_underway_at_sea_on_16_August_1958.jpg) USSLexington underway on 16 August 1958 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Lexington |
| Namesake | |
| Ordered | 9 September 1940[1] |
| Builder | Fore River Shipyard |
| Laid down | 15 July 1941 |
| Launched | 23 September 1942 |
| Commissioned | 17 February 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 23 April 1947 |
| Recommissioned | 15 August 1955 |
| Decommissioned | 8 November 1991 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken | 8 November 1991 |
| Status | Museum ship |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Essex-classaircraft carrier |
| Displacement | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 93 ft (28.3 m) |
| Draft | 34 ft 2 in (10.41 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 33knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
| Range | 14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Complement | 2,600 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried |
|
USSLexington Museum on the Bay | |
  USS Lexington  USS Lexington | |
| Coordinates | 27°48′54″N97°23′19″W / 27.81500°N 97.38861°W /27.81500; -97.38861 |
| Built | 1942 |
| NRHP reference No. | 03001043[2] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 31 July 2003 |
| Designated NHL | 31 July 2003[3] |
USSLexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16) is anEssex-classaircraft carrier built duringWorld War II for theUnited States Navy. Originally intended to be namedCabot, the new aircraft carrier was renamed while under construction to commemorate the recently lostUSS Lexington (CV-2), becoming the sixth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name in honor of theBattle of Lexington.
Lexington was commissioned in February 1943 and saw extensive service through thePacific War. For much of her service, she acted as the flagship for AdmiralMarc Mitscher, and led theFast Carrier Task Force through their battles across the Pacific. She was the recipient of 11 battle stars and thePresidential Unit Citation. Following the war,Lexington was decommissioned, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA). Later, she was reclassified as an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, in Pensacola, Florida, as a training carrier (CVT).
Lexington was decommissioned in 1991, with an active service life longer than any otherEssex-class ship. Following her decommissioning, she was donated for use as amuseum ship inCorpus Christi, Texas. In 2003,Lexington was designated aNational Historic Landmark. Though her survivingsister shipsYorktown,Intrepid, andHornet carry lower hull numbers,Lexington was laid down and commissioned earlier, makingLexington the oldest remaining fleet carrier in the world.
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The ship was laid down asCabot on 15 July 1941 byFore River Shipyard inQuincy, Massachusetts. In May 1942,USS Lexington (CV-2), which had been built in the same shipyard two decades earlier, was sunk at theBattle of the Coral Sea. In June, workers at the shipyard submitted a request to Navy SecretaryFrank Knox to change the name of a carrier currently under construction there toLexington.[4] Knox agreed to the proposal andCabot was renamedLexington on 16 June 1942, the fifth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name of theRevolutionary WarBattle of Lexington.[1][5] She was launched on 23 September 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson.Lexington wascommissioned on 17 February 1943, withCaptainFelix Stump in command.[5] After a shakedown cruise in theCaribbean,Lexington sailed via thePanama Canal to join the Pacific fleet.
One of the carrier's first casualties was 1939Heisman Trophy winnerNile Kinnick. During the ship's initial voyage (to the Caribbean) in 1943, Kinnick and other naval fliers were conducting training flights off her deck. TheGrumman F4F Wildcat flown by Kinnick developed a serious oil leak while airborne and was unable to return toLexington, crashing into the sea four miles from the ship.[6] Neither Kinnick nor his plane were recovered.[7]
Lexington arrived atPearl Harbor on 9 August 1943, and participated in a raid onTarawa air bases in late September, followed by a raid againstWake Island in October, before returning to Pearl Harbor to prepare for theGilbert Islands operation. From 19 to 24 November, she made searches and flew sorties in theMarshalls, covering the landings in the Gilberts. Her aviators downed 29 enemy aircraft on 23 and 24 November.
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Lexington sailed to raidKwajalein on 4 December. Her morning strike destroyed theSS Kembu Maru, damaged two cruisers, and accounted for 30 enemy aircraft. The carrier was attacked at midday by sixTenzan Torpedo bombers of the 531st Kōkūtai, two were shot down by flak while attacking the carrier, but the task force was ordered not to open fire at night as AdmiralCharles Pownall then in command believed it would give their position away. He was later replaced.[8]
At 19:20 that night, a major air attack began while the task force was under way off Kwajalein. At 23:22, parachute flares from Japanese planes silhouetted the carrier, and 10 minutes later, she was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side, knocking out her steering gear. Nine people were killed, two on the fantail and seven in the chief petty officers' mess room, which was a repair party station during general quarters. Four members of the affected repair party survived because they were sitting on a couch that apparently absorbed the shock of the explosion. Settling 5 feet (2 m) by the stern, the carrier began circling to port amidst dense clouds of smoke pouring from ruptured tanks aft. To maintain water-tight integrity, damage control crews were ordered to seal the damaged compartments and welded them shut, applying heavy steel plates where needed. An emergency hand-operated steering unit was quickly devised, andLexington made Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs, arriving on 9 December. She reachedBremerton, Washington, on 22 December for full repairs, completed on 20 February 1944. The error in judgment concerning opening fire at night was never repeated, as thereafter gun crews were ordered to open fire anytime the ship came under attack. Following this attack, the ship was reported as sunk by Japan'sTokyo Rose, the first of several such assertions.
Lexington returned toMajuro in time to be present whenRear Admiral Mitscher took command of the newly formedTask Force 58 (TF 58) on 8 March. Mitscher tookLexington as his flagship, and after a warm-up strike againstMille, the Fast Carrier Task Force began a series of operations against the Japanese positions in the central Pacific. She supported Army landings atHollandia (currently known as Jayapura) on 13 April, and then raided the strongpoint ofTruk on 28 April. Heavy counterattacks leftLexington untouched, her planes splashing 17 enemy fighters, but for the second time, Japanese propaganda announced her sunk.
A surprise fighter strike onSaipan on 11 June nearly eliminated all air opposition over the island, then battered it from the air for the next five days. On 16 June,Lexington fought off a fierce attack by Japanese torpedo bombers based onGuam, once again emerging unhurt, but 'sunk' a third time by propaganda pronouncements. As Japanese opposition to the Marianas operation provoked theBattle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June,Lexington played a major role in TF 58's great victory in what was later called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". With over 300 enemy aircraft destroyed the first day, and a carrier, a tanker, and a destroyer sunk the second day, American aviators nearly knocked Japanese naval aviation out of the war; with the planes went the trained and experienced pilots without whom Japan could not continue air warfare at sea.
UsingEniwetok as her base,Lexington sent aircraft on sorties over Guam and against the Palaus and Bonins into August. She arrived in the Carolinas on 7 September for three days of strikes againstYap andUlithi, then began attacks onMindanao, the Visayas, theManila area, and shipping along the west coast ofLuzon, preparing for the coming assault onLeyte. Her task force then blastedOkinawa on 10 October andFormosa two days later to destroy bases from which opposition to the Philippines campaign might be launched. She was again unscathed through the air battle fought after the Formosa assault.
Now covering the Leyte landings,Lexington's aircraft scored importantly in theBattle of Leyte Gulf, the climactic American naval victory over Japan. While the carrier came under constant enemy attack in the engagement, she was not damaged during the main battle. In exchange her aircraft served in thebattle of the Sibuyan Sea, where they assisted in sinking the Japanese "super battleship"Musashi, one of the two largest and most powerful battleships in the world (alongside her sistershipYamato) and scored hits on three cruisers on 24 October, including a torpedo hit that crippled the heavy cruiserMyōkō, forcing her out of the battle alongside two destroyers to escort her.
The next dayLexington's aircraft served in thebattle off Cape Engano against Japanese aircraft carriers. WithEssex aircraft, they sank the light carrierChitose and in conjunction withFranklin aircraft crippled the light carrierChiyoda (later finished off by a US cruiser task force consisting ofNew Orleans,Wichita,Santa Fe, andMobile).[9] Meanwhile, her aircraft alone sank the fleet carrierZuikaku. During the battle of the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942,Zuikaku's air group landed two torpedo hits that were the primary reason behindLexington (CV-2)'s sinking, thusLexington avenged her fallen predecessor. Later in the day, alongsideIntrepid aircraft,Lexington's aircraft sank the light carrierZuihō.[10]
As the retiring Japanese were pursued, her aircraft then sank the heavy cruiserNachi with four torpedo hits on 5 November off Luzon. Later that day,Lexington was introduced to thekamikaze as a flaming Japanese aircraft crashed near her island, destroying most of the island structure and spraying fire in all directions.[11] Within 20 minutes, major blazes were under control, and she was able to continue normal flight actions, as well as shooting down akamikaze heading forTiconderoga. On 9 November,Lexington arrived in Ulithi to repair battle damage while hearing that Tokyo once again claimed her sunk.Lexington suffered 50 killed and 132 wounded in this attack.[12]
Chosen as theflagship for Task Group 58.2 (TG 58.2) on 11 December, she struck at the airfields of Luzon and Formosa during the first nine days of January 1945, encountering little enemy opposition. The task force thenentered the South China Sea to strike enemy shipping and air installations. Strikes were flown against Saipan,Cam Ranh Bay in thenIndochina,Hong Kong, the Pescadores, and Formosa. Task force planes sank four merchant ships and four escorts in one convoy and destroyed at least 12 in another, atCamranh Bay on 12 January. Leaving the China Sea on 20 January,Lexington sailed north to strike Formosa again on 21 January and Okinawa again on 22 January. After replenishing at Ulithi, TG 58.2 sailed on 10 February to hit airfields near Tokyo on 16 February 1945,[13] and on 17 February to minimize opposition to the Iwo Jima landings on 19 February.Lexington flew close support for the assaulting troops from 19 to 22 February, then sailed for further strikes against the Japanese home islands and theNansei Shoto before heading for overhaul at Puget Sound.
Lexington was combat-bound again on 22 May, sailing via Alameda and Pearl Harbor forSan Pedro Bay, Leyte, where she joined Rear AdmiralThomas L. Sprague's task force for the final round of air strikes which battered the Japanese home islands from July-15 August, when the last strike was ordered to jettison its bombs and return toLexington on receiving word of the Japanese surrender. During this period, she had launched attacks onHonshū andHokkaidō airfields, andYokosuka andKure naval bases to destroy the remnants of the Japanese fleet. In the actions at Kure,F4U-1D Corsairs of VBF94 flying offLexington sank the hybrid battleship/aircraft carrierIse. Flying against heavy enemy fire, squadron commander Lester Wall Jr. dropped a 1,000lb bomb down her stack, exploding her boilers and breaking her keel in a conflagration matching that of the destruction of theUSS Arizona at Pearl Harbor four years earlier. The Lt. Cmdr. and several men in his squadron were awarded the Navy Cross for this action. She had also flown bombing attacks on industrial targets in the Tokyo area.
After hostilities ended, her aircraft continued to fly air patrols over Japan. The previously mentioned Lt.Cmdr. Wall first located and then led in supply drops to prisoner-of-war camps on Honshū that had been abandoned by the Japanese. He was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this mission. In December, she was used to ferry home servicemen in what was known asOperation Magic Carpet, arriving inSan Francisco on 16 December.
_leaving_the_Puget_Sound_Naval_Shipyard%2c_circa_in_September_1955.jpg)
Lexington was decommissioned at Bremerton on 23 April 1947, and entered theNational Defense Reserve Fleet. While in reserve, she was designated attack carrier CVA-16 on 1 October 1952. In September 1953,Lexington entered thePuget Sound Naval Shipyard. She received theEssex-classSCB-27C andSCB-125 conversions in one refit, being then able to operate the most modern jet aircraft. The most visible distinguishing features were an angled flight deck, steam catapults, a new island, and thehurricane bow.Lexington was recommissioned on 15 August 1955, Captain A. S. Heyward Jr. in command. Assigned toSan Diego as her home port, she operated off California until May 1956, sailing then for a six-month deployment with the7th Fleet. She based on Yokosuka for exercises, maneuvers, and search and rescue missions off the coast of China, and called at major Far Eastern ports until returning to San Diego on 20 December. She next trainedAir Group 12, which deployed with her on the next 7th Fleet deployment. Arriving at Yokosuka on 1 June 1957,Lexington embarked Rear Admiral H. D. Riley, CommanderCarrier Division 1, and sailed as his flagship until returning to San Diego on 17 October.
Following overhaul at Bremerton, her refresher training was interrupted by theSecond Taiwan Strait Crisis;[14] on 14 July 1958, she was ordered to embark Air Group 21 at San Francisco and sail to reinforce the 7th Fleet off Taiwan, arriving on station on 7 August and returning to San Diego on 19 December. Now the first carrier whose planes were armed withAGM-12 Bullpup guided missiles,Lexington left San Francisco on 26 April 1959 for another tour of duty with the 7th Fleet. She was on standby alert during the Laotian crisis of late August and September. Following this, she exercised with British naval forces before returning to San Diego, arriving on 2 December. In early 1960, she underwent an overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
Lexington's next Far Eastern tour began late in 1960, and was extended well into 1961 by renewed tension in Laos. Returning to west coast operations, she was ordered in January 1962 to prepare to relieveAntietam as aviation training carrier in theGulf of Mexico, and she was redesignated CVS-16 on 1 October 1962. However, during theCuban Missile Crisis, she resumed duty as an attack carrier, and she did not relieveAntietam until 29 December 1962 atPensacola, Florida.
Into 1969,Lexington operated out of her home port, Pensacola, as well as Corpus Christi, qualifying student aviators and maintaining the high state of training of both active-duty and reserve naval aviators. Her work became of increasing significance as she prepared the men vital to the Navy and Marine Corps operations overVietnam, where naval aviation played a major role.Lexington marked her 200,000th arrested landing on 17 October 1967, was redesignated CVT-16 on 1 January 1969 and was redesignated again as AVT-16 on 1 July 1978. She continued as a training carrier for the next 22 years until she was relieved byForrestal, andLexington was decommissioned and struck on 8 November 1991.[15][16][17]
On 18 August 1980,Lexington became the first aircraft carrier in United States naval history to have women stationed aboard as crew members.[18] On 29 October 1989, a studentnaval aviator lost control of hisT-2 training aircraft after an aborted attempt to land onLexington's flight deck. The aircraft inverted and hit the island with its left wing, killing four crew members (including the pilot of the plane who had begun an ejection sequence) and one civilian maintenance worker[19] and injuring seventeen.[20] The island suffered no major damage, and fires from the burning fuel were extinguished within 15 minutes.[21][22]Lexington was the finalEssex-class carrier in commission, afterUSS Oriskany had been decommissioned in 1976.
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On 26 November 1991, the US Navy turnedLexington over to the City of Corpus Christi. On 15 June 1992, the ship was donated as a museum and now operates as the "USSLexington Museum on the Bay" at 2914 North Shoreline Boulevard, Corpus Christi, Texas. A MEGAtheater (similar toIMAX) was added in the forward aircraft elevator space.Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003. The ship is carefully maintained, and areas of the ship previously off-limits are becoming open to the public every few years. One of the most recent examples of this is the catapult room.
The ship's World War II-era gun battery is also being partially restored using guns salvaged from scrapped ships. Most notable among these are 5"/38 DP gun turrets saved from the scrapping of the heavy cruiserDes Moines. They have been mounted in the approximate locations where similar mounts once existed as part of the ship's original World War II-era fit. After the coast guard cutterDauntless' overhaul, her3"/50cal gun was put on display onboardLexington.[23]
On 5 February 2010,Lexington hosted its 17th annual "Stagedoor Canteen".[24][failed verification]
TheNational Naval Aviation Museum, at Naval Air Station Pensacola, has a small carrier deck mock-up, whose flight deck is constructed from deck boards salvaged fromLexington.
In 1975Lexington served as a filming location at sea the feature movieMidway and again in 1987 for the TV miniseriesWar and Remembrance. In both cases, she was altered to the extent possible to resemble other vessels, (Yorktown inMidway andEnterprise inWar and Remembrance) by adding antiaircraft cannons and operating World War II-vintage Navy aircraft.Lexington was also used (though tied up to her pier) for filming of the 2001 filmPearl Harbor, where she was altered to resemble a Japanese carrier, as well asHornet.[25]
In July 2007, the popular TV showGhost Hunters filmed aboardLexington, looking for evidence of ghosts, and in December 2009, she was the subject of an episode ofGhost Lab, on theDiscovery Channel.[26]
In 2014,Pepsi used the ship to film a commercial in preparation for the 2015Super Bowl. The commercial, titled "Operation Halftime," featured country-music singerBlake Shelton performing for veterans and their families.[27]
The crew ofLexington received the Presidential Unit Citation for heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces, 11battle stars for major engagements duringWorld War II service, and other awards.
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This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
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