Fliger747 wrote:
The Alaska's were armored against their own 12 rifles, a very powerful weapon, as good a penetrator as the British 15" weapon. The main driver of crew size was the Plethora of small and medium AA, which was sort of a function of deck size. Only one US fast Battleship ever took a torpedo, North Carolina.... The experience of the carriers was redundancy, subdivision, hull strength and damage control were often critical factors. The cruisers per se did not have the long range BB type fire control to take advantage of the long range of the 12 nor the displacement to really handle such a weapon in any number at all. Maneuverability, not as good as the Iowas which had dual rudders, but up to cruiser standards and as good as the Essex boats and better than Lex and Sara. A small tactical radius can be good for evasion etc, but in Battle the speed loss and the time it takes to work back up to speed can obviate much of its utility.
The real reason the last Iowa,s were not finished? Probably steel for landing craft and escorts. By then we had plenty of fast and otherwise Battleships for escort and shore bombardment. Postwar certainly a lot of the liabilities went away. Every ship is a compromise, and the Iowa' were probably the best all around BB's built, if in a war in which they ceased to be arbiter of sea power. Hard act to follow.
Sitting here by the beach in Hono, heading to Missouri for another visit soon....
T
In the '80s there was no big guns to threaten the ship. USS Des Moines CA class was far better for shore bombardment compared to USS Alaska class(economically). There was nothing a USS South Dakota class battleship(In my personal opinion the culmination of USA battleship design)for example couldn't do compared to an USS Iowa class in the '80s. In a war in which they ceased to be arbiter of sea power(the battleships) USS Iowa class was the worst cause of high drain in manpower compared to others, just expensive AA and shore bombardments platforms. There is not such a thing as the best battleships ever not even when the guns ruled the waves for example. In the '50's when finally the French finished Jean Bart she had much better torpedo protection, AA and FC wise than than a USS Iowa but USS Iowa had better main weapons.
USS Alaska class was a superb ship. But definitely not a battlecruiser, IJN Kongo class for example was far better protected than USS Alaska.
And definitely a white elephant, like the HMS Courageous class.