Why the historical Alaskas arrived too late

Only Alaska and Guam were commissioned, and their late arrival limited their chance to demonstrate a separate early-war role. Ordered in 1940 and laid down from 1941, the ships were launched in 1943 and commissioned in 1944. Their construction overlapped the Iowa programme, so the large cruisers entered a fleet that already had more fast capital ships and much larger carrier forces. They would still have been useful in an invasion of Japan. The short remaining war left little time to establish a distinctive role, while the extended discussion of carrier conversions contrasts with their brief active careers.