Best thread title of 2015!
The
Alaska 12"/50 was an exceptional gun (unfortunately it was placed on the
Alaska class). It actually had better armor penetration that the 14" gun on the British
KGV class BB, a gun that was demonstrated as being effective against the
Bismarck class. The USN ship can, especially at range, hurt the bigger battleship.
The
Tirpitz, however, can also rip up the smaller, less well armored CB at just about any range. The American ship has a speed advantage, but handles poorly at maximum speed (30K tons and ONE RUDDER? Seriously??!!). By the time of any possible engagement American gunnery was remarkably accurate thanks to years of perfecting the radar direction of the guns (which is fortunate since the BC has it best chance to survive by keeping the engagement at 30K yards or more).
Bismarck, however, demonstrated considerable accuracy in its single engagement, that engagement was, however mainly fought by
Bismarck at 15K yards or less.
Bottom line here is that the
Tirpitz needs to be lucky. If it manages a couple 15" hits and slows the
Alaska to below 27 knots it will not end well for the CB. If the American ship can keep the range up and maneuver well enough to avoid being zeroed, it can do some damage. In the best case the U.S. ship can cripple the BB, sinking her may be a bridge too far (
Bismarck took a total of 400 gun hit of various calibers, from 8" all the way to 16", and didn't sink). Since the Alaska's never suffered significant battle damage their survivability is unknown.
As likely as not the two ships beat the hell out of each other until they are both scrap.