(CB-1) USS Alaska

Specifications:


Displacement 27,000 Tons, Dimensions, 808' 6" (oa) x 90' 9" x 31' 9" (Max)
Armament 9 x 12"/50 12 x 5/38AA, 56 x 40mm 34 x 20mm, 4 AC
Armor, 9" Belt, 12 4/5" Turrets, 1 2/5" +4" +5/8" Decks, 10 3/5" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 150,000 SHP; G.E. Geared Turbines, 4 screws
Speed, 33 Knots, Crew 1517.

this information and more can be found at: http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/1201/040201.htm


History:

USS Alaska (CB–1), the third ship to be named after the then-insular area and present state, was the lead ship of a planned six Alaska class large cruisers[8][A 3] in 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 United States 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 1906–16.[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 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 Third Fleet.

For the next two weeks she covered the carriers of the Third 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 1960 to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers of New York City; she was subsequently broken up for scrap.

this information and more can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Alaska_%28CB-1%29