The Ships of Battlegroup: United States Lexington (CV-2 and CV-16)

Displacement	27,100 tons	Belt Armor	4 inches
Overall Length	820 feet	Deck Armor	6 inches
Beam	147.5 feet	Aircraft Complement	110
Speed	33 knots	Main Guns	12 × 5″

A popular name in the United States Navy, the fourth Lexington (originally CC-1 and then CV-2), was a 39,000-ton (officially listed as 33,000 tons as a treaty agreement) aircraft carrier. Originally laid down as the battlecruiser Lexington, she was converted while under construction. Commissioned in December 1927, the "Lady Lex", along with her sister ship Saratoga (CV-3), was large and fast enough to be capable of serious fleet operations.

She was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Her capacity for only 70 aircraft was accurate at the time of her loss, when the F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, which lacked folding wings, were used, which seriously reduced the available space. With newer fighters, her sister ship Saratoga (CV-3) could carry over 80 aircraft later in the war, although progressively larger planes eventually dwindled this capacity back to about 70.

The loss of CV-2 led to the renaming of the Cabot, a 27,100 ton Essex class aircraft carrier under construction. The new Lexington (CV-16) was launched on September 26, 1942, commissioned in February 1943, did her shakedown in the Atlantic and joined the growing Pacific Fleet in time for the raids on Tarawa and Wake in September 1943. In November and December 1943, Lexington participated in operations against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. During attacks on Kwajalein on December 4, 1943, Lexington was hit in the stern with a torpedo and required two months in the shipyards at Pearl Harbor and the West Coast for repairs.

Returning to the fast carrier force in March 1944, Lexington raided the central Pacific and New Guinea areas. She was the favored flagship of Admiral Marc A. Mitscher (1887–1947), commander of the fast carrier task forces, including at the climactic Battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf. She was damaged by a suicide plane on November 5, 1944 but was repaired at the forward fleet base at Ulithi. After further operations in the Philippines, Lexington took part in the February 1945 Iwo Jima invasion and in raids on the Japanese Home Islands.

Following a west coast overhaul, Lexington returned for the final months of the Pacific War, hitting targets in Japan during July and August 1945. After supporting the occupation of Japan, Lexington returned to the "48" in December 1945. She was decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington, in April 1947. Lexington was modernized and re-commissioned in August 1955 as an attack aircraft carrier (CVA-16). After five deployments to the western Pacific between 1956 and 1961, in 1962 she was transferred to the Atlantic to relieve sister ship U. S. S. Antietam as the Navy’s training carrier. For nearly thirty more years, Lexington operated in the Gulf of Mexico, training student Naval Aviators and maintaining the carrier qualifications of more experienced ones. She was re-designated CVT-16 in July 1969 and AVT-16 nine years later. Decommissioned in November 1991, Lexington was transferred to a private organization in 1992 and became the present museum ship at Corpus Christi, Texas.

For other Essex class aircraft carriers, see: Hornet, Intrepid and Yorktown.

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for the culprits. At one point in her career, every active flier in the United States Navy had qualified on the Lexington! WOW! Is that trivia or what?

Lexington (CV-2)