Recycling Wyoming's guns into proto-Alaska escorts

Could the United States have reused Wyoming's 12-inch guns in fast large cruisers before the Alaska class?

Yes; the proposal was technically and operationally plausible enough to create three powerful carrier escorts, though not guaranteed Kongo killers.

Reusing Wyoming's twelve twin 12-inch turrets could arm three eight-gun large cruisers without waiting for entirely new heavy weapons. A 32- or 33-knot design would function as a proto-Alaska suited to escorting American carrier forces. Such a ship would not necessarily defeat a Kongo in a clean duel. It could nevertheless delay or badly damage one, making Japanese surface interception in the Solomon Islands a far more costly proposition.