USS Hawaii ( CB - 3 ) USS " Hawaii " ( CB - 3 ) , the first United States Navy ship to be named after the Territory of Hawaii , was originally intended to be the third member of the large cruisers . Delayed by higher - priority ships such as aircraft carrier s , her keel was not laid until December 1943 , about two years after her sister ship . After her launch on 3 November 1945 , " Hawaii " began fitting out , but post - war budget cutbacks necessitated the cancellation of the ship on 17 February 1947 . For a time it was planned that she would be converted to be the U . S . ' first guided missile cruiser , but this did not come to fruition . A conversion to a large command ship was later contemplated ; planning went far enough that money was allocated in the 1952 budget for this purpose , but with one ( ) complete and a second ( ) already chosen , no work was started upon " Hawaii " . Having been laid up for twelve years , the ship was towed to the breakers to be scrapped on 20 June 1959 . Design and description . The initial impetus for the design of the " Alaska " class came from the commerce - raiding abilities of German and Japanese ships ; the three s , also known as " pocket battleships " , the two s , and Japan ' s large force of both heavy and light cruisers . By the time that they were built , their role had expanded to protect carrier groups . It was thought that the class ' s bigger guns , greater size and higher speed would give them a marked advantage in this role over heavy cruisers , and they would also provide insurance against reports that Japan was building " super cruisers " more powerful than American cruisers limited by the London Naval Treaty . " Hawaii " was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load . The ship was powered by four General Electric geared steam turbine sets , each driving one propeller , and eight oil - fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at and a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She carried four floatplane s , housed in two hangars , with a pair of aircraft catapult s mounted amidships . The ship was armed with a main battery of nine 12 inch L / 50 Mark 8 guns in three triple gun turret s , two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft of the superstructure . The secondary battery consisted of twelve 5 - inch L / 38 dual - purpose gun s in six twin turrets . Two were placed on the centerline superfiring over the main battery turrets , fore and aft , and the remaining four turrets were placed on the corners of the superstructure . The light anti - aircraft battery consisted of 56 quad - mounted Bofors guns and 34 single - mounted Oerlikon guns . A pair of Mk 34 gun directors aided gunlaying for the main battery , while two Mk 37 directors controlled the 5 - inch guns and a Mk 57 director aided the 40 mm guns . The main armored belt was thick , while the gun turrets had thick faces . The main armored deck was thick . Construction , conversion proposals and eventual fate . Along with the five s and the final three " Alaska " - class cruisers , the construction of " Hawaii " was suspended in May 1942 before work began . This freed materials and facilities so that they could be used to build additional ships which could be completed faster and were needed in the war zones , like anti - submarine escorts . Over of steel plates and shapes which had been destined for " Hawaii " was redirected to other ships in July 1942 . However , " Hawaii " was added back onto the construction queue on 25 May 1943 , unlike CB - 4 through CB - 6 , which were canceled on 24 June 1943 . Her keel was laid on 20 December 1943 , and she was finally launched on 3 November 1945 , about two years after " Guam " . The ship was sponsored by Mary P . Farrington , the wife of the delegate from the Territory of Hawaii to the United States House of Representatives , Joseph Farrington . After her launch , little , if any , work was done before construction was halted in either February or April 1947 due to the reduction in defense expenditures after World War II ; the ship was 82 . 4 % complete when work was halted . The turrets for the main battery had been fitted and the superstructure was mostly finished , although the former were removed when the ship was moved into the reserve fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . Guided - missile cruiser designs . Similar to the incomplete battleship , " Hawaii " was considered for a conversion to be a test platform for the development of guided missiles in September 1946 . Designated CB ( SW ) , the cruisers ' gun armament would have consisted of sixteen 3 - inch / 70 caliber guns in eight dual mounts . Most missiles would have been mounted toward the bow , while two " missile launching pits " would be located near the stern . For this task , no armor would have been needed , and previously installed armor was to be taken off the ship when required . These plans never came to fruition , so " Hawaii " remained in the Reserve Fleet , still incomplete . Two years later , in 1948 , a similar conversion plan was put forth . This plan , designated Project SCB 26A , proposed that " Hawaii " be converted into a Ballistic Guided Missile Ship . This plan called for " Hawaii " to be completed with 12 vertical launchers for U . S . - made V - 2 short - range ballistic missile s and 6 launchers for the SSM - N - 2 Triton surface - to - surface cruise missile . Triton was an attempt to give the Navy a reliable cruise missile that it could launch off of its ships . The design process began with an approval from the U . S . Navy in September 1946 . After " formulating performance objectives and possible design baselines " , the designers settled on attempting to fit a ramjet - powered cruiser missile onto solid - fuel rocket boosters that could carry the missile at Mach 1 . 6 – 2 . 5 in 1950 . After lowering the ambitious goals to more realistic levels in 1955 , a fully operational version was expected by 1965 , but with tests for the SSM - N - 9 / RGM - 15 Regulus II planned for that year and the up - and - coming UGM - 27 Polaris submarine - launched cruise missile , the project was terminated in 1957 . " Hawaii " would have also been able to launch the JB - 2 " Loon " cruise missile from a hydraulic catapult installed on her forward flight deck ; lastly , an aircraft crane and twin aircraft catapults were to be added on the stern of the ship . Interestingly the conversion , as envisioned , would have looked similar to a completed . The conversion was authorized in the same year ( 1948 ) and was scheduled to be completed in 1950 ; the ship ' s classification was changed to CBG - 3 to reflect the planned overhaul . However , the conversion was canceled in 1949 , along with any other plans for surface ships equipped with ballistic missiles , due to the volatility of the rocket fuels and the shortcomings with guidance systems that were available . Large command ship . Yet another conversion of " Hawaii " , this time to a " large command ship " , was contemplated from August 1951 . In this role , she would have been similar to , but larger . This conversion would have boasted expansive flag facilities and fully capable radar and communication systems for commanding carrier task forces , though there would have been no facilities for amphibious operations . Armament would have consisted of sixteen 5 " / 54 caliber gun s in single mounts ; this gun size was specified because 3 " / 50 caliber gun s were believed to be too light . Two radar s would have been mounted : an AN / SPS - 2 on top of a forward tower , and an AN / SPS - 8 on the aft superstructure . In addition , an SC - 2 was to be mounted on top of a short tower aft of the stack ( though forward of the SPS - 8 ) ; this would have been used for " troposphere scatter communications " . Two Mk37 / 25 fire - control director s were planned , both fore and aft of the superstructure . The conversion plans were authorized , and her classification was changed to CBC - 1 to reflect this on 26 February 1952 . Money to begin the project was included in the 1952 budget , but the only work done on the ship was the removal of the 12 " turrets , as it was intended that experience from " Northampton " should be analyzed before a full conversion . However , when it was seen that a smaller and cheaper ship — like the light carrier — could do the same duty , the " Hawaii " project was canceled in 1953 . She reverted to her original designation of CB - 3 on 9 September 1954 . In February 1957 , a study entitled " Polaris Study – CB - 3 " was published , proposing that " Hawaii " be stripped of all her guns in favor of twenty Polaris missiles , mounted in the hull vertically in roughly the same location as the third main turret would have been located , two Talos surface - to - air missile ( SAM ) launchers , one each fore and aft , two Tartar SAMs mounted on either side of the superstructure , and a single ASROC anti - submarine weapon would be mounted where the first and second main turrets would have been placed . Nothing further was done with the study . On 9 June 1958 , " Hawaii " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register and the ship was sold to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore on 15 April 1959 . The still - incomplete " Hawaii " was towed to Baltimore , arriving there on 6 January 1960 , and was subsequently broken up for scrap .