USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier Found 2 Miles Down In Coral Sea.

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

New Cigars




PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Status
Not open for further replies.

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
Eleven aircraft found on board, the whole being in remarkable condition considering how long she has been there......I believe I can see the rifling still in one of the gun barrels!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-43296489
Regards,
Jay.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,219
5,339
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
The USS Lexington (CV-2), a converted battle cruiser, was one of three aircraft carriers assigned to the Pacific Fleet. It survived the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor because two days earlier it had departed there as a part of Task Force 12 to ferry dive bomber aircraft to Midway Island. On May 8, 1942 during the Battle of the Coral Sea the ship sustained fatal damage and was deliberately scuttled by torpedoes from a U.S. destroyer.
The two other aircraft carriers assigned to the Pacific Fleet were the USS Enterprise (CV-6) which was at sea at the time of the attack, having just completed delivery of a Marine Fighter Squadron to Wake Island; at that same time the USS Saratoga (CV-3) was just entering the harbor at San Diego, California to pick up her air group which had been training while the ship was being refitted at the Bremerton Navy Yard.

 

mikethompson

Lifer
Jun 26, 2016
11,292
23,327
Near Toronto, Ontario, Canada
_100290673_t-8.png

remarkable is an understatement - look at this plane! Doesn't look like its been there for 70+ years at all.

 

zack24

Lifer
May 11, 2013
1,726
2
I think the key to the great condition is that at 11,000 feet, there is no growth...and cold water....

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
I'm glad it was scuttled and not sunk outright, and I hope there aren't many or any entombed. Amazing that there is that much of an airplane left.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,219
5,339
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
I'm glad it was scuttled and not sunk outright, and I hope there aren't many or any entombed...
According to the Report of the Executive Officer (Comdr. M.T. Seligman, and dated May 14, 1942), "All records having been destroyed, and at this writing the exact number of losses can only be estimated, but it is believed that the total will not be more than twenty five officers and one hundred ninety men."
God bless them all.

 

tslex

Lifer
Jun 23, 2011
1,482
13
An amazing find.
God rest all the souls of the men who still call her home.

 

huntertrw

Lifer
Jul 23, 2014
5,219
5,339
The Lower Forty of Hill Country
I believe I can see the rifling still in one of the gun barrels!
According to the Wikipedia citation for the USS Lexington, CV-2, "When the ship was sunk in May 1942, her armament consisted of 12 five-inch, 12 quadruple 1.1-inch, 22 Oerlikons and at least two dozen .50-caliber machine guns."

 

madox07

Lifer
Dec 12, 2016
1,823
1,689
So I am guessing this is not the same uss Lexington anchored in corpus Christi Texas?

 

madox07

Lifer
Dec 12, 2016
1,823
1,689
USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), nicknamed "The Blue Ghost", is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built during World War II for the United States Navy. Originally intended to be named Cabot, word arrived during construction that USS Lexington (CV-2) had been lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The new aircraft carrier was renamed while under construction to commemorate the earlier ship;[4] the previous Lexington was later found in March 2018. [5] She was the fifth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name in honor of the Revolutionary War battle of Lexington
So it seems that there were two of them, mystery solved.. did not know that.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Watch your car odometer and notice how far two miles down would be. Horizontally, it' s a ways. Vertically, with the pressure, it's endless.

 

tslex

Lifer
Jun 23, 2011
1,482
13
Madox, CVT-16, now in Corpus Christi, enjoyed a long post-war career as a training carrier. For many of a generation of naval aviators, the first carrier on which they ever landed.
Fun bit of trivia: I "enjoyed" my one and only landing on an aircraft carrier onto the storied flight deck of CVT-16 in the back of a Gruman C-2.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.