 Alaska was authorized under the Fleet Expansion Act on 19 July 1940 , and ordered on 9 September . On 17 December 1941 she was laid down at New York Shipbuilding in Camden , New Jersey . She was launched on 15 August 1943 , sponsored by the wife of the governor of Alaska , after which fitting @-@ out work was effected . The ship was completed by June 1944 , and was commissioned into the US Navy on 17 June , under the command of Captain Peter K. Fischler . 
