Vacation 2007 - Page 4
USS Lexington CV-16
The
USS LEXINGTON, CV-16, was obviously a favorite for Tim. First Navy ship he's
been on since retiring in 1998. "Lex" is a World War II-vintage aircraft carrier. Commissioned
in 1943, she served the United States longer and set more records than any other
carrier in the history of naval aviation. The ship was the oldest working
carrier in the United States Navy when decommissioned in 1991. You could easily
spend a day on here if you checked out every display and really read all the
museum literature. Food on the ship was rather good for burgers,
sandwiches and such so plan on eating lunch onboard.
The Lexington was commissioned on February 17, 1943. After training maneuvers and a shakedown cruise, she joined the Fifth Fleet at Pearl Harbor. During World War II, the carrier participated in nearly every major operation in the Pacific Theater and spent a total of 21 months in combat. Her planes destroyed 372 enemy aircraft in the air and 475 more on the ground. She sank or destroyed 300,000 tons of enemy cargo and damaged an additional 600,000 tons. The ship's guns shot down 15 planes and assisted in downing five more.
The Japanese reported Lexington sunk no less than four times! Yet, each time she returned to fight again, leading the propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her "The Blue Ghost." The name is a tribute to the ship and the crew and air groups that served aboard her. After the war, Lexington was briefly decommissioned (1947-1955). When reactivated, she operated primarily with the Seventh Fleet out of San Diego, California. Although not involved in actual combat, Lexington kept an offshore vigil during tensions in Formosa, Laos, and Cuba. In 1962, she sailed into Pensacola, Florida, and began training operations, eventually being officially designated CVT-16, Navy Training Carrier. The USS LEXINGTON CV-16 was decommissioned on November 26, 1991. Corpus Christi is privileged to be selected as the permanent home to this national treasure.
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