Q&A ยท 3:44:33-3:44:57

A missile-armed Tiger-class cruiser

A proposed Tiger armament combines heavy guns and multiple missile batteries to test what qualifies as a guided-missile cruiser.

Question

Would a Tiger-class cruiser with six six-inch guns, four three-inch guns, four quadruple SAM launchers, and three twin surface-strike missile launchers be Western Europe's most powerful cruiser and count as a guided-missile cruiser?

Short answer

At entry into service it would be an exceptionally powerful European cruiser and could reasonably be classified as a guided-missile cruiser.

Notes

The hypothetical armament combines six six-inch guns and four three-inch guns with four quadruple surface-to-air missile launchers and three twin surface-strike missile launchers. At the ship's proposed entry into service, that would be a substantial missile battery by Western European standards. The brief answer accepts it as a candidate for the most powerful cruiser in that setting and says a guided-missile classification would be plausible.