SpecificationsDimensions: This model kit offers 1/700 scale and is 10 inches long.

Features:
- Newly tooled bridge is made from 3-directional slide-mold technology
- Two twin Mk26 missile launchers newly tooled in great detail
- Newly tooled armored box launchers for Tomahawk missile
- Extra-fine detail on superstructure walls like hose and ladder patterns delicately reproduced
- Masts, radar and antenna parts are newly represented by photo-etched parts w/realistic details
- Radar dishes possess well-defined detail
- Mk-141 Harpoon missile launchers accurately produced w/fine detail
- Open-topped upper-mount 5-inch Mk-45 lightweight guns
- Extremely fine detailed parts like whalers
- Life rafts w/crisp details
- Sponsons are represented on lower hull by slide-mold technology
- One-piece slide-molded upper hull w/undercut details realistically represented
- Waterline or full-hull version can be assembled
- True-to-scale propellers reproduced
- Rudder reproduced like the real one

The 178m-long USS Virginia (CGN-38) was a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser of the US Navy that was commissioned in 1976. Its first taste of combat was in 1983 when the ship fired approximately 300 five-inch rounds into Lebanon. Its 500 crew members also provided assistance after the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. In 1990 the USS Virginia deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. During this conflict, the cruiser fired two Tomahawk missiles into Iraq, thereby achieving the longest combat firing of a Tomahawk up till that time. The 11,000-ton ship was eventually decommissioned in 1994.

This impressive 1/700 scale replica of the USS Virginia is finely detailed - for example, the superstructure bears fine detail such as hoses and ladders molded in place even though it is only in 1/700 scale. The bridge itself is a product of a three-directional slide mold, indicating a high level of engineering excellence. A generous collection of photo-etched parts like radar antennas and railings provides finesse. As a modern vessel, the kit incorporates a number of new moldings to represent contemporary weapon systems. Thus the radar dishes, 5-inch Mk-45 lightweight guns, Tomahawk armored box launchers and twin Mk-26 Standard missile launchers are all newly tooled items. To exhibit this accomplished ship, the modeler has the option of building a full-hull or waterline-hull version. For collectors seeking a modern warship, this USS Virginia offers something unique.

CGN-38 Virginia Class

The four Virginia class guided missile cruisers were equipped to fulfill multiple tasks in all warfare mission areas. The ships were equiped with two twin-rail missile launchers for AAW with ASROC capability; two 5" .54 caliber gun mounts for AAW and ASUW; two three-barrel torpedo launchers for ASW; and a LAMPS helicopter for ASW. Two pressurized nuclear reactors were capable of propelling the ship at speeds in excess of 30 knots, providing the endurance and capability to operate with other conventional and nuclear ships over extended periods of time and great distances. During the 1980s the ships were was outfitted with the Tomahawk Cruise Missile System, the Standard SM2(MR) Missile System, and the AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar. Planned Refueling Complex Overhauls were canceled in the early 1990s due to the expense of maintaining the nuclear propulsion components, and the ships were all decommissioned after a relatively brief period of service averageing somewhat less than two decades. Thus the CGN-41 was commissioned in 1980 with a life expectancy of 38 years, though it was retired in 1997 after only half that period in service.

Specifications

Power Plant	2 D2G General Electric nuclear reactors, two shafts, 60,000 shp
Length	Overall Length: 586 ft Waterline Length: 560 ft
Beam	Extreme Beam: 63 ft Waterline Beam: 62 ft
Draft	Maximum Navigational Draft: 32 ft Draft Limit: 23 ft
Displacement	Light Displacement: 10663 tons Full Displacement: 11666 tons
Speed	30 plus knots
Aircraft	None
Helicopter Landing Capability	None
Armament	Standard Missiles (MR) ASROC 8 - Tomahawk ASM/LAM (from 2 armored box launchers 8 - Harpoon (from two Mk141 quad launchers) 4 - MK 46 torpedoes (from fixed single tubes) 2 - Mk45 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight gun 2 - 20mm Phalanx CIWS
Combat Systems	SPS-40 Air Search Radar SPS-48 3D Air Search Radar SPS-67 Surface Search Radar SQQ-26 Sonar [bow mounted] 1 Mk14 Weapon Direction System 2 Mk74 Missile Fire Control System 1 Mk86 Gun Fire Control System 1 Mk114 ASW Fire Control System 4 SPG-51 Radars SLQ-25 NIXIE SLQ-32 EW system
Crew	39 Officers, 539 Enlisted
Unit Operating Cost Annual Average	~$40,000,000 [source: [FY1996 VAMOSC]
Unit Cost	$675 million [1990 prices]