British and American exercises had explored fast mixed formations before the war. In this counterfactual, unbuilt Lexington-class battlecruisers serve with Lexington-class carriers as a U.S. Navy reconnaissance fleet. Their shared speed could have made carrier-capital-ship task groups more prominent earlier and pushed high-speed requirements beyond the Iowa class. The formation did not historically exist.
Notable Point · 59:51-1:00:18
A Lexington reconnaissance-fleet counterfactual
Pairing Lexington battlecruisers with Lexington carriers might have made high-speed mixed task groups a stronger American doctrine before the Iowa class.