To use a newer SSL/TLS version that what is available in Java 1.5/5 on VMS Alpha download BouncyCastle JSSE provider and use that.
Run Java with:
java -cp .:bctls-jdk15on-159.jar:bcprov-jdk15on-159.jar "-Djava.security.properties=tlsfix.security" ...
where tlsfix.security is a clone of java.security with BouncyCastle added as the first provider:
security.provider.1=org.bouncycastle.jsse.provider.BouncyCastleJsseProvider