Alaska class (1944)

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Alaska- class
USS Alaska (CB-1)
USS Alaska (CB-1)
Overview
Type Large Cruiser
(German large cruiser )
units 6 planned, 3 built, 2 completed
Namesake US territories
1. Period of service flag
period of service

1944-1947

Technical specifications
displacement

31,500 ts (standard)
34,253 ts (use)

length

246.43 m (LüA)

width

27.67 m

Draft

9.57 m

crew

2251 men

drive
speed

32.72 kn

Range

12,000 nm at 15 kn

Armament
  • 9 × 30.5 cm L / 50 in 3 treble towers
  • 12 × 12.7 cm L / 38 in 6 twin towers
  • 56 × 40 mm L / 56 in 14 four-way mounts
  • 34 × 20 mm L / 70 in stand-alone installation
Armor
  • Belt: 229 mm
  • Sides: 127 mm
  • Main deck: 76 - 110 mm
  • Lower deck: 51 mm
  • Towers: 127 - 324 mm
  • Barbettes: 229 mm
radar
  • 1 × SK
  • 1 × SG-1 (on the mast)
  • Fire control devices MK 8 (for Hawaii MK 13) / 12/37/38
  • Fire control devices of the Flak MK 23/34/35
Planes

4 × SC-1 Seahawk

The Alaska-class cruisers were originally six scheduled US Navy units , two of which entered service in the final phase of World War II .

They were classified as Large Cruiser , which would have led to the identifier CL . Since this was already occupied by the light cruisers ( CL = Cruiser Light ), the identifier CB was chosen . This is interpreted as either a cruiser big or a cruiser battle . The name Battlecruiser ( German  battle cruiser) was never used by the US Navy in connection with the Alaska class.

These ships are all on territories of the United States have been named, of which Alaska and Hawaii American today states are as Guam and Puerto Rico this status did not receive, as well as East Samoa . The Philippines, however, became an independent state in 1946.

description

The units of the Alaska class were as big cruiser ( English large cruiser provided) into service. Because of their size and armament, they were located exactly between the heavy cruisers and the battleships . Because they represented a new class of ships, they were named after territories, as opposed to heavy cruisers (cities) and battleships (US states).

The development of heavy cruisers between the First and Second World War was regulated by the Washington Naval Treaty . A limit for heavy cruisers to a maximum of 10,000 ts was agreed, with a main armament of a maximum of 20.3 cm guns. During the contract period, the US Navy developed and built its heavy cruisers to conform. After the contract expired, the cruisers got bigger. The first draft after the naval contract was the Baltimore class . In July 1940, the Two-Ocean Navy Act authorized the construction of six Alaska-class ships.

The Alaska class was the US response to reports from the BB-65 cruisers planned for Japan. These corresponded in size and armament to the Alaska class and were intended as cruiser destroyers, so they were supposed to search for and destroy the cruiser types according to the Washington Fleet Treaty. The Alaska-class ships should be targeted at these cruisers. To accomplish this task, the class received large guns and sufficient armor against 30.5 cm shells. It later emerged that the Japanese had given up on the BB-65 project when the war began. The construction of the Alaska class was therefore only continued with a low level of urgency.

The units were built according to cruiser standards. That is, they had an ordinary mix of medium artillery cruisers , the armor belt was only 229 mm thick, and there were no torpedo protection systems like the battleships had. Strictly speaking, the Alaska class was the continuation of the cruiser concept of the US Navy and actually not a new class between heavy cruisers and fast battleships.

The dramatic change in naval strategy and tactics during World War II never saw these ships play the role they were designed and built for. They had to hand over the traditional role of cruisers as reconnaissance aircraft to the aircraft carriers with their reconnaissance planes . Like the Iowa-class battleships , their speed of 33 knots made them ideal heavy escort units for the aircraft carriers.

The fleets of the Japanese cruisers they were built to destroy were largely destroyed by planes and submarines.

After USS Alaska and USS Guam were completed, the other four units were canceled. The completion of the USS Hawaii was stopped.

units

USS Alaska (CB-1)

USS Alaska entered service on June 17, 1944 and served its brief period in the Pacific . Their main tasks were to secure aircraft carriers and bombard land targets such as B. Okinawa . She was decommissioned on February 17, 1947 and scrapped in the early 1960s.

USS Guam (CB-2)

USS Guam was put into service on September 17, 1944 and, like USS Alaska, provided its service in the Pacific with the same tasks. Also on February 17, 1947, she was decommissioned and scrapped in the early 1960s.

USS Hawaii (CB-3)

USS Hawaii was scheduled to enter service on December 11, 1945. It was 84% ​​done. Much thought has been given to its ultimate use. It was canceled on June 9, 1958 and sold and scrapped about a year later.

USS Puerto Rico (CB-4), USS Philippines (CB-5), USS Samoa (CB-6)

Construction contracts for the USS Puerto Rico , the USS Philippines and the USS Samoa were canceled on March 24, 1943. They weren't started anymore. Their material was used for aircraft carrier construction.

literature

  • Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921–1997 . Bernard & Graefe, ISBN 3-7637-6225-6

Web links / sources

Commons : Alaska Class  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files