| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Alaska |
| Ordered: | 9 September 1940 |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
| Yard number: | Contract 435 |
| Way number: | L |
| Laid down: | 17 December 1941 |
| Launched: | 15 August 1943 |
| Sponsored by: | Mrs. Ernest Gruening |
| Commissioned: | 17 June 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 February 1947 |
| Struck: | 1 June 1960 |
| Honors and awards: |
Three battle stars for WWII service |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Alaska-class large cruiser |
| Type: | "Large cruiser" |
| Displacement: | 29,779 tons (standard) 34,253 tons (full load) |
| Length: | 808 ft 6 in (246.43 m) |
| Beam: | 91 ft 1 in (27.76 m) |
| Draft: | 27 ft 1 in (8.3 m) 32ft (9.75 m) (full load) |
| Propulsion: | 4-shaft General Electric steam turbines, 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 150,000 shp (112 MW) |
| Speed: | 31.4 knots (58 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,517[1][2]–1,799[3]–2,251[4][5][A 1] |
| Armament: | Nine 12"/50 caliber (305 mm), twelve 5 inch (127 mm), 56 x 40 mm, 34 x 20 mm guns |
| Armor: | Belt: 5 – 12 in (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× OS2U Kingfisher or SC Seahawk[6][A 2] |
| Aviation facilities: | Enclosed hangar[1] located amidships[7] |
USS Alaska (CB–1)—the third ship to be named after the then-territory and present state—was the lead ship of a planned six Alaska class "large cruiser"s[8][A 3] of the United States Navy. Unlike normal U.S. battleship and cruiser naming practices,[A 4] all of the members of the class—including Alaska—were named after "territories or insular areas" of the U.S. to signify their role between battleships and normal heavy or light cruisers.[9][A 5]
When the class was originally ordered on 9 September 1940, it came as a surprise to many because the U.S. had never finished a battlecruiser in its entire history, even when the type was in its "heyday" in 1906-1916.[2][A 6] However, construction went ahead, and the first three, Alaska, Guam and Hawaii, were laid down at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey on 17 December 1941, 2 February 1942 and 20 December 1943, respectively.
Alaska was launched on 15 August 1943, and she was commissioned 11 months later on 17 June 1944. After many trials and a few modifications, she sailed for the Pacific in December of that year, reaching San Diego on the 12th. After sailing into the Western Pacific, she joined Task Force 58 (TF 58) in Ulithi on 10 February 1945, and the entire force sailed for the Japanese home islands. She continued protecting this force, and the carriers within it, for the next month; but on 19 March, Franklin was hit with two bombs and had to withdraw. An escort that included both Alaska and her sister, Guam, was formed to shepherd the carrier's way home to Guam. Alaska departed this force on 22 March, and covered the aircraft carriers who were making strikes on Okinawa. After shelling a small island, she sailed again for Ulithi, where she joined the 3rd Fleet.
For the next two weeks, she covered the carriers of the 3d Fleet, and then Alaska, with her sister Guam once again, set course for the East China Sea to conduct raids on Japanese shipping, continuing this until the end of the war. After making a "show of force" at a few locations, she departed to cover landings in North China. She subsequently sailed for the Boston Naval Yard, arriving on 18 December. After she was prepared for inactivation, she was assigned a permanent berthing area at Bayonne, New Jersey; on 13 August 1946, she was placed in "inactive status commission". Her final decommissioning was on 17 February 1947.
Though there were proposals to convert Alaska and her sister Guam to guided-missile cruisers, Alaska was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1960 and sold on 30 June to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers of New York City; she was subsequently broken up for scrap.
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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 U.S., Britain, Japan, France, and Italy had agreed to limit heavy cruisers to 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) displacement with 8 in (200 mm) main armament. U.S. "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.[10]
The original idea for a U.S. class of battlecruiser began in the late 1930s, when the U.S. Navy wanted to counter both the German Scharnhorst-class and a new battlecruiser class (the notional Chichibu class)[8] Japan supposedly had under construction.[11][A 7] The Alaskas were intended to serve as "cruiser-killers", in order to seek out and destroy this type of post-Treaty heavy cruiser. To facilitate this, it was planned that this new class would be given large guns of a new (and more expensive) design, limited armor protection against 12 in (300 mm) shells, and machinery capable of speeds up to 31.4–33 kn (36.1–38 mph; 58.2–61 km/h).
The initial impetus for the design of the Alaskas came from reports that Japan was planning and/or building "super cruisers" that were much more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.[1][7][A 8] The Navy responded in 1938, when a request from the General Board was sent to the Bureau of Construction and Repair for a "comprehensive study of all types of naval vessels for consideration for a new and expanded building program."[12] The President of the time—Franklin Delano Roosevelt—might have inspired the idea for the class[13] with his desire to have a counter to the raiding abilities of Japanese cruisers and German battlecruisers/"pocket battleships",[14] but these claims are hard to verify.[1]
The design process of the Alaska class was "torturous"[11] because of the numerous changes and modifications made to the ships' layouts by many different departments and individuals;[11] indeed, the ships had at least nine different planned layouts,[15] ranging from 6,000 long tons (6,100 t) Atlanta-class anti-aircraft cruisers,[14] to "overgrown" heavy cruisers[11] to a 38,000 long tons (39,000 t) mini-battleship that would have been armed with twelve 12 in (300 mm) guns and sixteen 5 in (130 mm) guns.[14] The General Board—in trying to keep the displacement under 25,000 long tons (25,000 t)—allowed the designers to have only limited underwater protection in their designs to try to save weight. As a result, the Alaskas—when built—were vulnerable to torpedoes and shells that fell short of the ship.[16] Early in their development, the class used the designation CC, signifying battlecruisers in the tradition of the Lexingtons;[A 9] the designation was changed to CB to reflect their new name of "large cruiser", and the practice of referring to them as "battlecruisers" was officially discouraged.[13]
The class was officially ordered on 9 September 1940 along with a plethora of other ships during the 70% Expansion ("Two Ocean Navy") building program.[7][17][A 10] The new ships' role had been altered slightly: in addition to their surface-to-surface role, it was also planned for them 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. This would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building "super cruisers" more powerful than U.S. heavy cruisers.[7]
Yet another drastic change was considered, during the "carrier panic" of early 1942 when the Navy, and the President, realized that the next fleet carriers, the Essex-class aircraft carriers, were not expected to enter service before 1944.[A 11] It was decided to convert a few hulls that were currently under construction. At different points during 1942, the Bureau of Ships considered converting some of the Cleveland-class light cruisers, a few of the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, all six Alaskas, or even one of the Iowa-class battleships to aircraft carriers.[18] A conversion of the Alaskas to carriers was "particularly attractive"[18] because of the many similarities between the design of the Essex-class aircraft carriers and the Alaskas, including the same machinery.[8] However, when compared with the Essex class, the Alaskas would have had a shorter flight deck (so they could have carried only 90% of the aircraft),[18] they would have been 11 ft (3.35 m) lower in the water, and they could travel 8,000 mi (7,000 nmi; 13,000 km) fewer at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h). 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. In the end, the Cleveland class was chosen because the biggest factor was "speed of production", which was found with the Clevelands but not the others.[19] In the end, nine Clevelands were converted to Independence-class light carriers, and the construction of the Essex-class fleet carriers was accelerated to the point that seven were commissioned between December 1942 and November 1943, way ahead of the original 1944 target date. Plans to convert the Alaskas were shelved.
Alaska was laid down on 17 December 1941 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 15 August 1943 and was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 June 1944 with Captain Peter K. Fischler in command.[4]
Following post-commissioning fitting out at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Alaska traveled down the Delaware River on 6 August 1944, bound for Hampton Roads, escorted by Simpson and Broome. She then conducted an "intensive" shakedown, starting first in Chesapeake Bay and then moving to the Gulf of Paria (off Trinidad, British West Indies), this time escorted by Bainbridge and Decatur. After all of these tests, she steamed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard via Annapolis, Maryland, and Norfolk to undergo changes and alterations to her fire control suite: the fitting of four Mk. 57 fire directors for her five-inch battery.[4]
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, she 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" practiced shore bombardment and anti-aircraft firing off San Diego.[4]
On 8 January 1945, Alaska sailed for Hawaii, reaching Pearl Harbor on the 13th, where, on the 27th, Capt. Kenneth H. Noble relieved Capt. Fischler, who had achieved flag rank. Over the ensuing days, Alaska conducted further training before getting underway as a unit of Task Group 12.2 (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 58 (TF 58), the fast carrier task force.[4]
Alaska sailed for the Japanese home islands as part of TG 58.5 on 10 February. She was assigned the mission of screening Saratoga and Enterprise as they carried out night air strikes against Tokyo and its airfields. TF 58, cloaked by bad weather, approached the Japanese homeland from east of the Marianas. Using radio deception along with deployed 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 task force neared their objective undetected. The low ceiling prevented Japanese retaliation. 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.[4]
With the decision reached to occupy Okinawa in early April 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 struck airfields on Kyūshū, Shikoku, and western Honshū. Alaska—still with TG 58, formed around Yorktown, Intrepid, Independence and Langley—again drew the duty of protecting the carriers. Her principal mission then, as it had been before, was defense of the task group against enemy air or surface attacks.[4]
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 force reached a point southeast of Kyūshū early on the 18th. On that day, the aircraft from TG 58.4 swept over Japanese airfields at Usa, Ōita, 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.[4]
Alaska engaged the Japanese for the first time on the 18th during a Japanese air attack upon the force. She downed two aircraft by herself: a kamikaze Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" that had been on course to hit Intrepid, and a Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" at about 13:15.[4]
The Japanese struck in full force on the 19th, and they caught TG 58.2 some 20 mi (17 nmi; 32 km) to the northward of the other groups in TF 58. At about 07:08, Franklin was hit with two bombs; 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".[4]
A salvage unit—designated Task Unit 58.2.9 (TU 58.2.9)—was quickly formed to screen the damaged Franklin. Composed of Alaska, her sister ship Guam, heavy cruiser Pittsburgh, light cruiser Santa Fe, and three destroyer divisions, TU 58.2.9 was ordered to make its best speed toward Guam.[4]
No Japanese were sighted until the afternoon rolled around: aircraft now appeared on the horizon. Though most were PB4Y aircraft not broadcasting IFF signals, one "Judy" aircraft snuck in with them. A "hail" of gunfire was put up to defend against the "Judy" but it sped away, unscathed, though its bomb missed Franklin. The final salvo from Alaska′s Mount 51 during this fight caused flash burns on the crew of a 40 mm mount nearby; these were the only casualties suffered by the large cruiser during her career.[4]
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 radar picked up a single aircraft, 35 mi (30 nmi; 56 km) away, at 11:43. At 11:49, the fighters splashed a Kawasaki Ki-45 "Nick" 19 mi (17 nmi; 31 km) away. On 22 March, Alaska′s part in the escort of the damaged Franklin was complete, and so she rejoined TG 58.4, fueling that same day from Chicopee.[4]
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 mi (140 nmi; 260 km) east of Okinawa. The task unit, TU—58.4.9, consisted of Alaska, Guam, San Diego, Flint, and Destroyer Squadron47 (DesRon 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. Alaska′s main battery hurled 45 high-capacity rounds shoreward, while her five-inch battery added 352 rounds. No answering fire came from the beach, and Alaska′s observers noted "satisfactory fires" on the island.
Rejoining TG 58.4 at the fueling rendezvous, Alaska transferred wounded from Franklin to 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 Kyūshū, Alaska lent the protection of her guns to the fast carriers in the task group which sent daily sweeps of Grumman F6F Hellcats and Vought F4U 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, Alaska′s gunfire splashed what were probably a "Judy" and two Mitsubishi A6M Zeros, and the ship claimed assists in downing three additional enemy aircraft. That same day, however, an enemy aircraft managed to get through Alaska's 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.
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 3rd Fleet and with TG 38.4. Newcomers to the formation included Iowa and 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 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 Pennsylvania, near Alaska′s 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 Alaska′s 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."
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 Incheon), 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 U.S. 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 to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers of New York City, to be broken up for scrap.
In 1958, the Bureau of Ships prepared two feasibility studies to see if Alaska and Guam were suitable to be converted to guided missile cruisers. The first study involved removing all of the guns in favor of four different missile systems. This was seen as too costly at $160 million, so the second study was made up. This study left the forward batteries—the two 12″ triple turrets and three of the 5" dual turrets—alone and added a reduced version of the first plan aft. This would have cost $82 million, and so it was still seen as too cost-prohibitive.[20]
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.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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