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USS ''Alaska'' (CB-1) was the lead ship of the of large cruisers which served with the United States Navy during the end of World War II. She was the first of two ships of her class to be completed, followed only by ; four other ships were ordered but were not completed before the end of the war. ''Alaska'' was the third vessel of the US Navy to be named after what was then the territory of Alaska. She was laid down on 17 December 1941, ten days after the outbreak of war, was launched in August 1943 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, in Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned in June 1944. She was armed with a main battery of nine guns in three triple turrets and had a top speed of . Due to being commissioned late in the war, ''Alaska'' saw relatively limited service. She participated in operations off Iwo Jima and Okinawa in February–July 1945, including providing anti-aircraft defense for various carrier task forces and conducting limited shore bombardment operations. She shot down several Japanese aircraft off Okinawa, including a possible Ohka piloted rocket-bomb. In July–August 1945 she participated in sweeps for Japanese shipping in the East China and Yellow Seas. After the end of the war, she assisted in the occupation of Korea and transported a contingent of US Army troops back to the United States. She was decommissioned in February 1947 and placed in reserve, where she remained until she was stricken in 1960 and sold for scrapping the following year. ==Construction== (詳細はNew York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 15 August 1943, sponsored by the wife of the governor of Alaska, after which fitting-out work was effected. The ship was completed by June 1944, and was commissioned into the US Navy on 17 June, under the command of Captain Peter K. Fischler.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a5/alaska-iii.htm )〕 The ship was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four-shaft General Electric geared steam turbines and eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at , generating a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of .〔Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 122〕〔Egan, p. 36〕 She carried four OS2U Kingfisher or SC Seahawk seaplanes,〔Swanborough and Bowers, 148.〕 with a pair of steam catapults mounted amidships.〔Friedman, p. 303〕 The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 12 inch L/50 Mark 8 guns in three triple gun turrets, two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft of the superstructure.〔L/50 refers to the length of the gun in terms of calibers. An L/50 gun is 50 times long as it is in bore diameter.〕 The secondary battery consisted of twelve 5-inch L/38 dual-purpose guns in six twin turrets. Two were placed on the centerline superfiring over the main battery turrets, fore and aft, and the remaining four turrets were placed on the corners of the superstructure. The light anti-aircraft battery consisted of 56 quad-mounted guns and 34 single-mounted guns.〔 A pair of Mk 34 gun directors aided gun laying for the main battery, while two Mk 37 directors controlled the 5-inch guns and a Mk 57 director aided the 40 mm guns.〔Friedman, p. 483〕 The main armored belt was thick, while the gun turrets had thick faces. The main armored deck was thick.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Alaska (CB-1)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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