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Although there were six Alaska class
cruisers ordered by the US Navy, one was
scrapped before completion and three were
cancelled. The two that entered service,
Alaska and Guam, were the
largest cruisers ever built for the US
Navy. Alaska went through her
training for war at Chesapeake Bay and in
the Caribbean alongside the battleship
Missouri. Her first assignment to
a war zone in December 1944 was to
protect Allied carriers operating in the
Pacific. Between February and July 1945,
the navy used her for shore bombardment
and to provide cover for carriers during
bombing raids on the Japanese Home
Islands and Okinawa.
From July until the Japanese surrender
August 14th 1945, Alaska,
Guam and four destroyers carried
out patrols throughout the North China
Seas. She then joined other US warships
visiting major Japanese ports in a show
of strength. Alaska’s next
assignment saw her support the landings
of occupation forces at Inchcon/Korea.
The completion of that task allowed her
to be returned to America in December
1945. With the success of aircraft
carriers during World War Two, large
cruisers were shown to be extremely
vulnerable to aircraft attack. This meant
these ships had become obsolete within
two years of entering service.
Alaska was decommissioned in
February 1947 and laid up at Bayonne/New
Jersey. After being stricken from the
navy list June 1st 1960, she set out for
Kearny/New Jersey to be scrapped in July
1961. The demise of her sister ship
Guam soon followed after being
sold to the Boston Metals Co/Baltimore
for scrap May 24th 1961.
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