USS Guam (CB-2)
_off_Trinidad,_13_November_1944_(NH_97132).jpg) USS Guam (CB-2) |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keel laying | February 2, 1942 |
| Launch | November 2, 1943 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | September 17, 1944 |
| Decommissioning | February 17, 1947 |
| Whereabouts | scrapped |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
31,500 ts (standard) |
| length |
246.43 m (LüA) |
| width |
27.67 m |
| Draft |
9.57 m |
| crew |
around 2250 |
| drive |
|
| speed |
32.72 kn |
| Range |
12,000 nm at 15 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| radar |
|
| Planes |
4 × SC-1 Seahawk |
The USS Guam (CB-2) was the second Alaska-class ship ; a class of cruisers that were classified by the US Navy as Large Cruiser (Eng .: large cruiser ). The Guam took part in the naval battles of 1945 in the Pacific War and remained assigned to the reserve fleet after the end of World War II . In 1960 it was retired.
technology
For a detailed overview of the technical data, see Alaska class
As an Alaska- class unit , the Guam was 246 meters long and up to 27.7 meters wide. The deployment displacement was over 34,000 ts .
The hull had a very slim shape (length / width ratio = 9.0) and was electrically welded. There were five decks, the citadel was 137 meters long and 18.7 meters wide. The Guam had a double floor over the entire length of the keel . There was also a curling keel around 90 meters long on both sides.
The main armament of the ship consisted of three triple turrets with guns of 30.5 cm caliber , two of them in front of the superstructure and one on the quarterdeck . In addition, the Guam had six twin towers with 12.7 cm guns and numerous small-caliber guns for air defense .
Amidships were two pivoting catapults of 20.67 meters in length, which were propelled by a powder charge. Four SC-1 Seahawk reconnaissance aircraft were carried.
The equipment with location radar consisted of one SK and one SG on the pole at the top of the command tower. Another SG antenna was on a boom on the front edge of the chimney. The fire control radar (FLR) was Mk 8 Mod. 1 for the sea target artillery and Mk 4 for the air defense.
The machinery consisted of four sets of General Electric geared turbines , each with 37,500 WPS power, which each acted on a shaft with a four-bladed propeller 4.52 meters in diameter. This enabled the Guam to reach speeds of up to 33 knots. Eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers, divided into two groups, supplied the steam for the propulsion system. The electrical system, which delivered 450 volts AC voltage, consisted of four turbo generators with 1000 kilowatts and four diesel generators with 1062 kilowatts each (a total of 8248 kilowatts).
history
Construction, commissioning and first operations
The Guam was laid down on February 2, 1942 at New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, NJ, and launched on November 12, 1943. She was baptized by Mrs. George Johnson McMillan, wife of Captain McMillian, former Governor of the Island of Guam. In the archipelago of the Marianas is Guam 's largest island. The ship entered service on September 17, 1944, under the command of Captain Leland P. Lovette.
_underway_off_Trinidad_on_13_November_1944_(NH_67519).jpg)
After a short stopover in Trinidad , the Guam reached Philadelphia on January 17, 1945 and transferred to the Pacific Fleet on February 8, 1945 . Shortly thereafter, it was viewed by the Commander in Chief of the United States Navy , Forrestal . On March 3, 1945, the Guam set sail to unite with her sister ship Alaska and other naval units that formed another task force of Admiral Marc A. Mitscher .
The operations started from Ulithi on March 13th. Task Group 58.4 under Admiral Arthur W. Radford , one of the most powerful in naval history, reached the nearby islands of Kyushu and Shikokou on the morning of March 18 . Many well-known ships such as the aircraft carriers Yorktown (CV-10) , Intrepid (CV-11) , Independence (CVL-22) and Langley (CVL-27) , the battleships Missouri (BB-63) and Wisconsin ( BB-64) , the cruisers Alaska (CB-1) , St. Louis (CL-49) , San Diego (CL-53) and Flint (CL-97) as well as a screen of 15 destroyers . The fight began with five kamikaze attacks on the Enterprise (CV-6) and Intrepid (CV-11) aircraft carriers , both in the Guam group. The two aircraft carriers were damaged but were able to continue their operations. The Enterprise hit a bomb near the island, and the Intrepid was hit in the stern by a plane, but it ricocheted and fell into the sea. The air strikes lasted all afternoon. The Guam was successful with four kills. The next day the Guam was assigned to escort the damaged Franklin (CV-13) .
After replenishing the supplies, the Guam joined Task Group 58.4, where they, together with Admiral P. S. Low's 16th Cruiser Division , fired on land targets on Okinawa on the night of March 27 to March 28, 1945 . The Guam then supported aircraft carrier operations until May 11th.
End of the war and whereabouts
After replenishing supplies and carrying out minor repairs, the Guam joined TG 38.4 of Admiral William F. Halsey's 3rd Fleet east of Okinawa . Again, they supported aircraft carrier operations that had the airfield on the Kyushu Islands as their destination . On June 9th, Guam , Alaska, and five destroyers bombarded Okino Daito for 90 minutes. Then the Guam set course on the Gulf of Leyte , which it reached on June 13th and entered the Bay of San Pedro . By then, she had supported the Okinawa campaign for three months without a break.
The Guam now became the flagship of the cruiser Einsatzgruppe 95, which consisted of the large cruisers Guam and Alaska , four light cruisers and nine destroyers . This group cruised in the Yellow Sea from July 16 to August 7 . The actual successes were small, but the show of force that an American surface force could operate in the home waters of Japan was obvious.
A little later, the Guam became the flagship of Vice Admiral Low, who commanded the North China Force. The surface unit drove again into the yellow sea to demonstrate the American sea power in front of the ports of Qingdao , Port Arthur and Dalian . She then drove on to Jinsen (later known as Incheon ), Korea , on September 8, 1945 to guarantee independence. She left Jinsen on September 14th and reached San Francisco on December 3rd. On December 5th, she set out for her new port of Bayonne in New Jersey, which the Guam reached on December 17th. She remained there until her decommissioning on 17 February 1947. It belonged to the removal from the register of names on 1 June 1960 for the Atlantic - Reserve Fleet . On May 24, 1961, it was sold for scrapping by the Boston Metals Co. in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Guam received two Battle Stars for their services in World War II .
literature
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921–1997 . Bernard & Graefe, ISBN 3-7637-6225-6
Web links
- History of Guam in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
- Pictures of the Guam at navsource.org