Would German battlecruisers redirect U.S. design?

Would one or more German battlecruisers have influenced the U.S. Navy more than several German battleships?

The proposals differ: one expects limited lessons, while another suggests an early fast battleship. The main constraints are U.S. scouting-force doctrine and the difficulty of turning a battlecruiser design into a battleship.

The proposed transfer of German battlecruisers produces competing views about American design development. JDP expects only limited lessons because German emphasis on armour conflicts with the U.S. Navy's fast scouting-force concept, represented by Lexington. He also identifies the shortage of modern American cruisers as a separate opportunity for a transfer. Another viewer proposes an early fast battleship of about 29 knots with 12-inch armour and eight 16-inch guns, using a German ship as a starting point. That is a hypothetical design, not an American construction programme. The objection to its British analogy is that the Admiral class remained battlecruisers and could not simply be turned into fast battleships once construction had begun. G3 came much closer to the boundary, but American thinking still separated the scouting force from the battle fleet. A foreign hull offered a design reference without resolving that doctrinal division.