Not impressed by this article, which seems to follow the same crude logic that because 055 is >10,000 tons and has >100 cells it is therefore a cruiser and therefore analogous to USN's Ticonderoga class.
I know we've been through this argument before, but this is such nonsense. Start with the fact that the only reason Ticonderoga is labelled a "cruiser" in the first place is because US Congresscritters wanted more "cruisers" to match the scary Soviet cruisers, and USN obliged by reclassifying some upcoming destroyers as cruisers. Add to this the fact that Ticonderoga is old. By the time the first 055 is commissioned in 2019, the first half-dozen Ticos will have reached retirement age (yes, I know the non-VLS units were retired early, but that's the point -- even if they hadn't been, the class would've started to retire by now anyway). The idea that the characteristics and labels of these 1980s warships, built on a 1970s hull, can serve as a useful basis of comparison for a clean-sheet design in 2020, is just ludicrous. The chronological gap between Ticonderoga and 055 is larger than the gap between the Essex class carriers of WW2 and the Nimitz-class.
And the silliest thing is that this evolution of warship design (in part towards bigger hulls with lower crewing requirements) is plainly apparent even within USN itself. The Arleigh Burke Flight III is larger than a Tico, yet is apparently still a destroyer. It is larger than a Tico, yet not only carries fewer missiles, but also lacks the former's command spaces and second 5" gun. One can only conclude, using the crude logic favoured by those who think that 055 is some special "cruiser
type, that the US Navy has simply forgotten how to build ships and has actually regressed since 1983. In fact, you have to wonder why USN doesn't go back to building what is so obviously a superior design that manages to pack more missiles and more guns into a smaller ship with room left over for command amenities.
Alternatively, one can acknowledge the blindingly obvious -- that warships are getting bigger across the board -- and therefore the corollary: that 055 is not some special "cruiser" type, but simply what a clean-sheet large surface combatant looks like in the 21st century. 055 is to 2020 what Arleigh Burke was to 1990.
