No, there's always sending in USS
Robin. And maybe a couple more like her.
That would be frankly unlikely unless Britain was also fighting the Japanese. If they were, I've always held that the British can fill in the gap until the Essexes turn up.
If not, then the British lending the US half the flight decks of the RN would look extraordinarily suspicious.
If it is a US vs Japan only war, Japan will be starved of oil before the end of 1942 because I can't see the British and the Dutch selling them oil when they are at war with the US.
I can see the Dutch doing it - especially if the Japanese pay well. The Netherlands would be neutral, and neutrals
can sell to either side.
By the end of 1942 in OTL the US was down to Saratogs, enterprise and Ranger. And they never let Ranger into the Pacific. Now the Japanese were not in better shape, but it's hard to see the US invading New Britain with the Saratoga and a few CVE's
And in OTL the Japanese had also had to divert attention into the Indian Ocean and securing the Malay Barrier. Without that draw on their resources they could potentially have a better 1942 in the Pacific. (Not guaranteed, of course, but it could swing things differently even if the multiply-contingent Midway of OTL still happens the same.)
And the other point about a fleet of CVEs is that they're a
lot more vulnerable ship-for-ship. Not only are they much easier to catch in surface battles, but they're also less capable of taking damage even per ton and they're less able to operate heavy aircraft (try getting a 1941-2 US torpedo bomber off the deck of a carrier only able to make 15 knots... it'll be a lot harder than an equivalent carrier able to make 28.)
Basically, I think that without the RN in the mix and with no Vinson-Walsh Act the Japanese aren't going to be rolled back until about a year later than OTL - that is, they have the upper hand for some months longer and then building momentum takes some months after that.