Although often paired with Courageous and Glorious, USS Lexington and USS Saratoga were substantially larger ships. Their nominal 33,000-ton treaty figure gained another 3,000 tons through allowances for torpedo defence and other protection. An equitable system could acknowledge that real benchmark and then divide a larger total allowance between fleet and light carriers. Using actual displacement rather than the paper limit would prevent the American conversions from becoming an unspoken advantage inside a supposedly common system.
Chapter · 46:52-50:14
Lexington and Saratoga set the real carrier benchmark
The American conversions reached about 36,000 long tons, making them a more honest basis for equitable limits than smaller British conversions.