US Pacific needs point toward earlier battlecruisers

Would you slow the US battleship program before World War I to build more cruisers?

He would push earlier battlecruisers, because Pacific operations against Japan needed scouting speed and maneuver more than extra conventional cruisers.

The Atlantic offered the United States few likely opponents unless it fought Britain, while Japan made the Pacific a maneuver-war problem. The fleet therefore needed scouting and fast forces that could fix the enemy and disrupt its plans. An earlier Lexington-type battlecruiser, possibly with triple 14-inch turrets, would meet that requirement better than additional conventional cruisers.