For the U.S. Navy, three Lexington battlecruisers and three related carriers create a support system with common power plants, engineering training, manuals, and spare parts. That commonality is a major operational payoff of the counterfactual. The same pairing raises a design question: if a carrier normally works with a 16-inch-gun battlecruiser, heavy 8-inch carrier guns become less obviously necessary, even though extra displacement may let designers keep them.
Notable Point · 35:07-37:51
Six Lexington hulls become a logistics advantage
The U.S. gains a common Lexington machinery pool, but the paired battlecruiser-and-carrier force complicates carrier armament choices.