USS HAWAI CB-3 - US NAVY HEAVY CRUISER 1945

Description

Hawaii (CB-3) was intended to be the third member of the Alaska-class large cruisers. It was the first United States Navy ship to be named after the-then Territory of Hawaii. Because Hawaii’s construction was delayed by higher-priority ships like aircraft carriers, its keel was not laid until December 1943, about two years after its sister ship Guam. Hawaii was launched on 3 November 1945, but post-war budget cutbacks necessitated its cancellation on 17 February 1947. The Alaska Class large cruisers were seen as requiring a crew almost as large as South Dakota or Iowa battleships, while the armor and protection of the capital sized USS Hawaii was no better than a Baltimore class cruiser, and this was particularly significant as the underwater protection designed into the Hawaii was poor given the threat level experienced in WW2 from Japanese and German fast torpedoes and expected future development. The last two incomplete Iowa class, USS Kentucky and USS Illinois had been redesigned with improved, protection and underwater arrangement and subdivision counter modern torpedoes. Additionally the US Navy facing by 1948 a serious threat to its large carrier building fleet and demands for a larger peace dividend by putting even its latest Iowa battleships into reserve, as was done to all but USS Missouri before the Korean war, had found the USS Alaska and USS Guam with only a single rudder could hardly turn within the turning circle of Iowa and constituted some greater risk of collision. In a famous [Proceedings] article in January 1949, Frank Uhlig, dismissed the performance of the class in 1944-45 and concluded the battlecruiser had no place in the postwar USN. For a time, the US Navy planned to convert the ship into the US’ first guided missile cruiser, but this did not come to fruition. A conversion to a large command ship was later contemplated, and planning went far enough that money was allocated in the 1952 budget for this purpose. However, with one command ship already completed (Northampton) and a second already chosen (Wright), no work was started upon Hawaii. Having been laid up for twelve years, the still incomplete ship was towed to breakers to be scrapped on 20 June 1959. (Scale : 1/350e)