Destroyers complete the carrier screen

A photograph of Langley, Lexington, Saratoga, and a four-stack destroyer illustrates the development of carrier screens. The four-stacker was among the strongest destroyer designs to emerge from the First World War, and its place beside the early carriers shows how naval aviation expanded the destroyer's role. Unlike a battleship or cruiser, a carrier could not depend on heavy armour and secondary guns to answer every close threat. If a Kongo-class capital ship penetrated the air screen, destroyer torpedoes offered the force a way to stop it quickly. Warning from the carrier gave the escorts time to form up, making reconnaissance and torpedo attack parts of the same defensive system.