Alaska-Class Large Cruiser | 1:1 Scale

The Alaska-class large cruisers where conceived out of the need for a "cruiser killer", a ship dedicated to hunting down enemy cruiser fleets and eliminating them. Utilizing an enlarged Baltimore-class hull, the class featured a powerful main battery of x9 12in/50 cal guns in a 3x3 arrangement with two turrets forward and one aft. The secondary battery was the same as many other US cruiser classes with x12 5in/38 cal guns in six twin mounts, two center line and four in wing mounts two to a side. Anti-aircraft battery was equivalent to the current generation of heavy cruisers such as the Baltimore class. At over 800 feet long, they rivaled pre-WWII battleships in size and featured equally powerful guns. Although similar in size and power to battlecruisers, the US Navy officially classified them as "Large Cruisers", given their original role and referring to them as battlecruisers was frowned upon. Six ships of the class where planned however only two where completed while a third, the USS Hawaii, was scrapped mid construction due to resources being diverted to other more important projects.

Although powerful designs the ships had numerous flaws, namely the biggest one being that by the time they where ready for service, a large majority of enemy cruiser fleets had been eliminated and the ships where left without a real purpose. Nonetheless, the two completed ships, Alaska and Guam, saw service as carrier escorts and took part in shore bombardments. After the war, the Alaska and Guam where retired and mothballed. They where eventually scrapped in 1961 bringing an end to an odd class of ships that where to late to have an impact on the war.

This model represents USS Alaska as she appeared upon commissioning in 1944. The camouflage scheme chosen is MS 32 Design 1D.

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