Oracle,
Your getting me all fired up with all this talk of the AEGIS system. I am going to an AEGIS cruiser here in a little over a month...after my leave (ahhh, rest and relaxation). I will be on the USS VALLEY FORGE (CG 50) where we will be doing a drug interdiction deployment in the Carribean. I will actually be meeting the ship for the last 3 months of the deployment.
The official primary mission of the AEGIS cruisers is to operate with aircraft carrier battle groups in extreme threat environments well into the 21st century. The purpose of the ship is to detect, classify and track hundreds of potential targets simultaneously in the air, on the surface, and under the sea. It can destroy targets using a variety of weapons: ship and helicopter launched torpedoes, deck guns, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, rapid-fire close-in weapons, and electronic jammers and decoys. The school I am currently in (still here in Newport, RI) deals exclusively with the AEGIS system. It is unique in that only those officers going to AEGIS platforms (cruisers and DDG's) go to this school. The school is made up of lectures and simulations where we "stand watch" in a mock up of the Command Information Center (CIC) on the ship. The CIC here at the school looks pretty much identical to the one on the ship except its a tad smaller. We sit at consoles where we track, interrogate, identify, and even shoot down surface, subsurface and air contacts. These sims are a lot of fun, but we learn a great deal of information too.
To comment on one thing you said about the cruisers being the God of the Navy. Well, they are definately play an integral role in the war fighting effort in the battle group. But I think that all the ships are dependent upon the other. They all work together to perform the mission at hand...whatever that may be. You said that the Discovery Channel made it out like the Navy could not survive without them. That may be true, but the Navy couldn't survive without oilers/refuelers either. Oilers/refuelers may be have a less romantic or glorious job, but cruical none the less.
The AEGIS system can track hundreds, not thousands of targets. I'd love to tell you exactly how many, but that is classified just as are a lot of nifty little things on this system. It is truly amazing what the AEGIS system can do. I'll try to look up what I can tell you and what I can't.
The AEGIS cruisers have been around since the mid 80's beginning with the USS TICONDEROGA.
Hope this answers yours questions and raises some others. Take care.