Alaska

Ship Overview

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 Alaska — American • Legendary Tier • Cruiser.

An instance of a special type of ship, somewhere between a cruiser and a battleship. Officially classified as a "large cruiser", she was armed with 305 mm guns, had a high speed, and powerful AA defenses. On the other hand, she had relatively weak protection for her size.

Alaska was released as a Bureau project reward on May 18th, 2020.

 Navy: USN
 Ship: American
 Nation: United States
 Category: Premium

 Tier: Legendary
 Class: Cruiser
 Cost: (Research Bureau)

 Entered Service: 1944
 Ships in Series: 3
 Variants: Alaska B

━━ Ship Traits ━━

Big and Flammable: Fires set on this ship last longer due to her large size and high caliber guns.

Tough: Above average base HP rating.

Superior AP Damage: Above average AP shell damage.

Ship Stats

Survivability

SURVIVBILITY	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Hitpoints	60 800	-
• Armor (mm)	16 - 330	-
• Torpedo damage reduction (%)	13	-

Maneuverability

MANEUVERABILITY	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Maximum speed (kt)	33	-
• Turning circle radius (m)	850	-
• Rudder-shift time (sec)	13	-

Concealment

CONCEALMENT	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Detectability by sea (km)	13.3	-
• Detectability by air (km)	8	-
• Detectability while firing in smoke (km)	10.2	-

Main Artillery

MAIN BATTERY	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Main artillery name	305mm Mk8	-
• Main artillery arrangement	3x3	-
• Firing range (km)	16.1	-
• Reload time (sec)	20	-
• 180° turn time (sec)	30	-
• HE maximum damage	4300	-
• HE fire chance (%)	27	-
• HE penetration (mm)	51	-
• AP maximum damage	8900	-
• Sigma	2.05	-

Secondary Artillery

SECONDARY ARMAMENT 1	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Name	127mm Mk32	-
• Arrangement	6x2	-
• Firing range (km)	5	-
• Reload time (sec)	6	-
• HE maximum damage	1800	-
• HE fire chance (%)	5	-
• HE penetration (mm)	21	-

Anti-Aircraft Artillery

AA ARMAMENT 1	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Name	20mm Oerlikon Mk4	-
• Arrangement	34x1	-
• DPS	122	-
• Range (km)	2	-
AA ARMAMENT 2	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Name	40mm Bofors Mk2	-
• Arrangement	14x4	-
• DPS	223	-
• Range (km)	3.5	-
AA ARMAMENT 3	STOCK	UPGRADED
• Name	127mm Mk32	-
• Arrangement	6x2	-
• DPS	91	-
• Range (km)	5	-

Modules, Modifications & Consumables

Modules

Cruiser - Alaska

	Hit Points	Min Armor (mm)	Max Armor (mm)	Torpedo Damage Reduction (%)	Main Battery Turrets	Rudder Shift (s)
Stock	60 800	16	330	13	3x3	13

	Turret Arrangement	Reload Time (s)	180° Turn Time (s)	Max HE Damage	HE Fire Chance (%)	Max AP Damage
305mm Mk8	3x3	20	30	4300	27	8900

	Main Battery Firing Range
Stock	16.1 km

	Maximum Speed
Stock	33 kn

Modifications

Cruiser - Alaska

SLOT 1	Main Battery Mod 2 Main battery traverse speed +20% Torpedo launchers traverse speed +20%	Aiming Systems Mod 1 Main battery dispersion -7% Secondary battery firing range +5% Secondary battery dispersion -5%	Secondary Battery Mod 2 Secondary battery firing range +20% Secondary battery dispersion -20%	AA Guns Mod 2 AA guns firing range +20%
SLOT 2	Damage Control System Mod 2 Damage Control Party duration +20% Fire duration -15% Flood duration -15%	Steering Gears Mod 2 Rudder-shift time -25%	Propulsion Mod 2 Time taken to reach full power when accelerating -50%
SLOT 3	Chromium Plated Barrels Main battery dispersion -5%	Concealment System Mod 1 Detectability range -10% Incoming fire dispersion +5%	Target Acquisition System Mod 1 Spotting range +20% Torpedo acquisition range +20% RGA of ships +50%	Steering Gears Mod 3 Rudder-shift time -40% Steering gear repair time -80%
SLOT 4	Main Battery Mod 3 Main battery reload time -10% Main battery traverse speed -15%	Secondary Battery Mod 3 Secondary battery reload time -20%	Gun Fire Control System Mod 2 Main battery dispersion -3% Main battery range +5%	AA Guns Mod 3 Cooldown time for all consumables -10% Average AA damage per second +25%

Consumables

Cruiser - Alaska

Damage Control Party

Accelerates repairs to damage modules, firefighting efforts and flooding recovery.

Duration: 5s Reload time: 55s The number of consumables is unlimited

Sonar

Increases the guaranteed acquisition range of enemy ships and torpedoes, including those located within a smoke screen.

Detection of torpedoes: 3.4km Detection of ships: 4.9km Duration: 100s Reload time: 180s Number of consumables: 2

Radar

Significantly increases guaranteed acquisition range of enemy ships, including those located within a smoke screen.

Range: 9km Duration: 30s Reload time: 180s Number of consumables: 2

Repair Party

Partially restores the ship's HP by repairing any light damage.

HP per second: +438 Duration: 28s Reload time: 50s Number of consumables: 3

Defensive AA Fire

Increases the efficiency of AA fire.

Average AA damage: +200% Duration: 40s Reload time: 150s Number of consumables: 2

Catapult Fighter

Follows the ship and automatically attacks enemy aircraft.

Duration: 100s Reload time: 80s Number of consumables: 4

Community Contributions

Player Opinion

Cruiser - Alaska

Pros:

• Large 305mm main battery armament.
• Alaska’s large HP pool, decent concealment, and sturdy armor allow her freedom in positioning and the ability to withstand fire from equivalent tier cruisers.
• Strong AA suite can protect her from most enemy aircraft and are hard to destroy.
• Excellent accuracy and the same improved AP angles found in same tier US cruisers on her main battery armament reinforces her role of a cruiser-killer.
• Guns are powerful enough to citadel some battleships at medium and close range.

Cons:

• Increased fire duration and vulnerability to multiple fires when under HE spam compared to other cruisers.
• Large size and more sluggish maneuverability makes her an easier target for both enemy shells and torpedoes.
• Her large size also makes her an easy target to hit, even when actively maneuvering.
• Armor is not thick enough to let her tank battleship fire and HE spam in open combat. Alaska can tank fire from many battleships if angled, but battleships with 460 mm guns or more can still overmatch her bow and stern plating.
• While she has Surveillance Radar, her long gun reload time of 20 seconds means that players will need to fire accurately and try and get help from teammates when fighting destroyers.

Performance

Changes

Cruiser - Alaska

Might of Japan

• Repair Party now restores 20% of citadel damage instead of 10%.
• The number of charges of the Repair Party consumable has been increased from 2 to 3.
• Damage Control Party cooldown reduced from 60 s to 55 s.

The Redinforcements

• Maximum dispersion of main battery guns decreased by 10%
• Penetration of AP shells increased by 5%
• Repair Party cooldown reduced from 60 s to 50 s
• Repair Party now recovers 33% more HP per second

Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat

• Main battery dispersion circle increased by about 12%
• AP shell penetration reduced by 5%
• Shell grouping increased by 2.5%

All in Black

• Main battery firing range increased from 16 km to 16.15 km
• Main battery reload time reduced from 20.0 s to 18.0 s
• Fire duration increased from 30 s to 45 s
• Ship HP increased from 54 720 to 60 800

• Bow HP reduced from 7000 to 3500
• Casemate HP reduced from 13 800 to 6900
• Superstructure HP reduced from 7400 to 3700
• Stern HP reduced from 8400 to 4200

• Sonar duration increased from 96 s to 100 s
• Sonar ship detection increased from 4.4 km to 4.9 km
• Sonar torpedo detection increased from 3.1 km to 3.4 km
• Big Guns trait replaced with Big and Flammable

The Stars Align

• Main battery reload time increased from 18 s to 20 s
• HP increased for bow, stern, casemate, and superstructure—increasing the damage the ship takes before saturation.

• Bow HP increased from 3500 to 5000
• Casemate HP increased from 6900 to 10 000
• Superstructure HP increased from 3700 to 5000
• Stern HP increased from 4200 to 6000

History

Cruiser - Alaska

USS Alaska (CB-1) was the first and namesake of her class of “large cruisers.” Her design was a compromise to create a fast cruiser that carried a larger main armament compared to existing heavy cruisers within the US Navy. She would be equipped with 9 of the 305mm L/50 Mk8 guns in three triple turrets. She would also be given 12 of the 5”/38-caliber dual-purpose guns (127mm). Her AA suite would consist of 56 Bofors 40mm L/60 guns and 34 Oerlikon 20mm guns. ALong with her armament she would give a power plant similar to the ones used on the Essex class of aircraft carriers making her top speed ideal for operating with the fast aircraft carriers.

She was laid down on December 17, 1941, in Camden, New Jersey by the NEw York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on August 15, 1943, and commissioned into the US Navy on June 17, 1944.

After completing her shakedown cruises she would be sent to the Pacific theater where she was tasked with TF 58 (Task Force 58) to screen aircraft carriers. On February 10, 1945, she would take part in airstrikes on Tokyo. On February 19, 1945, she joined Task Group 58.4 to screen the aircraft carriers launching strikes on Iwo Jima until the fleet returned to Ulithi for supplies.

She would then take part in the battle of Okinawa screening the aircraft carriers where during the operation her gunners would claim two Japanese planes shot down. On March 20, 1945, she assisted in escorting the damaged carrier Franklin back to port before rejoining the fleet once more to continue operations at Okinawa where she would conduct her first bombardment with her main and secondary guns along with shooting down four more planes. She would serve in this role until June 9, 1945, when she would steam to Ulithi for maintenance.

On July 13, 1945, she was assigned to TF 95 (Task Force 95) conducting operations off the coast of China meeting limited success. She would serve here until the end of the war. After the war she would take part in Operation Magic Carpet to help bring allied service members back home and would be put into reserve on February 2 1946, with her being decommissioned on February 17, 1947. In 1958 the Bureau of Ships would conduct a feasibility study to convert the Alaska and Guam into guided missile cruisers, but the project was deemed too costly.

She was stricken from the naval register on June 1, 1960, and she would be sold for scrap on June 30, 1960.

Alaska earned three battle stars during her time in service.

Reference:

• Alaska III (CB-1). (n.d.). https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/alaska-iii.html

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