USS Lexington (CV-2), nicknamed "Lady Lex",[​1] was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers built for the United States Navy during the 1920s. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which essentially terminated all new battleship and battlecruiser construction. The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet for her entire career. Lexington and her sister ship, Saratoga, were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successfully staged surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship's turbo-electric propulsion system allowed her to supplement the electrical supply of Tacoma, Washington, during a drought in late 1929 to early 1930. She also delivered medical personnel and relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after an earthquake in 1931.
History

United States

Name,Lexington

Namesake
Battle of Lexington

Ordered
1916 (as battlecruiser)1922 (as aircraft carrier)

Builder
Fore River Ship Building Co., Quincy, Massachusetts

Laid down8 January 1921

Launched3 October 1925

Commissioned14 December 1927

ReclassifiedAs aircraft carrier, 1 July 1922

Stricken24 June 1942

IdentificationHull number: CC-1, then CV-2

Nickname(s)"Lady Lex", "Gray Lady"

Fate Scuttled after the Battle of the Coral Sea, 8 May 1942Shipwreck found, 4 March 2018

General characteristics (as built)

Class and typeLexington-class aircraft carrier

Displacement36,000 long tons (37,000 t) (standard) 47,700 long tons (48,500 t) (deep load)

Length888 ft (270.7 m)

Beam107 ft 6 in (32.8 m)

Draft32 ft 6 in (9.9 m) (deep load)

Installed power16 Yarrow boilers180,000 shp (130,000 kW)

Propulsion4 shafts, 4 sets turbo-electric drive

Speed33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph)

Range10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)

Complement2,791 (including aviation personnel) in 1942

Armament4 × twin 8 in (203 mm) guns12 × single 5 in (127 mm) AA guns

ArmorBelt: 5–7 in (127–178 mm)Deck: 0.75–2 in (19–51 mm)Gun turrets: 0.75 in (19 mm)Bulkheads: 5–7 in (127–178 mm)

Aircraft carried78Aviation facilities1 Aircraft catapult

Lexington was at sea when the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941, ferrying fighter aircraft to Midway Island. Her mission was canceled and she returned to Pearl Harbor a week later. After a few days, she was sent to create a diversion from the force en route to relieve the besieged Wake Island garrison by attacking Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands. The island surrendered before the relief force got close enough, and the mission was canceled. A planned attack on Wake Island in January 1942 had to be canceled when a submarine sank the oiler required to supply the fuel for the return trip. Lexington was sent to the Coral Sea the following month to block any Japanese advances into the area. The ship was spotted by Japanese search aircraft while approaching Rabaul, New Britain, but her aircraft shot down most of the Japanese bombers that attacked her. Together with the carrier Yorktown, she successfully attacked Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Guinea in early March.
Lexington was quickly refitted in Pearl Harbor at the end of the month and rendezvoused with Yorktown in the Coral Sea in early May. A few days later the Japanese began Operation Mo, the invasion of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and the two American carriers attempted to stop the invasion forces. They sank the light aircraft carrier Shōhō on 7 May during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but did not encounter the main Japanese force of the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku until the next day. Aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown badly damaged Shōkaku, but the Japanese aircraft crippled Lexington. A mixture of air and aviation gasoline in her improperly drained aircraft fueling trunk lines (which ran from the keel tanks to her hangar deck) ignited, causing a series of explosions and fires that could not be controlled. Lexington was scuttled by an American destroyer during the evening of 8 May to prevent her capture. The ship's wreck was located on 4 March 2018 by RV Petrel, which was part of an expedition funded by Paul Allen.