Large carrier conversions expose the cost of using scarce tonnage

Article 9 allowed each treaty power two carriers of up to 33,000 tons and permitted the reuse of capital-ship hulls that would otherwise be scrapped. Lexington, Saratoga, Akagi, and Kaga illustrate the conversion route, while Britain could have considered a G3 or Admiral-class hull. Archival clues suggest that Cammell Laird examined a large hull for conversion, but the documents located so far do not name it. The argument for an Admiral rests on the hulls available at the yard and the approximate dimensions in those documents. That identification remains a strong suspicion rather than a demonstrated fact. The distinction matters because a tentative identification repeated in a book could later be quoted as settled evidence.