The U.S. Navy's Alaska-Class Battlecruiser Nightmare

Summary: The Alaska-class battlecruisers, conceived by the U.S. Navy in the 1930s to counter foreign naval developments, became a case of strategic misalignment by the time they were completed in the late 1940s.

-Originally intended to be fast and powerful “cruiser-killers” with modern 12-inch guns and a top speed of 33 knots, these ships were designed to challenge Germany’s and Japan’s advanced cruisers.

-However, by World War II, naval warfare had shifted towards carrier and submarine dominance...