The "cruiser Gap"
The Soviets defined "cruiser" differently, considering ships equivalent to U.S. frigates to be "cruisers." By 1974, there were only six ships in U.S. service classified as cruisers, but the Soviets had 19 ships classified as cruisers in service with seven more building. (All totals exclude gun-only cruisers.) All but two of the Soviet ships were relatively small vessels, roughly equivalent to U.S. frigates and far smaller than U.S. cruisers.
The differing U.S. and Soviet definitions of "cruiser" caused political problems when comparisons were made between U.S. and Soviet naval forces. A table comparing U.S. and Soviet cruiser forces showed six U.S. ships vs. 19 Soviet ships, despite the existence of 21 U.S. "frigates" equal or superior to the Soviet "cruisers." This led to the perception of a non-existent "cruiser gap."
Read more about this topic: United States Navy 1975 Ship Reclassification
Famous quotes containing the word gap:
“The confrontation between America and Europe reveals not so much a rapprochement as a distortion, an unbridgeable rift. There isn’t just a gap between us, but a whole chasm of modernity.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)