Alaska class cruiser

The "Alaska" class of large cruisers was a series of two vessels built for service with the United States Navy during the later stages of World War II. The class was originally planned to include six vessels, although only two were completed. All were to be named after United States insular areas. [Alaska and Hawaii were "insular areas" at this time; they acceded to the Union as the forty-ninth and fiftieth States in 1959.]

Description

The "Alaska class" ships are often referred to as large cruisers;in terms of gunnery and displacement they were midway between a heavy cruiser and a battleship, although closer to the former in terms of design and, particularly, armor coverage. Most authorities, including the United States Navy itself, therefore consider the "Alaska"-class vessels to have been unusually large cruisers rather than fully-fledged battlecruisers. In recognition of this intermediate role, the Navy named the individual vessels after US territories, rather than states (as was the tradition with battleships) or cities (cruisers).

Heavy cruiser development had been held steady between World War I and World War II by the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and successor treaties and conferences. In this treaty, the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy had agreed to limit heavy cruisers to 10,000 tons displacement with 8-inch main armament. US "treaty cruisers" designed between the wars followed this pattern. After the Treaty effectively lapsed in 1939, the designs were slightly enlarged into the Baltimore class cruisers.

The "Alaska" class were intended to serve as "cruiser-killers", in order to seek out and destroy this type of post-Treaty heavy cruiser. To facilitate this, they were given large guns of a new (and expensive) design, limited armor protection against 12-inch shells, and machinery capable of speeds up to convert|33|kn|km/h|0.

They resembled contemporary battleships in appearance and displacement, with the familiar 2-A-1 main battery, massive columnar mast and cluster of 5"/38 DP guns along the sides of the superstructure. The easiest way to tell the "Alaska" class ships from the battleships was by the dual 5"/38 mount superfiring over the fore and aft main batteries. Additionally, while the battleships carried eight (older refitted ships) or ten (new build) 5"/38 dual mounts flanking the superstructure, the "Alaska"s only carried six: four at the superstructure corners, and one each at the fore and aft superfiring mounts.

However, they were built to cruiser standards, with a cruiser-like secondary battery and lacked the armored belt and torpedo defense system of capital ships. Their percentage of armor tonnage at 16% was similar to that of contemporary cruisers and far less than that of true battlecruisers and battleships (HMS|Hood|51|6 had 33%, while the German "Bismarck" and USS|North Carolina|BB-55|6 had 40% weight in armor). As with the never-completed Sclass|Lexington|battlecruiser|1s, the "Alaska" class ships were an outgrowth of contemporary American cruiser design, rather than being a new battlecruiser class to occupy the middle ground between heavy cruisers and fast battleships.

Changes in naval warfare during World War II meant that these ships never fulfilled this role. The traditional cruiser role of fleet scout was overtaken by aircraft carrier based scout planes. Like the contemporary "Iowa"-class fast battleships, their speed made them ultimately more useful as carrier escorts and bombardment ships than as the sea combatants they were developed to be, as well as the ignominious defeat of the fleets of Japanese heavy cruisers that were their "raison d'être". In fact, the majority of enemy cruisers were sunk by aircraft or submarines instead of surface combat. Many regarded them as "white elephants" and a planned additional four ships were cancelled after completion of "Alaska" and "Guam". A third vessel, "Hawaii", was structurally completed but never fitted out. Postwar, many schemes were thought of and discarded for using the three ships, as they were large, fast hulls and very valuable; among the most viable were conversion as missile cruisers and conversion as command ships; ultimately all three were discarded with little postwar use.

History

Their operational life was brief. Both were commissioned in 1944, operated with the Fast Carrier Task Force as escorts during 1945, and saw limited shore bombardment duty. They were also assigned to the group that protected the damaged carrier USS|Franklin|CV-13 off Japan. Neither saw further service, both being decommissioned in 1947. Mothballed, they were both sold for scrap in 1960.

Ships in class

USS "Alaska"

Commissioned on 17 June 1944, "Alaska" served in the Pacific, screening aircraft carriers and providing shore bombardment at Okinawa. She was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 after less than three years of service and was scrapped.

USS "Guam"

Commissioned on 17 September 1944, "Guam" served in the Pacific with "Alaska" on many of the same operations. Along with "Alaska", she was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 and was scrapped.

USS "Hawaii"

"Hawaii" was intended as a third ship of the class, was never completed. Numerous plans to utilize her in the years after the war came to nothing and she was scrapped.

USS "Philippines"

Planned as the fourth ship of the class, to be built at Camden, New Jersey, but cancelled before being laid down.

USS "Puerto Rico"

Planned as the fifth ship of the class, USS "Puerto Rico" (CB-5) was to be built at Camden, New Jersey, but cancelled before being laid down.

USS "Samoa"

Planned as the sixth ship of the class, to be built at Camden, New Jersey, but cancelled before being laid down.

See also

* List of World War II ships
* Pocket battleship

External links

* [http://www.modelwarships.com/features/current/alaska_genesis/alaska_mq.htm The Genesis of the Alaska Class Large Cruisers: Part One]
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/usnshtp/cru/cb1cl.htm Photographs of the Alaska class]

Notes