Context: The Alaska class of large cruisers are often called battlecruisers by the casual onlooker because of their armament and role as cruiser-killers being similar to early battlecruisers.

HOWEVER, this is only true from the most brief of overviews of the ships.

For starters, only the earliest of battlecruisers were meant to primarily be cruiser-killers. Most subsequent battlecruisers were built as fast scouts for the fleet and as screening units for the main battle line.

But what about their main armament? Yes, the 12"/50-caliber gun mounted on the two ships were substantially bigger than the 8-inch guns found on most heavy cruisers. But their layout tells a different story. For starters, the layout of the secondary battery is the exact same as the Baltimore and Cleveland class cruisers. This shows a similar design philosophy across USN cruisers. Secondly, their aviation facilities are placed amidships, a quintessential, and in some cases fatal, feature of interwar USN heavy cruisers.

One last point that I occasionally see brought up is the CB designation. American cruiser hull designations can be confusing so I will list the relevant hull designations below sans the various guided missile cruiser designatios as they are not relevant.

C: Protected cruiser

CL: Light cruiser

CA: Initially used for the armored cruiser but later became the designation for the heavy cruiser

CB: Large cruiser

CC: Battlecruiser (never used as the Lexingtons were converted into carriers)

What does the “B” in CB stand for? One logically might assume that it means “battle.” HOWEVER, “B” actually means big or large in USN hull designations. I’m not pulling this out of my ass. The Midway class carriers initially received the hull designation of CVB. The reasoning the USN provided for this is that the Midways were by far the largest carriers ever commissioned by the USN, at least until the late 50s. So it stands to reason that the Alaskas had the CB designation for similar reasons: they were large cruisers.

Thank you for reading my deranged ranting about a personal pet peeve of mine.