Beags,
The USS North Carolina carries nine 16 inch guns.....and would have been capable of going toe to toe with the Tirpitz.
We have to remember the Tirpitz was at anchor in Altenfijord.....and not at sea.
The FSL had been told that.
As to disobeying Orders.....Pound was the FSL and thus the most Senior Officer in the RN....thus he issued Orders and everyone obeyed them. Is that not the way a Military force operates?