
What is an Missile Cruiser?
Missile Cruisers are warships around 500 feet long and uses advanced early-warning systems to find and target incoming threats from the air, the surface of the water, or below it. As their name implies, the missile cruiser uses missiles of various types and roles to counter the threat. Also being a cruiser, allows for longer ranges. Most missile cruisers are actually called "guided missile cruisers", and these are the only type of cruisers constructed for modern navies. The old light, medium, battle, classifications of cruisers have been replaced, due to advancements in technology, and the guided missile cruiser continues the tradition. The Missile Cruiser is a dying breed with only a few still in service, due to the guided missile Destroyer.
Modern Naval Guided Missile Cruisers and Its Future
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The modern guided missile cruiser are designed around being a grand protector of their group with weapons to counter threats of different types with all manner of weapon. This is not just limited to seaborne threats or even aerial threats. With guided missiles like the American Tomahawk, land targets up to 1500 miles away from the missile cruiser can be engaged, aiding friendly forces on-land. This was famously seen in First and Second Gulf Wars. The first Tomahawk guided missiles fired in the Gulf War of 1991 were fired from the USN San Jacinto (CG-56), an Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser. This speaks to tactical flexibility of the modern guided missile cruiser.

The missile/torpedo cruiser of science fiction is not as surgical as the modern naval missile cruiser, and nor are missiles/torpedoes unique to a certain class of spacegoing warship. Take the majority of starships seen in Star Trek as an example. Nearly all of them use an directed-energy weapon and some sort of missile/torpedo system. This makes the role of the missile/torpedo cruiser somewhat different, especially, if the sci-fi universe has energy shielding.
The Star Trek Federation Akira class missile cruiser was designed to shower it target(s) with photon torpedoes, crushing the shields, and destroying the ship. The key ability of the Akira class was in the rapid-fire delivery of these missiles/torpedoes. While the standard Federation starship has one to three photon torpedo launcher, the Akira class has 15 launching tubes that puts down a heavy spread of torpedoes. This means that it can lay down more fire than an Galaxy and Sovereign classes or any other warship in the Star Trek universe. In other works, the missile cruiser is the long-range artillery of the fleet, designed to pound the enemy, but lacks the close ship-to-ship weaponry, relying other ships for protection.
The Difference between Missiles and Torpedoes
In Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and in Star Trek, we see warship carrying both torpedoes AND missiles. Why would a spacegoing warship carry both of these similar weapon systems and what is the difference between the two? In modern naval warfare, missiles and torpedoes occupy important but separate roles in naval combat. Missiles are used for surface-to-surface and surface-to-air naval engagements, while torpedoes are used for underwater engagements. Some surface naval warship and aircraft use torpedoes to engage other surface warships or underwater targets. Torpedoes are not used to attack land targets like missiles, or airborne targets.

The Weapons of the Missile Cruiser
Surface-to-Air Missiles

Surface-to-Surface Missiles
With naval warships being the offensive arm of any nation's military, it makes sense for them to be an platform for attacking land-based targets. Naval artillery via guns or missiles were used to soften up amphibious landing sites. With modern technology, missiles like the United States Tomahawk long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile can engage land targets like specific buildings in a major metropolitan area, as seen in the first Gulf War.
Anti-Ship Missiles

Naval Artillery Guns

Close-In Defensive Weaponry

Anti-Submarine Torpedoes

Examples of Modern Naval Missile Cruisers
The US Navy Ticonderoga class Missile Cruiser

The Russian Navy Slava class Missile Cruiser

The Hard Science Missile Cruiser

Science Fiction and the Missile Cruisers
When we examine the missile cruisers that appear in sci-fi, we can see that there are few examples that do not exist outside of a RPG wargame or video game. For the most part, only the Akira class from Star Trek and the alien Exterminator class from Space Cruiser Yamato are only two. Why? Most starships that appear on television, animation, or movies are normally going to be generalized warships or from a widely known classification of naval warship, like carrier or battlecruiser. These familiar classes carry a public precipitation that creators used to give this fictionalized warship an identity.

Examples
The Andor class Missile Cruiser from Star Trek FASA RPG
For us Star Trek fans growing up in the 1980's, there was two Starfleets. The one we saw in films and the television, and the other one in created by FASA. The FASA Starfleet was filled with warships of all classifications that we never saw on-screen, and this Starfleet was more constructed around a hostile galaxy. Some of the more offensive-minded warship including this alien designed missile cruiser, the Andor and the Thufir class Destroyer.
According to the 1985 FASA profile, the Andor class was the creation of the Andorian race have their "blue fleet" within the ranks of Starfleet that forms the offensive arm of the FASA vision of Starfleet. This Blue Fleet squadrons uses the Andor class to attack targets at 160,000 kms with the impressive torpedo spread due to its 8 launchers. These Federation warships were so feared by the Klingons and the Romulans that they would run from the Andor class after a few exchanges. This class was buried in the sea of Federation starships in the FASA game, and I only knew of the Andor class due to owning the Federation Ship Recognition Manual, and I always thought it was an interesting idea wrapped up into a badly designed (ugly) starship. The ship was redesigned by fans of the old FASA combat game, but it pales in comparison to the 24th century Akira class badass missile cruiser. In the end, the Andor class is a relic of that other Starfleet presented in the FASA games.
The High Guard Righteous Fist of Heaven Stand-Off Attack Ship from Andromeda
In the television show Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, the High Guard was the military force of the Systems Commonwealth that fell hundreds after an invasion. One of the primary warships in the High Guard was the Righteous Fist of Heaven that served as an artillery vessel that stood off from the main engagement zone and bombarded the enemy with sixty electromagnetic launching tubes along with other missile launching systems, making this class a heavy hitter in space engagements. These vessels operated in packs of two, and could also be used against planetary targets as well. There is some controversy about what the Righteous Fist of Heaven looks like, and since it was never seen in the series, this is the only image available.
The Akira class Missile Cruiser from the Star Trek Universe
The Akira is a straight up badass little ship. So badass is this Federation ship that they should have one called this class the Samuel L. Jackson, because it is one bad mother fucker. Unlike many of the Federation starships, the Akira class is designed for combat duty, and lacks what FWS reader Christopher Phoenix called "the bipolar" nature of most Federation starships. Due to the mostly combat role of the Akira class, Starfleet only has a limited number of these warship prior to outbreak of the Dominion War. In peacetime, Akira class starships are used for patrol, showing the flag, and escort duty.

The Avalon class Missile Cruiser from the Battletech Universe

The White Comet Empire Exterminator class Space Attack Missile Cruiser

The most iconic feature was the massive twin anti-matter missiles that dominates the forward section of the warship. The White Comet Empire constructed hundreds of these ships, and the Earth Defense Force combated many of these during the bloody battles over the Sol System. These were also the primary assault ship for the zealot General Radnar attack in 2201, which came only a few weeks after the devastating invasion of the main White Comet Empire assault. This class is one of the symbols of the White Comet Empire and a favorite among fans. It is unknown if the White Comet Empire will be in the next rebooted Yamato series, and if this class will return.
The Missile Ships of EVEonline
Missile ships are common among all of the races in the game, but the Caladari use the most missile ships in the game. Unlike other missile cruisers, the missile ships of EVEOnline are not a class onto themselves. The missiles of the game cannot miss their targets if the launching vessel is in range, and come in four warhead types with several missile classifications. The missiles used in ship-to-ship or ship-to-drone engagements appear to be firing in swarms, and hit the target vessel at various points. It would have been easier for this blog article if they just used missile cruisers.
The High Guard Siege Perilous class Stand-Off Attack Ship from Andromeda
Another missile ship of High Guard fleet that served the massive Systems Commonwealth is the Siege Perilous class stand-off attack ship. This class replaced the aging Righteous Fist of Heaven. This has been considered the most lethal ship-killer of its era, and fought against the Magog and the Nietzschean Uprising. Only four of the star-shaped warships were built before the fall of the Systems Commonwealth. The preferred tactic of this class was to emerge from Slipspace, and bombard its target with a massive storm of outgoing fire of kill-vehicles, missiles, torpedoes being fired from 180 EM launchers. 180. Fuck me. This ship could end a taskforce if properly targeted. This class was under consideration, and had not been formally named. When a Magog raiding party hit the colony of Brandenburg Tor, the testbed Siege Perilous was in the area and responded to the Magog attack. Sadly, despite the bravery of the crew, the ship and crew were lost. The High Guard named the entire class after that heroic ship and crew.
The EarthForce Sagittarius class Missile Cruiser from the B5 Universe
The Sagittarius class missile cruiser class is one of the older surviving classes of Earthforce warships that fought in the pivotal Dilgar Invasion and the bloody Earth-Minbari War. Between the Dilgar Invasion and the Minbari War, the Sagittarius class was armed with greater anti-fighter defensive weaponry and interceptors, with greater armor. The primary weapon of this class is missiles, and two ranks of 20 missiles are stored in the forward firing arch. This ship seems to be designed to lay down the hate from a distance which explains why the Sag class suffers from poor defensive and offensive capabilities (save for the missiles). It will not operate along.
The really queer thing about "Sag" class is that it lack jump-engines. This means that this space navy missile platform completely dependent on other EarthForce ships to open a jump-point for the Sag class. That would suck. Of course, if the system has a jump-gate then problem solved. Due to the budgetary limitations of the show, there was limit on how many ships could be seen on-screen, and the Sagittarius class was one that only appeared in the B5 combat game, Call to Arms.
Next Time on FWS...
