Alaska-Class: Battlecruisers the Navy should never have built

What you need to know: Straddling the line between cruiser and battleship, the Alaska-class “battlecruisers” were designed to dominate enemy cruisers with powerful armament and impressive size. Built during World War II, the Alaska, Guam and Hawaii were intended to counter the threats from German and Japanese battlecruisers.

Measuring over 800 feet in length and armed with nine 12-inch guns, these ships entered service too late to have any impact, with a short service career of just a few years.

-The Alaska-class battlecruisers were decommissioned in 1947 and remain controversial, with debates over their usefulness and role in modern naval warfare still ongoing.

The controversial legacy of the US Navy’s Alaska-class battlecruisers

The Alaska class was somewhere between a cruiser and a battleship, occupying a strange middle ground. Although the Alaska was technically a cruiser, it was clearly much larger than other cruisers. Still, the Alaska was too small to be a true battleship. The class’s resulting nickname touched on the Alaska’s ambiguous character: battlecruiser. The US Navy recognized that the Alaska was not really a cruiser; heavy cruisers were generally designated “CA,” while the Alaska was designated “CB” for large cruisers.

Alaska Class: measuring

Calling the Alaska a cruiser would be an undersell. Actually, the Alaska was designed to kill cruisers.

“The standard American heavy cruiser design, such as the 200-foot, 14,500-ton Baltimore class, was armed with (9) 8” guns, (12) 5” guns, and (24) 20mm guns,” National World War wrote. II Museum Curator James Linn. “For comparison, the Alaskas were 250 meters long and weighed 29,771 tons. They were armed with (9) 12” guns, (12) 5” guns, (56) 40mm guns and (34) 20mm guns.”

In addition to weapons, the Alaska also had dimensions. The battlecruiser was 800 feet long, had a beam of 91 feet, and displaced 34,253 long tons (when fully loaded). For propulsion, the Alaska relied on four-shaft General Electric steam turbines with double reduction gears and eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The propulsion system was good for 150,000 horsepower, a top speed of 33 knots and a range of between 12,000 and 14,000 nautical miles.

Yet the Alaska was not a battleship – and was indeed vulnerable to the heavier warships.

“The Alaskas had adequate armored protection against shellfire from enemy cruisers, but were at a serious disadvantage against battleships,” Linn said.

Vulnerability to battleships was not the Alaska’s only problem either. Another problem that kept the Alaskan sailors on edge was “a complete lack of a torpedo defense system.” For the Alaska, “attacks by German U-boats or the infamous Japanese Type 93 “Long Lance” torpedoes were a constant concern.”

Why a battlecruiser?

The provision to build a battlecruiser was embedded in the Vinson-Walsh Act, a 1940 law known as the Two-Ocean Navy Act – which increased the size of the US Navy by 70 percent (to accommodate to the growing double threat of Germany and Japan). “Although the law authorized the construction of 257 ships,” Linn explained, “the most notable provisions of the legislation included the construction of 18 aircraft carriers, seven battleships, and six Alaska-class cruisers.”

The attack on Pearl Harbor caused war planners to reevaluate many things, including the usefulness of the battleship. “The construction of new large-arms ships, such as battleships, was significantly scaled back or completely canceled,” Linn said. Why? Because “time and technology had caught up with battleships. The aircraft carrier now formed the backbone of the naval fleets as they continued to develop.” Yet revelations about the battleship did not provide clarity about the battlecruiser’s future.

Typically, cruisers are used as escorts, accompanying aircraft carrier task forces and providing protection against enemy surface ships and aircraft. But the Alaska was built for a different purpose. The German Kriegsmarine had received new powerful ships; The Imperial Japanese Navy was rumored to have a battlecruiser. In Washington, the Navy began to worry that it would have “no answer for these ships” and that U.S. Navy ships would be vulnerable – the answer: the Alaska battlecruiser.

Initially, the Navy expected to receive six Alaska battlecruisers. But changing circumstances and “the rapidly changing realities of naval combat” inspired the Navy to reduce their order to just three Alaskas. The resources that would have gone to the remaining three Alaskas were instead allocated to aircraft carriers, escorts, and landing craft.

The Alaska Class in action

The three Alaska-class ships launched were the eponymous Alaska, the Guam and the Hawaii. None of them enjoyed a particularly long career. The Alaska was active for only 32 months. The Guam only lasted 29.

The Alaska class entered service during the final year of the war and participated in the Pacific Theater. And although Japan was functionally defeated by the time Alaska entered the battle, Japan still refused to capitulate and still posed a threat to American ships in the theater.

In particular, the Alaska supported the landings on Okinawa. And, less noticeably, the Alaska was used to protect the Franklin (an Essex-class aircraft carrier) while she was underway for repairs in Guam.

The ships were decommissioned and mothballed in 1947. In 1958, the Bureau of Ships conducted two feasibility studies to gauge whether the Alaska and Guam could be converted into guided-missile cruisers. Ultimately, the option was deemed too expensive.

Although the Alaska class did not leave an illustrious record, the ships did leave behind some controversy. The existence and usefulness of the battlecruisers was hotly debated in the 1940s, and remains so today. ‘Were these ships cruisers or were they American battlecruisers? Were they relics of an era long gone and outdated before they even entered service?

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a prolific writer on defense and national security, with more than 1,000 published articles. Harrison, a lawyer, pilot, guitarist and minor professional hockey player, joined the United States Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

All images are Creative Commons.