Lexington's eight-inch gun problem

Would heavier Hawkins-style cruisers change what the Lexington-class carriers were built with?

He would rather see the US Navy build cruisers to protect Lexington than put eight-inch guns on a carrier whose real weapon is aircraft range.

Lexington is too valuable and too large to behave like a gunnery cruiser. Eight-inch guns spoil an otherwise good carrier because using them means interrupting flight operations and accepting an enormous target inside gun range. Aircraft range, rather than cruiser-style gunfire, is the carrier's proper protection and striking method.