Chapter · 25:34-26:53

The capital ships that might have followed Lexington

Without an arms-control halt, completed Lexington, G3, N3, Colorado, South Dakota, Nagato, Amagi, and Francesco Caracciolo programmes would have forced another round of capital-ship design.

Amagi Class Battlecruisers Capital Ships Fast Battleships Francesco Caracciolo Class Battleships G3 Class Battlecruisers Lexington Class Battlecruisers N3 Class Battleships Nagato Class Battleships Naval Arms Race Ship Design South Dakota Class Battleships (1920)

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Notes

With treaty limits removed, the question becomes what follows these programmes. The Royal Navy might field G3 battlecruisers and N3 battleships with 18-inch guns while the US Navy operates Colorados, Lexingtons, and possibly the 1920 South Dakotas. Japan adds Nagatos and Amagis, while Italy's Francesco Caracciolo class and possible French completions widen the competition. Designers would have to decide whether the successors still belonged among battlecruisers or had crossed into fast-battleship territory. Lexington becomes a starting point for an interwar capital-ship race that the treaty system prevented.