Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 17 text:

program was authorized for the construction of six battle cruisers. One of those, scheduled to be christened Constitution, had a contract for her hull and machinery signed April 20, 1917, al- though was not started immediately. December 10 of that year, the name of the proposed ship was changed to Lexington and her keel was final- ly laid at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts january 8, 1921. Construction was approximately one-third complete at the time of the Limitation of Arma- ment Conference in Washington early the follow- ing year. Building was suspended February 8 in accordance with this treaty's provisions for curbing naval armaments. On july 1, however, conversion of Lexington was authorized by Con- gress, and work on the ship resumed twelve days later. The makeshift pioneer carrier Langley partici- pated in maneuvers early in 1925, and her show- ing was so impressive that the first regularly designed flattops, Saratoga and Lexington were rushed to completion. The latter was launched October 3 of the same year, under the sponsor- ship of Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Designated CV-2, the United States' second aircraft carrier was placed in commission Decem- The United States Navy contracted for hah' a dozen battle cruisers during World War L but as one of them, Lex- ington, was being constructed in the post-war period the Limitation ofArma- ment Conference ensued and plans had to he changed The vessel instead be- came C V-.2 one of our earliest aircrah carriers. When commissioned in 1922 she was the heaviest ship ever launched ber 14, 1927 under Captain Albert W. Marshall, USN. At the time of launching, Lexington was the heaviest ship ever to hit the water, and be- cause her characteristics were unique for an American vessel at that time, perhaps they bear mentioning. She was 888 feet long, with a flight deck extending 900 feet-over the entire top of the ship from stem to stern and free of all ob- structions with the exception of the 6'island on the starboard side. This island contained a massive combined funnel enclosure, masts, up- takes, turrets and the superstructure. To make up for the preponderance of weight on the star- board side, quantities of oil, gasoline and water were carried on the port side, with sea water be- 15

Page 16 text:

. . .......... ., . - - gm'-FF'-Srfrww-. -vw' ' T' -.neva-.-nsxhimeemrfzizu - -0-----f-2' ' V - - f '1 g ' mm-w .mrs wpuunzmeamwv--qemmm-dnmnxvusrmm Ecore. 'The gunboats, therefore, had little choice but to return down river since they would have no infantry to dislodge the Confederate batteries which could be mounted on the river banks. On the return voyage they were constantly taken under fire by the enemy from every assailable shore point. In addition, the speed required to maintain steering control in the hazardous cur- rent of the narrow, winding river increased the danger. Many of the vessels hit floating logs, there were several collisions and a few ran aground. Near Blairis Plantation on April 12 the fleet was attacked from the rear by three pieces of Confederate artillery and two brigades of dis- mounted cavalry, numbering more than 1,500 men, who nearly succeeded in cutting off the ex- pedition. During the morning Lexington collided with the transport Rob Roy, resulting in damage to the gunboat's chimneys, it also caved in her Wheelhouse, and she was forced to lay to awhile for repairs. When the ironclad Osage, protecting the trans- port Aliee Vivian was attacked bynthis force, Lexington steamed past all the vessels of the fleet to her assistance. Lieutenant Bache later widen- ed the distance between the two gunboats, open- ing a deadly crossfire on the Confederates and quickly knocking over two artillery pieces they had brought up. Force after force of Confed- erates stormed the edge of the river bank to con- front the guns of the two vessels and Lex, in her maneuvers to destroy the Confederate artillery, passed under the musketry fire of some 1,500 men at a distance of twenty feet. The effective crossfire soon decided the extraordinary fight between infantry and gunboats, however, as the Confederates, blitzed by canister shot, finally fled in haste, leaving the space of a mile covered with dead and wounded. Upon reaching Grand Ecore the fleet was greet- ed with new difficulties. The Red River, normally high until late june, had fallen so much that the gunboats could not pass over the rapids, it seem- ed that the better part of the Mississippi Squad- ron was doomed to destruction as the Union Army made plans for evacuation. Lieutenant Colonel joseph Baily, acting engineer of the 14 Nineteenth Army Corps, proposed a daring plan for building a series of dams across the rocks of the falls and raising the water. A center opening would let the ships ride out on the crest ofthe water. On May 8, 1864 the dam had nearly reached completion but the pressure of the water became so great that it swept away two stone barges which swung in below the dam on one side. Seeing this accident, Admiral Porter jumped on a horse and rode to where the upper vessels were anchored, he ordered Lexington to make an at- tempt to pass the upper falls. Lieutenant Bache succeeded in getting her over the upper falls, then steered directly for the open- ing in the dam where the boiling waters threaten- ed her destruction. The gunboat 'cshot the gap in the dam under a full head of steam, rolled nearly to her beam ends, touched a rock, and finally plunged safely into the deep water below. Thirty thousand men on the banks cheered lustily at the success, and turned their eyes to the next vessel ready to attempt the perilous run. Neoslio started down, but her pilot lost his nerve at the breach and shut off steam, the ship was thus thrown sideways, knocking a hole in the bottom. Three more got through, however, before the water level dropped too far for others to pass. The labor corps fell to work again and three days later the remainder of the vessels had passed through, marking the saving of a Union Fleet valued at nearly two million dollars. On june 15, 1864 Lexington seized the Confed- erate steamers Mattie, M Walt and R. E. Hi!! with their cargoes of cotton at Buelah Landing, Mississippi. A week later, in one of her last sig- nificant acts of the War, she repulsed an attack on White River Station, Arkansas. The gunboat continued in service through the end of hostilities in April, 1865, however, serving as patrol vessel and convoy escort in the river campaign. She finally arrived at Mound City, Illinois on june 5, 1865, and with her military function as a gunboat no longer required, Lexing- ton was placed out of commission there july 2. On August 17 she was sold to Thomas Scott for 36,000 On August 29, 1916 a three-year building

Page 18 text:

am+nmewmmmvuwmans-msx pgpp, ,U ffm ., -2'- ' ing substituted as ballast when fuel or aviation gas was consumed. The ship had a beam of 106 feet, a mean draft of 24 feet, 1-1 X2 inches, and a standard displace- ment of 33,000 tons Qfull load displacement- 41,000 tons.j Armament was eight 8-inch 55 caliber breach-loading rifles, twelve 5-inch 25 caliber antiaircraft guns and four 6-pounder saluting guns. The carrier's interior was also unique for an American warship. There were storage places for aircraft as well as cranes and elevators to hoist them to the flight deck. The crew 's quarters were on the deck beneath the flight deck, the hangar deck was just below that, thus being protected by two upper decks. More than 600 compartments Qincluding accommodations for 195 officers and 1,927 enlisted menj divided the interior of the vessel and there were eight decks from the hold to the flight deck forward of the hangar deck. Designed horsepower was 180,000, propulsion apparatus being comprised of four 33,200 kilo- watt turbine generator sets. These were operated by steam from sixteen oil-fired boilers. Trial speed was 34.24 knots. Following commissioning Lexington proceeded to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where aircraft and aviation personnel were embarked. After fitting out was completed, and preliminary shakedown operations held, she steamed to the west coast to join the Battle Fleet at San Pedro, California, ar- riving April 7, 1928. Two months later, on a run from San Pedro to Honolulu, she broke the 24-hour steaming record three days in succes- sion. Other marks established on the voyage were for miles steamed in three consecutive days, and time for the passage-74 hours and 34 minutes to travel the 2,228 nautical miles. If the Navy and the general public were im- pressed by these feats, there were those who doubted the wisdom of maintaining such large warships. Representative Fiorello H. LaGuardia of New York was quoted by the pressin 1929 as describing Lexington and sister ship Saratoga QCV-31 as Ha 390,000,000 blunder, and add- ing, 'fLocation of either ship by the enemy would not only put the ship out of commission, but would mean the destruction of itslarge personnel, all its planes and its purpose. CTheyj should be de-commissioned because of their ineffici- ency. . . Looking gigantic during construction, below, Lexington had a flight dech ex- tending over 800 jhet. She drew nearhz 25 het of water Above, right, she churns through the water with her hi- planes clustered forward while below, one of them, an earbz Boeing jighten tal-ces off' aher a fast run down the flight declc.