Lexington conversions and Japan's large-carrier option

Conversion rules make it likely that the United States still completes Lexington and Saratoga as carriers. Japan's 231,000-ton allowance, meanwhile, could support seven nominal 33,000-ton ships, with actual displacement perhaps creeping toward roughly 35,000 tons. Contemporary Japanese yards had ample experience with ships heavier than this, although balancing a carrier remained a distinct architectural challenge. The result is a counterfactual Japanese force of fewer but individually powerful decks, not a prediction that one exact design was inevitable.