Editing Alaska-class cruiser (section)

=== Design ===
One historian described the design process of the ''Alaska'' class as "torturous" due to the numerous changes and modifications made to the ship's layouts by numerous departments and individuals.<ref name=Worth305/> Indeed, there were at least nine different layouts,<ref>Dulin and Garzke, 179–183.</ref> ranging from 6,000-ton {{sclass|Atlanta|cruiser|0}} anti-aircraft cruisers<ref name=Dulin179/> to "overgrown" [[heavy cruisers]]<ref name=Worth305/> and a 38,000-ton mini-[[battleship]] that would have been armed with twelve 12-inch and sixteen 5-inch guns.<ref name=Dulin179>Dulin and Garzke, 179.</ref> The General Board, in an attempt to keep the displacement under 25,000&nbsp;tons, allowed the designs to offer only limited underwater protection such that they were vulnerable, by comparison with a battleship, to torpedoes and to shells that fell short of the ship.<ref name=Dulin183>Dulin and Garzke, 183.</ref> The final design was a scaled-up {{sclass|Baltimore|cruiser|4}} that had the same machinery as the {{sclass|Essex|aircraft carrier}}s. This ship combined a main armament of nine 12-inch guns with protection against 10-inch gunfire into a hull that was capable of {{convert|33|kn}}.<ref name=Scarpaci17/>

The ''Alaska''s were officially funded in September 1940 along with a plethora of other ships as a part of the [[Two-Ocean Navy Act]].<ref name="Global Security"/><ref name=Rohwer40>Rohwer, 40.</ref>{{efn-ua|Over two hundred other ships were ordered at the same time: two {{sclass|Iowa|battleship}}s, five {{sclass|Montana|battleship|2}}s, twelve {{sclass|Essex|aircraft carrier}}s, four {{sclass|Baltimore|heavy cruiser}}s, 19 {{sclass|Cleveland|light cruiser}}s, four {{sclass|Atlanta|light cruiser|2}}s, 52 {{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer}}s, twelve {{sclass|Benson|destroyer|2}}s and 73 {{sclass|Gato|submarine}}s.}} Their role had been altered slightly: in addition to their surface-to-surface role, they were planned to protect [[Carrier battle group|carrier groups]]. This carrier escort capability was favored by Admiral King. Because of their bigger guns, greater size and increased speed, they would be more valuable in this role than heavy cruisers, and would provide insurance against reports that Japan was building super cruisers more powerful than the American heavy cruisers.<ref name="Global Security"/> The escort concept would also free the few existing heavy cruisers for scouting (their original purpose).