text: alaska - class cruiser the alaska class was a class of six large cruisers ordered before world war ii for the united states navy . they were officially classed as large cruisers ( cb ) , but others have regarded them as battlecruisers . they were all named after territories or insular areas of the united states , signifying their intermediate status between larger battleships and smaller heavy / light cruisers . of the six planned , two were completed , the third 's construction was suspended on 16 april 1947 , and the last three were canceled . alaska and guam served with the u.s. navy for the last year of world war ii as bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts . they were 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 sought to counter deutschland - class " pocket battleships " being launched by germany . planning for ships that eventually evolved into the alaska class began in the late 1930s after the deployment of germany 's scharnhorst - class battleships and rumors that japan was constructing a new battlecruiser class . to serve as " cruiser - killers " capable of seeking out and destroying these post - treaty heavy cruisers , 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 steadied between world war i and world war ii thanks to the terms of the washington naval treaty and successor treaties and conferences , where the united states , britain , japan , france , and italy agreed to limit heavy cruisers to 10 , 000 tons displacement with 8 - inch main armament . up until the alaska class , us cruisers designed between the wars followed this pattern . the initial impetus for the alaska design came from the deployments of germany 's so - called pocket battleships in the early 1930s . though no actions were immediately taken , these thoughts were revived in the late 1930s when intelligence reports indicated japan was planning or building " super cruisers " that would be much more powerful than the current us heavy cruisers . the navy responded in 1938 when the general board asked the bureau of construction and repair to conduct a " comprehensive study of all types of naval vessels for consideration for a new and expanded building program " . the us 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 . while these claims are difficult to verify , they have led to the speculation that their design was " politically motivated " . these were the most powerful cruisers ever built . design one historian described the design process of the alaska class as " torturous " due to the numerous changes and modifications made to the ship 's layouts by numerous departments and individuals . indeed , there were at least nine different layouts , ranging from 6 , 000 - ton atlanta - class anti - aircraft cruisers to " overgrown " heavy cruisers and a 38 , 000 - ton mini - battleship 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 was a scaled - up baltimore - class class that had the same machinery as the essex - class aircraft carriers . 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 ( 61 km / h ; 38 mph ) . the alaskas were officially funded in september 1940 along with a plethora of other ships as a part of the two - ocean navy act . their 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 would provide insurance against reports that japan was building super cruisers more powerful than u.s. heavy cruisers . possible conversion to aircraft carriers yet another drastic change was considered during the " carrier panic " in late 1941 , when the navy realized that they needed more aircraft carriers as quickly as possible . many hulls currently under construction were considered for conversion into carriers . at different times , they considered some or all of the cleveland - class light cruisers , the baltimore - class heavy cruisers , the alaska - class , and even one of the iowa - class battleships ; in the end , they chose the clevelands , resulting in the conversion of nine ships under construction at the new york shipbuilding corporation shipyard as the light aircraft carriers comprising the independence - class . a conversion of the alaska cruisers to carriers was " particularly attractive " because of the many similarities between the design of the essex - class aircraft carriers 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 carry only 90 % of the aircraft ) , would have been 11 feet ( 3 . 4 m ) lower in the water , and could travel 8 , 000 nautical miles ( 15 , 000 km ) less at 15 knots ( 28 km / h ; 17 mph ) . 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 this in mind , all planning to convert the alaskas was abandoned on 7 january 1942 . construction of the six alaska - class cruisers that were planned , only three were laid down . the first two , alaska and guam , were completed . construction of hawaii , 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 , destroyers , and submarines . 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 alaska and guam served with the u.s. navy during the last year of world war ii . similar to the iowa - class fast battleships , their speed made them useful as shore bombardment ships and fast carrier escorts . both protected franklin 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 seas 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 . during the war , both ships were part of cruiser division 16 commanded by rear admiral francis s. low , usn . after the war , both ships served as part of task force 71 , the designation for the u.s. seventh fleet 's north china naval force . its mission was to support the allied occupation of the korean peninsula . this included executing various show - the - flag operations along the western coast of korea as well as in the gulf of . these naval demonstrations preceded operation campus , the amphibious landing of u.s. army ground forces at jinsen , korea , on 8 september 1945 . subsequently , both ships returned to the united states in mid - december 1945 , and they were decommissioned and " mothballed " in 1947 . after having spent 32 months ( alaska ) and 29 months ( guam ) in service . 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 , the cost of this proposed removal was seen as 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 hawaii was considered for a conversion to be the navy 's first guided - missile cruiser ; 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 " to northampton , 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 " early in its development , the class used the us battlecruiser designation cc , which had been planned for the lexington class . however , the designation was changed to cb to reflect their new status , " 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 battleships . the alaska class certainly resembled contemporary us battleships ( particularly the north carolina class , south dakota class , and iowa class ) in appearance , including the familiar 2 - a - 1 main battery and massive columnar mast , and displaced twice that of the newest heavy cruisers ( the baltimore class ) . in weight , the ships were only 5 , 000 tons less than the london treaty battleship standard displacement limit of 35 , 000 long tons ( 36 , 000 t ) , also longer than several treaty battleships such as the king george v and north carolina - classes . in design and armor the alaska class are regarded as " large cruisers " rather than battlecruisers . their design was scaled up from the treaty cruisers limited by the washington , london and second london naval treaties . in common with u.s. heavy cruisers , they had aircraft hangars and a single large rudder . their armor lacked the underwater protection systems found on full - fledged battleships and even intermediate capital ships like the french dunkerque and german scharnhorst classes . this left the alaskas virtually defenseless against torpedoes , as well as vulnerable to shells falling slightly short and continuing underwater to hit the hull . while the alaskas had more side armor than other contemporary u.s. cruisers , their protection was only marginally capable of stopping 12 " fire ; they were vulnerable to battleship fire ( 14 – 16 " fire ) at any range . in addition , despite being much larger than the baltimore class , the numbers of secondary and anti - aircraft batteries of the alaskas were similar . whereas the alaska class carried twelve 5 " / 38 caliber in six twin turrets , 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 ten fewer 20 mm . , considerably fewer than new u.s. battleships that had ten ( save for south dakota ( bb - 57 ) ) 5 " / 38 twin mounts while older refitted u.s. battleships had eight . 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 " . the alaska class was similarly expensive to build and maintain as contemporary battleships yet far less capable due to armor deficiencies , while only able to put up an anti - aircraft defense comparable to the much cheaper baltimore cruisers . despite these cruiser - like characteristics , and the u.s. navy 's insistence on their status as cruisers , the alaska class has been frequently described as battlecruisers . 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 senses 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 — 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 fast battleships ; the british king george v - class , the american iowa class , and the battlecruiser / fast battleship hms hood all had armor percentages between 32 and 33 % , whereas the lexington - class battlecruiser design had a nearly identical armor percentage of 28 . 5 % . in fact , older battlecruisers , such as the invincible ( 19 . 9 % ) , had a significantly lower percentage . armament - wise , they had much larger guns than contemporary heavy cruisers ; while the baltimore class only carried nine 8 " / 55 caliber marks 12 and 15 guns , the alaska class carried nine 12 " / 50 caliber guns 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 . armament main battery 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 for and installed in the 1912 wyoming - class battleships . 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 121 , 856 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 1 , 140 - pound ( 520 kg ) mark 18 armor - piercing shell 38 , 573 yards ( 35 , 271 m ) at an elevation of 45 ° , and 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 alaska 's mark 8 guns were the heaviest main battery of any cruiser of world war ii , and as capable as the old 14 " / 50 caliber gun used on the u.s. navy 's pre - treaty 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 the iowa class 's one - stage hoist . these differences made operating the guns safer and increased the rate of fire . in addition , 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 destroyers 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 × 40 mm guns and 34 × 20 mm guns . these numbers are comparable to 48 × 40 mm and 24 × 20 mm on the smaller baltimore - class heavy cruisers and 80 × 40 mm and 49 × 20 mm on the larger iowa battleships . 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 " 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 . ships uss alaska ( cb - 1 ) 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 . uss guam ( cb - 2 ) 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 . uss hawaii ( cb - 3 ) 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 ship in the years after the war were fruitless , and she was scrapped . uss philippines ( cb - 4 ) , puerto rico ( cb - 5 ) , and samoa ( cb - 6 ) were planned as the fourth , fifth , and sixth ships of the class , respectively . all were going to be built at camden , new jersey , but they were canceled before construction could begin . endnotes