Hi. I want to share with you all, the info and pictures I've gathered from the web.
Please see the pictures and dont miss the information below, about the history of
the Alaska Class BattleCruisers.
Alaska Class Information
Recognition Drawing:
------------------- ALASKA CLASS DESIGN CHARACTERISTICS ---------------------
Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Displacement: 27,000 tons (standard)
Powerplant: 150,000 horsepower steam turbines, producing a 31.4 knot maximum
speed
Armament (Main Battery): Nine 12"/50 guns in three triple turrets
Armament (Secondary Battery): Twelve 5"/38 guns in six twin mountings.
Length: 806 ft 6 in (246 m)
Beam: 91 ft 1 in (27.8 m)
Draft: 27 ft 1 in (8.3 m)
Propulsion: 4-shaft General Electric steam turbines, 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers,
150,000 shp (112 MW)
Speed: 31.4 knots (58 km/h)
Range: 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement: 2,251 officers and enlisted
Armament: Nine 12 inch (305 mm), twelve 5 inch (127 mm), 56 x 40 mm, 34 x 20 mm
guns
Armor: Belt: 5 - 9 inch (127-229 mm)
Deck: 3.8 - 4 in (97-102 mm)
Barbettes: 11 - 13 in (279-330 mm)
Turrets: 5 - 12.8 in (127-325 mm)
Aircraft carried: 4
Pictures Of Alaska Class BattleCruisers
Alaska Class Sisters, Alaska and Guam together
CB-1 Alaska
CB-2 Guam
CB-3 Hawaii (Never Completed)
Some Paintings
And from the below link, you can download Preliminary Design Drawings of Alaska
Class
http://213.194.83.163/Images/Alaska/PDrawings.rar
------------------------------ ALASKA CLASS INFORMATION --------------------------
Ships of the Alaska class had a main battery much heavier than those of normal
heavy cruisers, but were lighter and faster than a battleship, unofficially classified as
battlecruiser. They were built on a "cruiser hull," more slender than a battleship
design of similar length (all of the World War II battleships, including the South
Dakota class which were over 100 feet shorter in length, had an additional 17 feet in
beam). The main battery and superstructure resembled those of a battleship, using
a "2-A-1" gun layout and the massive tower mast that was used in all American
World War II battleships. However, the 5" secondary was more similar to that of a
heavy cruiser, with only six twin 5" mounts, four on the superstructure corners and
the remaining two superfiring over the #2 and #3 12" turrets.
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 33 knots.
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 Alaskas only
carried four, at the superstructure corners, plus the fore and aft superfiring mounts.
However, they were built to cruiser standards, with a cruiser-like secondary battery
and lacked the armoured 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 had 33%,
while the German Bismarck and USS North Carolina had 40% weight in armor). As
with the never-completed Lexington class battlecruisers, 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'etre. 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.
----------------------------------------- HISTORY ------------------------------------------
ALASKA (CB-1) HISTORY
She was laid down on 17 December 1941 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York
Shipbuilding Corporation, launched on 15 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ernest
Gruening, wife of the Honorable Ernest Gruening, Governor of Alaska, and
commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 June 1944, Captain Peter K.
Fischler in command.
Following post-commissioning fitting out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Alaska stood
down the Delaware River on 6 August 1944, bound for Hampton Roads, escorted by
Simpson and Broome. She then conducted an intensive shakedown, first in
Chesapeake Bay and then in the Gulf of Paria, off Trinidad, British West Indies,
escorted by Bainbridge and Decatur. Steaming via Annapolis, Maryland, and Norfolk,
Alaska returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where the large cruiser underwent
changes and alterations to her fire control suite: the fitting of four Mk. 57 directors
for her five-inch battery.
Alaska departed Philadelphia on 12 November 1944 for the Caribbean, in company
with Thomas E. Fraser, and, after two weeks of standardization trials out of
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sailed for the Pacific on 2 December. She completed her
transit of the Panama Canal on 4 December, and reached San Diego on the 12th.
Thereafter, the new large cruiser trained in shore bombardment and anti-aircraft
firing off San Diego before an availability at Hunter's Point, near San Francisco.
Arrival in the Pacific
On 8 January 1945, Alaska sailed for Hawaii, and reached Pearl Harbor on the 13th,
where, on the 27th, Captain Kenneth M. Noble relieved Captain Fischler, who had
achieved flag rank. Over the ensuing days, Alaska conducted further training before
getting underway as a unit of Task Group (TG) 12.2, weighing anchor for the
western Pacific on 29 January. She reached Ulithi, the fleet anchorage in the
Caroline Islands, on 6 February, and there joined TG 58.5, a task group in the famed
Task Force (TF) 58, the fast carrier task force.
Alaska sailed for the Japanese home islands as part of TG 58.5 on 10 February 1945,
assigned the mission of screening the aircraft carriers Saratoga and Enterprise as
they carried out night air strikes against Tokyo and its airfields. During the voyage,
all hands on board Alaska speculated about what lay ahead - almost three-quarters
of the men had never seen action before and sought out the veterans in their
midst "for counsel and advice." Sensing the air of expectation on board his ship,
Captain Noble spoke to the crew over the public address system and reassured
them of his confidence in them. In doing so, he used an analogy familiar to most
Americans: "We are a member of a large task force which is going to pitch directly
over the home plate of the enemy," he said, "It is our particular job to back up the
pitchers."
Carrier protection
Backing up the "pitchers" proved comparatively easy. TF 58, cloaked by bad
weather, approached the Japanese homeland from east of the Marianas. Using radio
deception and deploying submarines, long-range patrol aircraft from Fleet Air Wing
1, and Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortresses as scouts, ahead of the
advancing task force, the Americans neared their objective undetected. The first
major carrier strike against the heart of the Japanese Empire, a year after the
successful raids on Truk, covered the developing Iwo Jima landings and proved good
practice for future operations against Okinawa. The low ceiling prevented Japanese
retaliation, thus giving Alaska no opportunity to put into practice her rigorous
antiaircraft training as she guarded the carriers. Assigned to TG 58.4 soon
thereafter, Alaska supported the Iwo Jima operations, and, as before, no enemy
aircraft came near the carrier formation to which the large cruiser was attached. For
nineteen days she screened the carriers before retiring to Ulithi to take on stores
and carry out minor repairs.
With the decision reached to occupy Okinawa, in the Nansei Shoto chain, in early
April of 1945, invasion planners proceeded on the assumption that the Japanese
would resist with maximum available naval and air strength. To destroy as many
aircraft as possible-and thus diminish the possibility of American naval forces coming
under air attack from Japanese aircraft-the fast carrier task force was hurled against
the enemy's homeland again: to strike airfields on Kyushu, Shikoku, and western
Honshu. Alaska, still with TG 58.4-formed around the fleet carriers Yorktown,
Intrepid, Independence and Langley again drew the duty of protecting the valuable
flattops. Her principal mission then, as it had been before, was defense of the task
group against enemy air or surface attacks.
Its battle plan outlined in detail, TF 58 cruised north-westerly from the Carolines,
following the departure from Ulithi on 14 March. Refueling at sea on the 16th, this
mighty force reached a point southeast of Kyushu early on the 18th. On that day,
the aircraft from TG 58.4 swept over Japanese airfields at Usa, Oita, and Saeki,
joining those from three other task groups, TG 58.1, TG 58.2, and TG 58.3 in claiming
107 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground and a further 77 (of 142 engaged) over
the target area.
First action
Alaska tasted action for the first time as the Japanese retaliated with air strikes of
their own. Task Force 58's radars provided "little if any warning" of the approach of
enemy aircraft, due to the weather conditions encountered. All too often, the first
indication of the enemy's presence was a visual sighting. Alaska spotted a Yokosuka
P1Y "Frances" at 08:10 and commenced fire. She registered hits almost immediately
but the suicider maintained its course toward the stern of the nearby Intrepid. Less
than a half-mile from his quarry, however, the "Frances" exploded into fragments
with a direct hit from Alaska's guns.
Soon thereafter, Alaska received word of the proximity of "friendlies" in the vicinity.
At 08:22, a single-engine aircraft approached the large cruiser "in a threatening
fashion" from ahead, in a shallow dive. Alaska opened fire promptly and scored hits.
Unfortunately, almost simultaneously her fire controllers were receiving word that
the aircraft was, indeed, a friendly F6F Hellcat. Fortunately, the pilot was uninjured
and ditched his crippled aircraft; another ship in the disposition picked him up.
For the balance of the day, the suicide attacks continued. The vigilant combat air
patrol (CAP), however, downed a dozen aircraft over the task force while ships'
gunfire accounted for almost two dozen more. Alaska added a second enemy
bomber to her "bag" when she splashed a Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" at about 13:15.
The next morning, the 19th, photo reconnaissance having disclosed the presence of
a large number of major Japanese fleet units in the Seto Inland Sea, TF 58 launched
aircraft to go after them. TG 58.4's aircraft took on targets of opportunity at Kobe;
others at Kure and Hiroshima. Extremely heavy and accurate enemy antiaircraft fire,
however, rendered the attacks only moderately successful for TF 58's aviators.
Protecting Franklin
Shortly after the first strikes had been launched, however, the Japanese struck
back, hitting TG 58.2, some 20 miles (32 km) to the northward of the other groups in
TF 58. At about 07:08, Franklin reeled under the impact of two bomb hits; Wasp too,
fell victim to Japanese bombs. On board Alaska, those in a position to watch the
developing battle noted a flash, followed by a slowly rising column of smoke. "All
who saw it knew that a carrier had been hit," the cruiser's historian records, "and
soon the radio brought confirmation that the Franklin had been the victim".
The thin cloud layer having rendered radar largely useless, Japanese aircraft
attacked all task groups. During the afternoon, TF 58 retired slowly to the south-
westward, covering the crippled Franklin and simultaneously launching fighter
sweeps against airfields on Kyushu in order to disorganize any attempted strikes
against it. To further protect Franklin, a salvage unit, Task Unit (TU) 58.2.9, was
formed.
Composed of Alaska, her sister ship Guam, the heavy cruiser Pittsburgh, the light
cruiser Santa Fe, and three destroyer divisions, TU 58.2.9 drew the duty of
screening the damaged "Big Ben," as Franklin had been affectionately nicknamed by
her crew. Ordered to make its best speed toward Guam, TU 58.2.9 set out in that
direction, covered by TU 58.2.0, four aircraft carriers and the remaining heavy units
originally assigned to TG 58.2 at the outset.
The initial part of the voyage proved uneventful, and not until the afternoon did
Japanese aircraft appear. Several bogies (unidentified aircraft) showed up on the
radar screens; investigation revealed most to be Navy PB4Y patrol bombers failing to
show IFF (identification, friend or foe). Two of three CAP divisions sent out to
challenge a bogey identified it as a PB4Y; unfortunately, because the friendly
character of one bogey was established, the interception of a second bogey at
about the same time failed to materialize. Only poor marksmanship on the part of
the "Judy" pilot saved Franklin from another bomb hit. Alaska added to the hail of
gunfire put up on the "Judy" but it sped away, unscathed. The final salvo from
Alaska's mount 51 caused flash burns on the crew of a 40 mm mount nearby-the
only casualties suffered by the large cruiser. Later that day, Alaska received on
board 15 men from Franklin for medical treatment.
The following morning, Alaska assumed fighter director duty, and controlled three
divisions of fighters from Hancock. While these divisions remained on station
pending the arrival of their relief, Alaska's SK radar picked up a bogey, 35 miles (56
km) away, at 11:43. The large cruiser vectored the CAP fighters to the scene, and at
11:48, heard the "tallyho" indicating that the CAP had spotted the bogey. At 11:49,
the fighters splashed a Kawasaki Ki-45 "Nick" 19 miles (31 km) away.
On 22 March, Alaska's part in the escort of the damaged Franklin was complete, and
she rejoined TG 58.4, fueling that same day from Chicopee. At 23:42, one of the
destroyers in the screen, Haggard, reported a "skunk" (submarine contact) 25,000
yards distant. She and Uhlmann were detached to investigate, and early the next
morning, Haggard rammed and sank a Japanese submarine (perhaps I-370, which
had departed the Bungo Channel on 21 February 1945 for Iwo Jima as part of a
special kaiten-carrying attack unit), suffering enough damage herself in the
encounter to be ordered back to base in company with Uhlmann.
Okinawa Island
Over the next few days, the air strikes against Okinawa continued, setting the stage
for the landing set to commence on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1945. Alaska continued to
provide support for the carriers launching the strikes until detached on 27 March to
carry out a shore bombardment against Minami Daito Shimo, a tiny island 160 miles
(257 km) east of Okinawa. The task unit, TU 58.4.9, consisted of Alaska, Guam, San
Diego, Flint, and Destroyer Squadron 47.
Ordered to carry out the shoot en route to a fueling area, Alaska and Guam and
their screen steamed west of the island on north/south courses between 22:45 on
27 March and 00:30 on the 28th. Alaskas main battery hurled 45 high-capacity
rounds shoreward, while her five-inch battery added 352 rounds of antiaircraft
common. No answering fire came from the beach, and Alaskas observers
noted "satisfactory fires" on the island.
Rejoining TG 58.4 at the fueling rendezvous, Alaska transferred the Franklin
wounded to the oiler Tomahawk while she took on fuel. She then resumed her
screening of the fast carriers as they carried out operations in support of the build-
up and landing on Okinawa, on the alert to repel aircraft attacks. The landings went
off as scheduled on 1 April, and her operations over ensuing days supported the
troops. On 7 April, Japanese surface units moving through the East China Sea
toward Okinawa to disrupt the landings ran afoul of a massive air strike from Vice
Admiral Marc Mitscher's fast carrier task force which sank the giant battleship
Yamato, one cruiser and four destroyers.
Operating off Okinawa and Kyushu, Alaska lent the protection of her guns to the fast
carriers in the task group which sent daily sweeps of "Hellcats" and "Corsairs" over
enemy airfields, shore installations and shipping. On the evening of 11 April, Alaska
chalked up an assist in shooting down a Japanese aircraft, shot down one,
unassisted, and claimed what might have been a piloted rocket bomb "Baka" on the
night of 11-12 April.
Four days later, on the 16th, Alaskas gunfire splashed what were probably a "Judy"
and two "Zekes," and the ship claimed assists in downing three additional enemy
aircraft. That same day, however, an enemy aircraft managed to get through
Alaskas barrage to crash into Intrepid. That night, though, the cruiser's gunfire
proved instrumental in driving off a single snooper attempting to close the formation.
On the night of 21-22 April, the cruiser again used her heavy antiaircraft battery to
drive off single aircraft attempting to attack the task group. On the night of 29-30
April, toward the end of the ship's time at sea with the fast carriers for that stretch,
Alaska twice drove off attacking groups of Japanese aircraft.
Final war operations
Alaska anchored back at Ulithi on 14 May, bringing to a close a cruise of almost two
months duration. Ten days later, after rest and refreshment, the ship sailed-now
part of the Third Fleet and with TG 38.4. Newcomers to the formation included the
battleship Iowa and the carrier Ticonderoga. Over the next two weeks, Alaska again
screened a portion of the fast carrier task force, and conducted her second shore
bombardment when, on 9 June, she and her sister ship Guam shelled the Japanese-
held Okino Daito Shima, just south of Minami Daito Shimo which had been visited by
the two cruisers in late March, and known to have enemy radar sites located there.
Subsequently, the task group sailed south-westerly for San Pedro Bay, Leyte,
reaching its destination on the afternoon of 13 June 1945. A month in Leyte Gulf
then ensued-a period of "rest, refreshment, and maintenance" - before Alaska sailed
again on 13 July, this time as part of the newly formed TF 95. Reaching Buckner Bay,
Okinawa, on the 16th, TF 95 fueled there and then sailed the following day, bound
for the coast of China and a foray into the East China Sea, long a hunting ground for
American aircraft and submarines but not entered by an American surface force since
before Pearl Harbor.
Although planners for the sweep had anticipated resistance, none materialized;
Alaska, Guam, and their escorts ranged the area at will, encountering only Chinese
fishing junks. Enemy aircraft venturing out to attack the task force several times fell
to CAP fighters. Operating out of Buckner Bay, Alaska participated in three sweeps
into these waters, and all could see how effective the blockade of Japan had
become; no Japanese ships were sighted during the course of the operation.
Commented Guam's commanding officer, Captain Leland P. Lovette: "We went
prepared to tangle with a hornet's nest and wound up in a field of pansies-but
we've proved a point and the East China Sea is ours to do with as we please."
Buckner Bay proved to offer more excitement than the sweeps. Even the war's
waning days possessed elements of danger; on 12 August a Japanese torpedo
aircraft scored a hit on the battleship Pennsylvania, near Alaskas anchorage. Over
the days that ensued, nightly sorties to avoid last-ditch suiciders took place. When
the war did finally end in mid-August, the ship went wild with joy, as Alaskas
chronicler wrote: "We knew that we would be going home far sooner than any of us
had ever expected when we first set out the preceding January for the combat area."
Post-war operation
There was, however, still work to be done. On 30 August, Alaska sailed from
Okinawa as part of the 7th Fleet's occupation forces, and after taking part in
a "show of force" in the Yellow Sea and Gulf of Chihli, reached Jinsen (later Inchon),
Korea, on 8 September 1945. Alaska supported the landing of Army occupation
troops at Jinsen, and remained at that port until 26 September, on which date she
sailed for Tsingtao, China, making port the following day. She shifted to an
anchorage outside the harbor entrance on 11 October to support the 6th Marine
Division landings to occupy the key North China seaport, and ultimately remained at
Tsingtao until 13 November, when she got underway to return to Jinsen, there to
embark returning Army soldiers homeward-bound as part of Operation Magic Carpet.
Sailing for the United States on 14 November, Alaska stopped briefly at Pearl Harbor
before proceeding on to San Francisco.
Steaming thence to the Panama Canal, and completing her transit of the isthmian
waterway on 13 December 1945, Alaska proceeded to the Boston Naval Shipyard,
arriving on 18 December. There she underwent an availability preparing her for
inactivation. Departing Boston on 1 February 1946 for her assigned permanent
berthing area at Bayonne, New Jersey, Alaska arrived there the following day.
Placed in inactive status commission, in reserve at Bayonne, on 13 August 1946,
Alaska was ultimately placed out of commission, in reserve, on 17 February 1947.
The large cruiser never returned to active duty. Her name struck from the Naval
Vessel Register on 1 June 1960, Alaska was sold on 30 June 1960 to the Lipsett
Division of Luria Brothers of New York City, to be broken up for scrap.
Alaska was awarded three battle stars for her World War II service. Sailing on her
final wartime service was a newly commissioned officer, future astronaut Wally
Schirra.
GUAM (CB-2) HISTORY
The second Guam (CB-2) was launched 12 November 1943 by the New York
Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. George Johnson McMillan, wife
of Captain McMillan, former governor of Guam; and commissioned 17 September
1944, Captain Leland P. Lovette in command.
After shakedown off Trinidad Guam departed Philadelphia 17 January 1945 and
joined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor 8 February via the Canal Zone. Shortly
thereafter Guam was visited by Secretary of the Navy Forrestal. Clearing Pearl
Harbor 3 March Guam sailed into Ulithi 13 March where she joined forces with her
sister ship Alaska and other fleet units to form another of Admiral Marc Mitscher's
famed task groups.
Sortie was made from Ulithi next day and Admiral A. W. Radford's Task Force 58, one
of the most powerful task forces in naval history, proceeded to vicinity of Kyushu and
Shikoku, arriving the morning of 18 March. In her group sailed some of the most
gallant ships ever to go in harm's way: carriers Yorktown, Intrepid, Independence,
and Langley; battleships Missouri and Wisconsin; cruisers Alaska, St. Louis, San
Diego, Flint; and 15 destroyers in the screen. Guam's battle debut soon came. The
fight began with five kamikaze attacks on the carriers. Guam's guns were directed at
the raiders. During this first battle, the carriers Enterprise and Intrepid, both in
Guam's force, were damaged but continued to operate. Enterprise took a bomb hit
near her island structure; a suicide plane crashed Intrepid's flight deck aft and
glanced off and plunged into the sea. Continued air attacks during the afternoon
resulted in the destruction of four enemy planes by Guam's group, one of which she
splashed. The next afternoon Guam was despatched to escort damaged Franklin
from the combat area. This lasted until 22 March.
After replenishing Guam rejoined Task Group 58.4 and departed for combat area in
vicinity of Okinawa Gunto, Japan. On the night of 27 to 28 March 1945 Admiral P. S.
Low's Cruiser Division 16 in Guam conducted bombardment of the airfield on Minami
Daito. Then until 11 May Guam supported carrier operations off the Nansei Shoto.
After repairs and replenishment at Ulithi Guam again departed for the waters east of
Okinawa, as a unit of Admiral Halsey's 3d Fleet, Task Group 38.4. Here she
continued to support the carriers launching fighter sweeps over the Kyushu airfields.
On 9 June Guam, Alaska, and five destroyers conducted a 90-minute bombardment
of Okino Daito. Course was then set for Leyte Gulf, arriving San Pedro Bay 13 June
after almost 3 months of continuous operations in support of the Okinawa campaign.
Guam now got a new assignment as flagship of Cruiser Task Force 95, composed of
large cruisers Guam and Alaska, four light cruisers, and nine destroyers. This force
steamed into the East China and Yellow Seas between 16 July and 7 August 1945
on a shipping raid. Direct results were few, but the fact that a surface sweep of
Japan's home waters could be made without harm proved the overwhelming
dominance and mobility of American sea power. Guam's group retired to Okinawa 7
August.
A few days later Guam became the flagship of Rear Admiral Low's North China Force
and circled the Yellow Sea parading American naval might before the major ports of
Tsingtao, Port Arthur, and Darien. She then steamed into Jinsen, Korea, 8
September 1945 to guarantee occupation of that liberated country. Guam departed
Jinsen 14 November and reached San Francisco 3 December landing a contingent of
Army troops for discharge. Clearing San Francisco 5 December 1945, Guam arrived
Bayonne, N.J., 17 December. She remained there and decommissioned 17 February
1947; Guam berthed with the New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1 June
1960 when her name was struck from the Navy List. She was sold for scrapping 24
May 1961 to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Md.
Guam received two battle stars for World War II service.
HAWAII (CB-3) HISTORY
USS Hawaii, the third 27,500-ton Alaska class large cruiser, was one of a group of
big-gun combatants (including the five Montana-class battleships and three more
Alaskas) whose construction was suspended in May 1942 before work began so
that materials and facilities could be used to build more urgently needed ships such
as ASW escorts. Hawaii was reinstated in the building program in June 1943 and her
keel was laid the following December, almost two years after her sister Guam. She
was launched in November 1945, after the end of the war, and little more work was
done before construction was suspended in February 1947.
In the later 1940s, Hawaii was considered for conversion to a guided-missile ship.
She was later included in the 1952 budget for conversion to a Large Tactical
Command Ship and was reclassified CBC-1 in February 1952. This project was
subsequently dropped and her classification reverted to CB-3 in September 1954.
Her partially-installed secondary armament was removed when she was prepared
for mothballing in 1946, and her three 12" turrets were subsequently removed in
preparation for conversion. The incomplete Hawaii was sold for scrapping in April
1959.
--------------------------------- SOME EXTRA INFO -----------------------------
The Alaska class of six fast battlecruisers was intended to counter reports that
Japan was building fast ships with 12 inch guns to operate with their already potent
heavy cruisers as surface raiders. All the new ships were to be named after
American territories. When the rumor of Japanese raiders proved false (a clever
Japanese "disinformation" campaign was apparently behind the reports), only the
Alaska and Guam were completed. Interestingly, when the Japanese got word of
these new ships, they then planned a "counter" class with 14 inch guns that was
never built. As it was, the Alaska class was now without a real mission. The ships
were never called "battlecruisers" by the United States Navy but always referred to
as "large cruisers", although they were longer than any United States battleships
except for the Iowa class behemoths. Since they were fast enough to accompany
the fast carriers, they were employed similarly to the fast battleships (and fast
cruisers) during the war. Laid down on February 2, 1942; launched on November 21,
1943 and commissioned on September 17, 1944, the Guam carried a main armament
of nine 12 inch main guns mounted three per turret; two centerline superfiring
forward and one centerline aft. The 12 inch guns were an improved model from
those mounted in the old Arkansas with more range and punch. Guam escorted the
big flattops in their sweeps across the western Pacific from March 1945 through the
end of the war. The vessels of his class had extremely short active careers and later
proposals to turn them into missile cruisers came to nothing. Guam was
decommissioned in 1947 and remained in mothballs until struck from the Naval
Vessel Register on June 1, 1960. She was scrapped in Newark, New Jersey starting
in August 1961.
The six Alaska class "large cruisers" were ordered in September 1940 under the
massive 70% Expansion ("Two Ocean Navy") building program. The Navy had been
considering since 1938 building ships of this entirely new type, intermediate in size
between battleships and heavy cruisers. The new ships were to carry out what
were then the two primary missions of heavy cruisers: protecting carrier strike
groups against enemy cruisers and aircraft and operating independenly against
enemy surface forces. Their extra size and larger guns would enhance their value in
both these missions and would also provide insurance against reports that Japan
was building "super cruisers" more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers. In fact, Japan
developed plans for two such ships in 1941--partly as a response to the Alaskas--
but never placed orders for their construction.
As built, the Alaskas were much closer to cruisers in design than to battleships or
battlecruisers. They lacked the multiple layers of compartmentation and special
armor along the sides below the waterline that protected battleships against
torpedos and underwater hits by gunfire. Other typical cruiser features in their
design were the provision of aircraft hangars and the single large rudder. Unlike
other U.S. cruisers of the day, the hangars and catapults were located amidships,
and the single rudder made them difficult to maneuver. On the other hand, the
Alaskas' side armor covered more of the hull than was standard in contemporary
U.S. cruisers.
Wartime conditions ultimately reduced the Alaska class to two ships. Construction of
CB-3 through CB-6--along with the five Montana (BB-67) class battleships--was
suspended in May 1942 to free up steel and other resources for more urgently
needed escorts and landing craft. A year later, CB-4 through CB-6 were definitively
cancelled. Hawaii (CB-3), however, was restored to the building program. Launched
and partially fitted out, her construction was suspended and she was considered for
conversion to a missile ship or command ship, but she was scrapped, still
incomplete, in 1959.
------------------------------ EXTRA INFORMATION ON THE WEB ---------------------
Book on Battlecruisers including Alaska Class...
http://www.cibmedia.com/main-search-detail.asp?idsearch=cruiser&id=S-4015
Special Web Pages dedicated to Alaska (CB-1) and Guam (CB-2)
Many pictures can be found here...
http://www.ussalaskacb-1.com/
http://www.ussguam.com/cb2/
Note: Sources are wikipedia and Navy.mil
Especially, all the pictures at better quality can be found at history section of
navy.mil.