A DECADE OF NEGLECT: The Navy’s Cruisers Are Old and It Has Nothing to Replace Them With. “The U.S. Navy’s Ticonderoga-class cruisers, built during the 1980s, are nearing retirement age and there is nothing to replace them with. A backbone of the Navy’s air defenses, the tall guided-missile cruisers’ retirement would leave a hole in the Navy’s ability to defend aircraft carriers and other high profile ships just as the service is shifting back to a focus on fleet versus fleet warfare.”