Key Points and Summary – The Alaska-class ships were unique American warships from World War II, designed as massive “large cruisers” or battlecruisers.
-Their mission was to be “cruiser-killers,” specifically to hunt down and destroy German and Japanese heavy cruisers with their powerful 12-inch guns.
-However, by the time the USS Alaska and USS Guam reached the Pacific in 1945, the enemy fleet they were designed to fight had already been destroyed.
-Arriving too late for their intended mission, they served effectively as anti-aircraft screens for carriers before being quickly mothballed after the war, leaving a powerful but obsolete legacy.
The Alaska-Class Failed for Clear Reasons
The 1930s saw an isolationist United States begin to wake from its deep slumber as war drums beat in Europe and the Pacific. Germany was rearming, and while newsreels treated Hitler like a sideshow, he was looking to expand his borders. The Empire of Japan had built a modern, extensive fleet and invaded Manchuria and China.
Once the Germans overran France in six weeks in 1940, the prospect of having to fight the Germans on one ocean and the Japanese on the other, at the same time, was very real for our government.
On July 19, 1940, just a month after France fell, the US passed the Vinson-Walsh Act, better known as the Two-Ocean Navy Act. This act immediately increased the size of the US Navy by 70 percent.
While the act authorized the construction of 257 ships, some of its most notable provisions included building 18 aircraft carriers, seven battleships, and six Alaska-class cruisers.
However, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the writing was on the wall with the battleships, and the Navy changed its programs to build more aircraft carriers. The number of the Alaska-class cruisers was cut to just three.
The Alaska-class Battlecruisers
The Alaska-class cruisers were bigger than the standard cruiser but smaller than the battleships.
They were developed to answer the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst with her 11-inch guns. The Japanese were also rumored to have built battlecruisers, but this hadn’t been officially confirmed.
The standard American heavy cruiser design, like the 673-foot-long, 14,500-ton Baltimore-class, was armed with (9) 8-inch guns, (12) 5-inch guns, and (24) 20mm guns used for anti-aircraft purposes.
The Alaska-class cruisers were 808 feet long and weighed 29,771 tons, double the standard cruiser’s weight. They were armed with (9) 12-inch guns, (12) 5-inch guns, (56) 40mm guns, and (34) 20mm guns.
The modern 12-inch guns carried by the Alaska-class battlecruisers were an improvement over the 14-inch guns carried by the older battleships in the US fleet.
The ships moved at a speed of 33 knots. They were designed to be cruiser-killers that could quickly enter and escape trouble quickly. The bigger 12-inch guns significantly improved over the 8-inch guns used by standard cruisers.
The singularity of her design caused the Navy to classify these ships as “CB” for long cruisers instead of “CA” for heavy cruisers. While battleships were named after states and cruisers after cities, the Alaska-class cruisers were named after US territories.
Combat Record of the Alaska-class Cruisers
The USS Alaska and USS Guam were finally commissioned in 1944. They reached the Pacific and were assigned to Task Force 58, where they joined the fight in February and March 1945, respectively. Although they had missed most of the war with the Japanese, many battles remained to fight.
By this time, most of Japan’s elite Imperial Navy was at the bottom of the Pacific. So, the USS Alaska and the USS Guam never got to hammer it out with Japanese cruisers, which they were designed to face. They were obsolete by the time they arrived.
However, they did provide shore bombardment operations, and their armament provided excellent anti-aircraft screening for the carriers. Around Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Japanese had resorted to suicide bombers (kamikazes) to take out US warships.
When the CV-13, USS Franklin, was devastated by two bombs from a Japanese dive-bomber that ignited aircraft fueled and waiting to take off, the Alaska and the Guam were, among other ships, tasked to escort her to safety. A total of 926 crewmen were lost, the most in the war other than the battleship Arizona.
After the war, the ships were sent to the “mothball fleet” and sat in a New Jersey shipyard until they were scrapped in the 1960s.
Since the 1940s, the debate has been about whether the Alaska-class cruiser was worth the time and money and if it lacked a proper role. The Alaska-class was built for a role that didn’t exist by the time they arrived at the war.
However, as the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.” The Navy saw a potential cruiser threat, and designers promptly developed a response. They built a warship with the information they had at the time.
However, they provided outstanding protection for the carriers, which freed up battleships to take on other tasks. The Navy developed the 12-inch guns for the ship, which were very effective.
The timing was wrong, but the big Alaska-class battlecruisers were excellent ships.
About the Author:
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in other military publications.
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