United States Battlecruisers United States Battlecruisers Entries in bold indicate photos. The US Navy was encouraged to build battlecruisers because of British experience at Heligoland and the Falklands. But wartime priorities meant that none would be laid down in wartime. Subject to many design changes, they finally became victims of the Washington Treaty. Lexington and Saratoga were eventually completed as carriers.
All data is for battlecruisers only.
The Alaskas were designed to take on projected Japanese cruisers, which were never built. Officially, they were classed as large cruisers. As the Japanese ships were never built, only 2 of the Alaskas were completed.