USS Guam (CB-2)

USS Guam in 1944
History
United States
Name	Guam
Namesake	Guam
Ordered	9 September 1940
Builder	New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	2 February 1942
Launched	12 November 1943
Commissioned	17 September 1944
Decommissioned	17 February 1947
Stricken	1 June 1960
Identification	Hull number: CB-2
Honors and awards	2 battle stars
Fate	Scrapped in May 1961
General characteristics
Class and type	Alaska-class large cruiser
Displacement	Standard: 29,779 long tons (30,257 t) Full load: 34,253 long tons (34,803 t)
Length	808 ft 6 in (246.4 m)
Beam	91 ft 1 in (27.8 m)
Draft	31 ft 10 in (9.7 m)
Installed power	8 × Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers 153,000 shp (114,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric steam turbines 4 × screw propellers
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Crew	1,517
Armament	9 × 12 in (305 mm) guns 12 × 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns 56 × 40 mm (1.6 in) guns 34 × 20 mm (0.79 in) guns
Armor	Belt: 9 in (229 mm) Deck: 4 in (102 mm) Conning tower: 10.6 in (270 mm) Turrets: 12.8 in (325 mm)
Aircraft carried	4

USS Guam was an Alaska-class large cruiser which served with the United States Navy during the last year of World War II. She was the second and last ship of her class to be completed. The ship was the second vessel of the US Navy to be named after the island of Guam, an American territory in the Pacific, and she was assigned the hull number CB-2. Due to her commissioning late in the war, Guam saw relatively limited service during the war. She participated in operations off Okinawa in March–July 1945, including providing anti-aircraft defense for the carrier task force and conducting limited shore bombardment operations. She participated in sweeps for Japanese shipping in the East China and Yellow Seas in July–August 1945. After the end of the war, she assisted in the occupation of Korea and transported a contingent of US Army troops back to the United States. She was decommissioned in February 1947 and placed in reserve, where she remained until she was stricken in 1960 and sold for scrapping the following year.