Which of the following sorting algorithms in its typical implementation gives best performance when applied on an array which is sorted or almost sorted (maximum 1 or two elements are misplaced).

The sorting algorithm that gives the best performance when applied on an array which is sorted or almost sorted is the Insertion Sort.

Here's why:

1. Insertion sort works by comparing each item in the list with the item next to it, and swapping them if required.

2. In the best-case scenario, which is when the list is already sorted, the complexity of insertion sort is O(n). This is because it only needs to go through the list once to confirm that it is sorted.

3. In the case where the list is almost sorted (maximum 1 or two elements are misplaced), insertion sort still performs very well. It will only need to make a few swaps to sort the list, so the time complexity remains close to O(n).

4. Other sorting algorithms like Quick Sort, Merge Sort, Heap Sort have a best case time complexity of O(n log n), which is worse than the best case for Insertion Sort.

So, for a sorted or almost sorted array, Insertion Sort typically provides the best performance.