How a much larger Panama Canal would change US warships

What if the Panama Canal had originally been built large enough for giant modern tankers?

It would free US naval designers to build much larger ships and remove important Panama-based compromises from capital-ship design.

The Panama Canal limit was a major constraint on American warship beam, dimensions, and hull form. Building much larger locks from the outset would give US naval architects freedom to contemplate substantially larger capital ships. The panel rejects the most fantastical half-million-ton ideas but expects designs around the 100,000-ton scale to become more plausible. Even less extreme ships such as the Iowa class could avoid bow and seakeeping compromises imposed by the requirement to pass through the canal while serving in the Pacific.