Fatigue crack propagation in high-strength A286 steel was studied by comparing crack growth rates determined from: (1) conventional long-crack propagation tests, (2) closure-free long-crack tests at constant Kmax, and (3) small-crack propagation tests. Small-crack growth rates were measured by following the growth of surface cracks in samples cycled from near-zero stress to 0.5 or 0.8σy. While most of the surface cracks became dormant shortly after nucleation, some grew into long cracks, and some of these propagated at cyclic stress intensities below the long-crack threshold, ΔKth (or ΔK th eff , the threshold cyclic stress intensity after crack closure effects have been removed). Surface cracks grew more rapidly than long cracks at the same ΔKor ΔKeff. The small-crack effect disappeared when the crack-tip plastic zone size became greater than the grain size. The results show that the absence of crack closure is only one of several factors that influence short-crack growth in A286 steel. Both peak stress and microstructural effects are important. Microstructural effects are apparently responsible for subthreshold crack growth; the cracks that grow at ΔK < ΔK th eff form and grow in statistically weak regions of the microstructure.