Difference between revisions of "USS Alaska"

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== Description ==
 
== Description ==
 
<!-- ''In the first part of the description, cover the history of the ship's creation and military application. In the second part, tell the reader about using this ship in the game. Add a screenshot: if a beginner player has a hard time remembering vehicles by name, a picture will help them identify the ship in question.'' -->
 
<!-- ''In the first part of the description, cover the history of the ship's creation and military application. In the second part, tell the reader about using this ship in the game. Add a screenshot: if a beginner player has a hard time remembering vehicles by name, a picture will help them identify the ship in question.'' -->
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The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a rank {{Specs|rank}} American battlecruiser {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update "Drone Age"]].
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The Alaska class was the first and only class of ships commissioned under the classification of Large Cruiser. USS Alaska was the lead ship of her class, and had two sisters Guam and Hawaii. She was laid down on 17th December 1941 and commissioned on 17th June 1944. The main armament consisted of nine 12 inch/50 Mark 8 guns in triple mounts with two turrets located on the bow and one aft. Her long-range anti-aircraft protection suite was made up of twelve 5 inch/38 Mark 12 dual-purpose guns in twin mounts with three turrets fore and aft placed much like contemporary US cruiser arrangementl. Medium and short range anti-aircraft duties were performed by fourteen 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 2 guns mounted in quadruple mounts and thirty-four 20 mm Oerlikon Mk. II autocannons located on various places along the ship. During WWII, she participated in the Battle of Okinawa, which was her only major action. On 17th February 1947, Alaska was decommissioned. There was some thought given to converting the Alaska class to missile ships, but these plans never materialised and Alaska was scrapped in 1960.
  
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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.
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'''{{Specs|name}}''' was introduced in [[Update "Drone Age"]]. She is fast and quite manoeuvrable ship, although due to her light armour when compared to for example Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers, and is no match against a direct battleship encounter. Her magazines located on the waterline are prone to fatal explosion due to only 228.6mm thick of belt armour protecting these vital areas. Other than that, her guns offer great penetration values and fast reload only offset by quite small explosive charge of only 7.73 kg TNT eq in her Mark 18 APCBC shells.
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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.
 
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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.
 
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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 ==
 
== General info ==
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! Armour !! Front !! Side !! Rear !! Roof/Deck
 
! Armour !! Front !! Side !! Rear !! Roof/Deck
 
|-
 
|-
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| Main calibre turret || 325 mm || 152.4 mm (front, cheeks) <br> 133.35 mm (rear) || 133.35 mm || 127 mm
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| Main calibre turret || {{Annotation|12.8 inches|325 mm}} || {{Annotation|6 inches|152.4 mm}} (front, cheeks) <br> {{Annotation|5.25 inches|133.35 mm}} (rear) || {{Annotation|5.25 inches|133.35 mm}} || {{Annotation|5 inches|127 mm}}
 
|-
 
|-
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| Auxiliary calibre turret || 25.4 mm || 19.05 mm || 19.05 mm || 25.4 mm
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| Auxiliary calibre turret || {{Annotation|1 inch|25.4 mm}} || {{Annotation|0.75 inches|19.05 mm}} || {{Annotation|0.75 inches|19.05}} || {{Annotation|1 inch|25.4 mm}}
 
|-
 
|-
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| Barbette || 279.4 mm (upper) <br> 38.1 mm (lower) || 330.2 mm (front, upper) <br> 304.8 mm (rear, upper) <br> 38.1 mm (lower) || 279.4 mm (upper) <br> 38.1 mm (lower) || 48.26 mm
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| Barbette || {{Annotation|11 inches|279.4 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|1.5 inches|38.1 mm}} (lower) || {{Annotation|13 inches|330.2 mm}} (front, upper) <br> {{Annotation|12 inches|304.8 mm}} (rear, upper) <br> {{Annotation|1.5 inches|38.1 mm}} (lower) || {{Annotation|11 inches|279.4 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|1.5 inches|38.1 mm}} (lower) || {{Annotation|1.9 inches|48.46 mm}}
 
|-
 
|-
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| Citadel || 15.87 mm (upper) <br> 260.35 mm (middle) <br> 50.8 mm (lower) || 28.56 mm (upper) <br> 228.6 mm (middle) <br> 127 - 177.8 mm (lower) <br> 19.05 mm (inner) || 15.87 mm (upper) <br> 260.35 mm (middle) <br> 50.8 mm (lower) || 36.195 mm (upper) <br> 107.95 mm (middle, magazine) <br> 96.52 mm (middle, machinery) <br> 19.05 mm (lower, magazines only)
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| Citadel || {{Annotation|0.62 inches|15.87 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|10.25 inches|260.35 mm}} (middle) <br> {{Annotation|2 inches|50.8 mm}} (lower) || {{Annotation|1.125 inches|28.56 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|9 inches|228.6 mm}} (middle) <br> {{Annotation|5-7 inches|127-177.8 mm}} (lower) <br> {{Annotation|0.75 inches|19.05 mm}} (inner) || {{Annotation|0.62 inches|15.87 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|10.25 inches|260.35 mm}} (middle) <br> {{Annotation|2 inches|50.8 mm}} (lower) || {{Annotation|1.425 inches|36.195 mm}} (upper) <br> {{Annotation|4.25 inches|107.95 mm}} (middle, magazine) <br> {{Annotation|3.8 inches|96.52 mm}} (middle, machinery) <br> {{Annotation|0.75 inches|19.05 mm}} (lower, magazines only)
 
|-
 
|-
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| Bridge || style="text-align:center" colspan="3" | 269.99 mm || 127 mm
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| Bridge || colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | {{Annotation|10.63 inches|269.99 mm}} || {{Annotation|5 inches|127 mm}}
 
|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
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The Alaska armour scheme was primarily designed to repel 8 inch gun fire. She has a belt armour of 228.6mm, at 10 degree incline. This will protect you from cruiser gunfire, but not Capital ship grade guns. Her underwater protection is also severely lacking. The tapering of the belt armour starts right at the waterline, this means that while the ship is riding wave, theres chances that the wave profile could expose this much thinner belt tapering of 177.8mm and 127mm. she has a 19.05mm of Anti Fragmentation steel protecting her boiler room and internals but these plates are rarely able to stop shells.
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'''Notes:'''
 
'''Notes:'''
  
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* The entire superstructure except for the funnel has 19.05 mm of anti-fragmentation armour
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* The entire superstructure except for the funnel has {{Annotation|0.75 inches|19.05 mm}} of anti-fragmentation armour
  
 
=== Mobility ===
 
=== Mobility ===
 
{{Specs-Fleet-Mobility}}
 
{{Specs-Fleet-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.'' -->
 
<!-- ''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.'' -->
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''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.''
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USS Alaska has an average mobility for a Large cruiser. Being a heavy ship, captains of Alaska should not expect to stop from flank speed fastly, a process that can take about half a minute. Being a long ship, changing direction will also take some time and captains of Alaska should expect a large turn radius.
  
 
{{NavalMobility}}
 
{{NavalMobility}}
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{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}
 
{{Specs-Fleet-Primary}}
 
<!-- ''Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: <code><nowiki>{{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}</nowiki></code>. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.'' -->
 
<!-- ''Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: <code><nowiki>{{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}</nowiki></code>. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.'' -->
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{{main|12-inch/50 Mark 8 (305 mm)}}The main armament of the Alaska is composed of a total of 9x 305mm 50-calibre cannons, arranged in three triple turrets with two superfiring fore and one aft. The gun handling is not slow, but not especially fast for the size of the turrets. The maximum reload speed is quite competitive at 20 seconds, though most players of the ship won't have a top level crew and thus will have a somewhat slower reload.
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{{main|12-inch/50 Mark 8 (305 mm)}}
  
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The Alaska has access to two shell types for the main guns.  
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The main armament of the Alaska is composed of a total of 9x 305mm 50-calibre cannons, arranged in three triple turrets with two superfiring fore and one aft. The gun handling is not slow, but not especially fast for the size of the turrets. The maximum reload speed is quite competitive at 20 seconds, though most players of the ship won't have a top level crew and thus will have a somewhat slower reload.
  
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The armour-piercing shell is the main one you'll use for opposing capital ships and occasionally on cruisers that may have a lot of armour or are angled. The AP shell of the Alaska was designed as a so called 'super-heavy' shell, which means that it has a lot bit more mass than a normal AP shell. This means the shell has less muzzle velocity, intended to give the shells a sharper descent angle when coming down on an opposing vessel, a little like a mortar, with the hopes of going through deck armour, which tends to be relatively thin.  
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The Alaska has access to two shell types for the main guns.
  
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The problem with this is that the US didn't realise that the range needed to have the shells drop at a flat enough angle on the deck to effectively penetrate most deck armour was quite a bit further than you could physically aim with any real accuracy. Even ignoring that, warships in naval battles tend to always want to close the range anyway in order to be able to aim accurately and/or use torpedoes, which would rapidly diminish the possibility of penetrating deck armour. What this means is that you simply cannot use the shells for their intended purpose of hitting deck armour, meanwhile the lower muzzle velocity makes aiming your AP shells more difficult and shells hitting the side of an enemy vessel are at a sharper angle than they would otherwise have been, which makes it unnecessarily harder to penetrate enemy side armour. Not only that but, as is typical for US warships, the AP shell has a relatively poor bursting charge of less than 8kg. The only thing that saves the shell from being completely useless is the relatively high penetration statistics with it retaining a more than moderate level of penetration at range due to the heavy shells momentum.  
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The armour-piercing shell is the main one you'll use for opposing capital ships and occasionally on cruisers that may have a lot of armour or are angled. The AP shell of the Alaska was designed as a so called 'super-heavy' shell, which means that it has a lot bit more mass than a normal AP shell. This means the shell has less muzzle velocity, intended to give the shells a sharper descent angle when coming down on an opposing vessel, a little like a mortar, with the hopes of going through deck armour, which tends to be relatively thin.
  
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The HE shell of the Alaska is a more normal naval shell and the 35kg of explosive power is fairly decent for its calibre. Although it's not too competitive compared to the real hard hitting HE shells at top tier naval, this shell will still enable you effectively dispatch lightly armoured vessels such as destroyers and small cruisers without difficulty, as well as being able to harass anything on the deck of opposing capital ships.  
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The problem with this is that the US didn't realise that the range needed to have the shells drop at a flat enough angle on the deck to effectively penetrate most deck armour was quite a bit further than you could physically aim with any real accuracy. What this means is that you simply cannot use the shells for their intended purpose of hitting deck armour, meanwhile the lower muzzle velocity makes aiming your AP shells more difficult and shells hitting the side of an enemy vessel are at a sharper angle than they would otherwise have been, which makes it unnecessarily harder to penetrate enemy side armour. However, despite this shortcomings, you can turn this unique shell characteristic to your advantage, by using the shell sharper angle to dive underwater, and hence penetrating under the enemy belt armor. This might be harder to do, and require some practice by deliberately aiming slightly short of the enemy ship, it could result in damaging or detonating enemy ship critical spot without the need of defeating their armor belt. The only real problem to this strategy is that shells can only penetrate so much water, you need to be accurate in the lead, and you still need to keep some distance (i'd say no less than 6km) against the enemy ship in order to give the shell a comfortable ballistic to perform this tactic. The shell bursting charge itself is slightly low, at less than 8kg of TNT, however this should be adequate to damage enemy ship should you land an accurate hit.
  
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
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The HE shell of the Alaska is a more normal naval shell and the 35kg of explosive power is fairly decent for its calibre. Although it's not too competitive compared to the real hard hitting HE shells at top tier naval, this shell will still enable you effectively dispatch lightly armoured vessels such as destroyers and small cruisers without difficulty, as well as being able to harass anything on the deck of opposing capital ships.
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! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
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−
|-
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{{:12-inch/50 Mark 8 (305 mm)/Ammunition|12-inch Mk.17 HC, 12-inch Mk.18 AP}}
−
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
 
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! colspan="6" | 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
 
−
|-
 
−
|}
 
−
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
 
−
! colspan="10" | Shell details
 
−
|-
 
−
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Velocity<br>(m/s)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Projectile<br>mass (kg)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay<br>(s)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity<br>(mm)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass<br>(TNT equivalent) (kg)
 
−
! colspan="3" | 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 ===
 
=== Secondary armament ===
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{{main|5 inch/38 Mk.12 (127 mm)}}
 
{{main|5 inch/38 Mk.12 (127 mm)}}
  
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{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
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By this time, you should've acquainted yourself well enough with what arguably is the best dual purpose gun in the US Navy, if not of the whole world war 2. This guns possess a comfortable turret train speed, a good reload of 3-4 seconds, and armed with the Radio Fused shell. Combined with the Alaska Tracking Radar Director, you can pepper enemy aircraft with a real accurate spread of 5 inch HEVT shell, downing enemy aircraft quickly and efficiently.
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! colspan="8" | Penetration statistics
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−
|-
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{{:5 inch/38 Mk.12 (127 mm)/Ammunition|5 inch AAC Mk.34, 5 inch Common Mk.32, 5 inch SP Common Mk.46, 5 inch AAVT Mk.31}}
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! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
 
−
! colspan="6" | 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
 
−
|-
 
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| Common Mk.32 || Common || 124 || 103 || 77 || 58 || 46 || 37
 
−
|-
 
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| SP Common Mk.46 || SP Common || 150 || 125 || 93 || 71 || 56 || 45
 
−
|-
 
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| AAVT Mk.31 || HE-VT || 36 || 36 || 36 || 36 || 36 || 36
 
−
|-
 
−
|}
 
−
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
 
−
! colspan="10" | Shell details
 
−
|-
 
−
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Velocity<br>(m/s)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Projectile<br>mass (kg)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay<br>(s)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity<br>(mm)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass<br>(TNT equivalent) (g)
 
−
! colspan="3" | 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°
 
−
|-
 
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| SP Common Mk.46 || SP Common || 792 || 25 || 0.01 || 6 || 906.5 || 48° || 63° || 71°
 
−
|-
 
−
|}
 
−
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
 
−
! colspan="12" | Proximity-fused shell details
 
−
|-
 
−
! rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" | Ammunition
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Type of<br>warhead
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Velocity<br>(m/s)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Projectile<br>mass (kg)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse delay<br>(m)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Fuse sensitivity<br>(mm)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Arming distance<br>(m)
 
−
! rowspan="2" | Trigger radius<br>(m)
 
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! rowspan="2" | Explosive mass<br>(TNT equivalent) (g)
 
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! colspan="3" | Ricochet
 
−
|-
 
−
! 0% !! 50% !! 100%
 
−
|-
 
−
| AAVT Mk.31 || HE-VT || 792 || 25 || 0 || 0.1 || 457 || 23 || 3,220 || 79° || 80° || 81°
 
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|-
 
−
|}
 
  
 
=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
 
=== Anti-aircraft armament ===
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{{main|Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}
 
{{main|Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (40 mm)|20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)}}
  
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''An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control <code>Select anti-aircraft weapons</code>. 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.''
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The Alaska carried a total of 14x Quadruple 40mm Bofors mount, as well as 34x Single 20mm Oerlikon mount. This give the Alaska a total of ''90'' anti aircraft barrel combined, which was the highest of all US Navy ship in game combined, at the time of this writing. for close range AA defense you will have almost no issue at repelling air attack or the occasional torpedo boat run. Although keep in mind with alot of AA mount on the deck means an increase of crew loss per repair and fire hazards.
  
 
=== Scout plane ===
 
=== Scout plane ===
 
{{Specs-Fleet-Plane}}
 
{{Specs-Fleet-Plane}}
  
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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.
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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 capturing 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 ==
 
== Usage in battles ==
 
<!-- ''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).'' -->
 
<!-- ''Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).'' -->
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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.
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Alaska is a versatile warrior capable of achieving multiple objectives. However it must be remembered, as far as a capital ship goes she is still a Large Cruiser at heart. Her protection isn't fit to fight heavily armed battleships, while you might tank a few hits if you play your cards right, such as angling and reducing ammunition loads, a larger and particularly heavy shells, such as Japanese 14 inch gun and 15 inch guns, are well capable of penetrating into Alaska magazine even at unfavourable angle. Anti fragmentation armor might help you tank some of the cruiser HE spam, but with enough time or cruiser spamming at you, you could be overwhelmed.
  
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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.
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You can spawn Alaska anytime you like, spawning early on might leave you more target to shoot at and hence potential kills, however be very aware of enemy capital ship, as any capital ship grade guns (11 inch and above) will definitely threaten the alaska. Spawning later on the match will allow Alaska to efficiently "clean up" remaining enemy ship, with her quick reload, her fast speed is definitely useful in capturing and securing objectives, and her formidable AA battery should protect you and any nearby allied ships from any aerial threat.
 +
 
 +
Another note to increase survivability of the Alaska, is to carry less ammunition load. The Alaska has separate magazine and shell room hitbox modelled, and so with reduced ammunition load, you can hide all of your shells hidden way under the waterline. You could experiment with the loadout yourself but i'd advise to start with a total of 495 shells. This figure will hide all but your stern main gun magazine underwater, and leave you about 18 minutes of theoretical continuous firing with maximum reload speed (match often spans from 15 to 25 minutes. theoretical continuous firing rate does not account crew skill or time you take to aim, so this 18 minutes figure will likely stretch beyond 18. you can increase or decrease the ammunition load as you see fit depending on map or other needs). The idea is that as the match progress, you'll expend the stern magazine somewhere early to middle of the match where things started to heat up and when the Alaska might need to face heavier capital ship, you'll be ready.
  
 
=== Pros and cons ===
 
=== Pros and cons ===
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* Good survivability
 
* Good survivability
−
* Excellent top speed and manoeuvrable  
+
* Excellent top speed and manoeuvrable
 
* Massive amount of AA defenses
 
* Massive amount of AA defenses
 
* Two scout seaplanes
 
* Two scout seaplanes
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* Full potential is locked behind high tier modifications (max top speed and floatplanes), stock ship is hardship
 
* 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
+
* 12 inch shell might feels weaker, especially compared to 14 inch or 15 inch gun
−
* One deadly weak spot above waterline
+
* Somewhat exposed ammunition room
  
 
== History ==
 
== History ==
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== Media ==
 
== Media ==
 
<!-- ''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.'' -->
 
<!-- ''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.'' -->
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''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''
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 +
;Skins
 +
 
 +
* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=us_battlecruiser_alaska_class Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]
  
 
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
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* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
 
* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
 
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.'' -->
 
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.'' -->
−
''Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''
 
  
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* ''reference to the series of the ship;''
+
* [[Scharnhorst]]
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* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''
+
* [[Kronshtadt]]
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==

Latest revision as of 19:20, 19 September 2024

Introducing Wiki 3.0
USS Alaska
us_battlecruiser_alaska_class.png
GarageImage USS Alaska.jpg
USS Alaska
USA flag.png USA
VI Rank
Battle rating:
AB RB SB
7.0 7.0 7.0
Class:
Research:400 000 Specs-Card-Exp.png
Purchase:1 080 000 Specs-Card-Lion.png

Description

The Alaska class was the first and only class of ships commissioned under the classification of Large Cruiser. USS Alaska was the lead ship of her class, and had two sisters Guam and Hawaii. She was laid down on 17th December 1941 and commissioned on 17th June 1944. The main armament consisted of nine 12 inch/50 Mark 8 guns in triple mounts with two turrets located on the bow and one aft. Her long-range anti-aircraft protection suite was made up of twelve 5 inch/38 Mark 12 dual-purpose guns in twin mounts with three turrets fore and aft placed much like contemporary US cruiser arrangementl. Medium and short range anti-aircraft duties were performed by fourteen 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 2 guns mounted in quadruple mounts and thirty-four 20 mm Oerlikon Mk. II autocannons located on various places along the ship. During WWII, she participated in the Battle of Okinawa, which was her only major action. On 17th February 1947, Alaska was decommissioned. There was some thought given to converting the Alaska class to missile ships, but these plans never materialised and Alaska was scrapped in 1960.

Alaska-class, USS Alaska (CB-1), 1944 was introduced in Update "Drone Age". She is fast and quite manoeuvrable ship, although due to her light armour when compared to for example Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers, and is no match against a direct battleship encounter. Her magazines located on the waterline are prone to fatal explosion due to only 228.6mm thick of belt armour protecting these vital areas. Other than that, her guns offer great penetration values and fast reload only offset by quite small explosive charge of only 7.73 kg TNT eq in her Mark 18 APCBC shells.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armourfront / side / back
Citadel260 / 228 / 108 mm
Main fire tower325 / 152 / 133 mm
Hull25 mm (steel)
Superstructure16 mm (steel)
Number of section9
Displacement34 253 t
Crew1 979 people
Armour and internal layout of USS Alaska
Armour Front Side Rear Roof/Deck
Main calibre turret 12.8 inches 6 inches (front, cheeks)
5.25 inches (rear) 		5.25 inches 5 inches
Auxiliary calibre turret 1 inch 0.75 inches 0.75 inches 1 inch
Barbette 11 inches (upper)
1.5 inches (lower) 		13 inches (front, upper)
12 inches (rear, upper)
1.5 inches (lower) 		11 inches (upper)
1.5 inches (lower) 		1.9 inches
Citadel 0.62 inches (upper)
10.25 inches (middle)
2 inches (lower) 		1.125 inches (upper)
9 inches (middle)
5-7 inches (lower)
0.75 inches (inner) 		0.62 inches (upper)
10.25 inches (middle)
2 inches (lower) 		1.425 inches (upper)
4.25 inches (middle, magazine)
3.8 inches (middle, machinery)
0.75 inches (lower, magazines only)
Bridge 10.63 inches 5 inches

The Alaska armour scheme was primarily designed to repel 8 inch gun fire. She has a belt armour of 228.6mm, at 10 degree incline. This will protect you from cruiser gunfire, but not Capital ship grade guns. Her underwater protection is also severely lacking. The tapering of the belt armour starts right at the waterline, this means that while the ship is riding wave, theres chances that the wave profile could expose this much thinner belt tapering of 177.8mm and 127mm. she has a 19.05mm of Anti Fragmentation steel protecting her boiler room and internals but these plates are rarely able to stop shells.

Notes:

  • The entire superstructure except for the funnel has 0.75 inches of anti-fragmentation armour

Mobility

Speedforward / back
AB71 / 21 km/h
RB61 / 18 km/h

USS Alaska has an average mobility for a Large cruiser. Being a heavy ship, captains of Alaska should not expect to stop from flank speed fastly, a process that can take about half a minute. Being a long ship, changing direction will also take some time and captains of Alaska should expect a large turn radius.

Mobility Characteristics
Game Mode Upgrade Status Maximum Speed (km/h) Turn Time (s) Turn Radius (m)
Forward Reverse
AB Stock ___ ___
Upgraded 71 21
RB/SB Stock ___ ___
Upgraded 61 18

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference
AB26 458 → 34 448 Sl icon.png
RB32 079 → 41 766 Sl icon.png
Total cost of modifications306 000 Rp icon.png
479 000 Sl icon.png
Talisman cost2 600 Ge icon.png
Crew training310 000 Sl icon.png
Experts1 080 000 Sl icon.png
Aces2 400 Ge icon.png
Research Aces950 000 Rp icon.png
Reward for battleAB / RB / SB
450 / 600 / 100 % Sl icon.png
220 / 220 / 220 % Rp icon.png
Modifications
Seakeeping Unsinkability Firepower
Mods new ship hull.png
Dry-Docking
Research:
12 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
19 000 Sl icon.png
300 Ge icon.png
Mods new ship rudder.png
Rudder Replacement
Research:
17 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
27 000 Sl icon.png
430 Ge icon.png
Mods new ship screw.png
Propeller Replacement
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods new ship engine.png
Engine Maintenance
Research:
25 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
39 000 Sl icon.png
630 Ge icon.png
Mods ship damage control crew.png
Damage Control Division
Research:
12 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
19 000 Sl icon.png
300 Ge icon.png
Mods ship fire control crew.png
Fire Division
Research:
17 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
27 000 Sl icon.png
430 Ge icon.png
Mods ship anti fragmentation protection.png
Shrapnel Protection
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods ship venting.png
Ventilation
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods new ship pumps.png
New Pumps
Research:
25 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
39 000 Sl icon.png
630 Ge icon.png
Mods ship ammo wetting.png
Ammo Wetting
Research:
25 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
39 000 Sl icon.png
630 Ge icon.png
Mods new aa caliber turrets.png
Anti-Air Armament Targeting
Research:
12 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
19 000 Sl icon.png
300 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
127mm_usa_mk32_common_sap_ammo_pack
Research:
12 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
19 000 Sl icon.png
300 Ge icon.png
Mod arrow 0.png
Mods tank ammo.png
305mm_us_mk8_navy_ap_ammo_pack
Research:
12 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
19 000 Sl icon.png
300 Ge icon.png
Mods new aux caliber turrets.png
Auxiliary Armament Targeting
Research:
17 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
27 000 Sl icon.png
430 Ge icon.png
Mods tank ammo.png
127mm_usa_mk46_special_common_sap_ammo_pack
Research:
17 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
27 000 Sl icon.png
430 Ge icon.png
Mod arrow 0.png
Mods new main caliber turrets.png
Primary Armament Targeting
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods he frag proxi fuze ship.png
127mm_usa_mk31_aavt_radio_fuse_ammo_pack
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods ship rangefinder.png
Improved Rangefinder
Research:
13 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
20 000 Sl icon.png
330 Ge icon.png
Mods shipSupportPlane.png
Hydroplane
Research:
25 000 Rp icon.png
Cost:
39 000 Sl icon.png
630 Ge icon.png

Armament

Primary armament

3 х Turret3 x 12-inch/50 Mark 8 cannon
Ammunition480 rounds
Vertical guidance-3° / 45°
Main article: 12-inch/50 Mark 8 (305 mm)

The main armament of the Alaska is composed of a total of 9x 305mm 50-calibre cannons, arranged in three triple turrets with two superfiring fore and one aft. The gun handling is not slow, but not especially fast for the size of the turrets. The maximum reload speed is quite competitive at 20 seconds, though most players of the ship won't have a top level crew and thus will have a somewhat slower reload.

The Alaska has access to two shell types for the main guns.

The armour-piercing shell is the main one you'll use for opposing capital ships and occasionally on cruisers that may have a lot of armour or are angled. The AP shell of the Alaska was designed as a so called 'super-heavy' shell, which means that it has a lot bit more mass than a normal AP shell. This means the shell has less muzzle velocity, intended to give the shells a sharper descent angle when coming down on an opposing vessel, a little like a mortar, with the hopes of going through deck armour, which tends to be relatively thin.

The problem with this is that the US didn't realise that the range needed to have the shells drop at a flat enough angle on the deck to effectively penetrate most deck armour was quite a bit further than you could physically aim with any real accuracy. What this means is that you simply cannot use the shells for their intended purpose of hitting deck armour, meanwhile the lower muzzle velocity makes aiming your AP shells more difficult and shells hitting the side of an enemy vessel are at a sharper angle than they would otherwise have been, which makes it unnecessarily harder to penetrate enemy side armour. However, despite this shortcomings, you can turn this unique shell characteristic to your advantage, by using the shell sharper angle to dive underwater, and hence penetrating under the enemy belt armor. This might be harder to do, and require some practice by deliberately aiming slightly short of the enemy ship, it could result in damaging or detonating enemy ship critical spot without the need of defeating their armor belt. The only real problem to this strategy is that shells can only penetrate so much water, you need to be accurate in the lead, and you still need to keep some distance (i'd say no less than 6km) against the enemy ship in order to give the shell a comfortable ballistic to perform this tactic. The shell bursting charge itself is slightly low, at less than 8kg of TNT, however this should be adequate to damage enemy ship should you land an accurate hit.

The HE shell of the Alaska is a more normal naval shell and the 35kg of explosive power is fairly decent for its calibre. Although it's not too competitive compared to the real hard hitting HE shells at top tier naval, this shell will still enable you effectively dispatch lightly armoured vessels such as destroyers and small cruisers without difficulty, as well as being able to harass anything on the deck of opposing capital ships.

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
Mk.17 HC HE 68 68 68 68 68 68
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%
Mk.17 HC HE 808 426.38 0 0.1 35.31 79° 80° 81°
Mk.18 AP APCBC 762 517 0.035 17 7.73 48° 63° 71°

Secondary armament

6 х Turret2 x 5 inch/38 Mk.12 cannon, mount Mk.32
Ammunition720 rounds
Main article: 5 inch/38 Mk.12 (127 mm)

By this time, you should've acquainted yourself well enough with what arguably is the best dual purpose gun in the US Navy, if not of the whole world war 2. This guns possess a comfortable turret train speed, a good reload of 3-4 seconds, and armed with the Radio Fused shell. Combined with the Alaska Tracking Radar Director, you can pepper enemy aircraft with a real accurate spread of 5 inch HEVT shell, downing enemy aircraft quickly and efficiently.

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
(s) 		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

14 х Turret4 x 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 2 gun
Ammunition8000 rounds
Belt capacity4 rounds
Fire rate156 shots/min
34 х Turret20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II autocannon
Ammunition1800 rounds
Belt capacity60 rounds
Fire rate450 shots/min
Main articles: Bofors L/60 Mark 2 (40 mm), 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mk.II (20 mm)

The Alaska carried a total of 14x Quadruple 40mm Bofors mount, as well as 34x Single 20mm Oerlikon mount. This give the Alaska a total of 90 anti aircraft barrel combined, which was the highest of all US Navy ship in game combined, at the time of this writing. for close range AA defense you will have almost no issue at repelling air attack or the occasional torpedo boat run. Although keep in mind with alot of AA mount on the deck means an increase of crew loss per repair and fire hazards.

Scout plane

Main article: 2 x OS2U-1

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 capturing 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 it must be remembered, as far as a capital ship goes she is still a Large Cruiser at heart. Her protection isn't fit to fight heavily armed battleships, while you might tank a few hits if you play your cards right, such as angling and reducing ammunition loads, a larger and particularly heavy shells, such as Japanese 14 inch gun and 15 inch guns, are well capable of penetrating into Alaska magazine even at unfavourable angle. Anti fragmentation armor might help you tank some of the cruiser HE spam, but with enough time or cruiser spamming at you, you could be overwhelmed.

You can spawn Alaska anytime you like, spawning early on might leave you more target to shoot at and hence potential kills, however be very aware of enemy capital ship, as any capital ship grade guns (11 inch and above) will definitely threaten the alaska. Spawning later on the match will allow Alaska to efficiently "clean up" remaining enemy ship, with her quick reload, her fast speed is definitely useful in capturing and securing objectives, and her formidable AA battery should protect you and any nearby allied ships from any aerial threat.

Another note to increase survivability of the Alaska, is to carry less ammunition load. The Alaska has separate magazine and shell room hitbox modelled, and so with reduced ammunition load, you can hide all of your shells hidden way under the waterline. You could experiment with the loadout yourself but i'd advise to start with a total of 495 shells. This figure will hide all but your stern main gun magazine underwater, and leave you about 18 minutes of theoretical continuous firing with maximum reload speed (match often spans from 15 to 25 minutes. theoretical continuous firing rate does not account crew skill or time you take to aim, so this 18 minutes figure will likely stretch beyond 18. you can increase or decrease the ammunition load as you see fit depending on map or other needs). The idea is that as the match progress, you'll expend the stern magazine somewhere early to middle of the match where things started to heat up and when the Alaska might need to face heavier capital ship, you'll be ready.

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
  • 12 inch shell might feels weaker, especially compared to 14 inch or 15 inch gun
  • Somewhat exposed ammunition room

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

Skins

See also

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

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