The Washington Treaty did not yet impose the later London limits on cruisers below 10,000 tons. The United States could therefore have built additional cruisers to screen Lexington and Saratoga instead of making the carriers carry their own 8-inch defence. That alternative separates the protection requirement from the platform that had to satisfy it. Treaty interpretation left a force-structure choice between specialised escorts and overloaded capital ships.
Notable Point · 1:33:31-1:33:58
The Washington Treaty left room for carrier escort cruisers
Lexington and Saratoga did not need 8-inch guns merely because the carriers required protection from cruisers.