Cruiser facts for kids

The Japanese cruiser Iwate 2, a much older one

Japanese cruiser Takechiho, a much older one

A cruiser is a warship larger than the destroyer, nowadays they are usually used for bombardment. They are commonly used as command ships and/or flagships.

Older cruisers used large cannons like most other ships when they were first used, but have evolved to use the same weaponry as modern destroyers.

Cruisers were first built in 1915, but became popular among navies in the early 1930s, and are still used today.

Cruisers have changed over time and have evolved from the old, large, and coal-driven ships to the modern smaller, more efficient vessels. Cruisers are still used today, but are very different from the older ones.

Images for kids

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  USS Port Royal, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1992

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  Russian Slava-class cruiser Varyag in the Pacific Ocean

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  HMS Shannon, the Royal Navy's first armored cruiser.

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  The Russian protected cruiser Aurora

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  HMS Lion (1910)

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  HMS Caroline, a World War I era light cruiser, served as a headquarters and training vessel in Belfast until 2011.

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  Romanian coastguard cruiser Grivița

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  Italian cruiser Armando Diaz.

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  USS Atlanta (CL-51), at sea, unknown date.

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  Russian Navy battlecruiser of the Kirov class, Frunze

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  China's latest Type 055 destroyer has been classified by the United States Department of Defense as a cruiser because of its large size and armament.

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  One cruiser alternative studied in the late 1980s by the United States was variously entitled a Mission Essential Unit (MEU) or CG V/STOL.

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  Jeanne d'Arc of the French Navy, launched in 1961, decommissioned in 2010