Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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.

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 19 text:

reg-A'-f --f---1-Y., m,+ef:f4n'fa, '4 jfuwfymh , 4, MN f f f W Af 2 f f 1 X N: y 'V , 1 , . .,',.,,f1m..N,..... Q Q Q Q f w ' . 1 , v v wc-4 ef vmvw