![]() By comparison, the Alaska’s were 808 feet-long and weighed 29,771 tons. ![]() Standard American heavy cruiser design, like the 673 feet-long, 14,500-ton Baltimore-class, were armed with (9) 8” guns, (12) 5” guns, and (24) 20mm guns. The Alaska’s were the US Navy’s answer to these potential foes. With the naval rearmament of the German Kriegsmarine in the 1930s with its small, but potent force of commerce raiders including ships like the Scharnhorst, and the rumored but unconfirmed new battlecruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, there were worries in Washington that the US Navy would not have an answer for these ships, and could be vulnerable. While the primary mission of a cruiser was to escort the US Navy’s new fast carrier task forces and protect them against enemy surface combatants or aircraft, the Alaska's were not your typical cruisers. However, this left the six authorized Alaska-class cruisers, and a dilemma on what to do with them. The aircraft carrier now formed the backbone of naval fleets moving forward. Time and technology had caught up with battleships. Out of all the newly authorized or under construction battleships for the US Navy, only four Iowa-class, four South Dakota-class, and none of the Montana-class ships entered service after December 7, 1941. While the act authorized construction of 257 ships, some of the most notable provisions of the legislation included the building of 18 aircraft carriers, seven battleships, and six Alaska-class cruisers.Īfter the aerial attack from Japanese carriers on Pearl Harbor, construction on new, big-gunned vessels like battleships was significantly scaled back or outright canceled. ![]() On July 19, 1940, the US passed the Vinson-Walsh Act, better known as the Two-Ocean Navy Act, which immediately increased the size of the US Navy by 70 percent. Although a few small naval construction bills had made it through an isolationist US Congress during the 1930s, it took the Germans overrunning France in six weeks and the Japanese threatening American possessions across the Pacific to get the government to react. There were real concerns the Americans would have to fight both at the same time, and possibly alone, if the Allies were defeated before the United States entered the war. During the period leading up to the Japanese strike at Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the US Navy was racing to build a fleet capable of taking on the Germans in the Atlantic and the Japanese in the Pacific. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |