Earlier Alaska-class large cruisers could have screened fast carriers and countered Japan's Kongō-class battlecruisers. Success in that role might have reduced the perceived need for several Iowa-class fast battleships or allowed the United States to concentrate on the heavier Montana design. Yet Alaska taking longer to complete than Missouri complicates the assumption that a smaller combatant automatically consumes fewer industrial resources. Even America's enormous shipbuilding base was finite, so fleet design still required deliberate choices among competing capital-ship programs.
Notable Point · 29:10-30:45
The Alaska class and finite American industry
Earlier Alaska-class construction might have supplied fast carrier escorts and changed battleship choices, but their slow completion demonstrates that US resources were not unlimited.