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Following Pearl Harbor, the loss of the battle line forced the USN to focus on aircraft carriers as the decisive weapon. Left to fight the surface fight were the heavy and light cruisers. The scale of the surface actions can be judged by this; between 1929 and 1937, 17 heavy cruisers were built, 6 of which were sunk in action.

The Pensacola and Salt Lake City were the oldest of the ships and finished the war with 24 Battle Stars between them. The survived the war, only to be used as target ships for the Bikini nuclear tests and were then used as target ships, finally sinking in 1948. They had thier 8-inch/55 rifles mounted in four turrets, two twin and two triple mounts (with the triple mounts super-imposed over the twin).

The next class were the six cruisers of the Northampton class. Three of the class, the Northampton, Chicago and Houston were sunk in action, the remainder finishing the war and joining the mothballed fleet and finally being scrapped in 1959/60. They pioneered the use of the triple 8-inch mount with two super-imposed forward and one aft, this combination was used by all of the following heavy cruisers.

The Indianapolis class comprised two ships (the other being Portland). Indianapolis was sunk in 1945 (the last major US warship to be sunk). Portland entered mothballs and was scrapped in 1959.

In 1933, the seven ships of the Astoria class started entering service. Of this class, three were sunk; Astoria, Quincy and Vincennes (all in 1942). The remainder of the class were scrapped in 1959/61.

The last of the pre-war heavies, the Wichita was a single class ship, essentially a 8-inch armed version of the Brooklyn class light cruisers, she survived the war, only to meet her end at the hands of the scrapyard in 1959.

The first of the wartime cruisers were the 29 ships of the Baltimore-Oregon City class (they differ in that Baltimore class had two funnels and Oregon City had one funnel with a more compact superstructure, otherwise they were identical). All survived the war, ending up in mothballs and being scrapped in the 1970-1980s. Several (Boston, Canberra, Albany, Chicago, Columbus and Northampton) were converted into the first guided-missile cruisers and served into the 1980s before being mothballed.

The last and arguably the best of the heavy cruisers were the three ships of the Des Moines class. Built with a new design of 8-inch gun that allowed for much more rapid firing, they were just too late for WWII but provided sterling service in Korea and Vietnam. Two were scrapped in the 1990s and one, the Salem, becoming a museum ship.

No discussion of the heavy cruisers can be complete without mentioning the CB or Large Cruisers. The Alaska and Guam entered service just in time for 1945. They called battlecruisers, but the USN always maintained that this was not thier function. Armed with new design 12-inch rifles they never took part in any anti-ship or bombardments, being used as escorts for the fleet carriers. After serving less than three years on active duty, they entered mothballs in 1947 and were scrapped in 1960/61.

The oldest of the light cruisers were the 10 ships of the 1920-era Omaha class. Outdated before the start of the war, they served in the various sideshow theaters and acted as convoy escorts. All were scrapped in 1946-49. They mounted their six-inch main armament in two twin turrets and 4-8 casemate-mounts.

In 1936, the first of 7 Brooklyn-class cruisers entered service. They mounted the heaviest armament of any light cruiser (five triple 6-inch/47 rifles) and were capable of an astonshing rate of fire (3-5 rounds per gun, per minute). All survived the war and entered service with various South American navies. One, the USS Phoenix entered Argentine service and was renamed the General Belgrano and became the first warship to be sunk by a nuclear submarine during the Falkland Islands campaign.

In 1938, the two sisters St. Louis and Helena entered service, a modified Brooklyn design (different placement of their secondary armament). Helena was sunk in 1943. St. Louis survived to enter service with Brazil.

In 1941, the Atlanta class of four started entering service. These were purpose built antiaircraft cruisers that boosted the heavy armamanet of eight twin 5-inch/38 rifles. The Atlanta and the Juneau were sunk in 1942, the San Diego and San Juan were scrapped in 1960-62.

The Atlanta was such a successful design that two repeats were built, the four ships of the Oakland class and the three ships of the Juneau class. Differing only in the removal of two 5-inch turrets (to make room for smaller AA guns). These seven ships provided sterling service throughout the war. They were scrapped in 1961/62.

The Cleveland-Fargo class of 52 ships provided the USN with its CL force for most of the war. Like the Baltimore-Oregon City class, the Clevelands started out with two funnels and the Fargos went down to one funnel. There were no war losses and most entered mothballs, to be scrapped in 1960-63. Several were converted into guided missile cruisers or fleet flagships, being mothballed in the 1960s. The Clevelands were armed with four triple 6-inch/47 mounts.

The final class of light cruisers were the two ships of the Worcester class. Antiaircraft cruisers armed with new mounts (six twin 6-inch rifles). They entered service in 1947 and soon entered mothballs, being scrapped in the 1960s.

Overall, US cruiser design has handicapped by the pre war naval treaties, suffering from thin armor (one nickname for US CAs were "Tin Clads"). Of all the US cruisers only the Omaha and the Atlanta classes mounted torpedoes during the war. US cruisers had excellent guns and superior fire control. Their major weakness was that pre-war, the USN did not practise night fighting to any real degree. A practise that would bear bitter fruit in the 1942 actions off of Guadalcanal.