USS Hawaii (CB-3)

USS "Hawaii" (CB-3) was an "Alaska"-class large cruiser which was under construction for the United States Navy during World War II, but was never completed. She was to be third vessel of her class. She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the then-territory of Hawaii.

She was launched 3 November 1945 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph R. Farrington, wife of the delegate from the Territory of Hawaii. One of the projected class of six ships, of which only two were completed, "Hawaii" and her sisters were designed to cope with the large German pocket battleships and Japanese armored cruisers. Due to the reduction in defense expenditures after World War II, her construction was suspended. In September 1947 she stood 84 percent complete. For a time it was planned that "Hawaii" should be converted to the Navy's first guided missile ship, but she remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The guided missile conversions were scrapped because they did not include significantly more capability than the existing "Baltimore" and "Oregon City"-class conversions. Her classification was changed to large command ship, CBC-1, 26 February 1952 when conversion was again contemplated; but she reverted to her original classification 9 October 1954 and was sold for scrap to Boston Metals Company, Baltimore, Maryland, in 1959 after being struck from the Naval Vessel Register 9 June 1958.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h3/hawaii.htm

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-h/cb3.htm Navy photographs of "Hawaii" (CB-3)]