Alaska class cruiser
Encyclopedia
The Alaska-class cruisers were a class of six very large cruiser
s ordered prior to World War II
for the United States Navy
. Although often called battlecruisers, officially the Navy classed them as Large Cruisers (CB). Their intermediate status is reflected in their names relative to typical U.S. battleship and cruiser naming practices,With only a very few exceptions, U.S. battleships were named for states, e.g. or , while cruisers were named for cities, e.g. or . See United States ship naming conventions
. all were named after "territories or insular area
s" of the United States.Alaska and Hawaii were "insular areas" of the United States at the time; they acceded to the Union as the forty-ninth and fiftieth States in 1959. Of the six that were planned, only three were laid down; two were completed, and the third's construction was suspended on 16 April 1947 when she was 84% complete. The finished two, and , served with the U.S. Navy for the last year of World War II as bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts. They were both decommissioned in 1947 after spending only 32 and 29 months in service, respectively.
The idea for a large cruiser class originated in the early 1930s, when the U.S. Navy wanted a counter to the "pocket battleships" (Deutschland class
) that were being launched and commissioned by Germany. Though nothing resulted immediately, planning for ships that eventually evolved into the Alaska class began in the later 1930s after the deployment of Germany's Scharnhorst class and rumors that Japan was constructing a new battlecruiser class.Jane's
thought that this mythical battlecruiser, the notional Chichibu class, would have six 12-inch guns and 30 knots (16.3 m/s) speed packed into a 15,000-ton ship. See Fitzsimons, Volume 1, 58 and Worth, 305. The Alaska class were intended to serve as "cruiser-killers", capable of seeking out and destroying these post-Treaty
heavy cruisers. To facilitate their purpose, the class was given large guns of a new and expensive design, limited armor protection against 12-inch shells, and machinery capable of speeds of about 31–33 knots (36–38 mph, 58–61 km/h).
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 cruiser
s to 10,000 tons displacement
with 8-inch main armament. Up until the Alaska class, U.S. cruisers designed between the wars followed this pattern.
The initial impetus for the design of the Alaska class came from the deployments of the so-called pocket battleships in the early 1930s. Though no actions were taken immediately, plans were revived in the late 1930s when intelligence reports indicated Japan was planning or building "super cruisers" which were much more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.Japan actually developed plans for two of the super cruisers in 1941, though it was mostly in response to the new Alaska ships. However, the ships were never ordered due to the greater need for carriers. The navy responded in 1938, when a request from the General Board
was sent to the Bureau of Construction and Repair
for a "comprehensive study of all types of naval vessels for consideration for a new and expanded building program". The U.S. President at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, may have taken a lead role in the development of the class with his desire to have a counter to raiding abilities of Japanese cruisers and German pocket battleships, which had led to them being called "politically motivated", but these claims are difficult to verify.
that would have been armed with twelve 12-inch and sixteen 5-inch guns. The General Board, in an attempt to keep the displacement under 25,000 tons, allowed the designs to offer only limited underwater protection. As a result, the Alaska class, when built, were vulnerable to torpedoes and shells that fell short of the ship. The final design chosen was a scaled-up Baltimore class that had the same machinery as the s. This ship combined a main armament of nine 12-inch guns with protection against 10-inch gunfire into a hull that was capable of 33 knots (18 m/s).
The new class was officially funded in September 1940 along with a plethora of other ships as a part of the Two-Ocean Navy Act
.Along with the Alaskas, 210 other ships were ordered at the same time: two s, five s, twelve s, four s, 19 s, four s, 52 s, twelve s and 73 s. The new ships' role had been altered slightly; in addition to their surface-to-surface role, they were planned to protect carrier groups. Because of their bigger guns, greater size and increased speed, they would be more valuable in this role than heavy cruisers, and they would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building super cruisers more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.
_launching.jpg)
Yet another drastic change was considered during the "carrier panic" of late 1941. At this point, the Navy and the President realized that the United States needed more aircraft carrier
s as quickly as possible. As a result, the Bureau of Ships
decided to convert a few hulls that were currently under construction to carriers. At different times, they considered converting parts or all of the light cruiser
s, the heavy cruiser
s, the Alaska class, or even one of the s; in the end, they chose the Clevelands, resulting in the conversion of nine ships under construction at the New York Shipbuilding
Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey as the light aircraft carriers comprising the .
A conversion of the Alaska cruisers to carriers was "particularly attractive" because of the many similarities between the design of the s and the Alaska class, including the same machinery. However, when Alaska cruisers were compared to the Essex carriers, converted cruisers would have had a shorter flight deck (so they could have carried only 90% of the aircraft), would have been 11 feet (3.4 m) lower in the water, and could travel 8000 nautical miles (14,816 km) fewer at 15 knots (8.2 m/s). In addition, the large cruiser design did not include the massive underwater protections found in normal carriers due to the armor weight devoted to counter shell fire. Lastly, an Alaska conversion could not satisfy the navy's goal of having new aircraft carriers quickly, as the work needed to modify the ships into carriers would entail long delays. With these in mind, all planning involved with converting the Alaskas was ended on 7 January 1942.
s, and submarine
s. Construction had still not begun when steel shortages and a realization that these "cruiser-killers" had no more cruisers to hunt—as the fleets of Japanese cruisers had already been defeated by aircraft and submarines—made the ships "white elephants". As a result, construction of the last three members of the class never began, and they were officially canceled on 24 June 1943.
and served with the U.S. Navy in the last years of World War II. Similar to the fast battleship
s, their speed made them useful as shore bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts. Both protected when she was on her way to be repaired in Guam after being hit by two Japanese bombs. Afterward, Alaska supported the landings on Okinawa, while Guam went to San Pedro Bay
to become the leader of a new task force, Cruiser Task Force 95. Guam, joined by Alaska, four light cruisers, and nine destroyers, led the task force into the East China
and Yellow Sea
s to conduct raids upon shipping. However, they only encountered Chinese junks
. By the end of the war, the two had become celebrated within the fleet as excellent carrier escorts.
After the war, both ships were decommissioned and "mothballed
" in 1947 after having spent 32 and 29 months in service, respectively. In 1958, the Bureau of Ships
prepared two feasibility studies to explore whether Alaska and Guam could be suitably converted into guided-missile cruisers. The first study involved removing all of the guns in favor of four different missile systems. At $160 million, this proposed removal was seen as cost-prohibitive, so a second study was initiated. The study left the forward batteries (the two 12-inch triple turrets and three of the 5-inch dual turrets) unchanged, and added a reduced version of the first plan on the stern of the ship. Even though the proposals would have cost approximately half as much as the first study's plan ($82 million), it was still seen as too expensive. As a result, both ships were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
on 1 June 1960. Alaska was sold for scrap on 30 June 1960, and Guam on 24 May 1961.
The still-incomplete was considered for a conversion to be the Navy's first guided-missile cruiser for a time;A similar proposal was made to convert the uncompleted Iowa-class battleship into the first guided-missile battleship (BBG), but as with the proposal for Hawaii this conversion never materialized, and Kentucky was scrapped in 1958. this thought lasted until 26 February 1952, when a different conversion to a "large command ship
" was contemplated. In anticipation of the conversion, her classification was changed to CBC-1. This would have made her a "larger sister" for , but a year and a half later (9 October 1954) she was re-designated CB-3. Hawaii was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and was sold for scrap in 1959.
_and_uss_alaska_(cb-1)_at_norfolk,_virginia,_1944.jpg)
Early in its development, the class used the designation
CC, which signified that they were to be battlecruisers in the tradition of the Lexington class
;The Lexington class would have been designated CC-1 through CC-6, had they been built. however, the designation was later changed to CB to reflect their new name, "large cruiser", and the practice of referring to them as battlecruisers was officially discouraged. The U.S. Navy then named the individual vessels after U.S. territories, rather than states (as was the tradition with battleships) or cities (for which cruisers were named), to symbolize the belief that these ships were supposed to play an intermediate role between heavy cruisers and fully-fledged battlecruiser
s.
They resembled contemporary battleships in appearance, weighed only 5,000 tons less in displacement, mounted the familiar 2-A-1 main battery,It was also found on the , South Dakota-class battleship
, and Baltimore-class heavy cruiser. shared a similar massive columnar mast, and carried 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose guns. Although the battleships carried eight (older refitted ships) or ten (post-South Dakota) 5"/38 twin mounts flanking the superstructure, the Alaska cruisers only carried six: one at each of the four superstructure corners, and one each at fore and aft on the centerline.
There are two main arguments for referring to the Alaska class as "large cruisers". The first is their armor; while they were able to withstand more fire from guns than any other cruiser afloat, they were virtually defenseless against torpedoes because they had no sub-divisions within the hull and no anti-torpedo scheme. The lack of underwater protection would also make them vulnerable to shells which fell slightly short of their mark and continued underwater to hit the hull. In addition, their armor was only marginally capable of stopping 12" fire; they were vulnerable to battleship fire (14–16" fire) at any range. The second argument lies entirely in their design. The design of the Alaska class ships was, from the keel up, just a scaled-up treaty cruiser finally unencumbered by the Washington
, London
and Second London
naval treaties. In addition, despite being much larger than the Baltimore class, the secondary battery of the "large cruisers" was only slightly larger. Whereas the Alaska class carried twelve 5"/38 caliber, fifty-six 40 mm, and thirty-four 20 mm guns, the Baltimore class carried the same number of 5"/38s, eight fewer 40 mm, and only ten fewer 20 mm. In addition to all of this, author Richard Worth remarked that when they were finally completed, launched, and commissioned, they had the "size of a battleship but the capabilities of a cruiser".
Despite these cruiser-like characteristics, and the U.S. Navy's insistence on their status as cruisers, the Alaska class were frequently described as battlecruisers at the time. The official navy magazine All Hands said "The Guam and her sister ship Alaska are the first American battle cruisers ever to be completed as such." Some modern historians take the view that this is a more accurate designation because they believe that the ships were "in all sense of the word, battlecruisers", with all the vulnerabilities of the type. The traditional Anglo-American battlecruiser concept had always sacrificed protection for the sake of speed and armament, meaning they were not intended to stand up against the guns they themselves carried. The Alaska's percentage of armor tonnage, 28.4%, was slightly less than that of battlecruisers and fast battleship
s; the British King George V class
, the battlecruiser , and the American all had armor percentages between 32 and 33%. In fact, older battlecruisers, such as the (19.9%), had a significantly lower percentage. In terms of displacement, the Alaska class was about twice as heavy as the newest heavy cruisers (the Baltimore class). In addition, they had much larger guns; while the Alaska class carried nine 12"/50 caliber gun
s that were as good as, if not superior to, the old 14"/50 caliber gun
used on the U.S. Navy's pre-treaty battleships, the Baltimore class had an equal number of 8"/55 caliber
Marks 12 and 15 guns.
_firing_main_battery,_1944-45.jpg)
As built, the Alaska class had nine 12"/50 caliber
Mark 8 guns mounted in three triple (3-gun) turrets, with two turrets forward and one aft, a configuration known as "2-A-1". The previous 12" gun manufactured for the U.S. Navy was the Mark 7 version, which had been designed and installed in the 1912 s. The Mark 8 was of considerably higher quality; in fact, it "was by far the most powerful weapon of its caliber ever placed in service." Designed in 1939, it weighed 121856 pounds (55,273 kg), including the breech
, and could sustain an average rate of fire of 2.4–3 rounds a minute. It could throw a 1140 pounds (517.1 kg) Mark 18 armor piercing
shell 38573 yards (35,271 m) at an elevation of 45°, while the guns had a 344-shot "barrel life" (about 54 more than the much larger but similar 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun found in the Iowa battleships.).
The turrets were very similar to those of the Iowa-class battleships, but differed in several ways; for example, the Alaska-class had a two-stage powder hoist, instead of Iowa-class's one-stage hoist. These differences made operating the guns safer and increased the rate of fire. Also, a "projectile rammer" was added to Alaska and Guam. This machine transferred shells from storage on the ship to the rotating ring that fed the guns. However, this feature proved unsatisfactory, and it was not planned for Hawaii or any subsequent ships.
Because Alaska and Guam were the only two ships to mount these guns, only ten turrets were made during the war (three for each ship including Hawaii and one spare). They cost $1,550,000 each and were the most expensive heavy guns purchased by the U.S. Navy in World War II.
,_1945.jpg)
s built in the 1930s, but by 1934 and into World War II it was being installed on almost all of the U.S.'s major warships, including aircraft carriers, battleships, and heavy and light cruisers.
Arguably the most efficient light anti-aircraft gun of World War II, the 40 mm Bofors
was used on nearly every major warship in the U.S. and UK fleets during World War II from about 1943 to 1945. Although they were a descendant of German and Swedish designs, the Bofors mounts used by the United States Navy during World War II had been heavily "Americanized", which brought the guns up to U.S. Navy standards. This new standard resulted in a gun system set to English standards (now known as the Standard System
) with interchangeable ammunition, simplifying the logistics situation for World War II. When coupled with hydraulic couple drives to reduce salt contamination and the Mark 51 director for improved accuracy, the 40 mm Bofors became a fearsome adversary, accounting for roughly half of all Japanese aircraft shot down between 1 October 1944 and 1 February 1945.
The Oerlikon
20 mm anti-aircraft gun
was one of the most extensively used anti-aircraft guns of World War II; the U.S. alone manufactured a total of 124,735 of these guns. When activated in 1941, they replaced the 0.50" M2 Browning machine gun on a one-for-one basis. The Oerlikon gun remained the primary anti-aircraft weapon of the United States Navy until the introduction of the 40 mm Bofors in 1943.
in the years after the war were fruitless, and she was scrapped.
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s ordered prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. Although often called battlecruisers, officially the Navy classed them as Large Cruisers (CB). Their intermediate status is reflected in their names relative to typical U.S. battleship and cruiser naming practices,With only a very few exceptions, U.S. battleships were named for states, e.g. or , while cruisers were named for cities, e.g. or . See United States ship naming conventions
United States ship naming conventions
United States ship naming conventions for the navy were established by United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. However, elements had existed since before his time...
. all were named after "territories or insular area
Insular area
An insular area is a United States territory, that is neither a part of one of the fifty U.S. states nor the District of Columbia, the federal district of the United States...
s" of the United States.Alaska and Hawaii were "insular areas" of the United States at the time; they acceded to the Union as the forty-ninth and fiftieth States in 1959. Of the six that were planned, only three were laid down; two were completed, and the third's construction was suspended on 16 April 1947 when she was 84% complete. The finished two, and , served with the U.S. Navy for the last year of World War II as bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts. They were both decommissioned in 1947 after spending only 32 and 29 months in service, respectively.
The idea for a large cruiser class originated in the early 1930s, when the U.S. Navy wanted a counter to the "pocket battleships" (Deutschland class
Deutschland class cruiser
The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles...
) that were being launched and commissioned by Germany. Though nothing resulted immediately, planning for ships that eventually evolved into the Alaska class began in the later 1930s after the deployment of Germany's Scharnhorst class and rumors that Japan was constructing a new battlecruiser class.Jane's
Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc...
thought that this mythical battlecruiser, the notional Chichibu class, would have six 12-inch guns and 30 knots (16.3 m/s) speed packed into a 15,000-ton ship. See Fitzsimons, Volume 1, 58 and Worth, 305. The Alaska class were intended to serve as "cruiser-killers", capable of seeking out and destroying these post-Treaty
London Naval Conference
There were three major international naval conferences in London, the first in 1908-09, the second in 1930 and the third in 1935. The latter two, together with the Washington Naval Conference in 1921-22 and the Geneva Conferences , resulted in agreements between the major powers on navy vessel...
heavy cruisers. To facilitate their purpose, the class was given large guns of a new and expensive design, limited armor protection against 12-inch shells, and machinery capable of speeds of about 31–33 knots (36–38 mph, 58–61 km/h).
Background
Heavy cruiser development was steadied between World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
and successor treaties and conferences
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...
. In this treaty, the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy had agreed to limit heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s to 10,000 tons displacement
Displacement (ship)
A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
with 8-inch main armament. Up until the Alaska class, U.S. cruisers designed between the wars followed this pattern.
The initial impetus for the design of the Alaska class came from the deployments of the so-called pocket battleships in the early 1930s. Though no actions were taken immediately, plans were revived in the late 1930s when intelligence reports indicated Japan was planning or building "super cruisers" which were much more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.Japan actually developed plans for two of the super cruisers in 1941, though it was mostly in response to the new Alaska ships. However, the ships were never ordered due to the greater need for carriers. The navy responded in 1938, when a request from the General Board
General Board of the United States Navy
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, effectively a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916...
was sent to the Bureau of Construction and Repair
Bureau of Construction and Repair
The Bureau of Construction and Repair was the part of the United States Navy which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy...
for a "comprehensive study of all types of naval vessels for consideration for a new and expanded building program". The U.S. President at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, may have taken a lead role in the development of the class with his desire to have a counter to raiding abilities of Japanese cruisers and German pocket battleships, which had led to them being called "politically motivated", but these claims are difficult to verify.
Design
One historian described the design process of the Alaska class as "torturous" due to the numerous changes and modifications made to the ships' layouts by numerous departments and individuals. Indeed, plans resulted in at least nine different layouts, ranging from 6,000-ton antiaircraft cruisers to "overgrown" heavy cruisers and a 38,000-ton mini-battleshipBattleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
that would have been armed with twelve 12-inch and sixteen 5-inch guns. The General Board, in an attempt to keep the displacement under 25,000 tons, allowed the designs to offer only limited underwater protection. As a result, the Alaska class, when built, were vulnerable to torpedoes and shells that fell short of the ship. The final design chosen was a scaled-up Baltimore class that had the same machinery as the s. This ship combined a main armament of nine 12-inch guns with protection against 10-inch gunfire into a hull that was capable of 33 knots (18 m/s).
The new class was officially funded in September 1940 along with a plethora of other ships as a part of the Two-Ocean Navy Act
Two-Ocean Navy Act
The Two-Ocean Navy Act, was an American Act of Congress passed on July 19, 1940, to increase the size of the United States Navy by 70%, making it the largest naval procurement bill in U.S...
.Along with the Alaskas, 210 other ships were ordered at the same time: two s, five s, twelve s, four s, 19 s, four s, 52 s, twelve s and 73 s. The new ships' role had been altered slightly; in addition to their surface-to-surface role, they were planned to protect carrier groups. Because of their bigger guns, greater size and increased speed, they would be more valuable in this role than heavy cruisers, and they would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building super cruisers more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.
Possible conversion to aircraft carriers
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s as quickly as possible. As a result, the Bureau of Ships
Bureau of Ships
The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships was established by Congress on June 20, 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering. The new Bureau was to be headed by a Chief and Deputy-Chief, one selected from the engineering...
decided to convert a few hulls that were currently under construction to carriers. At different times, they considered converting parts or all of the light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
s, the heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s, the Alaska class, or even one of the s; in the end, they chose the Clevelands, resulting in the conversion of nine ships under construction at the New York Shipbuilding
New York Shipbuilding
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation was founded in 1899 and opened its first shipyard in 1900. Located in Camden, New Jersey on the east shore of the Delaware River, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the U.S...
Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey as the light aircraft carriers comprising the .
A conversion of the Alaska cruisers to carriers was "particularly attractive" because of the many similarities between the design of the s and the Alaska class, including the same machinery. However, when Alaska cruisers were compared to the Essex carriers, converted cruisers would have had a shorter flight deck (so they could have carried only 90% of the aircraft), would have been 11 feet (3.4 m) lower in the water, and could travel 8000 nautical miles (14,816 km) fewer at 15 knots (8.2 m/s). In addition, the large cruiser design did not include the massive underwater protections found in normal carriers due to the armor weight devoted to counter shell fire. Lastly, an Alaska conversion could not satisfy the navy's goal of having new aircraft carriers quickly, as the work needed to modify the ships into carriers would entail long delays. With these in mind, all planning involved with converting the Alaskas was ended on 7 January 1942.
Construction
Of the six Alaska-class cruisers that were planned, only three were laid down. The first two, and , were completed. Construction on , the third, was suspended on 16 April 1947 when she was 84% complete. The last three, Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Samoa, were delayed since all available materials and slipways were allocated to higher priority ships, such as aircraft carriers, destroyerDestroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s, and submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s. Construction had still not begun when steel shortages and a realization that these "cruiser-killers" had no more cruisers to hunt—as the fleets of Japanese cruisers had already been defeated by aircraft and submarines—made the ships "white elephants". As a result, construction of the last three members of the class never began, and they were officially canceled on 24 June 1943.
Service history
Fast battleship
Historically, a fast battleship was a battleship which emphasized speed without - in concept - undo compromise of either armor or armament. The term is especially appropriate when applied to a design which was not only faster than the preceding battleship class, but faster than subsequent classes...
s, their speed made them useful as shore bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts. Both protected when she was on her way to be repaired in Guam after being hit by two Japanese bombs. Afterward, Alaska supported the landings on Okinawa, while Guam went to San Pedro Bay
San Pedro Bay (Philippines)
San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...
to become the leader of a new task force, Cruiser Task Force 95. Guam, joined by Alaska, four light cruisers, and nine destroyers, led the task force into the East China
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
and Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
s to conduct raids upon shipping. However, they only encountered Chinese junks
Junk (ship)
A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing vessel design still in use today. Junks were developed during the Han Dynasty and were used as sea-going vessels as early as the 2nd century AD. They evolved in the later dynasties, and were used throughout Asia for extensive ocean voyages...
. By the end of the war, the two had become celebrated within the fleet as excellent carrier escorts.
After the war, both ships were decommissioned and "mothballed
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
" in 1947 after having spent 32 and 29 months in service, respectively. In 1958, the Bureau of Ships
Bureau of Ships
The United States Navy's Bureau of Ships was established by Congress on June 20, 1940, by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Engineering. The new Bureau was to be headed by a Chief and Deputy-Chief, one selected from the engineering...
prepared two feasibility studies to explore whether Alaska and Guam could be suitably converted into guided-missile cruisers. The first study involved removing all of the guns in favor of four different missile systems. At $160 million, this proposed removal was seen as cost-prohibitive, so a second study was initiated. The study left the forward batteries (the two 12-inch triple turrets and three of the 5-inch dual turrets) unchanged, and added a reduced version of the first plan on the stern of the ship. Even though the proposals would have cost approximately half as much as the first study's plan ($82 million), it was still seen as too expensive. As a result, both ships were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 1 June 1960. Alaska was sold for scrap on 30 June 1960, and Guam on 24 May 1961.
The still-incomplete was considered for a conversion to be the Navy's first guided-missile cruiser for a time;A similar proposal was made to convert the uncompleted Iowa-class battleship into the first guided-missile battleship (BBG), but as with the proposal for Hawaii this conversion never materialized, and Kentucky was scrapped in 1958. this thought lasted until 26 February 1952, when a different conversion to a "large command ship
Command ship
Command ships serve as the flagships of the Commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and his staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities....
" was contemplated. In anticipation of the conversion, her classification was changed to CBC-1. This would have made her a "larger sister" for , but a year and a half later (9 October 1954) she was re-designated CB-3. Hawaii was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and was sold for scrap in 1959.
"Large cruisers" or "battlecruisers"?
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
CC, which signified that they were to be battlecruisers in the tradition of the Lexington class
Lexington class battlecruiser
The Lexington-class battlecruisers were the only class of battlecruiser to ever be ordered by the United States Navy.The Lexington class were the only class of U.S. Navy ships to be officially referred to as battlecruisers. The World War II-era , officially classified as "large cruisers", but some...
;The Lexington class would have been designated CC-1 through CC-6, had they been built. however, the designation was later changed to CB to reflect their new name, "large cruiser", and the practice of referring to them as battlecruisers was officially discouraged. The U.S. Navy then named the individual vessels after U.S. territories, rather than states (as was the tradition with battleships) or cities (for which cruisers were named), to symbolize the belief that these ships were supposed to play an intermediate role between heavy cruisers and fully-fledged battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s.
They resembled contemporary battleships in appearance, weighed only 5,000 tons less in displacement, mounted the familiar 2-A-1 main battery,It was also found on the , South Dakota-class battleship
South Dakota class battleship (1939)
The South Dakota-class was a group of four fast battleships built by the United States Navy. They were the second class of battleships to be named after the 40th State; the first class was designed in the 1920s and canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. The class comprised four...
, and Baltimore-class heavy cruiser. shared a similar massive columnar mast, and carried 5"/38 caliber dual-purpose guns. Although the battleships carried eight (older refitted ships) or ten (post-South Dakota) 5"/38 twin mounts flanking the superstructure, the Alaska cruisers only carried six: one at each of the four superstructure corners, and one each at fore and aft on the centerline.
There are two main arguments for referring to the Alaska class as "large cruisers". The first is their armor; while they were able to withstand more fire from guns than any other cruiser afloat, they were virtually defenseless against torpedoes because they had no sub-divisions within the hull and no anti-torpedo scheme. The lack of underwater protection would also make them vulnerable to shells which fell slightly short of their mark and continued underwater to hit the hull. In addition, their armor was only marginally capable of stopping 12" fire; they were vulnerable to battleship fire (14–16" fire) at any range. The second argument lies entirely in their design. The design of the Alaska class ships was, from the keel up, just a scaled-up treaty cruiser finally unencumbered by the Washington
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
, London
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...
and Second London
Second London Naval Treaty
The Second London Naval Disarmament Conference opened in London, the United Kingdom, on 9 December 1935. It resulted in the Second London Naval Treaty which was signed on 25 March 1936.- Description :...
naval treaties. In addition, despite being much larger than the Baltimore class, the secondary battery of the "large cruisers" was only slightly larger. Whereas the Alaska class carried twelve 5"/38 caliber, fifty-six 40 mm, and thirty-four 20 mm guns, the Baltimore class carried the same number of 5"/38s, eight fewer 40 mm, and only ten fewer 20 mm. In addition to all of this, author Richard Worth remarked that when they were finally completed, launched, and commissioned, they had the "size of a battleship but the capabilities of a cruiser".
Despite these cruiser-like characteristics, and the U.S. Navy's insistence on their status as cruisers, the Alaska class were frequently described as battlecruisers at the time. The official navy magazine All Hands said "The Guam and her sister ship Alaska are the first American battle cruisers ever to be completed as such." Some modern historians take the view that this is a more accurate designation because they believe that the ships were "in all sense of the word, battlecruisers", with all the vulnerabilities of the type. The traditional Anglo-American battlecruiser concept had always sacrificed protection for the sake of speed and armament, meaning they were not intended to stand up against the guns they themselves carried. The Alaska's percentage of armor tonnage, 28.4%, was slightly less than that of battlecruisers and fast battleship
Fast battleship
Historically, a fast battleship was a battleship which emphasized speed without - in concept - undo compromise of either armor or armament. The term is especially appropriate when applied to a design which was not only faster than the preceding battleship class, but faster than subsequent classes...
s; the British King George V class
King George V class battleship (1939)
The King George V-class battleships were the most modern British battleships used during World War II. Five ships of this class were built and commissioned: King George V , Prince of Wales , Duke of York , Howe , and Anson .The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limiting all of the number,...
, the battlecruiser , and the American all had armor percentages between 32 and 33%. In fact, older battlecruisers, such as the (19.9%), had a significantly lower percentage. In terms of displacement, the Alaska class was about twice as heavy as the newest heavy cruisers (the Baltimore class). In addition, they had much larger guns; while the Alaska class carried nine 12"/50 caliber gun
12"/50 caliber Mark 8 gun
The 12"/50 caliber gun Mark 8 was a US naval gun mounted on the s.-Initial designs:The gun was designed in 1939, and a prototype was tested in 1942...
s that were as good as, if not superior to, the old 14"/50 caliber gun
14"/50 caliber gun
The 14"/50 caliber gun was a naval gun mounted on and s. These ships also featured the first "three-gun" turrets, meaning that each gun in each turret could be "individually sleeved" to elevate separately...
used on the U.S. Navy's pre-treaty battleships, the Baltimore class had an equal number of 8"/55 caliber
8"/55 caliber gun
The 8"/55 caliber gun formed the main battery of United States Navy heavy cruisers and two early aircraft carriers...
Marks 12 and 15 guns.
Main battery
12"/50 caliber Mark 8 gun
The 12"/50 caliber gun Mark 8 was a US naval gun mounted on the s.-Initial designs:The gun was designed in 1939, and a prototype was tested in 1942...
Mark 8 guns mounted in three triple (3-gun) turrets, with two turrets forward and one aft, a configuration known as "2-A-1". The previous 12" gun manufactured for the U.S. Navy was the Mark 7 version, which had been designed and installed in the 1912 s. The Mark 8 was of considerably higher quality; in fact, it "was by far the most powerful weapon of its caliber ever placed in service." Designed in 1939, it weighed 121856 pounds (55,273 kg), including the breech
Breech-loading weapon
A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....
, and could sustain an average rate of fire of 2.4–3 rounds a minute. It could throw a 1140 pounds (517.1 kg) Mark 18 armor piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...
shell 38573 yards (35,271 m) at an elevation of 45°, while the guns had a 344-shot "barrel life" (about 54 more than the much larger but similar 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 gun found in the Iowa battleships.).
The turrets were very similar to those of the Iowa-class battleships, but differed in several ways; for example, the Alaska-class had a two-stage powder hoist, instead of Iowa-class's one-stage hoist. These differences made operating the guns safer and increased the rate of fire. Also, a "projectile rammer" was added to Alaska and Guam. This machine transferred shells from storage on the ship to the rotating ring that fed the guns. However, this feature proved unsatisfactory, and it was not planned for Hawaii or any subsequent ships.
Because Alaska and Guam were the only two ships to mount these guns, only ten turrets were made during the war (three for each ship including Hawaii and one spare). They cost $1,550,000 each and were the most expensive heavy guns purchased by the U.S. Navy in World War II.
Secondary battery
The secondary battery of the Alaska class was composed of twelve dual-purpose (anti-air and anti-ship) 5"/38 caliber guns in twin mounts, with four offset on each side of the superstructure (two on each beam) and two centerline turrets fore and aft. The 5"/38 was originally intended for use on only destroyerDestroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s built in the 1930s, but by 1934 and into World War II it was being installed on almost all of the U.S.'s major warships, including aircraft carriers, battleships, and heavy and light cruisers.
Anti-aircraft battery
For anti-aircraft armament, the Alaska class ships carried 56 x 40 mm guns and 34 x 20 mm guns. These numbers are comparable to 48 x 40 mm and 24 x 20 mm on the smaller Baltimore class heavy cruisers and 80 x 40 mm and 49 x 20 mm on the larger Iowa battleships.Arguably the most efficient light anti-aircraft gun of World War II, the 40 mm Bofors
Bofors 40 mm gun
The Bofors 40 mm gun is an anti-aircraft autocannon designed by the Swedish defence firm of Bofors Defence...
was used on nearly every major warship in the U.S. and UK fleets during World War II from about 1943 to 1945. Although they were a descendant of German and Swedish designs, the Bofors mounts used by the United States Navy during World War II had been heavily "Americanized", which brought the guns up to U.S. Navy standards. This new standard resulted in a gun system set to English standards (now known as the Standard System
United States customary units
United States customary units are a system of measurements commonly used in the United States. Many U.S. units are virtually identical to their imperial counterparts, but the U.S. customary system developed from English units used in the British Empire before the system of imperial units was...
) with interchangeable ammunition, simplifying the logistics situation for World War II. When coupled with hydraulic couple drives to reduce salt contamination and the Mark 51 director for improved accuracy, the 40 mm Bofors became a fearsome adversary, accounting for roughly half of all Japanese aircraft shot down between 1 October 1944 and 1 February 1945.
The Oerlikon
Oerlikon Contraves
Rheinmetall Air Defence AG is a division of German armament manufacturer Rheinmetall, created when the company's Oerlikon Contraves unit was renamed on 1 January 2009 and integrated with Rheinmetall's other air-defence products...
20 mm anti-aircraft gun
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...
was one of the most extensively used anti-aircraft guns of World War II; the U.S. alone manufactured a total of 124,735 of these guns. When activated in 1941, they replaced the 0.50" M2 Browning machine gun on a one-for-one basis. The Oerlikon gun remained the primary anti-aircraft weapon of the United States Navy until the introduction of the 40 mm Bofors in 1943.
Ships
was commissioned on 17 June 1944. She served in the Pacific, screening aircraft carriers, providing shore bombardment at Okinawa, and going on raiding missions in the East China Sea. She was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 after less than three years of service and was scrapped in 1960. was commissioned on 17 September 1944. She served in the Pacific with Alaska on almost all of the same operations. Along with Alaska, she was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 and was scrapped in 1961. was intended as a third ship of the class, but she was never completed. Numerous plans to utilize her as a guided-missile cruiser or a large command shipCommand ship
Command ships serve as the flagships of the Commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and his staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities....
in the years after the war were fruitless, and she was scrapped.
- USS Philippines (CB-4) was planned as the fourth ship of the class. She was to be built at Camden, New JerseyCamden, New JerseyThe city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, but was canceled before construction could begin. - USS Puerto Rico (CB-5) was planned as the fifth ship of the class. She was to be built at Camden, New Jersey, but was canceled before construction could begin.
- USS Samoa (CB-6) was planned as the sixth ship of the class. She was to be built at Camden, New Jersey, but was canceled before construction could begin.
External links
- The Genesis of the Alaska Class Large Cruisers: Part One
- Photographs of the Alaska class
- Alaska class Large Cruisers From U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence recognition manual ONI 200, Issued 1 July 1950