[PAR35]

4 US Carriers in the Pacific

Enterprise
Yorktown (until April, 1941)
Saratoga (undergoing refit in Bremerton until April 1941)
Lexington?

In any event, at most 3 effective at any one time, and frequently 2 (Lexington was Pacific based but shifted around as needed for fleet exercises).

Langley by this point had lost its designation as a CV.

[CougarGA7]

At this point the Langley is a seaplane tender. She was reclassified as such in the late 30s. Her designation is AV-3 now. I still look at her future sinking as the first American carrier loss though. Even though she was no longer CV-1.

[BroJoeK]

PAR35: "Enterprise
Yorktown (until April, 1941)
Saratoga (undergoing refit in Bremerton until April 1941)
Lexington?"

On December 7, 1941:

1. Halsey's Enterprise was just returning from delivering aircraft to Wake Island.
   Halsey was fully prepared for battle.

2. Yorktown was serving in the Atlantic.
   After Pearl Harbor, she was immediately transferred back to the Pacific, becoming the flagship for Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's Task Force 17.

3. Saratoga was still in refit on the West Coast.

4. Admiral John Newton's Lexington was steaming towards Midway to deliver deliver aircraft there.
   Newton was clueless.