US Navy interested in building smaller aircraft carriers according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad dated 1931 no. 2

An item reported that the US Congress decided to built new aircraft carriers with a displacement of 13.800 tons. The US Navy thought that the USS Lexington and Saratoga with a displacement of 35.000 tons were too expensive in maintenance and that the budget spent for these two carriers was enough to keel 3 or 4 smaller carriers in service. The crews of the Lexington and Saratoga numbered 2.122 men, of the smaller vessels 1.526 men. The Department of Navy held a competition for designing a 13.800 tons carrier.