.PNG)
USS Alaska (CB-1937)
Part of the 'Dreadnought Revolution' series.
When the USN looked at its inventory it had.... nothing that could take on
the so called pocket battleships. The USN felt it would require four cruisers
with 6" and 8" guns to damage one of the PB's sufficiently for something larger
to catch and finish off the job. The number of 'hunting' groups for the North
and South Atlantic was estimated at six per ocean to successfully run down and
catch one raider. This was unacceptable to the USN. (To do this properly I think
the WNT/LNT's need to have a bit of leeway otherwise this ship never gets
built.)
To get the new ship through Congress it was listed as an experimental
anti-raider cruiser. Other details than that were kept very obscure. The ship
was to be a 26,000 ton large cruiser. The ship and armament were to be built and
supplied by Bethlehem Steel. At the end of WW1 Bethlehems had had returned to
them three twin 14" turrets and guns that had been made available to the RN from
an order for the Greek BB Salamis. The guns and turrets had been kept as spares
for the New York and Oklahoma classes, both of which mounted twin 14" turrets.
Using these three turrets meant that no new weapon system would need to be added
to the inventory and the guns firepower would outgun a PB quite handily. The
basic New Orleans class heavy cruiser design was enlarged considerably to take
the twin 14". Length went out to 674 feet while the breadth increased to 88
feet. The ship required a 125,000shp propulsion system to raise a speed of 30
knots. Armour was made to defeat the German 11", with 10" of side armour and
3.5" of deck armour. Only one of these 'experimental' cruisers could be
completed in this form by which time the USN felt that the various treaties
would have expired and a new class could be built using the experience with the
Alaska as the basis for the new ships.