Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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while the other, diverted by her fire, dropped Q bomb that iust missed her stern, and made his escape through the now wildly firing formation, The first sweep found many planes waiting for them over the target, taking full advantage of cleud cover. In the furious dog fight that followed, Lex- mgton planes shot down seventeen with a loss of four. Other air groups did equally well, and for the remainder of the two days in which the force worked over this unhappy outpost, enemy gif ye- sistance was negligible. Except for one more dive- bomber, who also, of course, iust missed the Lex- ington, no further attacks were made on the force. On the way back to lvfajuro the Lexington was sunk-by Tokyo Rose, for the second time. THE LEX AT Tl-IE MARIANAS After several more weeks at lvfajuro, the force moved out on lune 6 to support the occupation of the Marianas. A surprise fighter sweep on the after- noon of lune ll, suggested by Air Group l6, vir- tually eliminated air opposition over Saipan, and strikes battered the target for the next five days. Torpedo planes from Guam, however, continued to harass the force, and on Iune l5 staged the fiercest night attack ever experienced by the Lexington. At 7:07 PM our lookouts reported sighting ten twin-engine planes dead ahead and closing fast. When the Lexington opened fire with automatic batteries eight 'lErances were plainly visible on Vice-Admiral Mitscher and Capt. Litch salute the crew at a presentation of awards. May. 1944. Woleai burns after the Lexington's visit. The airstrips A Iapanese freighter caught off Palau. crippled and are pockmarked with hits. One last bomb explodes in burning. the foreground.

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Rt. Captain Stump interviews P. I.. Sloas, S Zfc. one of the men hurt when the ship was torpedoed during the early morning of December 5. 1943. The wounded are transferred to a naval h 't attack' OSP1 al at Pearl Harbor. Nine men were killed and thirty-five wounded in this o l

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both port and starboard bows. The ship put UD C1 volume of fire so great as at times to black the attackers from view, and brought five crashing into the water around the ship in flames. Two torpedOeS, however, were launched at the ship. CGDTGUI Litch daringly maneuvered her between them, and theY passed the length of the ship close aboard on either side. Simultaneously, one plane, flaming and out of control, flew the entire length of the flight deck, so close as to scorch the faces of those topside, and crashed off the port quarter. In this swift encounter, gunners of the Lexington displayed the highest degree of courage and coolness. They destroyed five of the attacking planes without assistance from other vessels of the group and with assistance from screening vessels destroyed two more. Life pho- tographer Eyerman described the engagement in Life magazine as one of the greatest demonstra- tions of self-defense he had ever witnessed. By some miracle no ship was hit in this engagement. Tokyo Rose, however, claimed one carrier sunk, this time for keeps. Which one? You guessed it-the Lexington. On the 19th and 20th occurred the famous turkey shoot at Saipan and the first battle of the Philip- pine Sea. The story of both is familiarfhow the Iapanese fleet came out of hiding to prevent the Saipan landings, how the Japanese commander instructed his planes to land at Rota after their strikes, thus doubling the range at which they Could be launched, how his plan was foiled by Comeng trated strikeslon the Guam and Rota airfieldg tim reduced them to uselessness, how the successive massed flights of lap planes were torn to pieces by our defending fighters, and the survivors, with me where to land, were shot down or forced down qt sea, for a total destruction of over 400 meatballs in a single dayg and then how, the next day, a scout plane sighted the enemy fleet, 340 miles to the west, how an afternoon strike was launched, in spite of the distance, to drop on the enemy befgre sunset and, through intense AA fire, to sink one carrier and four tankers, probably sink another carrier, tanker and destroyer, and damage severql more ships, and how, after dark, the exhausted pilots, their planes shot up and out of fuel, fumbled their way back to the fleet, and landed somehow on their carriers, or any other carrier, or in the water, in a wild melee that destroyed more planes than the Iapanese had done. Through all this, Lexington pilots and crew played their full part. Though her fighter planes were not in on the fattest interceptions, they shot down forty- five planes on Iune l9. Lexington gunners helped shoot down a Iudy. On the 20th, Commander Ernest Snowden and a group of twelve volunteer fighters agreed to arm their I-lellcats with bombs and conduct a long-range search for the escaping En Alliaril 26. 1944, the Lexington, refueling for the strike on Truk. found Srse at the C'-mflUel'lC9.Of lapanese 'searches from Guam, Palau, and Biakf and her Combat Air Patrol shot dtown a total of 5 Bettys. Some sunflvofs were Picked up by destroyers and brought aboard the F-93411191011 for an interview with Flag officers. A typical specimen is m3PeCfed Gt the left. The man below was severely wounded and is tended by a corpsman. 1 I l i l Y 1 l1