How many carriers were planned before Pearl Harbor?

How many aircraft carriers had the United States planned before December 1941?

Roughly fifteen were being contemplated as the Essex program began, but the order total had not yet been finalized.

The United States had already begun ordering what became the large Essex-class carrier program. Planners were looking toward roughly fifteen carriers, although the orders were not yet completely finalized. An expanding construction program was different from ships actually available to Kimmel in 1941. Industrial plans promised future strength but could not repair the Pacific Fleet's immediate three-carrier shortage.