[ezaircon4jc]

They sank my ship. I don't know how I feel about it...

[JJ 911SC]

Me too, a while back... My first ship back in 1976,

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...reef-1.3021329

[Llarry]

During the run up to World War II in the 1930s, the various navies eyed each other's latest warships with interest and undertook designs to counter potential adversaries.

A prime example in the U.S. Navy was the Alaska class large cruiser (CB) design. The CBs were considerably larger than heavy cruisers (CAs) which were armed with 8-inch (203mm) main guns. The CBs were armed with new 12-inch (305mm) main guns. The 1940 Navy planned to build six large cruisers, naming them after U.S. territories: in the end only three ships were begun and only two completed. During the final year of the war, the USS Alaska (CB 1) and the USS Guam (CB 2) saw action in protecting carrier task groups in the Pacific.

Like other Navy warships of the period, the CBs had large numbers of smaller-caliber guns as well: 5-inch dual purpose (anti-surface or anti-aircraft) mounts, 40mm Bofors AA mounts and 20mm lighter AA guns. Unlike U.S. Navy battleships and other cruiser classes of the era, the aircraft catapults and hangars were amidships rather than at the stern.

The third ship of the class, Hawaii (CB 3) was suspended at war's end and never completed. Hawaii's active sisters, Alaska and Guam, did not serve in the active Navy for long after WWII ended. In the end, the taxpayers did not get much return on their investment.

The Alaska-class is often erroneously dubbed a battlecruiser. A battlecruiser is a large warship with battleship armament but relatively light armor and capable of high speed -- the U.S. Navy never built a battlecruiser and the Alaska class, despite its great size, did not quite measure up to battleship armament standards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska-class_cruiser

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Llarry

A prime example in the U.S. Navy was the Alaska class large cruiser (CB) design. The CBs were considerably larger than heavy cruisers (CAs) which were armed with 8-inch (203mm) main guns. The CBs were armed with new 12-inch (305mm) main guns.

Another way to compare the ships was tonnage. The Iowa class battleships (BBs) had a full-load displacement of 60,000 tons, the Alaska class large cruisers (CBs) displaced 32,000 tons at full load and the late-war Navy heavy cruisers (CAs) displaced 17,000 tons at full load.