USS Lexington (CV-2)
_launching_Martin_T4M_torpedo_planes,_in_1931_(NH_82117).jpg) The Lexington , before 1929 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Aircraft carrier |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | January 8, 1921 |
| Launch | October 3, 1925 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| period of service |
December 14, 1927 - |
| Whereabouts | decreased |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
36,000 ts |
| length |
270.8 m |
| width |
39.7 m |
| Draft |
7.4 m |
| crew |
2951 men |
| drive |
turbo-electric, 4 shafts, total 184,000 hp |
| speed |
34 knots |
| Range |
9,500 nm at 15 kn |
| Planes |
90-120 |
The USS Lexington (CV-2) was an aircraft carrier of the US Navy and the lead ship of the Lexington class . She was the fourth ship to be named after the battles in Lexington and Concord , and the third operational fleet carrier in the US Navy after the Langley and Saratoga . The Lexington , which had entered service in 1927, sank on May 8, 1942 after several Japanese bombs and torpedo hits in the Battle of the Coral Sea .
history
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Planning, construction and commissioning
The Lexington was approved as a battle cruiser in 1916 along with five other ships . The construction contract went to Bethlehem Steel , on whose Fore River Shipyard in Quincy (Massachusetts) the keel was laid on January 8, 1921 . The Washington Naval Agreement , passed in February 1922, however, meant the end of the continued construction as a cruiser. On July 1, 1922, the order was given to complete the Lexington together with her sister ship Saratoga as an aircraft carrier. After another three years of construction the carrier on 3 October 1925 was launched ; the equipment work lasted another two years until it was commissioned on December 14, 1927.
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1928-1940
The Lexington was assigned to the U.S. Pacific Fleet and stationed in San Pedro , California , where it arrived on April 7, 1928. In the following years it was mostly used to train new naval pilots and to try out new tactics for the use of aircraft carriers. In addition, the Lexington took part in the annual major maneuvers of the US Navy off Hawaii , in the Caribbean , off the Panama Canal Zone and in the East Pacific .
In the winter of 1929/1930, the carrier used its generators to supply the city of Tacoma , Washington state with electricity for 30 days when the city suffered from a power outage. The Lexington delivered a total of around 4.25 million kilowatt hours . The US Navy received US $ 60,000 from the city council for this mission.
1941
_leaving_San_Diego_on_14_October_1941_(80-G-416362).jpg)
The porter spent the first half of 1941 training on the US West Coast, and in the fall he was transferred to Pearl Harbor . At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the Lexington was with Task Force 12 on the way to the Midway Islands to deliver naval aircraft there and reinforce the garrison there. Frederick C. Sherman , who had been in command of the carrier since 1940, immediately dispatched reconnaissance planes to track down the Japanese formation after the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor arrived. In the late morning the Lexington met with the aircraft carrier Enterprise and the heavy cruiser Indianapolis and from now on operated south of Oahu. She returned to Pearl Harbor on December 18th. She ran out again the next morning; this time their planes were to attack Japanese forces on Jaluit . On December 20, however, the Lexington was assigned to her sister ship Saratoga as escort, which should support the troops on Wake . After the fall of the American positions there on December 23, both carriers were ordered back to Hawaii, where they arrived on December 27.
1942
At the beginning of January the Lexington ran out again. Until January 11, she patrolled between Johnston Atoll , Palmyra Atoll and Hawaii to fend off any hostile attacks. She was then called back to Pearl Harbor, from where she sailed for Rabaul a month later as the flagship of Task Force 11 . The formation, which was due to arrive in New Britain on February 21 , was attacked by two waves of Japanese planes on the way there. Lexington aircraft managed to shoot down 17 Japanese planes . The patrols in the Coral Sea lasted until March 6th. Then Lexington joined Task Force 17 around Yorktown . The task force's planes attacked Japanese units in New Guinea four days later, causing major damage to ships and port facilities. The Lexington returned to Pearl Harbor, where it arrived on March 26th. As early as April 15, the carrier ran out again in the direction of the Coral Sea, where it again joined Task Force 17 around Yorktown . The association was supposed to prevent the expansion of the Japanese sphere of influence to the south and the endangerment of the supply lines to Australia and New Zealand .
Battle in the Coral Sea
On May 7, scouts reported to the task force that they had seen a Japanese carrier association. Lexington planes rose and sank the Japanese carrier Shōhō . An attack by aircraft of the two carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku , whose position was not yet known to the Americans, on the American unit was repelled by fighter planes and nine of the attackers were shot down.
_burning_and_sinking_on_8_May_1942_(NH_51382).jpg)
On the morning of May 8th, scouts discovered the Shōkaku . The Japanese aircraft carrier was badly damaged in the subsequent attack by Lexington bombers and torpedo planes. At 11 a.m., Japanese planes broke through the American defenses. 20 minutes later, the Lexington was hit by two torpedoes on the starboard side within a short time . Almost at the same time she was hit by three bombs , which triggered several heavy fires on board and caused the ship to heel to starboard. By around 1:00 p.m., the fires appeared to be under control and the Lexington began flight operations to take planes back on board. A short time later, however, a severe explosion shook the carrier, fuel vapors had ignited in a smoldering fire. The fire that broke out quickly got out of hand and at 3:58 p.m. Captain Sherman ordered that all crew members should assemble on the flight deck. At 5:07 p.m. he ordered the porter to be abandoned. Admiral Aubrey Fitch transferred his staff to the Minneapolis heavy cruiser . Captain Sherman and his first officer Seligman were the last to leave the burning Lexington . The attack on Lexington killed 216 crew members and more than 2000 crew members were rescued.
The American destroyer Phelps then fired six torpedoes at the burning ship, which sank at 7 p.m. after a final explosion.
wreck
An expedition of the entrepreneur and amateur researcher Paul Allen discovered the wreck of the Lexington on March 4, 2018 at a depth of about 3,000 meters in the Coral Sea with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and the research vessel Petrel . The remains of the aircraft carrier have broken into three larger parts, of which the main section with the keel rests on the ground and appears to be in comparatively good condition.
Individual evidence
- ↑ "USS Lexington" discovered off Australia: wreck at a depth of 3,000 meters orf.at, July 20, 2018, accessed July 20, 2018. - With underwater images from March 2018.
- ^ Wreckage found of World War Two aircraft carrier USS Lexington after 76 years. In: The Telegraph , March 6, 2018
- ↑ Video: Billionaire Paul Allen Finds Lost World War II Carrier USS Lexington. In: usni.org , March 5, 2018
Web links
- History of Lexington IV (CV-2) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
- Pictures of the Lexington. In: navsource.org (engl.)
Coordinates: 15 ° 19 ′ 59 ″ S , 155 ° 30 ′ 0 ″ E