"American battle cruisers" Topic

Did any American battle cruisers ever see action?
As a lad I used to tote home from my weekly visits to the Osterhout Free Library Morison and Jane's.
The answer to my question should be in those fine tomes, but give me a break. But that was almost 50 years ago!

I know for sure Alaska did, and I am pretty sure Guam did as well. I know Alaska took part in the Iwo Jima invasion, and was also around when the Franklin was hit by a kamikaze.

Did they have the same design flaws as other more famous battle cruisers?

Winston
No the US Battle Cruisers were more like heavy cruisers on steroids than traditional battle cruisers.

Both saw some action as described above.

Fatman

Alaska was in theater 1/45, Guam joined her 3/45. And Fatman's right; they were essentially blown-up Baltimores.

With 12 inch guns she would be a very good CA killer, but just donīt run into the big boys!

What was their design philosophy then?
Seems like neither fish nor fowl and with a name that could only get them into trouble. "It's a cruiser! No, it's a battleship!"

I think the original philosophy was as a heavy cruiser killer and then they evolved into some heavy duty escort cruisers.

FWIW, the Alaska-class were officially "large cruisers", rather than battlecruisers. They were intended to counter rumored Japanese "super cruisers" that were never actually built. They were essentially typical USN CAs enlarged by about 30% (as stated by Fatman and Coastal2) and suffered from the same single rudder design that was common to American cruisers which, given their length, made them very difficult to maneuver.

Alaska and Guam were both at Okinawa; their primary role was anti-aicraft support for the carriers.

LT

Did any American battle cruisers ever see action?

In a way they did, but not as battle cruisers. lexington and saratoga were converted into fleet carriers. Lexington sunk at Coral Sea. Saratoga kept colliding with IJN SS torpedoes but did take part in a number of battles including sinking the carrier ryujo.

As brass1 said, they were built to handle the Japanese Type 795 super heavy cruisers, and also to counter the projected German improved Graf Spee class

Sadly, their only combat role was either as carrier hulls or as heavy AA escorts for the carriers.

Interesting side note about Lexington and Saratoga: Even before the Washington Naval Treaty negotiations, the USN had begun preliminary plans to convert 2 of the BCs into carriers. So the eventual conversion would have probably happened, treaty or no treaty.