Why retain and modernise the Alaskas?

What would justify retaining and extensively modernising the Alaska-class large cruisers?

Concern about Soviet construction is the suggested reason. The unfinished Alaskas are raised as potential conversion hulls.

Retaining the Alaska class alongside the Iowas for missile and aviation conversions would imply serious concern about Soviet shipbuilding. Alaska would undergo extensive alterations in that scenario. Unfinished hulls offer another route to such a conversion, and existing conversion plans are recalled as a precedent. The suggested turret removals and new facilities remain a hypothetical fit. Which ship would lose which turret, and whether the rebuilt ships would serve into the present, remain unresolved.