A third Lexington-class carrier

What if the United States completed a third Lexington-class aircraft carrier?

The hull existed as a possibility, but completing it requires a different treaty-tonnage outcome and would significantly strengthen early US carrier aviation.

The panel notes that more than two Lexington-class hulls had been laid down, so the physical starting point existed. Constitution, formerly Ranger, is identified as a plausible third conversion from its state and scrap value. A third large carrier would improve early US force generation and accelerate operational experience with big flight decks. The constraint is the Washington Treaty carrier allowance, which would need to rise substantially for the United States to retain another conversion. Any larger allowance also gives Britain and Japan room for more or larger carriers, changing the entire interwar settlement rather than adding one isolated ship.