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Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington, Sunk During WWII, Found In Coral Sea
Internatonal Business Times ^ | March 6, 2018 | Suman Varandani

Posted on 03/06/2018 8:28:24 AM PST by C19fan

The wreckage of a United States aircraft carrier, named USS Lexington that was sunk by the Japanese during World War II, was found on the floor of the Coral Sea more than 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia. The carrier was discovered by a team of explorers led by billionaire Paul Allen, the U.S. Navy confirmed Monday. The ship, which was part of the Battle of the Coral Sea from May 4-8, 1942, was found in a remarkably well-preserved condition. Microsoft co-founder Allen released a statement Monday along with photos and a video of the carrier. ​

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: aircraftcarrier; carrier; militaryhistory; navy; shipwreck; usnavy; usslexington; war; wwii
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To: EQAndyBuzz
Built CV-2 and CV-3 as conversions from battlecruisers. When CV-2 was sunk early in the war, the Navy built CV-16 (the one now on display in Corpus Christi that you saw) as an Essex class carrier number CV-16.

CV-1 	Langley 	Langley (lead ship) 	20 March 1922 	27 February 1942 	19 years, 11 months and 7 days 	Scuttled and Sunk 65 nm south of Cilacap, Java 	[15][16][17]
CV-2 	Lexington 	Lexington (lead ship) 	14 December 1927 	8 May 1942 	14 years, 4 months and 24 days 	Sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea 	[17][18]
CV-3 	Saratoga 	Lexington class 	16 November 1927 	26 July 1946 	18 years, 8 months and 12 days 	Sunk in Operation Crossroads as a nuclear test target near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean 	[17][19]
CV-4 	Ranger 	        Ranger (lead ship) 	4 June 1934 	18 October 1946 	12 years, 4 months and 14 days 	Scrapped in 1947 in Chester, Pennsylvania 	[20]
CV-5 	Yorktown 	Yorktown (lead ship) 	30 September 1937 	7 June 1942 	4 years, 8 months and 8 days 	Sunk in the Battle of Midway 	[21]
CV-6 	Enterprise 	Yorktown class  	12 May 1938 	17 February 1947 	8 years, 9 months and 5 days 	Scrapped in 1960 	[22]
CV-7 	Wasp 	        Wasp (lead ship) 	25 April 1940 	15 September 1942 	2 years, 4 months and 21 days 	Sunk during the Guadalcanal campaign 	[23]
CV-8 	Hornet 	        Yorktown class 	        20 October 1941 	26 October 1942 	1 year and 6 days 	Sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands 	[24][25]
CV-9 	Essex 	        Essex (lead ship) 	31 December 1942 	20 June 1969 	26 years, 5 months and 20 days 	Scrapped in 1975 	[26]
CV-10 	Yorktown 	Essex class 	        15 April 1943 	27 June 1970 	27 years, 2 months and 12 days 	Preserved at the Patriot's Point Naval & Maritime Museum—Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, USA 	[27]
CV-11 	Intrepid 	Essex class 	        16 August 1943 	15 March 1974 	30 years, 6 months and 27 days 	Preserved at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum—New York, New York, USA 	[28]
CV-12 	Hornet 	        Essex class 	        20 November 1943 	26 May 1970 	26 years, 6 months and 6 days 	Preserved at USS Hornet Museum—Alameda, California, USA 	[29]
CV-13&  Franklin        Essex class 	        31 January 1944 	17 February 1947 	2 years, 11 months and 17 days 	Scrapped in 1966 	[30]
CV-14 	Ticonderoga 	Essex (extended bow) 	8 May 1944 	1 September 1973 	29 years, 3 months and 24 days 	Scrapped in 1975 	[31]
CV-15 	Randolph 	Essex (extended bow) 	9 October 1944 	13 February 1969 	24 years, 4 months and 4 days 	Scrapped in 1975 	[32]
CV-16 	Lexington 	Essex 	                17 February 1943 	8 November 1991 	48 years, 8 months and 22 days 	Preserved at USS Lexington Museum On the Bay— Corpus Christi, Texas, USA 	[33][34]

21 posted on 03/06/2018 9:47:40 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: Pecos

Actually the Shinano was to be a sister ship to the Yamato! But converted to a Massive Aircraft carrier. I think it was sank with ONE torpedo! There was NO crew to stop the flooding and the ship went down.


22 posted on 03/06/2018 9:48:16 AM PST by painter ( Isaiah: �Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,")
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To: EQAndyBuzz
If that is the Lexington, what is sitting in Corpus Christi with the name USS Lexington on it? It is CV16.

The previous LEXINGTON, CV-2.

23 posted on 03/06/2018 9:49:54 AM PST by 60Gunner (The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. - Plato)
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To: C19fan

that is cool news.

I have often wondered how long it would take to locate the Lady Lex. After Ballard found the Yorktown, this one was next on the list.

have any of the four jap carriers sunk at midway ever been found? Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu?


24 posted on 03/06/2018 9:51:49 AM PST by QualityMan (The Adults are back in town)
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To: KC_Lion

Wow. That’s amazing!


25 posted on 03/06/2018 9:52:33 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism.)
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To: Robert A Cook PE
My Uncle served on the Langley for a while. He was transferred off sometime prior to WW2, came home for a while, and then was called back to duty in 1939-they knew there was going to be a war according to him. He then served on another carrier which was sunk just after he was again transferred off. It got so that some would pay attention to when he was transferred, the crew who knew him would try like hell to get off also since since the ships he got off from went out and went down.
He ended his ww2 tour by serving on the Missouri and was present at the surrender.

One thing that gripes me a little is that men and women in the military today howl about being away from home for their tours for so long. He left San Diego just after Pearl Harbor and never saw his family for the rest of the war, a little more than 4 years.

Over 30 years in the navy.

26 posted on 03/06/2018 10:40:40 AM PST by crz
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To: painter
Actually the Shinano was to be a sister ship to the Yamato! But converted to a Massive Aircraft carrier. I think it was sank with ONE torpedo! There was NO crew to stop the flooding and the ship went down.

There was plenty of crew, 1435 of them were killed with only 1080 rescued.

Problem was a B-29 recon of Tokyo was seen by everyone in the city, they panicked and sailed Shinano to be completed in the Inland Sea without all the watertight doors fitted and unfinished bulkheads so water spread throughout the ship.

27 posted on 03/06/2018 10:42:30 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: QualityMan

http://www.combinedfleet.com/MidwayFind.htm

Pieces of the Kaga were found but none of the hulls of the Japanese carriers sunk at Midway.


28 posted on 03/06/2018 10:45:22 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: EQAndyBuzz
If that is the Lexington, what is sitting in Corpus Christi with the name USS Lexington on it?

We recycle names.

We have had three Bonhomme Richard, four Yorktowns, and working on our sixth Enterprise.

29 posted on 03/06/2018 10:50:02 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies!! Or maybe midgets....)
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To: Snickering Hound

OMG that landing deck is small!!!
Was it really “lost”? I think we all knew about where it sank.


30 posted on 03/06/2018 10:51:59 AM PST by 9422WMR
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To: 9422WMR

A trickier find would be Hornet CV-8 that was sunk by Japanese destroyers when it was abandoned after Santa Cruz.

American destroyers tried with 9 torpedoes to sink her but they didn’t explode and 400 5” shells. They had to flee the area when the Japanese showed up and finished the job.


31 posted on 03/06/2018 11:01:55 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: 9422WMR
OMG that landing deck is small!!!

At 866' by 105', the Lexington class carriers had the largest flight deck of any American carrier until the Midway class were commissioned after the war.

Bigger than the Yorktown and even bigger than the Essex's.

32 posted on 03/06/2018 11:09:57 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: Snickering Hound

Our torpedoes in the early part of the war were an abomination on our fighting man. Failure to detonate was a chronic complaint. Someone should have went to jail for that cluster*&^% they foisted upon our sailors.


33 posted on 03/06/2018 11:13:16 AM PST by sarge83
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To: ExNewsExSpook

George Gay later in his life would sometimes make an appearance at a Navy base. He had a story to tell. Sometimes an action that seemed futile in the short term has immense consequences.

The effort by the torpedo squadrons seems to illustrate that effect quite accurately.


34 posted on 03/06/2018 11:20:24 AM PST by whistleduck ("....the calm confidence of a Christian with 4 aces".....S.)
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To: Snickering Hound

As a private pilot who has flown a variety of small GA aircraft, I stand by my original comment!!
OMG that landing deck is small!!


35 posted on 03/06/2018 11:21:13 AM PST by 9422WMR
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To: sarge83
Our torpedoes in the early part of the war were an abomination on our fighting man. Failure to detonate was a chronic complaint. Someone should have went to jail for that cluster*&^% they foisted upon our sailors.

Problem was the Top Secret Mk 6 Magnetic Exploder on both the Mk14 in subs and the MK15 on destroyers.

So secret that they were worried about espionage and didn't test it sufficiently.

36 posted on 03/06/2018 11:22:13 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: sarge83

The only one my Dad fired from a PT boat circled around and nearly bagged the boat. Some officers were not too impressed with the ordnance bureau.


37 posted on 03/06/2018 11:22:47 AM PST by whistleduck ("....the calm confidence of a Christian with 4 aces".....S.)
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To: whistleduck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajlKvA48IXU

John Ford who filmed the Battle of Midway was given access to the Torpedo 8 squadron before the battle and made a short film.

They were wiped out and killed at Midway with only Gay surviving.

He provided the above film in 8mm for their families if they asked, some took him up on the offer and tracked down people with 8mm projectors so they could see their family members in their last days.


38 posted on 03/06/2018 11:26:54 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: ExNewsExSpook
Only Ensign George Gay survived, after an unsuccessful run against an Japanese carrier.

ENS Gay ditched within easy sight of the Japanese fleet, and had "the best seat in the house" to watch its destruction. A PBY Catalina rescued him after 30 hours in the drink. He went on to have a successful career in aviation, as Naval Aviator throughout WWII and then as an airline pilot with TWA.

ENS Gay on the right. Looks like somebody painted a weasel face on their torpedo.

39 posted on 03/06/2018 11:29:05 AM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: whistleduck
The only one my Dad fired from a PT boat circled around and nearly bagged the boat. Some officers were not too impressed with the ordnance bureau.

Early in the war PT boats were armed with ancient Mk8 torpedoes that were older than their crews and required heavy torpedo tubes.

Later they got new Mk13 aerial torpedoes that could be launched by simply rolling them off the side and they were able to mount more guns with the saved displacement.

40 posted on 03/06/2018 11:29:14 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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