Lexington conversions and the Admiral-class response

If the United States kept two Lexingtons as battlecruisers and converted two into carriers, how might the Royal Navy have changed its Admiral-class and G3 plans?

The preferred scenario converts three Admirals into carriers and builds two new 16-inch battlecruisers instead of completing older Admirals for a less useful battlecruiser role.

A listener proposes that if the United States retained two Lexington-class battlecruisers and converted two sisters into carriers, Britain might answer with more Admiral-class ships rather than the G3 design. The preferred response in this counterfactual converts three Admirals into aircraft carriers and authorizes two new 16-inch battlecruisers. An unfinished Admiral could serve an emerging carrier role, while completing an older battlecruiser design looked less useful. New battlecruisers would then let the Royal Navy answer the American capital ships with a design chosen for the altered strategic situation. The exchange separates treaty arithmetic from institutional judgment about which hulls were worth converting or completing.