Lexington (CVA 16) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 28 text:

..s:s.-sa , -ts-fy -arm. ssL.aw,4m ,..., sv f..,, ,-,- . . ,, W f y , , , ., , GLISTENING CUTOUT sign procaims days for the other shipls, ferries in the the season's greeting to folk of North harbor. Many rnen took advantage of Island, and at night, her island svvathed holiday leave. in f-nlmpwl Iighrs the Lex honored holi- GREEN GRASS FOR CHRISTMAS Coils Xmos Hos Everything But Snow N0 REINDEER, kids, Santa landed aboard the Lex in a Cougar. 18-ft. tree lighted hangar deck for holidays. Men lived it up on New Yearls: first air ops ahead. NX X

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'i' 5 With her first group of guests of the Secretary of the Navy aboard, and her flight deck looking like a well-heeled Used Car lot, the LEX left the rainy land of Mount Rainier for the sunnier climes of Southern California, arriving on November 8 at berth Oboe-Peter fthe new alphabet was not yet in effectj. Marching Bands and majorettes greet- ed the ship in a production slightly smaller than an Esther Williams ex- travaganza, but the biggest hellois of all were given by wives to their men, most of whom had beeen separated for four whole days. BIG HELLO for hubbies was typical of this welcome type of greeting. G , ! ' 4' 5 BIG HELLO for bachelors in the ettes was welcome slight for crew man- shapely forms of local school's major- ning rails to eyeball twirling batons. Arrives Nov. 8, Ship Gefs cr California BIG HEll0 BIG HELLO to San Diego from Lex sponsons, where sailors awaited the is obvious from jam-packed gun tubs, the word for liberty call.

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HOLIDAY ENDS LEX LOADS FDR LAUNCH WINGS FOLDED, a Douglas AD Skyraider is lowered aboard by San Diego crane. AN EXPECTANT MONDAY MORNING Gracefully the huge cranes swung the first planes the new Lex had ever seen onto her flight deck. Her hangar deck was jammed with men and equipment which were unfamiliar to a great many of the crew. The holidays were most definitely overg everyone seemed excited over the idea that the Lex was finally going to perform the operations for which she had been designed and constructed. Then, on a Monday morning alive with expectancy, the Lex pulled out of San Diego to begin her first week of carrier qualifications operations.