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There has been quite a few Pacific war based threads recently and this got me thinking

The Essex class CVs were laid down from Mid 1941 with the first joining the fleet in late May 43 and conducting her first mission in late Aug 43 (USS Essex CV-9)

Now I am an admirer of the Essex class but I cannot escape the fact that they were nearly 2 years late to the 'war' as far as the USN is concerned.

Given that for part of 1943 the USN in the Pacific was reliant on just 2 Fleet carriers and one of them was the "USS Robin"

Now what if the US like the UK decided to lay down new build carriers in 1937 as the treaty lapsed or even 1938

These would not obviously be Essex class (it would take several more years and operational experience before the design was finalised) - more likely they would be an improved Yorktown Sub Class - a 'Fat Yorktown' if you will somewhat freed of the treaty limitations but using an existing design for expediency.

Is this possible - could the US navy have had 3 or 4 more Yorktowns in service or in the process of Working up in 1941 and if so what differences would that have made to events in the pacific and elsewhere.

Would their have been enough aircraft to go round these and the OTL carriers?
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