Alaska (CB-1)

One of the more forgiving Legendary Tier cruisers – and a hard worker at that

Written by

Captn_Thatch

Alaska (CB-1)- A WoWs Legends Review

USS Alaska (CB-1)

Radar Cruiser
Punchy
Adaptable

Scope:

It's v 4.2 during the Back to Belfast Campaign, and along with it finally comes the review of the USS Alaska (CB-1). Alaska is one of the currently available Legendary Tier USN Cruisers available through the Bureau. This is a ship I'd set out to review some-time ago but let her settle after a slew of balance changes to get a better feel for her. Even after some gunnery re-balance, Alaska is still incredibly dominant.

This ship was not provided to me by Wargaming for review, as I had acquired Alaska quite some time ago. After Des Moines and before Belfast, I decided to dust off and finish some of these drafts here.

However, I was given Belfast 43' for review, and she will be up next.

Alaska is a misnomer in a sense, as she is classed as a 'Large Cruiser' but tends to live more on the cusp of Battleships. Alaska's balance changes leave her on a more even keel with her compatriots, and manages to hold a strong GOOD rating, echoed by a LOW to moderate skill floor and a HIGH skill ceiling.

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Rating Matrix:

[BAD, WEAK, AVERAGE, GOOD, GREAT]
{LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, EXTREME}

History:

Laid down just 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Alaska was the first and lead ship of a new class of "Large Cruisers" ordered by the US Navy. Alaska was built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey; and the design featured the successful and completed concept of heavy main battery on a relatively large and fast cruiser. The ship was launched in August 1943 and commissioned into the United States Navy June of 1944.

USS Alaska (CB-1) was the first of two completed in her class, the other, her sister USS Guam (CB-2). USS Hawaii (CB-3) was launched in November 1945, however she was never completed nor commissioned as the war had come to an end. 3 more of the class were ordered, however they would be canceled June 1943.

Alaska did see some service during World War 2 and did earn battle stars, including operations off Iwo Jima and Okinawa, though she was largely completed too late in the war to participate in most of the major battles.

Alaska and Guam would both be placed in reserve very shortly after the war in 1946 and would be formally decommissioned in 1947. During the late 1950's, several studies would produce plans and costs to upgrade the Alaska Class sisters into Guided Missile Cruisers, however, both plans were found to be too expensive in the post-war era. The ships would be sold into scrap in 1961.

Strengths:

Radar
Solid Gunnery
Excellent EHP
Chunky Armor
Effective AA

Weaknesses:

Torpedo-Less
Clunky
Large Target
Long Reload
Sails like a brick

The Basics:

Alaska punches home on the simple basis of featuring more dominant values typical of stronger low skill floor ships. Now, this isn't to say Alaska is incapable, but rather quite the opposite. Alaska's metric finds herself with among the lowest skill floor of any current Legendary Tier Cruiser, laying a near equally great yield despite being a simple, yet effective ship, over other more complicated, strategically demanding ships. Minotaur being one such example of being difficult to use, but with an extreme skill ceiling, Alaska chimes in as simpler to use, with a lower skill ceiling.

Remember that point I lazily dropped on the counter on my way out from having finished Des Moines?

Being fundamentally good is a great strength.

Alaska is about to give you a near textbook clinic on fundamentally sound play.

Find Cover just outside the cap.
Find the Line of Engagement.
Engage.
Use Cover/Position to limit the number of ships capable of engaging you.
Manage your HP.
Back Out when you're over run, keep shooting if you're not.

Rinse & Repeat

Yep, it's really that simple. This is a ship capable of taking a punch or two (not ten!). Alaska is easy enough yet rewarding for higher skilled players as well. Though not as influential as say, Minotaur due to a relative weakness in dealing with counter-class engagements, Alaska is fundamentally sound enough to hang in the fight.

Given two expert captains, advantage Minotaur.
Given two rookie captains, advantage Alaska.

While Alaska will generally hold her own in most fights, it's worth noting that there are certain ships that will greatly out-trade Alaska in sustained engagements.

Offense:

GOOD

After a quick delve into the basics, let's start by diving into the numbers to give you captains the canvas on which we will paint this picture. Instead of the usual lists, we have now unlocked the charting ability. mwahahaha!

	Main Battery Range (Km)	Main Battery Reload (s)	180o Turret Traverse Time (s)
Stalingrad	17.1	20	30
Alaska	16	20	30
Des Moines	15.5	5.5	30
Worcester	15.3	4.6	7
Minotaur	15.3	3.2	4.7

Right off the bat, we can see that Alaska has a shorter range than the currently only one other Battlecruiser, with a comparable reload and gun handling. This is sort of a trend that will continue under the delicious USN Creed of blending all your strengths to blur out your weaknesses. A Jack of All Trades is a master of none; however, a jack of all trades is similarly a failure at none.

Alaska has comfortable gun firing angles and is able to generally able to keep her guns on target save for the hardest of turns.

	HE Alpha Strike	HE Broadside Weight	HE Damage Per Minute
Alaska	4300	38,700	116,100
Worcester	2200	26,400	344,347
Des Moines	2800	25,200	274,909
Minotaur	--	--	--
Stalingrad	--	--	--

Alaska sports very strong HE Alpha strike with a punishing broadside. This is balanced out by having a longer reload, and weaker HE DPM values and higher effective values due to better base penetration.

While some ships hit much more frequently, few can match the punch of Alaska in terms of cruisers.

	Shells Fired/Minute	Fire Chance (%)	Base HE Pen. (mm)
Stalingrad	27	--	--
Alaska	27	27	50
Des Moines	98	14	33
Worcester	157	12	30
Minotaur	188	--	--

Lending additional credence to the topic that Alaska is the type to make her shots count instead of counting lots of shots. Base HE penetration values 20mm higher than the competition, and near twice the fire chance with 1/5 the shell count.

The big difference here, Alaska is capable of pimp slapping all the other cruisers on that list back to port in a single wave of 305mm freedom. The rest, generally need a f e w salvoes to make their magic work.

	AP Alpha Strike	AP Broadside Weight	AP Damage/Minute
Alaska	8900	81,100	240,300
Stalingrad	8500	76,500	229,500
Des Moines	5000	45,000	490,000
Worcester	3200	38,400	500,869
Minotaur	3200	32,000	600,000

In my opinion, the AP is by far the more dominant ammunition. Alaska is quite capable here, and her AP is flexible enough to citadel both Battleships and Cruisers. DPM isn't everything, and some of the best gunnery performance can be found in this type of ship. Alaska is without a doubt the natural predator to Minotaur.

	AP Damage Per Minute
Minotaur	600,000
Weimar	540,000
Worcester	500,869
Des Moines	490,000
Mainz	468,000
Cleveland	415,800
Edinburgh	337,900
Kutuzov	336,600
Montpelier	316,800
Chapayev	306,000
Suzuya	297,000
Hipper	285,148
AL Baltimore	278,000
Ochakov	270,600
Baltimore	270,000
Martel	264,600
Alaska	240,300
Stalingrad	229,500
Belfast 43	234,947
Bagration	222,950
Wichita	216,000
Eugen	212,400
Riga	200,322
Atago	197,400
Albemarle	194,400
Azuma	191,525
Mogami	188,000
Amalfi	183,360
Sigfried	160,615

In terms of AP DPM, Alaska doesn't quite top the charts, but the charm of the chart is she's middle of the pack with some of the largest gunnery in her class. She hits far harder than anything in her immediate area with the exception of course, of Stalingrad.

	HE Damage Per Minute
Cleveland	289,800
Des Moines	274,909
Worcester	264,000
Weimar	244,800
Suzuya	243,000
Kutuzov	224,400
AL Montpelier	220,800
Chapayev	207,000
Mainz	204,000
Belfast 43	185,684
Ochakov	180,400
AL Baltimore	155,876
Baltimore	152,700
Wichita	151,200
Martel	151,000
Albemarle	142,560
Atago	138,600
Mogami	132,000
Hipper	128,316
Bagration	122,500
Amalfi	118,723
Alaska	116,100
Riga	106,258
Azuma	105,750
Eugen	90,000
Sigfried	60,923
Edinburgh	-
Minotaur	-
Stalingrad	-

This is another somewhat more misleading chart than it is revealing in a sense, Alaska may well have the most effective HE in her tier spread. 50mm of base pen, decent fire chance, solid ballistics, great alpha strike with good accuracy to boot. This is not a ship that overly struggles to land her shots nor make them count, she is quite capable of striking the citadel of even the best armored ships, angle permitting.

Ballistics:

GOOD

Let's keep the charts to the technical and the wording on the simpler side, and this sub-category will breathe life into a greater dimension of assessment. Alaska has very comfortable gunnery, and arguably a larger and punchier improvement on the USN CA Line. Alaska has in a sense, the charm of playing like her smaller contemporaries, Baltimore and Des Moines, just from slightly longer ranges at times.

The incantation here is simple, Des Moines counts lots of shots and Alaska makes her shots count. I might give the edge with skill to Des Moines due to that fierce rate of fire.

Otherwise.

Alaska is undoubtedly more reliable and trades Des Moines weakness for larger ships (Battleships) for a panache towards punching them. Conversely, where Des Moines tends to excel at eviscerating smaller ships (Destroyers), Alaska tends to be weaker towards them. However, like most things USN, this problem is largely solved by position or support, or both.

	Shell Diameter	Main Battery Sigma	AP Fuse Arm Time (s)
Stalingrad	305	2.4	0.022
Alaska	305	2.05	0.033
Des Moines	203	2.05	0.033
Worcester	152	2.05	0.025
Minotaur	152	2.05	0.005

In terms of accuracy, Alaska is one of the more accurate ships and has reliable gunnery performance. Granted, Alaska doesn't quite walk away with the 2.4 sigma of Stalingrad, but she has many other advantages Stalingrad could only dream of.

	Potential Ricochet	Automatic Ricochet
Minotaur	60	75
Alaska	60	67.5
Des Moines	60	67.5
Stalingrad	55	65
Worcester	45	60

It's not just you, Alaska has improved penetration angles which facilitate penetrating incorrectly angled targets. As a general rule of thumb, if your opponent is engaging you with their rear gunnery as well as their forward gunnery, Alaska can pen it.

AP:HE	Muzzle Velocity	Mid-Range (5s)	Long-Range (10s)
Stalingrad	--	--	--
Alaska	762:808	502:515	443:443
Des Moines	762:823	460:498	382:392
Worcester	762:812	443:438	342:330
Minotaur	768	440	328

The truly impressive part of this gunnery is that her actual ballistic performance is not terribly far off from Des Moines, Baltimore and company, despite firing a much heavier shell with better drag values. The long story short here, is that Alaska's gunnery performs on a similar (but flatter) level to Des Moines, with shells that are heavy enough to retain much better penetration and velocity values at range.

Captain's if you are continuing down the USN CA Line, Alaska's gunnery is the big brother you've been waiting for.

Torpedoes:

None

Just like all the other high tier USN Cruisers, Alaska is no exception here and is not equipped with torpedoes.

	Torpedo Range (km)	Torpedo Reload (s)	Torpedo Alpha
Stalingrad	0	0	0
Alaska	0	0	0
Des Moines	0	0	0
Worcester	0	0	0
Minotaur	10	96	16,767

Defense:

GREAT

In terms of taking the cake on defense, Alaska seemingly has it all. Radar, Sonar, viable AA, reasonable concealability and maneuverability, chunky base health and excellent effective health values, and to top the cake, a solid well-rounded armor scheme for a cruiser. This is so beautifully straight forward, that I can just dress the cake and let you all see for yourself.

	Base HP	Effective HP
Stalingrad	65,000	83,144
Alaska	54,720	91,428
Des Moines	50,600	64,712
Worcester	45,400	58,056
Minotaur	43,300	77,900

54k is quite strong for any cruiser and outranks all but the largest. Now, the juicy point here is that while yes, some ships have better base HP, Alaska nearly runs away from the rest in terms of EHP. What's even better, Alaska has the armor capable of reasonably accessing those EHP values.

Dreadnaught in an Alaska, imagine that?

It's actually not entirely unheard of.

	Base Health Pool	Effective Health Pool
Stalingrad	65,000	83,144
Azuma	52,500	86,184
Sigfried	55,500	73,980
Alaska	54,720	91,428
Des Moines	50,600	64,712
Worcester	45,400	58,056
Riga	42,000	56,112
Bagration	42,000	56,112
Atago	40,100	54,440
Eugen	45,000	60,120
Hipper	43,800	58,472
Minotaur	43,300	77,900
Amalfi	42,800	60,692
Mainz	42,500	56,780
Baltimore	42,400	56,644
AL Baltimore	42,400	56,644
Kutuzov	40,700	54,364
Albemarle	39,400	70,880
Mogami	39,100	52,204
Belfast 43	38,400	51,280
Martel	38,000	48,584
Suzuya	38,000	50,768
Wichita	37,900	50,612
Chapayev	37,000	51,504
Cleveland	36,900	47,204
Montpelier	36,900	47,204
Edinburgh	36,400	65,480
Ochakov	34,730	46,378
Weimar	32,000	32,000

The charts say it all. Alaska has pretty considerable and good marks all around, which gloss over any relative weaknesses. While arguably less effective as a destroyer deterrent then some other Legendary Cruisers, Alaska is still capable.

Armor:

GREAT

Inarguably why Alaska hits such a low threshold for LT Cruisers, is because she is by far the most forgiving.

Her armor is in a sense deceiving, on many facets and changes greatly in scope based off perspective, observe:

For a ship of her size, she is poorly armored.
For a cruiser, she is extremely well armored.
She has 32mm plating and decking, commonly found on most Battleships, unlike most Cruisers.
Alaska has a sunken, waterline citadel, that is protected by spaced armor.

	Plating (mm)	Freeboard (mm)	Decking (mm)	Belt Armor (mm)
Alaska	32	28	36	229
Stalingrad	32	50	50	180
Worcester	32	25	30	127
Des Moines	27	27	30	152
Minotaur	16	16	16	101

Alaska may eat full pens rather easily for a ship of her size, though, she is rather difficult to strike in her citadel. Inarguably, Alaska is the best protected cruiser in Legendary Tier.

Anti-Air Suite:

GOOD

Alaska has reliable Anti-Air. While not quite as 'death to planes' chanting while pacing in a circle like Minotaur or Worcester, Alaska is still in the race and on the track, just in 4th place. Generally speaking, Carriers are unwise to strike an Alaska, however, do realize captains that you are a large and juicy target.

	AA Range (km)	AA Damage/Second
Worcester	6	495
Minotaur	6	494
Des Moines	5	469
Alaska	5	436
Stalingrad	5.7	375

Overall, like the other current LT CA/CL's, they are quite immune to most airborne pests.

Anti-Air Damage per Second

Worcester: 495
Minotaur: 494
Des Moines: 469
Alaska: 436
Stalingrad: 375
Baltimore: 365
AL Balti: 365
Cleveland: 363
Montpelier: 363
Mainz: 357
Sigfried: 354
Azuma: 342
Hipper: 288
Bagration: 280
P. Eugen: 279
Kutuzov: 264
Edinburgh: 263
Riga: 262
Amalfi: 240
Belfast 43: 219
Wichita: 217
Albemarle: 211
Chapayev: 207
Martel: 204
Ochakov: 196
Mogami: 127
Weimar: 115
Atago: 90
Suzuya: 67

By the numbers, GOOD hinging on GREAT. Better defined as reliable and effective.

Concealment:

AVERAGE

By the base numbers, this is a passable mark. However, unlike many other cruisers, Alaska builds tend to put far less energy into concealment than gun performance values, such as range, reload, dispersion or sigma. Theoretically, this category is both relatively a strength and a weakness.

	Stock Conceal. (Km)	Max Surface Conceal.	Max Air Conceal. (Km)
Stalingrad	14.4	11.7	--
Alaska	13.3	9.8	6.4
Des Moines	13.0	9.5	6.2
Worcester	12.8	9.4	6.2
Minotaur	12.1	9.4	6.2

Unlike the smaller radar cruisers, Alaska tends to generally be unable to stealth radar. It's not that it is impossible, but rather, doesn't quite suite her strong suits. 11.4km concealment as a kit value is good, but in practice is rather mediocre to weak. Stronger and skilled captains will recognize this void and skirt your concealment/radar void between 9-11km.

	Concealment (Mod + Camo) (Km)
Amalfi	9.2
Suzuya	10.2
Belfast 43	10.3
Wichita	10.4
Minotaur	10.4
AL Balti	10.5
Baltimore	10.5
Atago	10.6
Montpelier	10.8
Edinburgh	10.8
Bagration	10.8
Albemarle	10.9
Azuma	10.9
Worcester	11.0
Mogami	11.1
Des Moines	11.2
Weimar	11.2
Cleveland	11.3
Alaska	11.4
Ochakov	11.4
Martel	11.6
Hipper	11.6
Eugen	11.7
Mainz	11.8
Sigfried	11.8
Kutuzov	12.0
Chapayev	12.9
Stalingrad	13.0
Riga	13.1

This is another relative score, because while yes, this void does exist, and it is a strategic weakness; a confident Alaska captain can generally capitalize on both the resilience, and gunnery to remove the threat. A smoked-up Minotaur beyond radar range is both stuck in that smoke, able to whittle your health down in less than a minute, and a single salvo of yours away from being sent to the bottom in devastating fasion.

Maneuverability:

WEAK

Ok, now this is one of those sections where the relative weaknesses are glossed over by cumulative strengths. Alaska is a large ship, and she handles like one...kinda...sorta. I'll explain.

For such a large ship, by comparison by size Alaska handles quite well. However, based off her category, she is the larger taller older kid at the playground.

Now, she is perfectly capable of jumping all over the jungle gym and can climb the bars as well as any other kid, but when under the stopwatch she will be inevitably pit up against those tiny agile little rug-rats with a negative center of gravity that zigzag and are impossible to catch; especially when they are running away from a frustrated parent. Yeah. Those kids. There are just some of those cruisers here, where they can seemingly defy logic and gravity while spinning on their own head.

Those kids will generally run circles around Alaska, however, when Alaska does catch them, it becomes an instant flash of karmic justice.

	Turn Radius (m)	Rudder Shaft (s)	Stock Top Speed (kts)
Stalingrad	1130	12.5	35
Alaska	850	13	33
Des Moines	770	8.6	33
Worcester	740	8.1	33
Minotaur	660	10.4	33.5

Alaska tends to handle like a smaller battleship than a larger cruiser by the numbers, however, that's kind of the point.

	Turn Radius (m)
Weimar	650
Cleveland	660
Montpelier	660
Minotaur	660
Edinburgh	680
Belfast 43	680
Amalfi	680
Wichita	680
Martel	690
Mainz	720
Albemarle	720
Baltimore	730
AL Baltimore	730
Worcester	740
Hipper	740
Mogami	750
Suzuya	750
Ochakov	750
Kutuzov	760
Eugen	770
Des Moines	770
Atago	790
Alaska	850
Sigfried	880
Bagration	890
Chapayev	890
Riga	920
Azuma	920
Stalingrad	1130

More of the same painted weakness.

	Rudder Shift (s)
Suzuya	4.5
Baltimore	4.9
AL Baltimore	4.9
Mogami	5.1
Kutuzov	5.4
Wichita	6
Montpelier	6.4
Ochakov	6.9
Edinburgh	6.9
Chapayev	7
Cleveland	7.2
Eugen	7.8
Atago	8.1
Worcester	8.1
Des Moines	8.6
Albemarle	8.6
Weimar	8.8
Martel	8.9
Hipper	9.7
Belfast 43	9.9
Minotaur	10.4
Mainz	10.5
Amalfi	11
Riga	11.5
Bagration	11.5
Azuma	12.3
Stalingrad	13
Alaska	13
Sigfried	14

There are no little nothings I can say here to take the pain away, Alaska handles poorly. This is one of the major reasons I would advocate against Kiting as a strategy; she's big and clunky. Staking out an island and holding your ground is by far the more desirable tactic.

Consumables:

GOOD

Ok, so Alaska doesn't have a smokescreen, boo-hoo. She is however equipped with the generic USN CA jackpot load out of Sonar, Radar and a Heal separately slotted. It's worth noting Alaska has an extra base charge of her repair party.

	Duration (s)	Dispersion (s)	Charges
Minotaur	15	113	2
Worcester	-	-	-
Alaska	-	-	-
Stalingrad	-	-	-
Des Moines	-	-	-

Given Alaska doesn't have access to smokes, let's just look at the pretty chart, nod and move on.

	HP Healed (s)	HP per Heal	Stock Charges	Total Heal
Alaska	437	12,236	3	36,708
Minotaur	865	17,300	2	34,600
Stalingrad	324	9,072	2	18,144
Des Moines	252	7,056	2	14,112
Worcester	226	6,328	2	12,656

Alaska is by a long shot one of the more robust cruisers in terms of HP/EHP. What further enhances this excellent trait, is her quite functional armor scheme for a cruiser. Alaska can be tricky to strike in her citadel, making this whopping 36k that much more attainable. Most of the other cruisers that come close to Alaska here are otherwise quite frail in comparison, meaning, accessing the maximum values from those repair parties can be quite challenging.

Stock Repair Party Effective Values

Alaska: 437/s-28s. 50sr x3 (36,708)
Albemarle: (35,000)
Minotaur: 865/s-20s. 80sr x2 (34,600)
Azuma: (33,684)
Edinburgh: (29,080)
Sigfried: (18,480)
Stalingrad: 324/s-28s. 80sr x2 (18,144)
P. Eugen: (15,120)
Hipper: (14,672)
Chapayev: (14,504)
Mainz: (14,280)
Baltimore: (14,224)
AL Balti: (14,224)
Des Moines: 252/s-28s. 80sr x2 (14,112)
Riga: (14,112)
Bagration: (14,112)
Kutuzov: (13,664)
Atago: (13,440)
Mogami: (13,104)
Belfast 43: (12,880)
Suzuya: (12,768)
Wichita: (12,712)
Worcester: 226/s-28s. 80sr x2 (12,656)
Amalfi: (11,928)
Ochakov: (11,648)
Cleveland: (10,304)
Montpelier: (10,304)
Martel: (10,080)
Weimar: (0)

Now, relatively speaking Alaska has a 'weakness' towards destroyers due to her large frame and weaker concealment values. This does not mean she is entirely a free and easy torpedo target; it means Alaska has the ability to somewhat defend herself with her solid vision control suite.

	Torp. Detect. (Km)	Ship Detect (Km)	Duration (s)	Stock Charges
Des Moines	3.4	4.9	100	2
Minotaur	3.4	4.9	100	2
Alaska	3.1	4.4	96	2
Worcester	3.1	4.4	96	2
Stalingrad	--	--	--	--

Is she equipped with the best radar or sonar?

No. By the numbers, the consumables are more just there for detecting unwanted nuisances leaving team mates to help rid them. In practice, Alaska can fire off a second salvo during her radar which in theory can kill off most opposing destroyers.

	Radar Range	Duration	Stock Charges	Salvos per Radar
Minotaur	9.9	40	2	12.5
Des Moines	9.9	40	2	7.2
Worcester	9	30	2	6.5
Alaska	9	30	2	1.5
Stalingrad	11.7	20	2	1

Alaska is a team player, so much so she brings the team's gear to the game with her. She is resilient, territorial and well-rounded in this manner and easily walks away with her GOOD rating.

Commanders:

GOOD

Short, sweet and to the point. I almost feel like I've beaten USN CA Cruisers to a pulp before. Rather than reword everything to fit every type of build on this ship, I'll point out the one that worked best for me.

Norman Scott:

He is the one true choice here. I'm sure there are probably some other builds out there that are concocted out of thin air, though I feel confident enough in calling this the staple build for Alaska. The beautiful thing here, is that this build is easy enough to access, and he is free and available in game. Another nice little addition here is that this build also meshes quite well with the USN CA Line, which means there are often no changes needed between certain builds. While I don't personally run this build on Baltimore, the shoe absolutely fits.

Inspirations Nikolay Kuznetsov (Follow the Sun +6% Gun Range), AL Scharnhorst (Sniper -4% Dispersion)

Directed Impact: +5% Sigma
Beyond Range: +10% Gun Range
Igniter: +3% Fire Chance
Punch Through: +10% AP Alpha, +6% AP Penetration
Fixated: +5% Sigma, -5% Dispersion
Fully Packed: +1 Consumables, -5% Consumable Reload

Modifications

Aiming Systems Mod. 1: The standard piece for just about every ship in the first slot. 7% to dispersion is the winner here.
Damage Control Mod. 2: A kiting Alaska is somewhat effective, however, being on fire less is generally the smarter option for being a target of this size.
Concealment Mod. 1: This is the only correct choice here, take this to enable the ability to get close to islands and contestable positions.
Gun Fire Control System Mod. 2: It may seem a bit aggressive to build into range, however, there are two parts to this. First, 19km+ of reach is extremely comfortable and allows Alaska to give herself a bit more elbow room. Second, the further the range, the tighter the vertical dispersion. Alaska has some very heft shells for a cruiser, and the end result is significant damage from plunging fire through decking, courtesy of improved ricochet angles and wonderful ballistic arcs. Though, if you're comfortable with shorter range the reload mod works quite well t

Upgrades:

Alaska is a Legendary Tier Ship and does not have any researchable upgrades.

Research:

Alaska is not currently featured in any Bureau Projects.

Summary:

GOOD

Alaska has seen both some buffs and nerfs during her tenure here, and still ranks among the more competitive ships. Though I wouldn't necessarily place her among those truly meta defining ships, (unless you're in Arena) Alaska certainly earns her worth in being in the conversation. It's also worth pointing out, Alaska does not have to work as hard to defeat most of the other cruisers in her tier spread than as they do to defeat her, and by that simplistic definition of competency she excels here.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked strengths of this whole review is that Alaska is one of the more forgiving Legendary Tier ships, and there is a plethora of statistical examples to support this. Top tier effective health, wonderful armor for her class, well rounded defenses and coupled with very punchy gunnery. There are many cruisers that do not bring so much to the table, are able to take hits as well as dish them.

For an experienced player looking to transition from Battleships to Cruisers, this ship fits the bill perfectly. For those more inexperienced Cruiser Captains looking to make the big step up to Legendary Tier, Alaska offers a platform capable of staying in the game long enough to learn from your mistakes before being punished heavily by them. Conversely, for those Cruiser Captains looking to up their weight class and throw some heavier punches, Alaska might be the ship for you.

In a tier that is ever increasingly bound for the more dazzling with silly DPM (looking at you Minotaur, Des Moines) Alaska chimes in with a renown echelon of reliability. Alaska trades the higher DPM vomit of shells of her contemporaries for slapping her targets straight out of existence and back to their ports.