An inserted correction warns that repeated spoken references to the North Dakota class in this section mean the planned 1920 South Dakota class. Those battleships supply the battle line's destructive weight, while the Lexingtons locate the enemy and give that concentrated force operational reach. The analogy makes the battleships a hammerhead and the battlecruisers the shaft that directs it. This pairing was especially suited to Pacific distances, where the United States expected room to manoeuvre and could organise around a concentrated fleet. The comparison with G3 also shows why similar-looking fast ships can serve different systems: British battlecruisers had worldwide trade and imperial tasks, whereas Lexington primarily enabled the American battle line.
Chapter · 56:47-1:03:43
South Dakota and Lexington as a fleet system
The cancelled American South Dakotas and Lexingtons are read as complementary heavy battle-line and scouting forces for Pacific operations.