American and Soviet cruisers served different strategic needs

In this interpretation, post-imperial governments often disliked the cruiser label because it carried associations with empire, but the United States and Soviet Union still had different reasons to retain large surface combatants. The US Navy wanted command facilities, organization, and firepower for task groups rather than a ship devoted to the old independent cruising role. Frigates such as the Oliver Hazard Perry class could undertake much of its routine presence work. Soviet cruisers such as the Kirov class instead served as prestigious, partly self-sustaining instruments for diplomacy and winning the peace. In wartime, ships operating beyond defended bastions were expected to cause enough trouble to divert NATO forces from the Soviet Navy's central defensive areas.