USS Alaska
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".
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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
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 |
