Rule 5 Warships – USS Guam – Sticks, Stories, and Scotch

For the last Rule Five of 2023, let’s meet the star of the current event in Azur Lane, USS Guam! An ultra-rare ship introduced in the current event, “Light-Chasing Sea of Stars”, she’s classed as a large cruiser and has the ability to anchor the vanguard of a battle fleet.

Guam has a mech. Why? No idea. Source from Danbooru.

In real-world terms, USS Guam was the second of two Alaska-class cruisers to be built. The planned production run of six was cut short due to the end of WWII. The class was originally ordered in 1939 and envisioned as cruiser killers, the American response to German pocket battleships such as KMS Graf Spee. They were fast for their size and heavily armed, with three triple gun main turrets firing a 12” caliber projectile weight 1,152lbs up to 21.92 miles!

The actual *USS Guam* tied up in Pearl Harbor, February 1945. The two main forward turrets, and several of the dual-purpose secondary turrets are clearly visible, as well as the light AA guns at the bow. Each of those main gun turrets cost $1.5 million dollars in 1944 dollars. In 2023 dollars, that would be about $27 million per gun turret alone!

What they couldn’t outrun or outshoot was time, and a lack of opponents. Both USS Alaska and USS Guam did not reach operational status until 1944, by which time the German surface fleet was largely irrelevant, and the Pacific theatre was ruled by carrier air power. Because what good is a gun range of nearly 22 miles, when carriers can project firepower well over the horizon? Guam would participate in the naval bombardment of the last few amphibious landings in the Pacific, before being retired to reserve fleet status in 1947.

Guam singing with Lexington and Comet. Danbooru source

In Azur Lane, Guam is the first of the Alaska-class sisters to make an appearance. Alaska gets referenced a few times in the current event, so presumably she’ll show up at some point in a future event. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see one or more of the other planned Alaska-class ships show up in a future Blueprint ship list.

Guam comes across as energetic, a little ditzy, and prefers to do things her own way. She also gets her own side story as a secretary ship right off the bat, so players can spend some extra time getting to know her. Since Manjuu decided to end the year with a New Year’s celebration and more bunny costumes (because everyone loves bunny girls?), Guam gets an alternate L2D bunny girl costume right from the start as well.

On an unrelated note, since this is the last Rule 5 (and last post overall) for this blog in 2023, I’d like to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and I hope to have you readers all back here in 2024! Thanks for a great year!