USS Lexington "Blue Ghost" 1942 (1:1250 Scale)

USS Lexington (CV-2), one of the U.S. Navy's first two aircraft carriers, was commissioned in December 1927 at Quincy, Massachusetts. Operating mainly in the Pacific, she took part in fleet maneuvers in the Hawaiian Islands, the Caribbean, and off Panama Canal. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Lexington was transporting aircraft to Midway Island. During the December 11 attempt to relieve Wake Island, which was aborted, she was sent to attack Japanese installations in the Marshall Islands as a diversion.

In January and February 1942, her aircraft raided Japanese positions in th southwestern Pacific. Along with USS Yorktown (CV-5) in early May, she participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. On May 7 and 8, her aircraft took part in the sinking of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho and raided the aircraft carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku. The Japanese responded with aircraft attacks, which hit Lexington with two torpedo and three aerial bombs.

Following gasoline explosions, she was abandoned and scuttled by USS Phelps (DD-218), leading her to be the first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier lost in World War II. On March 4, 2018, on an expedition to the Coral Sea, the research vessel RV Petrel discovered the remains of Lexington approximately 2 miles uner the sea and 430 nautical miles off the coast of Queensland.


Name: USS Lexington
Namesake : Battle of Lexington
Ordered: 1916
Builder: Fore River Ship and Engine Building Co., Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down : 8 January 1921
Launched: 3 October 1925
Christened: Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson
Commissioned: 14 December 1927
Stricken: 24 June 1942
Identification Hull number: CC-1, then CV-2
Nickname(s): "Lady Lex", "Gray Lady"
Fate: Scuttled following incapacitating battle damage during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 8 May 1942
Shipwreck found, 4 March 2018

Class and type: Lexington-class aircraft carrier

Displacement:
36,000 long tons (37,000 t) (standard)
47,700 long tons (48,500 t) (deep load)

Length : 888 ft (270.7 m)
Beam: 107 ft 6 in (32.8 m)
Draft: 32 ft 6 in (9.9 m) (deep load)
Installed power: 180,000 shp (130,000 kW)
Propulsion :
4 shafts, 4 sets turbo-electric drive
16 water-tube boilers

Speed: 33.25 knots (61.58 km/h; 38.26 mph)
Range: 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 2,791 (including aviation personnel) in 1942

Armament:
4 × 2 – 8"/55 caliber guns
12 × 1 – 5"/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns
1942 armament:
12 × 1 - 5"/25 caliber guns
12 × 4 - 1.1"/75 caliber anti-aircraft guns
22 × 1 - Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
24 × 1 - .50 caliber machine guns

Armor:
Belt: 5–7 in (127–178 mm)
Deck: .75–2 in (19–51 mm)
Gun turrets: .75 in (19 mm)
Bulkheads: 5–7 in (127–178 mm)

Aircraft carried: 78
Aviation facilities: 1 Aircraft catapult