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In theory the newer USN ship wil prevail at the shorter range, where her guns can threaten a Kongo's thin side armor, while at longer ranges the thicker deckarmor of the older, but heavily modernized IJN ship may very well be a match for the plunging shells of the 12 inch guns of the USS Alaska. USS Alaska has a thinner deck, since she was only designed to defeat 8 inch shells, so the heavier 14 inch guns of a Kongo can defeat it.

Secondly the USN 12 inch/ 50 Mk. 8 is an expensive and untried weapon, compared to the reliable IJN 14 inch/ 45 of either Vickers Mk. A, 41st and 43th year type, such as mounted on IJN battleships, including the Kongo's. Compared to this, the likelyhood of the untried USN gun to operate smoothly during the first real engagement is very unlikely, as with all newly designed weapons. Older guns often are battletested and considered reliable, or they would have been replaced by more efficient ones before that.

Thirdly the USS Alaska is vulnerable to 14 inch fire at all ranges, while a Kongo is only at short range vulnerable to the 12 inch guns of the USN ship, meaning the USN ship needs to get close to her target. (Kongo refit has a main armored deck up to 5 inch thick, while USS Alaska only has 4 inch at the thickest over her magazines.) This makes a Kongo a good protected vessel against plunging shells of up to her own 14 inch caliber, and certainly against the slightly smaller 12 inch superheavy USN shell of the Alaska's. Equally 4 inch deckarmor is not giving much protection against 14 inch shells plunging nearly vertically.

Forthly, the USS Alaska was built to cruiserlines and only considered as a capital ship by other navies, while the USN did consider them to be cruisers, not capital ships. The Kongo's always had been considered capital ships from the day they were designed. Given the difference in concept the Kongo's sturdy hullform is like that of a capital ship, and the lightly built cruiserhull of an Alaska is not.