USS Hawaii (CB-3) - Design and Description

Design and Description

The initial impetus for the design of the Alaska-class came from the commerce-raiding abilities of German and Japanese ships; the three Deutschland-class cruisers, also known as "pocket battleships", the two Scharnhorst-class battleships, and Japan's large force of both heavy and light cruisers. By the time that they were built, their role had expanded to protect carrier groups. It was thought that the class's bigger guns, greater size and higher speed would give them a marked advantage in this role over heavy cruisers, and they would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building "super cruisers" more powerful than American cruisers limited by the London Naval Treaty.

Hawaii was 808 feet 6 inches (246.43 m) long overall and had a beam of 91 feet 1 inch (27.8 m) and a draft of 31 feet 10 inches (9.7 m). She displaced 29,779 long tons (30,257 t) as designed and up to 34,253 long tons (34,803 t) at full combat load. The ship was powered by four General Electric geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller, and eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 150,000 shaft horsepower (110,000 kW) and a top speed of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 12,000 nautical miles (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at a speed of 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph). She carried four floatplanes, housed in two hangars, with a pair of aircraft catapults mounted amidships.

The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 12 inch L/50 Mark 8 guns in three triple gun turrets, two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft of the superstructure. The secondary battery consisted of twelve 5-inch L/38 dual-purpose guns in six twin turrets. Two were placed on the centerline superfiring over the main battery turrets, fore and aft, and the remaining four turrets were placed on the corners of the superstructure. The light anti-aircraft battery consisted of 56 quad-mounted 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns and 34 single-mounted 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon guns. A pair of Mk 34 gun directors aided gunlaying for the main battery, while two Mk 37 directors controlled the 5-inch guns and a Mk 57 director aided the 40 mm guns. The main armored belt was 9 in (229 mm) thick, while the gun turrets had 12.8 in (325 mm) thick faces. The main armored deck was 4 in (102 mm) thick.