USS Hawaii (CB-3)

Hawaii fitting out prior to the suspension of her construction in February 1947
History
United States
Name	Hawaii
Namesake	Territory of Hawaii
Ordered	September 1940
Builder	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down	20 December 1943
Launched	3 November 1945
Sponsored by	Elizabeth Farrington
Stricken	9 June 1958
Fate	Sold for scrap, 15 April 1959
General characteristics (as designed)
Class and type	Alaska-class large cruiser
Displacement	29,779 long tons (30,257 t) (standard) 34,253 long tons (34,803 t) (deep load)
Length	808 ft 6 in (246.4 m)
Beam	91 ft 1 in (27.8 m)
Draft	27 ft 1 in (8.3 m) 32 ft (9.8 m) (full load)
Installed power	8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 150,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Endurance	12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Armament	9 × 12 in (305 mm) guns 12 × 5 in (127 mm) guns 56 × 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns 34 × 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns
Armor	Waterline belt: 5–9 in (127–229 mm) Deck: 3.8–4 in (97–102 mm) Barbettes: 11–13 in (279–330 mm) Gun turrets: 5–12.8 in (127–325 mm)
Aircraft carried	4 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities	2 × hangars 2 × catapults

USS Hawaii (CB-3)^{[A 1]} 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, her keel was not laid until December 1943, about two years after her sister ship Guam.

Hawaii was launched in late 1945, but post-war budget cutbacks necessitated her cancellation in 1947. The Alaska-class large cruisers were seen as requiring a crew almost as large as a South Dakota or Iowa-class battleship, while the armor and protection of the capital ship-sized Hawaii was no better than a Baltimore-class cruiser and this was particularly significant as the underwater protection designed into Hawaii was poor. In a famous Proceedings article in January 1949, Frank Uhlig dismissed the performance of the class in 1944–1945 and concluded the battlecruiser had no place in the postwar USN.^[1] 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 in 1959.

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