Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 2:14:38-2:14:51

Carrier aircraft extended the battlecruiser's speed mission

The US Navy could view Lexington-class conversions as carrying the fast scouting logic of battlecruisers into the air.

BattlecruisersCarrier DoctrineFleet ScoutingLexington Class BattlecruisersUS Navy
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Question

Did the US Navy see its carriers as replacements for Lexington-class battlecruisers?

Short answer

To an extent: aircraft provided even greater scouting and striking speed than the battlecruisers the hulls were designed to become.

Notes

The Lexington-class battlecruisers had been designed around speed as a way to scout, concentrate, and influence a fleet action. Conversion replaced the ship's guns with aircraft whose reach and speed extended that function much farther. There is some continuity between the abandoned battlecruiser mission and the carriers that emerged from the hulls. The answer avoids claiming a complete one-for-one replacement while identifying the operational logic shared by the two types.