Saipan class replaced the emergency conversions

The Saipan class was conceived as the wartime replacement for Independence-class light carriers that planners expected to lose in service. Unlike the Cleveland conversions, these carriers received freshly built Baltimore-class hulls because a familiar cruiser form was expected to accelerate construction. They arrived after the war, yet served effectively well beyond their intended emergency. A practical, less tightly optimized structure can be easier to modify than a ship engineered around a single ideal solution.