Difference between revisions of "USS Alaska"
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The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} American battlecruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Drone Age"]]. | The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} American battlecruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Drone Age"]]. | ||
| − | The Alaska class were major warships envisioned as a counter to the rumours of super/ | + | The Alaska-class were major warships envisioned as a counter to the rumours of super-/battlecruisers under construction by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and so the Alaska-class was designed to be able to eliminate any possible cruiser and the rumoured small battlecruisers in a gunfight whilst having the speed to evade all but the fastest of battleships. As it turned out, the speculated Japanese warships were never even built and the Alaska-class never saw surface action against other warships, only taking part in escort and shore bombardment missions. |
| − | There has long been debate over whether the vessels should be classed as large cruisers or battlecruisers. People in favour of calling them large cruisers point to the fact that the ship is essentially an upscaled Baltimore class cruiser, that the ship has always been officially classed by the USN as large cruisers and that, typically, battlecruisers have the same calibre main armament as on contemporary battleships, which the Alaska class does not. | + | There has long been debate over whether the vessels should be classed as large cruisers or battlecruisers. People in favour of calling them large cruisers point to the fact that the ship is essentially an upscaled Baltimore class cruiser, that the ship has always been officially classed by the USN as large cruisers and that, typically, battlecruisers have the same calibre main armament as on contemporary battleships, which the Alaska-class does not. |
| − | People in favour of calling them battlecruisers argue that the origin of the design as a cruiser has no relevance on its combat capability, which far exceeds any conventional cruiser and is more in line with other capital ships. They argue that the large cruiser classification was invented purely for the Alaska class and no other navy has used it because there is no need for it when the battlecruiser classification already exists, and that warships can often have misleading official classifications, such as the modern Japanese Izumo class | + | People in favour of calling them battlecruisers argue that the origin of the design as a cruiser has no relevance on its combat capability, which far exceeds any conventional cruiser and is more in line with other capital ships. They argue that the large cruiser classification was invented purely for the Alaska-class and no other navy has used it because there is no need for it when the battlecruiser classification already exists, and that warships can often have misleading official classifications, such as the modern Japanese Izumo-class destroyers. They postulate that the theme of battlecruisers having contemporary battleship guns is just a trend, not a rule, as displayed by the in-game Kronshtadt, an extremely similar vessel to Alaska and yet everyone agrees that the Kronshtadt-class were battlecruisers. |
Post war, and like the battlecruiser concept in general, they were viewed as obsolete due to being too combat ineffective compared to and against modern battleships while being seen as too resource and cost inefficient compared to cruisers. There was some thought given to converting them to missile ships but these plans fell through and, by the early 1960s, they were broken up for scrap. | Post war, and like the battlecruiser concept in general, they were viewed as obsolete due to being too combat ineffective compared to and against modern battleships while being seen as too resource and cost inefficient compared to cruisers. There was some thought given to converting them to missile ships but these plans fell through and, by the early 1960s, they were broken up for scrap. | ||
Revision as of 08:33, 10 November 2022
Contents
Description
The Alaska-class, USS Alaska (CB-1), 1944 is a rank VI American battlecruiser with a battle rating of 7.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Drone Age".
The Alaska-class were major warships envisioned as a counter to the rumours of super-/battlecruisers under construction by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and so the Alaska-class was designed to be able to eliminate any possible cruiser and the rumoured small battlecruisers in a gunfight whilst having the speed to evade all but the fastest of battleships. As it turned out, the speculated Japanese warships were never even built and the Alaska-class never saw surface action against other warships, only taking part in escort and shore bombardment missions.
There has long been debate over whether the vessels should be classed as large cruisers or battlecruisers. People in favour of calling them large cruisers point to the fact that the ship is essentially an upscaled Baltimore class cruiser, that the ship has always been officially classed by the USN as large cruisers and that, typically, battlecruisers have the same calibre main armament as on contemporary battleships, which the Alaska-class does not.
People in favour of calling them battlecruisers argue that the origin of the design as a cruiser has no relevance on its combat capability, which far exceeds any conventional cruiser and is more in line with other capital ships. They argue that the large cruiser classification was invented purely for the Alaska-class and no other navy has used it because there is no need for it when the battlecruiser classification already exists, and that warships can often have misleading official classifications, such as the modern Japanese Izumo-class destroyers. They postulate that the theme of battlecruisers having contemporary battleship guns is just a trend, not a rule, as displayed by the in-game Kronshtadt, an extremely similar vessel to Alaska and yet everyone agrees that the Kronshtadt-class were battlecruisers.
Post war, and like the battlecruiser concept in general, they were viewed as obsolete due to being too combat ineffective compared to and against modern battleships while being seen as too resource and cost inefficient compared to cruisers. There was some thought given to converting them to missile ships but these plans fell through and, by the early 1960s, they were broken up for scrap.
General info
Survivability and armour
Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 71 | 21 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 61 | 18 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| 12-inch Mk.17 HC | HE | 68 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 68 | 68 |
| 12-inch Mk.18 AP | APCBC | 621 | 582 | 524 | 475 | 434 | 374 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| 12-inch Mk.17 HC | HE | 808 | 426.38 | 0 | 0.1 | 35.31 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| 12-inch Mk.18 AP | APCBC | 762 | 517 | 0.035 | 17 | 7.73 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
Secondary armament
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| AAC Mk.34 | HE | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Common Mk.32 | Common | 124 | 103 | 77 | 58 | 46 | 37 |
| SP Common Mk.46 | SP Common | 150 | 125 | 93 | 71 | 56 | 45 |
| AAVT Mk.31 | HE-VT | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| AAC Mk.34 | HE | 792 | 25 | 0 | 0.1 | 3,220 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| Common Mk.32 | Common | 792 | 24.49 | 0.01 | 6 | 1,150 | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| SP Common Mk.46 | SP Common | 792 | 25 | 0.01 | 6 | 906.5 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| Proximity-fused shell details | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Arming distance (m) |
Trigger radius (m) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||||
| AAVT Mk.31 | HE-VT | 792 | 25 | 0 | 0.1 | 457 | 23 | 3,220 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Anti-aircraft armament
An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control Select anti-aircraft weapons. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.
Scout plane
Located midships are two catapults with one OS2U-1 scout plane each which provide unique offensive and defensive abilities, expanding tactical options. Ship-launched scout planes fly just like regular tree units but lack munition choices and cockpit views. Alongside the typical abilities of strafing, dropping 2 x 100 lb bombs, and capping zones, the OS2U-1 and other scout planes have the added ability to lay down smoke cover (up to 3 times). Captains will be wise to remember to utilize the aircraft and consider when best to use it, for example to cap a point early or late in the match, to create a smoke screen to stymie enemy bombardment and repair, to attack enemy units directly, or perhaps something completely new! With two scout planes one can risk a cap attempt at the beginning of the match, saving the second for any opportunity that presents itself.
Usage in battles
Alaska is a versatile warrior capable of achieving multiple objectives. However, its generally unwise to spawn Alaska as your first ship (unless you are in a tight squad) and here are the main reasons: First, you have to face the most intense early-game combat and may not spare focus to do multi-tasking. Second, Alaska's low damage output won't help you and your teammate win the early fight. Third, Alaska is tanky indeed but to absorb damage in this ship is the least optimal use and Arizona suits this role much better than her.
After securing the early game, you may spawn Alaska as your second ship and pursue for the mid-late game. Depending on the situation, you may chase down weakened opposing capital ships; sail straight towards one objective and secure the others with your floatplane; repel air raid and deny irregular motorboat tactics with your powerful autocannon arrays. Eventually, you will claim a victory in this ship.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good survivability
- Excellent top speed and manoeuvrable
- Massive amount of AA defenses
- Two scout seaplanes
Cons:
- Full potential is locked behind high tier modifications (max top speed and floatplanes), stock ship is hardship
- Low damage output, she has difficulties in securing kills
- One deadly weak spot above waterline
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ship in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the ship and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Ship-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the ship's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| New York Shipbuilding Corporation | |
|---|---|
| Gun Destroyers (DD) | |
| Porter-class | USS Porter |
| Cruiser, Light (CL) | |
| Cleveland-class | USS Cleveland |
| Fargo-class | USS Fargo |
| Worcester-class | USS Roanoke |
| Large Cruisers (CB) | |
| Alaska-class | USS Alaska |
| Battleships (BB) | |
| Wyoming-class | USS Arkansas |
| USA battlecruisers | |
|---|---|
| Alaska-class | USS Alaska |
