Lexington (CVA 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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The Pacific campaign confinued aT a ferocious pace, and The Old Girls parf in The fighf was To be shorT-lived. On May 5, LEXINGTON and YORKTOWN ioined forces in The Coral Sea, searching for a fIeeT of Japanese carriers. On May 6, The Japanese carrier force was also sfeaming in The Coral Sea in search of The American Task force. Early on The morning of May 7 everyone was up early. The air was full of Tension as The opposing forces groped Toward one anofher. Scoufing planes were ouT early. AT 0730 a YORKTOWN piloT reporfed sighTing a Japanese scoufer-The American posifion was now known. AT 0800 The news came Through- Jap fleeT-one carrier, Three heavy cruisers, six destroyers-180 miles, course 120, speed 20 knoTs. WesTnorThwesT. ThirTy minuTes IaTer The IasT plane IefT The LEXINGTON on iTs way To hiT The Japanese. Score: one carrier, a heavy cruiser, a Tanker and a desTroyer-sunk. The nexT day was LEXlNGTON's lasT. The opponents knew each oTher's posifion, and The Japanese carriers SHOKAKU and ZUIKAKU were in The area. AfTer LEXINGTON and YORKTOWN launched Their lasT sfrike aircraff, silence fell over The Task force. There was no doubf Thaf a heavy Japanese air group would aTTack, and each man waiTed for The inevifable. From The lMC:' KATIE TO CARRIER. BIG FORCE OF ENEMY AIRCRAFT COMING IN FROM RIGHT AHEAD. THEY ARE 60 MILES AWAY. All hands manned Their baTTle sfafions, braced for The aTTack. LEXINGTON was sfeaming on The edge of The Task force, wiTh no proTecTing screen. A V More Than a hundred enemy aircrafT flew over in The next quarTer hour, The maioriTy being Torpedo planes and dive-bom- bers. As fasT as iT had begun iT was over-The TlrsT engagemenl' beTween ships wiThouT having even seen each oTher. LEXINGTON was noT so forTunaTe, for she had been The obiecT of The aTTack. DUTY-An artist's conception shows the fourth USS Lexing- ton, CV-2, tied alongside a pier in Tacoma where she was ordered in 1928 to stand by and supply power to that city then suffering from a severe power shortage. The Lexington was the only ship in the area at that time with facilities for supplying the needed power. . D 5

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ANOTHER LEXINGTON fourth since the early days of AmerlCG lt was first authorized as a battle cruiser In August l9l6 Then in accordance with the terms of the Washington Treaty for Limitc tion of Armaments was converted to an aircraft carrier and launch ed on October 3 l925 at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy Massachusetts USS LEXINGTON CCV 21 and her sister ship USS SARATOGA CCV 31 were the tlrst carriers except for the experimental LANGLEY At the tlme of her launching LEXINGTON was the heaviest ship ever bullt She started her early days ln a hls torlc mood settmg varlous speed and perseverance records 21 IITIWII era steam, aircraft One particular boatswains mate aboard LEXINGTON from l925 to when she was sunk at the Battle of the Coral Sea in T942 once wrote in the ships paper: This is not a history by any means but perhaps I should tell of a couple high points in the LEXs career. In the winter of l929 the Pacific Northwest had a very severe cold spell. Because of the freezing conditions the hydro- electric power supply of Tacoma was cut off. Whoever thought of using the LEX for such a iob I don't know, but we steamed up there and tied up beside the Coleman dock. For three months her power plant furnished all that was needed for the community with some to spare. That tremendous power came into play again in T934 when it was decided the see what the old girl could do in a speed run. We left San Pedro and less than 75 hours later anchored off Honolulu .... The dear old LEX was tlrst in everything. Every war game the Fleet had, she came through in tlnding the enemy tlrst... At the outbreak of World War Two LEXINGTON was prepared to do her job. The men of this ship were exceptionally pround of her, and never called her LEXINGTON. She was always the Old Girl, the Old Lady, Lady Lex or the Big Girl.

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The ship shuddered violently tive times during The short battle- struck five Times in as many minutes by Torpedoes, all on The port side. Surprisingly the ship was holding speed, thpugh listing slightly. ln The bowels of The ship The Engineering Officer and his men were already pumping fuel from one side To The other Toveliminate The list. ln his summary The Engineering Officer said l would suggest, Captain, if you must Take any more Torpedoes, Take Them on The starboard side. Suddenly a shattering roar ripped Through LEXINGTON. Fires spread quickly and many men were killed in The blast. Fire parties manned Their stations but The confiagration soon surrounded Them and raged out of control. The crew fought The fires for hours to save The Old Girl. The injured were Taken To The hangar deck and immediately re- lieved by men Topside. By afternoon fires engulfed The machine shops where a number of l000 pound bombs were stored. AT i630 The Skipper ordered all men Topside To Abandon Ship. One particular group commander had his men gathered about him on The flight deck and was speaking To Them about The fortunes of war. One of his men approached him and reported that he had finished fitting an accessory on his plane's pump. Took you a long Time, The Commander said. Yes, Sir.. .had to draw iT from stores and had an awful iob getting To iT. There's a Terrible fire down There. ln another instance someone remembered to save The ice cream. Some fliers were using Their little yellow life rafts To escape. One crew chief got into a raft and started to paddle away. An OTTicer whistled To him and The man paddled all The way back. What do you want, sir? Nothing!-just wanted To say you look fine and that iT is only 4000 miles To Australia. The captain made his last round of the ship, Then started down a line in the after section. A tremendous blast lit up the twi- light sky and shook all the ships in the area. Clt was later learned that the captain and exec were on the lines when this occurred, and the blast shook them loose and dumped them into the water where they were picked up by some of their own men in raftsl. Much later a muster revealed that 92 per cent of the crew were picked up by the destroyers and cruisers. - The word was passed to evacuate The area, for The tremendous light from The fire would surely attract lurking submarines. The ships pulled out, and men lined The sides and watched The illumina- tion from Their great ship in The night sky. A destroyer was ordered to stand back and send Torpedoes into The LEXINGTON hull. When four Torpedoes belted into The star- board Sldef The great ship groaned and slowly settled. She did not go down head first nor tail first. The Old Lady died with great dignity. x