigates, ocean escorts, and carrierss, resulting in a variety of changes to the terminology and hull classification symbols used by the Navy.From the 1950s to 1975, the Navy had three types of fast task force escorts, plus one type of convoy escort. The task force escorts were Cruisers (CLG/CG), Frigates (DL/DLG), and Destroyers (DD/DDG); the convoy escorts were Ocean Escorts (DE/DEG), often known as destroyer escorts. In addtion, in the early 1970s there was a new group of ocean escort-type vessels being built with Patrol Frigate (PF) classifications. In 1975 these classifications were simplified to Cruiser (CG), Destroyer (DD/DDG) and Frigate (FF/FFG).
Under the pre-1975 classification, cruisers were large vessels, the size of WWII gun cruisers, intended as the primary surface combatants. They were to carry the long-range Talos missile, and, in many cases, strategic weapons such as Regulus or Polaris (but these were not fitted). One cruiser was to be assigned to each carrier group. There were relatively few of these ships, due to their cost and because the Frigates could carry almost as many weapons as a Cruiser.
From 1950 to 1975, Frigates were a new type, midway between Cruiser and Destroyer sizes, intended as major task force escorts. The first ship of the type was a redesignated ASW cruiser; the next 4 were very large AAW (gun) destroyers, and the remainder were essentially oversize guided missile destroyers. They carried the mid-range Terrier missile, but no offensive (strategic) weapons.
Destroyers were developed from the WWII designs as the smallest fast task force escorts. DDs were fast ASW ships; DDGs were AAW ships carrying the short-range Tartar missile.
Ocean Escorts were an evolution of the WWII destroyer escort types. They were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mass production in peacetime. DEs were ASW vessels; DEGs were AAW vessels with the short-range Tarter missile.
The US Frigate classification was not used by any other navy; similar vessels were either cruisers or destroyers in foreign service. The Ocean Escort type corresponded to foreign frigates (convoy escorts).
The Sovietss defined "cruiser" differently, considering ships equivalent to US Frigates to be "cruisers". By 1974 there were only 6 ships in US service classified as Cruisers, but the Soviets had 19 ships classified as Cruisers in service with 7 more building. (All totals exclude gun-only cruisers.) All but two of the Soviet ships were relatively small vessels, roughly equivalent to US Frigates and far smaller than US Cruisers. The differing US and Soviet definitions of "cruiser" caused problems when comparisions were made between US and Soviet naval forces. A table comparing US and Soviet cruiser forces showed 6 US ships vs. 19 Soviet ships, despite the fact that there were 21 US "frigates" equal or superior to the Soviet "cruisers". This lead to the perception of a "cruiser gap", when in fact there was no gap.
To cure the "cruiser gap", the US Frigate (DL/DLG) classification was eliminated on 30 June 1975. All the gun Frigates (DL) had been stricken prior to 1975. Most of the DLGs became Cruisers (CG) on 30 June 1975, but one class (Farragut) became Destroyers (DDG), due to their smaller size. The change from DLG to CG redefined the Cruiser type; cruisers were now smaller, more like large destroyers. Cruiser classifications were also simplified, with the Guided Missile Light Cruisers (CLG) simply becoming CGs.
At the same time the Ocean Escorts (DE/DEG) and Patrol Frigates (PF) became Frigates (FF/FFG).
Finally, the Attack Carriers (CVA/CVAN) became Multimission Carriers (CV/CVN). These changes brought US Navy classifications into line with foreign classifications, and eliminated the perceived "cruiser gap".
| Pre-30 June 1975 | Post-30 June 1975 |
| Attack Carrier (CVA/CVAN) | Multimission Carrier (CV/CVN) |
| Cruiser (CG/CLG) | Cruiser (CG) |
| Frigate (DL/DLG) | -- |
| Destroyer (DD/DDG) | Destroyer (DD/DDG) |
| Ocean Escort (DE/DEG) | Frigate (FF/FFG) |
| Patrol Frigate (PF) | -- |
A final change came on 1 January 1980, when the Ticonderoga-class Destroyers (DDG) became Cruisers (CG).
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