Lexington (CV 16) - Naval Cruise Book

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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.

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Later that year, almost as if to prove her added worth against such charges, Lexington was dis- patched by the Secretary of the Navy to the city of Tacoma, Washington, which was suffering a severe power shortage due to a low water supply. Arriving there December 17, she kept the fires in her boilers going exactly a month supplying electric current to the city, 4,251,160 k.w.h. were delivered, and the city was subsequently billed by the Navy. A metropolitan crisis was averted by this unus- ual role and the ship was free to steam south for operations at sea off San Diego with Langley and Saratoga. After a brief stop in that port, and upon completion of a minor battle problem on February 14, CV-2 sailed with the Battle Fleet for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Operating from this base, the ship conducted maneuvers with the Army in the Canal Zone. Upon completion of this assignment Lexzngton proceeded to Norfolk Navy Yard to serve as a 18 public exhibit, following several weeks in that capacity she steamed back to the west coast to rejoin the Fleet there. Again in Guantanamo the next spring, she was available for extensive relief operations when a severe earthquake struck Nicaragua. Leaving the Cuban base on April 1, 1931 she steamed toward the distressed nation, sending off her planes on a continuous mercy mission supplying medicine and food, as well as transporting doctors, until the emergency was over. That year the annualspring exercises - involv- ing Langley, Saratoga, Lexington and other fleet units-were staged in Panama Bay. The follow- ing years they were conducted in the Pacific Q1932Q, between Hawaii and the West Coast Q1933j, on both sides of the Panama Canal Q1934j, in the triangle of Hawaii,the Aleutians and Puget Sound 1935 , the Pacific side of Panama 1936i and in the Hawaiian area 419375 C D . . . 7 . C , - ..