The U.S.S Lexington, fourth
ship of the U.S. Navy of that
name, and second carrier in
the U.S. Fleet, sister ship of
the U.S.S Saratoga. She was
sunk on May 8, 1942, in the
battle of the Coral Sea.
The contract for the present U.S.S Lexington, the fifth ship of the U.S. Navy of that name, was let with the Bethlehem Steel Company on September 9, 1940, and the keel was laid at the Fore River Ship Yard at Quincy, Mass. on July 15, 1941. She slid down the ways on September 26, 1942, christened by Mrs. T. D. Robinson, who had christened the fourth Lexington.At the launching, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, who had commanded the old Lexington, predicted: "Today the new Lexington takes up where the old Lexington left off. May her career be full of glorious achievement. She will help carry out our pledge that freedom shall not perish from the earth." Finally, on Febuary 17, 1943, at the South Boston Navy Yard, Rear Admiral R. A. Theobold, Commandant of the first Naval District, accepted her in behalf of the Navy, and Captain Felix B. Stump, in the presence of Governor Saltonstall of Massachusetts, accepted her command.
Since her commissioning, the Lexington, fulfilling Admiral Sherman's prophecy, has participated in nearly every spent major operation of the Pacific war. She has spent an aggregate of 21 months in the combat area, at least 18 of which were west of the 180th meridian. Her planes have struck at Tarawa, Kwajalein, the Marianas, Palau, the Philippines, Truk, the Bonins, Formosa, Okinawa, and Japan itself, and helped destroy the power of the Japanese fleet in the first and second battles of Philippine Sea. Strong in gunnery as well as in air operations, in all that time, though frequently attacked, she received but two hits. Her record more than averges the fate of her namesake.
The story of the Lexington, like that of all carriers, is the story of her air groups. Her first and perhaps the most famous, Air Group 16, came aboard on April 23 in Chesapeake Bay, where she had proceeded after a fitting-out period in Boston. She engaged in practice maneuvers until May 11, then departed for a shakedown cruise to the Gulf of Paria, Thinidad, British West Indies. After four weeks in this classic training area, she returned to Boston on June 8th for post-shakedown availability.
The U.S.S Lexington, CV-16,
fifth ship in the U.S. Navy
of that name, sixteenth heavy
carrier in the U.S. Fleet,
sister of the U.S.S. Essex and
of all other Essex Class
Carriers, on de-gaussing
trials at the Boston Navy
Yard, shortly after her commissioning.
The Lexington was built by
the Bethlehem Steel Co.
at the Fore River Ship Yard,
Quincy, Mass., has a length of
889 feet, a width of 109
feet, and can make over 35 miles per hour. She was commissioned at the South Boston Navy Yard on Febuary 17, 1943.
After this period she set out for the Pacific. Passing through the Panama Canal on July 26-27, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on August 9 and reported for duty as part of the Pacific Fleet.
At this stage in the war the Navy had not yet captured the forward anchorages - Eniwetok, Majuro, Ulithi - which were all the "port" that fleet personnel were to see at a later stage, and task forces were in the pleasant habit of retiring to Pearl Habor between operations. The Lexington's first mission was such an operation- a-one day raid on Tarawa late in September, followed two weeks later by a two-day attack on Wake Island, the ship returning to Pearl after each mission.From November 19 to 24 she supported the hard fought landings in the Gilbert Islands, flying searches and a series of destructive strikes on Mille. On the twenty-third her fighters and fighter directors got their first chance to exercise their skills, with brillant success, when tewelve fighters accounted for seventeen out of a flight of twenty planes. The next day another twelve got twelve more. Ship and air group were now a smoothfunctioning combat team.
In the action report covering this engagement Captain (now Rear Admiral) Stump, said, "The Commanding Officer would be interested to know if, in the brilliant records of other Fighting Aircraft Units in this war, such a record has been equalled. It is probable that the courageous and aggressive action on the part of Fighting Sixteen, in promptly intercepting and shooting down twenty-nine Japanese planes, demoralized the Japanese Air Command in the Marshalls, to such an extent that they were temporarily unable to send any more planes toward the Gilberts while we remained on the intercept station, and by thus stopping air attacks from the Marshalls. Fighting Sixteen contributed an appreciable share to the successful conclusion of the conquest of the Gilberts."
After refueling, the force proceeded on their next mission, a raid on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls.Tough opposition was encountered and the Lexington rose to the occassion. Over the target, twelve Lexington Hellcats ran into approximately thirty "Zekes." When the shooting was over, nineteen enemy fighters and one "Betty" bomber had been destroyed in the air, and three "Bettys" on the ground. Meanwhile the bombers and torpedo planes attacking the shipping had damaged two cruisers and blown up a cargo ship. While returning from the strike the SBD's encountered enemy fighters and bombers and shot down six "Zekes" and one "Betty" on their way back to the ship. The total score of our group for this one strike was twenty-seven enemy aircraft shot down in the air, three bombers destroyed on the ground, one large cargo ship suck, one cruiser sunk and one crusier probably suck.Meanwhile, at noon, the ship underwent a skillful, coordinated torpedo attack by enemy planes. Two torpedo planes were first sighted by lookouts coming in on the starboard side. The Lexington immediately opened fire, the first ship in the group to do so. Intense and accurate fire from Lexington guns brought both planes down in flames, the first 200 yards ahead and the second 500 yards astern of the ship. A third plane was immediately sighted which closed to 1800 yards and dropped it's torpedo before being hit and crashing on the starboard beam. Within the space of a few minutes Lexington gunners had destroyed three enemy torpedo planes and had probably saved the ship - a feat they were to perform many times in the future.
Many enemy planes, however, escaped our fighters and retiring to their bases made preparations for a night torpedo attack. A full moon would be out to aid them and the evening promised to be lively. From 6:46 P.M. to 1:47 the next morning, the force was under skillful and prolonged attack, which culminated in a hit on the Lexington. The official Ship's History tells the story:
"At 1925 bogies began closing and the other Task Group began firing. Both groups were maneuvering at high speeds on evasive courses, and firing by the screen was continuous. To those with topside battle stations it seemed like a long-drawn-out, unreal dream, the ship silently steaming through the water, throwing out a brilliant phosphorescent wake, the moonlight reflected against the planes on the flight deck, and all the while the bright streamers of tracer bullets and the flash of five-inch bursts from the ships of the screen firing at unseen targets."
The day's tally for fighter pilots on Nov, 23 1943. Left to right: Ens. Ruckiske, Lt. (jg) Fleming, Lt. Com. Buie, Lt. (jg) Frendling, Lt. (jg) Whiteway, Lt (jg) Birkholm, Lt. (jg) Rogers, Lt. Kosciuski.
"At 2150 float lights were dropped in the water to guide the attackers into the target. At 2322 four parachute flares appeared on our port beam. They were beautifully placed to silhouette the ship, and it was obvious that we had been picked out as the target. At 2325 the ship opened fire; bogies were closing in fast on the straboard bow. A torpedo was seen to drop from a "Betty" on the starboard beam who immediately was heavily fired on but came in close and got away at high speed directly over the ship.""At 2332 the torpedo hit. The ship immediately settled five feet to starboard and lost steering control." She began to turn "in a circle to port, streaming a dense cloud of smoke from ruptured FS gas tanks on the fantail."
Temporarily protected by this accidental smoke screen, the ship fought to regain steering control. Within twenty minutes after receiving the hit the rudder was brought amidships through the use of an emergency hand-operator hydraulic unit which had been designed by Lieutenant P. N. MacDonald, of the Lexington and installed by her own crew during the last availability. This device which was a Lexington invention and a Lexington installation was largly instrumental in saving the ship from further damage by permitting a rapid withdrawal from the area, and is now a standard installation in all carriers of this class. Steering only with the main engines, within half an hour after being hit the ship was proceeding eastward at twenty knots. The entire retirement to Pearl Harbor was made in this manner.
Despite the damage caused to sick bay by the shock of the torpedo the Medical Department began receiving and administering to patients almost immediately. All hands in the Medical Department worked unceasingly until ten the next morning, at which time all patients had been properly treated. The flooded compartments were immediately sealed off and flooding to adjacent compartments was negligible.
After temporary repairs at Pearl Harbor, the ship put her air group ashore and proceeded to Bremerton for permanent repairs, arriving on December 22. About this time Tokyo Rose reported the Lexington sunk. Her loyal fans on board the ship felt her story was slightly exaggerated.
On Febuary 12 the Ship's Navy Yard availability was completed. Picking up Air Group 19, later to relieve Air Group 16, at Alameda, she transported them to Pearl Harbor, arriving there on Febuary 28, where Air Group 16 came back aboard. Shortly after, Task Force 58, of which the Lexington was now a part, shifted its base of operations to Majuro in the Marshalls, and the fleet entered on the longdrawn "atoll" period of the war.At Majuro Admiral Mitscher shifted his flag aboard the Lexington, where he remained until October 31. The problems of a flagship were unique and many. Never before in the history of naval warfare had so huge a fleet of ships been concentrated in one tactical command. The Lexington is proud of the part it played in helping this vast administrative oragization to function efficiently and effectively. The Air Department was leaned upon heavily for technical advice. Communications became a more vital and a more complex organization than ever. Lexington Combat Information Center (Radar-Radio) personnel established a reputation for dependability and resourcefulness which won great praise from Vice-Admiral Mitscher. The two outstanding articles for "Life" magazine on carrier war in 1944, "Task Force 58" and "Life Goes to a Party Aboard an Aircraft Carrier," were written from the Lexington. It is worthy of note that Commander J. R. North, Lexington Gunnery Officer, and Lieutenant Commander J. E. Eggert, Lexington C.I.C. Officer, were made permanent additions to the staff of Vice-Admiral Mitscher.
After a warm-up raid on Mille, the force engaged in a series of operations in great strength against centers of resistance in Japan's outer empire, operations which culminated in the landings on the Marianas in June. The fleet was already rapidly approaching the overwhekming size which was to smash through to the homeland itself in little more than a year, and Lexington men looked back with amazement at the comparatively puny operations of even a few months before.
On March 22 the force moved deep into the heart of Japanese waters to strike Palau, and on March 28 and 29 executed two days of damaging raids, followed by another day's attacks on Woleai. Anticipating a warm reception, all hands were pleasantly disappointed to meet only a few mild night attacks that did no damage.
While in Majuro after this operation, Captain Stump, who had commanded the Lexington since her commissioning, was relieved on April 10 by Captain Ernest W. Litch. On April 13 the force again sortied to support the Army's landing at Hollandia. Heavy strikes were flown on D-1 day, but it soon turned out on D day that oppostion was light; the force withdrew from direct support, and refueled on the 25th.On the 28th the force turned northward and stabbed at Turk, then the most highly respected of all enemy island bases. The first fighter sweep had scarcely left the deck on the morning of the attack when two enemy dive-bombers, eluding interception in the squally weather, made high-speed runs on the Lexington. The ship's batteries, again first in the formation to open fire, accounted for one, while the other, diverted by her fire, dropped a bomb that just missed her stern, and made his escape through the now widly firing formation. The first sweep found many planes waiting for them over the target, taking full advantage of cloud coverage. In the furious dog fight that followed, Lexington planes shot down seventeen with a loss of four. Other air groups did equally well, and for the remainder of the two days in which the force worked over this unhappy outpost, enemy air resistance was negligible. Except for one more dive-bomber, who also, of course, just missed the Lexington, no further attacks were made on the force.
On the way back to Majuro the Lexington was sunk-by Tokyo Rose, for the second time.
V. L. Prathe, ACMM, USN, in charge of plane handling crews in 1943. Every old Lex man will remember Prathe stamping on his hat, or telling off the Captain; and he will remember too, the peak of efficiency reached by the flight deck crews under his unique management.
The U.S.S Yorktown, as seen from the Lexington, on Dec. 4, 1943, while both were fighting off a Japanese air attack. The ship is surrounded by 5-inch bursts, many undoubtedly from the Lexington guns. One Japanese "Kate" can be seen flaming in the water astern (to the left). Another banks sharply high above the bow. A support vessel, wreathed in the smoke of her own guns, traces a long wake ahead of the "Fighting Lady". The next morning the Lexington was hit by a torpedo.
In the same engagement, on Dec. 4, 1943, off Kwajalein, a torpedo-bomber makes a run on the Lexington from the port quarter. He comes in low and banks sharply in right....and is hit...
Captain Stump interviews P. L. Sloss, S 2/c, one of the men hurt when the ship was torpedoed during the early morning of December 5, 1943.
After several more weeks at Majuro, the force moved out on June 6 to support the occupation of the Marianas. A surprise fighter sweep on the afternoon of June 11, suggested by Air Group 16, virtually eliminated air opposition over Saipan, and strikes battered the target for the next five days. Torpedo planes from Guam, however, continued to harass the force, and on June 15 staged the fiercest night attack ever experienced by the Lexington.At 7:07 PM our lookouts reported sighting ten twin-engines planes dead ahead and closing fast. When the Lexington opened fire with automatic batteries eight "Frances" were plainly visible on both port and starboard bows. The ship put up a volume of fire so great as at times to black the attackers from view, and brought five crashing into the water around the ship in flames. Two tarpedoes, however, were launched at the ship. Captain Litch daringly maneuvered her between them, and they passed th length of the ship close aboard on either side. Simultaneously, one plane, flaming and out of control, flew the entire length of the flight deck so close as to scorch the faces of those topside, and crashed off the port quarter.
In this swift encounter, gunners of the Lexington displayed the highest degree of courage and coolness. They destroyed five of the attacking planes without assistance from other vessels of the group and with assistance from screening vessels destroyed two more. "Life" photographer Eyerman described the engagement in "Life" magazine as one of the greatest demonstrations of self-denfense he had ever witnessed. By some miracle no ship was hit in this engagement. Tokyo Rose, however, claimed one carrier suck, this time for keeps. Which one? You guessed it-the Lexington. On the 19th and 20th occurred the famous "turkey shoot" at Saipan and the first battle of the Philippine Sea. The story of both is familiar; how the Japanese fleet came out of hiding to prevent the Saipan landings: how the Japanese commander instruted his planes to land at Rota after their strikes, thus doubling the range at which they could be launched; how his plan was foiled by concentrated strikes on the Guam and Rota airfields that reduced them to uselessness; how successive massed flights Jap planes were torn to pieces by our defending fighters, and the surivors, with nowhere to land, were shot down or forced down at sea, for a total destruction of over 400 "meatballs" in a single day; and then how, the next day, a scout plane sighted the enemy fleet, 340 miles to the west; how an afternoon strike was launched, in spite of distance, to drop on the enemy before sunset and, through intense AA fire, to sink one carrier, tanker and destroyer, and damage several more ships; and how, after dark, the exhausted pilots, their planes shot up and out of fuel, fumbled their way back to the fleet, and landed somehow on their carriers, or any other carrier, or in the water, in a wild melee that destroyed more planes than the Japanese had done.
Through all this, Lexington pilots and crew played their full part. Though her fighter planes were not in on the fattest interceptions, they shot down forty-five planes on June 19. Lexington gunners helped shoot down a "Judy." On the 20th, Commander Ernest Snowden and a group of twelve volunteer fighters agreed to arm their Hellcats with bombs and conduct a long-range search for the escaping enemy fleet. Though they never found the fleet for which they searched, they reached a point 450 miles from the ship before turning back, thus proving for the first time that fighter planes could be used on long-ranged flights of this type. The epic performance of Air Group 16 in the subsequent attack on the Japanese fleet is told in a vivid and skillful book, "Mission Beyond Darkness," By Lieutenant Commander Joseph Bryan, III, and Philip Reed. Nine planes and four pilots were lost in this engagement.
These historic were Air Group 16's last. After ten more days of "milk runs" over Guam, the ship was relieved and retired to Eniwetok. On July 9 Air Group 16, by now rated one of the top three groups in the Pacific, was relieved by Air Group 19 for a well-earned rest.
A Dauntless bomber silhouetted against the reaf of Majuro Atoll, May, 1944. These dependable planes were replaced by Helldivers in July.
Left photo: Woleai burns after the Lexington's visits. The airstrips are pockmarked with hits. One last bomb explodes in the foreground. Right photo: A Japanese freighter caught off Palau, crippled and burning.
On April 26, 1944, the Lexington, refueling for the strike on Turk, found herself at the confluence of Japanese searches from Guam, Palau, and Biak, and her Combat Air Patrol shot down a total of 5 Bettys. Some survivors were picked up by destroyers and brought aboard the Lexington for an interview with Flag officers. A typical specimen is inspected at the left. The man below was severely
wounded and tended by a corpsman.
Early in the morning of April 29, the first day of the attack on Turk, two "Judys" (Japanese skip-bombers) burst out of a rain squall 6000 yards off the port bow of the Lexington, almost without warning, and make low, fast runs on the ship. The Lexington was the first to indentify them and open fire.
One (above) was received with a hail of flak and plunged to his death off the port quarter. The other made his run, dropped his bombs, which fell just astern of the ship, and got away in the heavy clouds. Four stills, much enlarged, of a 16 mm. movie record of this run, appeared below.
UNIDENTIFIED SHOTS FROM THE FILES
A stricken Jap falls (above) and explodes
(below), as the gunners at their battle stations
look on. Note the plane and the destroyer
in the background. In the second picture they
have hardly moved. Air warfare moves fast!
MORE UNIDENTIFIED SHOTS
A "Jill" makes a torpedo run through a storm of 5-inch and automatic fire. The run is successful, but he fails to drop his torpedos, and passes harmlessly close aboard. This sequence, which was used in "The Fighting Lady", may not have originated on the Lexington.
 |
 |
